MARIETTA - Four candidates vying for a seat on the Cobb school board favor closing the existing Milford Elementary School on Austell Road and moving it to what they believe is a safer location.

At issue is the county's Windy Hill Road/Macland Road Connector project, which will provide west Cobb motorists a more direct route to Interstate 75 by connecting Macland Road at Powder Springs Road to Windy Hill Road at Austell Road.

The Osborne High School community is outraged that the four-lane highway, which is under construction, will be just 100 feet from Milford and present a danger to the students.

Kathleen Angelucci, an event planner and Kell High School mom who is challenging broker Bill Borden in the Republican primary for the Post 4 seat representing Kell and North Cobb high schools, was first to answer the question posted at the Osborne Community Coalition's candidate forum Thursday. Angelucci said she has attended town hall meetings about Milford, "to actually look at the location, see where the highway ran, look at the firing range behind it and the dump that's behind it."

The new road makes it too dangerous for elementary school children and therefore the school should be moved, she said.

"It's almost unbelievable that our school board would not consider those three factors in this particular school," she said. "We're talking about elementary education children riding buses, walking, having recess, playing outside of this particular school. It's a huge issue and it must be revisited by all school board members, not just this particular post."

Borden said, "To answer your question, yeah, close the school, but we should have already done this, we should have already had this well under way ... Why hasn't the school district done anything about it? Why are we even discussing it now? It's so simple if we all work together for the betterment of our community."

Sope Creek Elementary School dad Scott Sweeney, who is challenging former Dodgen Middle School principal Jim Snell in the Republican primary to represent Post 6 high schools such as Walton and Wheeler, also wants to find a different location for Milford. Snell was absent from the forum.

Sweeney said when he visited the school to see how close the road is being built to it, "it made me think of my kindergarten student going into school this fall and walking across the street like that. There is no way in heck that I would ever want him to do that ... I promise you there are plenty of other vacant facilities or other opportunities that we can take a look at in the future to find a different location for Milford and I would advocate for that."

C.W. Matthews Contracting Company has the $27 million contract to build the two-mile road, which is scheduled to open in May 2011.

Patrick Stafford, a Campbell Middle School dad challenging incumbent Holli Cash in the Democratic primary, also advocates finding a nearby location for the school. Cash, who was not at the forum, and Stafford are vying to represent Post 2 representing Campbell High School.

"I think the situation again is an example of a dysfunctional board, and you know, it doesn't just stop there," Stafford said. "If you spend so much time fighting against each other, then you have no relationship with the Cobb Commissioners. You have no relationship with the General Assembly members. You can't come into the community to say this is what you want because you're so busy disagreeing. Well, how can you get anything done unless you first can get along? Can I have an amen?"

His opponent, Cash, has clashed with members of Cobb's Legislative Delegation, blaming the legislature for a lack of school funding. Cash has called on the Legislature to raise taxes, which the Republican legislators have soundly rejected.