Residents tell Monongalia County board to honor Suncrest Primary deed after judge names city trustees

Residents of the Suncrest neighborhood urged the Monongalia County Board of Education on Dec. 16 to stop pursuing appeals and to honor deed restrictions that they said limit the former Suncrest Primary site to school or public‑park use.

Beth Bosio, a Suncrest graduate and nearby resident, told the board the deed “is actually written plainly” to allow the land “to operate a school building that teaches local children or to become a public park,” and said she believes court filings by the board sought to remove those restrictions. Bosio said Judge Cindy Scott, at a recent hearing the board did not attend, appointed the City of Morgantown as trustees for the land and “that decision follows the deed.”

Barbara Hildebrand, who said she has lived in the Suncrest neighborhood for 41 years, asked the board to cease further appeals and to allow the city to “create and maintain a park, thereby honoring the stated intention of the 1925 deed.” She said such a park would serve the entire Morgantown community.

Matthew Cross, president of the Suncrest Neighborhood Association, said his family’s connection to the school dates to the 1930s and urged board members, when they discuss the property later in the meeting, to “honor the original deed” and community agreement that governed the property for decades.

The board did not take public action on the Suncrest property at the moment the comments were made; speakers said the matter was on the agenda later in the meeting. Bosio asked how much the district has spent on legal representation related to the property; the transcript records her question but no dollar amount was provided.

What happens next: Members of the public asked the board to stop litigation and to accept the court’s trustee appointment. The transcript does not record a board response that night changing the district’s legal strategy; the board later moved into an executive session for a legal update.