Clark ES letter

[from Carol Herwig]

This is a letter a group of us have sent to Mayor Fenty and DCPS Chancellor Rhee regarding the proposed closing of Clark Elementary (4501 7th St). We're looking for community support.

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As members of the Petworth community, we would like to propose two alternatives to closing Eugene Clark Elementary School.

1. Create an arts magnet school. Clark already has an active arts program, bringing its students to the Fillmore Arts Center weekly for programs. It also works with Teatro de la Luna in bringing theater to young audiences. Due to the slated closing of Backus Middle School, the satellite campus of Fillmore must move. Clark could give the program one floor of its campus, offering arts and music education to all elementary schools in Ward 4, including those not taking advantage of its programs already. In addition, we would actively pursue other partnerships in the arts community that could bring instruction and entrée to other arts programs in the District of Columbia.

1. Convert Clark to a K-8 program. In looking at Clark’s enrollment patterns, the most heavily subscribed classes are the pre-K through third grade. Around the fourth and fifth grades, parents start to worry about the next step, which in Ward 4, assuming the children stay in the DCPS system, means sending their children to MacFarland Middle School for the sixth grade. So they move their children to charter schools. The message we have heard in meetings this winter is that parents are afraid of sending their children to MacFarland. It’s perceived as dangerous and the last-chance alternative.

As residents and concerned citizens of Petworth, we offer these alternatives knowing Clark is under-enrolled and aware that we could be charged with NIMBY-ism. But Clark has special attributes that should be taken into consideration. And we are prepared to vigorously market the school, given the green light.

There are several other pertinent reasons to keep Clark open.

First, Clark has a dynamic principal in Brearn Wright, who has made major strides in improving the academic atmosphere and the physical plant in the year and a half he has been with the school. He linked Clark with the Fillmore Arts Center, brought the Inspired Teaching program to his teaching staff, applied to be a Pilot School, made the schoolyard welcoming to afterschool sports and recreation, pursued grants and volunteer efforts from the community, DC Cares, Home Depot, City Year and more. As your education compact indicated, our children deserve, indeed should demand, these kinds of programs as part of their daily curriculum. Principal Wright is already delivering these kinds of programs to Petworth children.

Second, Petworth has become a real estate “hot spot” in the past three to five years and is in the beginning of a development growth spurt, with large and small projects going up around the Metro hub and the neighborhood’s solid core of single-family homes. Censuses for the area that are five or 10 years old don’t reflect the present and future. By comparison, consider the changes in U Street in the past 10 years. And consider the number of young families currently moving into this area.

Third, development has brought financial and other commitments for the school from developers, including a $75,000 pledge from developer John C. Formant.

Fourth, Clark is a valued community resource. The involvement ranges from financial pledges, such as the one Formant has made, to hands-on efforts. Neighbors pitched in to clean the once-neglected ballfields, plant trees and shrubs, and are working to find grants and assistance for afterschool sports programs for children and neighbors. The nightly soccer games mean Clark has been reclaimed for the neighborhood. DC Parks and Recreation, with much prodding from the community, recognized the need for recreational space in Petworth and just completed a $3 million upgrade at the nearby Petworth Rec Center. But that space is primarily for the younger children. Our only ballfield for soccer, t-ball or pickup football is at Clark.

Fifth, we are concerned about the alternatives. Compared to Clark, Powell and Truesdell and West are underperforming elementary schools. In addition, all would require very young children to cross Georgia Avenue, which does not have crossing guards or stoplights or stop signs at every block.

Finally, our number one priority is to not lose the headway and progress that Principal Wright has created. No other elementary school in our region is offering the same programs or showing the same success.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Carol Herwig and George E. Morgan
Angie Christophe and Michael Ivey
Reyn Anderson
Shanel Anthony, ANC 4C07 Commissioner
Drew and Heather Schneider

Comments

[DJ]

I live one block from the school. My concern would be about what heppens to the property after the school is closed. I would love to see the building leveled and park put in, but that seems unlikely.