Check out this Post article on DC school spending on building maintenance. DC schools have had a major drop in enrollment over the last several years, leaving lots of school buildings under used & starting people talking about disposing of the excess spaces. It makes you wonder if Trinidad's Wheatley Elementary (which the city is theoretically renovating) really will ever re-open as a school. These photos of Wheatley are from last fall, but the trash is still there, and the water is pretty much a constant (or at least a recurring theme).
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This is what I don't quite get in all the discussion of renovating the schools. Even Mayor Williams now is afraid to even suggest that some buildings should be sold off completely. If excess space is simply leased to charter schools or libraries or whatever public use, isn't the city still on the hook for the maintenance costs, and thus just as likely to let these buildings sit? Can't someone just bite the bullet and say sell 20% of the damn things? There are buildings declared surplus by the Control Board that still sit vacant and festering.
Exactly, though it is admittedly a complicated series of issues that need to be thought through--determining which facilities are underutlilized, how schools should be consolidated, how current condition affects determination of which facilities to keep and renovate, ensuring that the District is getting fair market value (and not doing sweetheart deals with politically savvy developers, ensuring that these historically significant properties are preserved and renovated in a thoughtful and respectful manner (such as Bryan School and Pierce School).
Mayor Williams cannot sell school buildings because he is not in charge of the school system. The school system owns the buildings. ask Tommy Wells why he hasn't fixed up or sold Wheatley.
It's clear that none of you lived in this city when they tried to close schools in the past. Every alum of the school and their 3rd cousin shows up to protest closing their specific school. Every "expert" in the world shows up at the hearing to explain why their small school with 5 students has the best teaching methods... on and on. The stadium hearings are nothing compared to the circus that you will see as soon as the school board names names.
Actually, I did. Nobody here ever wants to see their neighborhood school close here, even though we have so many in part due to the legacy of segregation.
And the authority to close schools has been bounced all over the place over the last decade as a complete hot potato, from the schools to the Control Board, to the Mayor and now back to the School Board.
My assumption is that the current comments on the plan simply reflect that reality. But it would be nice to hear someone not be so timid.
This is my old school and i grew up around here and i do not want to see one of my favorite schools shut down because there are not a lot of people enrolling. I mean if the combine another school with this one then maybe there will be a lot of students. But please do not close this school down.
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