July 15, 2021

Ward 3 Update: Two New Proposed Schools for Ward 3

Dear Neighbors,

I’d like to provide an update on where the District is in the planning
process for the two new schools proposed for Ward 3. I hope this letter
will answer some questions and concerns that I’ve received from residents
and also provide neighbors with an update on my ongoing work to ensure that
plans for these new schools are responsive to parent and community
concerns. I apologize in advance for the length of this letter – this is a
complex issue, and I want to be sure to provide you with a full picture of
where things currently stand.

First, I’d like to provide some background on the need for new school
facilities in the Ward. Several years ago, at the urging of me and many
Ward 3 parents, DCPS convened a working group to discuss overcrowding in
our Ward 3 schools. As you may know, all but one of the schools in the
Wilson feeder pattern (which includes all Ward 3 schools and several
schools in Wards 1, 2, and 4) are currently over-capacity; this
overcrowding is slated to get worse as enrollment at each of these schools
is projected to grow in the coming years. This earlier working group
concluded that the Wilson feeder pattern would need four new schools to
fully address overcrowding: two new elementary schools, one new middle
school, and a new high school, for a total of more than 2,400 new seats.

As a first step to address this need, last spring the Mayor proposed
building a new school, commonly referred to as the Foxhall School, at the
site of Hardy Park in Foxhall Village. That summer, Georgetown Day
School’s lower campus also became available for purchase, and the Mayor and
Council worked together to purchase that site for use as a new school.
Although these two schools represent a huge investment, they will likely
provide only half of the new seats needed to fully address overcrowding in
the Ward–even counting the new seats from additions planned for Deal Middle
School and Stoddert Elementary School.

To decide how best to use these new school facilities, this January, DCPS
convened a community working group made up of school principals, parents,
and community representatives from across the Ward. Representatives from
the Foxhall Community Citizens Association and ANC 3D were part of that
working group, as well as a representative from my office. The working
group was tasked with a very high level question: if built, what grade
levels should these new schools serve? They did not consider changes to
catchment areas or feeder patterns, the schools’ size or siting on the
proposed lots, or other logistical issue; rather, DCPS will consider those
issues further on in the planning process through School Improvement Teams
(SIT).

In May, DCPS met with our ANCs and school communities, and released a
community survey on these new schools. That same month, the working group
sent their recommendations to the Chancellor, who will make the final
decision on the two school proposals. The results of the DCPS survey and a
copy of the working group’s final recommendations and meeting materials are
available for public access, [1]here.

I want to underscore: no final decisions have been made on these two
schools at this time—including on the size or type of schools they could
be. The Chancellor is currently reviewing the working group’s
recommendations and is likely to share his proposal for the sites later
this summer. In addition, no changes to school feeder patterns are being
proposed at this time; any decisions on catchment areas will be made by the
individual school SITs, and only after robust community engagement.

Having provided this background, I’d like to address several concerns about
these proposals that I’ve heard from the community, and also correct a few
misconceptions:

Effect of the new Foxhall School on Hardy Park

I share neighbors’ concerns about the effect a new school could have on the
community access to Hardy Park. With that in mind, I have had several
meetings with the Mayor, Chancellor, and DCPS planning team, and I have
underscored to each: where a school is built on the park, DCPS must ensure
that the school’s footprint is as minimally disruptive to the park as
possible. The Chancellor has told me he intends to do all he can to honor
this request and had his staff produce two preliminary concept drawings for
how the new Foxhall school could fit on the site; I have attached these at
the end of this letter. As you can see, per these concept drawings, the new
school would minimally impact existing amenities at the park, and I have
been told the vast majority of the ongoing renovation to the park would
remain untouched. Even so, I have pushed the Chancellor to do all he can to
reduce the footprint even further.

I have heard from some neighbors who do not trust that DCPS will actually
adhere to these concept drawings when planning for this new school. I have
no reason to believe that would be the case. DCPS regularly considers the
concerns of the community (including inviting neighbors to participate in
the SIT) when planning for a new school. Take, for example, the recent
modernizations of Murch and Eaton Elementary Schools where neighbors were
deeply involved in the plans to modernize those schools. Thus, I encourage
neighbors to remain engaged and join the SITs for the Foxhall and GDS
schools when they are convened.

One idea I have proposed to the Chancellor for consideration is for the new
Foxhall School to be a co-located DCPS/DPR facility. This would provide the
neighborhood with increased access to the school’s facilities, as well as
provide access to DPR programming. A co-located site could also further
reduce the new school’s footprint, where the park’s existing community
meeting space is absorbed into the new school building. There are
co-located DCPS/DPR facilities across the District, including at Stoddert
Elementary in Glover Park. The Chancellor has expressed interest in this
idea, though it is my understanding that decisions on co-located would be
made later, by the SIT.



Traffic and Parking

I also share residents’ concerns about the effect these new school could
have on traffic and parking in the Foxhall neighborhood. With that in mind,
I have identified funds in this year’s budget for a traffic analysis along
MacArthur Boulevard and in Foxhall Village; those funds will become
available this summer, when the budget is finalized, to enable the analysis
to be completed as soon as possible. Although DCPS typically conducts a
traffic study much later in the school planning process, I felt it was
important to do this analysis now, so DCPS and the community are able to
review the effect new schools will have on area traffic well before any
decisions are made. I also intend to work closely with WMATA and DDOT to
identify how the D6 bus route could be enhanced, as well as other routes
added, to reduce the need for families and school staff to travel to the
area via car.

On parking, many DCPS schools do not provide sufficient on-site parking for
staff, and staff typically commutes via public transit, further
underscoring the need for a traffic study and increased access to public
transit along MacArthur Boulevard and in Foxhall Village. That said, I will
continue to work with DCPS to reduce any effect these new schools may have
on street parking in the area. There may already be some solutions for
parking concerns at the former GDS campus site, which currently has parking
for more than 80 cars, which I’ve encouraged DCPS to maintain during
renovations. I will note, if the former GDS lower school campus is
ultimately used as a high school, DCPS is unlikely to provide parking for
students; they will need to walk, cycle, or ride public transit to get to
school—though it may also be possible for shuttle busses to take the
students from the school to transit (as has been done at a few other
schools). Although I have heard concerns regarding student drivers parking
in neighborhoods, my understanding is the vast majority of blocks in
Foxhall Village are already RPP-restricted, meaning non-permitted vehicles
cannot park for longer than two hours in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, I
plan to work closely with DCPS to ensure that these parking issues are
addressed, both proactively in the planning process, and after the new
school comes online.

On the Need for Two New Schools

Some neighbors have asked whether there are sufficient students to fill a
new Foxhall School, given that the Mayor, at my request, provided funds in
the budget for an addition at Stoddert Elementary. Unfortunately, the
number of new seats needed in Ward 3 to address overcrowding is high enough
to necessitate a new elementary school, even with Stoddert’s addition.
Elementary schools in the Wilson High School feeder pattern are projected
to be 1,100 seats over capacity by 2028. So, although Stoddert’s addition
could accommodate as many as 200 students, we still need to find facility
space for those 900 other seats.

This incredible need for new seats is also why it does not make sense to
structure the new school at the GDS lower school campus as a kindergarten
through eighth grade campus and not build a new elementary school, as I’ve
heard proposed. As I noted at the start of this letter, we need over 2,400
new seats in the Ward, spread across the different school levels. Using GDS
to serve students grades K-8^th would address only a fraction of need at
the elementary and middle school levels, and we’d still need to build new
elementary and middle schools to comprehensively address overcrowding.
Thus, we most effectively address our facility needs by building two new
schools—one elementary, and one middle or high school—rather than a K-8^th
grade campus.

Lab School Lease

Last, I’d like to share information on the extension of the Lab School’s
lease of the Old Hardy School building. Old Hardy is a school facility that
is owned by the District and has been leased to the Lab School for a number
of years; that lease was slated to end in 2023. I long have opposed
extension of that lease, given the need for additional school facility
space in the Ward, and the fact that Old Hardy is the only District-owned
space in Ward 3 that could be used for a new school without substantial
construction.

Over the years, I’ve made that opposition clear to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor
for Education, and DCPS (the entities responsible in the renewal process
for the site), and have prevented a previous lease from moving forward at
the Council. Thus, earlier this year, I was shocked to learn that the
Executive had unilaterally extended Lab’s lease for 15 years. I later
learned that the Deputy Mayor for Education had specifically rewritten that
lease extension to avoid Council review, effectively negotiating with Lab
in secret with no notice to the Council or the public on the plans to
extend the lease.

As drafted by the Deputy Mayor, the lease extension significantly
forecloses where and how a new school can be built on that site. The lease
gives Lab exclusive use of the Old Hardy School building and much of the
parking lot, meaning the new facility proposed by the Mayor would have to
be built, at least in part, on existing park space. Earlier this spring, I
expressed to the Deputy Mayor my deep frustration regarding his efforts to
explicitly circumvent Council review of this lease and that the lease’s
language prioritizes Lab’s use of the space over that of residents. The
Executive engaged in a similar ploy in 2019 to give a private school
prioritized use of the Jelleff Recreation Center fields, leaving Hardy
Middle Schools students to travel across town instead of across the street
for sports practices.

I also have significant concerns about the legality of the Lab School lease
extension, including the Executive’s actions to circumvent Council review.
With that in mind, earlier this spring, I asked the Attorney General to
review the lease’s compliance with District law. Although the Attorney
General concluded that the lease was valid, it only passed scrutiny because
the Deputy Mayor explicitly drafted the language to exploit gaps in the
existing law to avoid Council review. Thus, I intend to work with my
colleagues to identify and close the loopholes that allowed this lease
extension to move forward, but of course that would only apply to future
leases. And, I will note: the Attorney General’s conclusion does not change
the fact that the Lab School’s lease was extended over community and
Council opposition, without any notice, and wholly in the dark.

I will keep the community updated as we learn more about the Chancellor’s
decision regarding the proposed new schools, as well as next steps for the
traffic study, which I anticipate will begin before the end of the summer.
In turn, should you have any questions or concerns about these proposals,
please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Regards,

Mary

Please see [2]coronavirus.dc.gov for the latest District updates &
resources on COVID-19

Get vaccinated TODAY at any of the District's [3]walk-up vaccination sites

DCPS Concept Drawings for the Foxhall School

Please note that these are concept drawings only and not final or
formalized proposals.

This first image depicts Hardy Park as it is now:

This second image depicts the concept drawing for Option 1:

This third image depicts the concept drawing for Option 2:

Our Office is Open!

Connect with our staff - While Councilmember Cheh's physical office is
closed during the public health emergency, she and her staff are
teleworking and will remain accessible for residents.

You may continue to reach us via phone through our main line at (202)
724-8062 with legislative ideas, budget requests, and constituent services
requests.

[4]Facebook [5]Twitter

FOLLOW MARY

References

1. [link removed]
2. [link removed]
3. [link removed]
4. [link removed]
5. [link removed]
Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

This message was sent to [email protected] from [email protected]

Mary Cheh
Mary Cheh Ward 3
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NWSuite 108
Washington, DC 20004
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

iContact - Try it for FREE: [link removed]