WASHINGTON — The Montgomery Soccer lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools, which has been going on for nearly two years, has been settled.
The suit was over public access to fields at some of the schools. Montgomery Soccer accused the school system of favoring other youth sports organizations in awarding them use of fields at Richard Montgomery High School.
As part of the settlement, Montgomery Soccer will fund construction of new artificial turf fields at Walt Whitman and Albert Einstein high schools, as well as Julius West Middle School. That could cost the organization up to $5 million.
In exchange, Montgomery Soccer will be granted access to the new fields for a set number of hours over the next 10 years when the schools aren’t using them.
“This agreement is good news for our students and our school communities as it gives us new high quality athletic fields without any additional construction costs to our taxpayers,” said Michael Durso, president of the county Board of Education, said in a statement.
“In addition to athletic events and practices, schools will be able to use these fields during the school day for physical education classes.”
Peter Korolkoff, chairman of the Montgomery Soccer board, said in the same statement, “All of us in Montgomery County want the same thing — high quality playing fields for our children and families to enjoy.
“We are happy to put this litigation behind us and partner with MCPS in a creative solution that gives our children great fields to enjoy the sport they love. We look forward to a long and productive partnership to promote youth soccer in our great county.”
