By JIM SLAUGHTER

Guest columnist

We commend school officials on coordinating the recent meeting regarding Middle School B, or Treyburn Middle School as it was referred to until about two weeks ago. The meeting was very informative.

We do feel as if the invitations for the meeting could have been handled a bit more fairly since the schools are aware that there are some who oppose the entries and exits to the school and fields off Snow Hill Road. We received calls from some of the Treyburn neighbors saying they had been sent information regarding this meeting via their neighborhood association. I understand this included 99 percent of the folks who live there ...Hmmmm.

The school officials sent letters home via children in surrounding schools; however, letters should have been delivered to all residents since this project affects everyone in the area.

We may have had more people attending to speak to concerns of the Snow Hill Road residents were we shown the same consideration as the Treyburn residents. We were advised there would be no additional mailings and I was asked to send out a mailing to our e-mail list which doesn't include everyone off every street adjacent to Snow Hill Road.

Again, the meeting was good for the community. The majority of the supporters were from Treyburn and they expressed their excitement over "their new neighborhood school." Some stated they were promised this school prior to moving in. There was little regard for others who may be adversely affected by this project.

We, the Snow Hill Road Neighborhood, were challenged to look at the big picture. The big picture is that there is plenty of land in northern Durham which could support such a wonderful school and recreation fields that would have entries and exits that would not affect homeowners.

Some folks explained that we couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth regarding the "free/donated land." Nothing is free! The deal they are speaking of is a copy of an unsigned document/agreement between the schools and Bryan Properties that reads as follows...

"Bryan Properties Inc. an affiliate of the donor Wanderlust will seek an impact fee offset for the $477,000 value of this donation." Also, if the property reverts back to Wanderlust, Wanderlust agrees to pay to DPS an amount received as an impact fee offer.

I'll leave it up to each of our citizens to decide if they define this as "free."

We contacted two Realtors and one appraiser at random to ask about how the school would affect the surrounding neighborhoods. All three stated a new school usually increased property value but that was no guarantee. They stated that it depends on the "personality' the school takes on, so there is no guarantee.

The remark was made that the children are our future. We agree. Fix the schools you allude to that are broken.

If we lived in an area which expected so many positive effects, hopefully we would not be inconsiderate of other areas that may not receive such impacts.

Win, lose or draw on the entries and exits and where they may fall, Durham will definitely benefit from a school in the northern part of the county and we will work with the school officials to make it a great addition to our community.

Many of us have children who went to Chewning, Northern, Little River and Carrington and supported those schools then and will continue to support them in the future.

Jim Slaughter is a member of the Snow Hill Neighborhood Group.