[from Carol Herwig]
Eugene Clark Elementary School, at 4501 Kansas Avenue, is among the schools slated for closing in the summer of 2008. Reasons: declining enrollment, lack of community involvement. There will be a meeting to address the implications at Clark between 6 and 8pm on Tuesday Dec. 4, with Principal Brearn Wright and Councilwoman Muriel Bowser. It's our chance to learn and speak out. I believe that any neighborhood that hopes to thrive must have a strong school.
Other reasons for concern:
1. If Clark closes, it will mean all Petworth kids between Spring Road and Sherman Circle will have to walk north to Barnard (the best option) or cross Georgia Avenue and 13th Street to get to West or Powell.
2. One of the reasons given for closing schools is to provide funds for arts programs, including a link with the Fillmore Arts Center. But the proposed plan brings no new arts programs to Ward 4. Instead, it would eliminate the arts programs Principal Brearn Wright has established in the past year for Clark students at Fillmore and with the Teatro de la Luna.
3. It took several years to get a good, committed principal at Clark. We finally did, but he's been given just a year to turn around a school that had been neglected for years. The improvements are visible - the grounds have been spruced up and are maintained, the playground has become a center of good activity well into the night, the building has received some essential interior upgrades and beautification.
Expecting the academics and enrollment to turn around in a year is unfair and unrealistic.
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