Residents opposed a May 14 decision by the Montgomery County Council to replace the existing Seven Locks Elementary School on Seven Locks Road with a new, larger school on Kendale Road. So they appealed the decision to the State of Maryland in early August to put a hold on the plan. They asked the state to suspend an $817,500 contract the county awarded an architect to help plan the new school, and asked for public hearings on the plan as well as copies of all documents related to the plan.

The Maryland State Board of Education dismissed the appeal on Aug. 16, citing lack of jurisdiction over the matter.

"This is not a boundary issue, which would fall under our jurisdiction," said Bill Reinhard, state school board spokesman. "This is essentially a local issue involving replacing a school in the same general area."

Instead, the state board referred the matter to another state agency that deals with school funding called the Interagency Committee on Public School Construction and the Public School Construction Program.

Unfortunately, after calling and writing to that office, it has yet to say it has responsibility for the appeal, said Cyril Draffin, president of Deerfield/Weathered Oaks Citizen's Association, one of the seven neighborhood associations opposed to the plan.

Interagency officials were not available for comment.

So once again, in a Sept. 15 letter to the Maryland State Department of Education, Draffin asked reconsideration of the appeal and a determination of which office has jurisdiction.

"We want the [state board] to be accountable and to look at this issue based on its merits," Draffin said.

The appeal results from opposition to a May 14 decision by the Montgomery County Council to build a new, larger replacement school about a mile away on Kendale Road.

Originally, the county planned to modernize and expand the existing school.

That changed May 6, when Superintendent Jerry D. Weast proposed replacing it with a larger school on Kendale Road.

The replacement school will have a core capacity of 740, while the existing school has a capacity for 294.

New construction would cost $11.5 million as opposed to the $17.7 million estimated for renovating the existing school, and cause less disruption to students than a renovation project, Weast said.

Opponents to the plan are crying foul, saying the county did not allow community input into the decision and violated its own procurement rules and regulations.