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GREENSBORO — A trip to Washington by city and county officials, school system leaders, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and a developer from Tennessee has been postponed.

Greensboro businessmanRoy Carroll, a board member of the Community Foundation, offered his jet to fly the group to meet with the area’s elected representatives Tuesday in Washington, though his companies were not involved in the project.

The purpose of the trip was to talk about funding for a proposed school development at South Elm and Lee streets.

But the Community Foundation issued a statement Friday saying the trip was postponed.

“Questions have been raised as the result of the misperceptions of some regarding the use of this donated plane,” the statement said. “While we are disappointed by the misperceptions this travel plan has caused, more importantly we value the public’s trust and do not want to do anything to damage that trust. Therefore, we are postponing the trip.”

Walker Sanders, president of the Community Foundation, said calls from the general public and concerns raised by city staff initiated the postponement. Also, no one from the school system was confirmed to attend. The Guilford County School Board has a meeting Tuesday night.

The group was to have included Melvin “Skip” Alston, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners; Mayor Yvonne Johnson; Andy Scott, assistant city manager; Sanders; and Carroll.

Although Memphis, Tenn. consultant Bridget Chisholm had also planned to go on the trip, the delegation was not going to discuss her proposal — a $75 million hotel with 300 rooms in the redevelopment district south of Lee Street.

“The hotel development is a separate project,” Sanders said.

The project involves consolidating several Guilford County School administrative buildings into one large facility.

“We still believe that the objective of this trip is extremely important to our community,” the statement read. “Our group will continue to seek the assistance we need to make this project a success for Greensboro’s future. Therefore, we hope to reschedule the trip as soon as possible and in such a way that we can travel to and from Washington in an appropriate manner.”

Sanders said the Community Foundation is willing to do anything to leverage jobs and create a new market on South Elm Street.

Calls to Johnson and Alston were not returned Friday. Carroll’s spokesperson would not comment.

Contact E.A. Seagraves at 883-4422, Ext. 241, or elizabeth.seagraves@news-record.com