Explain the Murch renovation saga to me please.
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Anonymous
| Maybe the Murch community should ask the Hearst community for some pointers. They had to be flexible and manage the demands of surrounding neighbors. I bet there are some helpful tips that could come out of that. Good luck! |
Anonymous
I understand that the Murch community has talked with the folks at Hearst who where the main points of contact. Murch is not where it is from lack of trying or from not learning from others. We all wish you luck! |
Anonymous
| In the span of one week Hearst gets denied PS3. Then, Principal Cahill (who campaigned for Catania gets fired). Then, Murch loses their renovation budget. Hmmmm.... |
Anonymous
And Bowser was totally humiliated in the Ward 3 voting results -- it was Catania's best ward. |
Anonymous
| Just remember when Mary Cheh, another council member or our new mayor tells you with a sympathetic tone to be patient about Murch renovations because DC's capital budget and borrowing authority are limited: Yesterday the council voted unanimously to purchase land and fund infrastructure improvements for a soccer stadium for the benefit of a privately-owned team. Ah, priorities. |
Anonymous
| Seriously. Every school that has gone through a renovation has experienced the same exact madness with the process. Murch is not special. Relax. Stop whining and just push through each issue. It will get completed. |
Anonymous
Clearly not true if Jenney is on their third renovation. |
jsteele
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I realize that I am the worst speller on DCUM, but I simply can't take this anymore. It's Janney. |
Anonymous
Winner take all, baby! |
Anonymous
My bad. I will spell it correctly from now on. |
Anonymous
You are correct that the process is a complete mess. But it is not whining to be frustrated and concerned that two-thirds of the schools in the city have been modernized, but not a school that was built in 1929, is in abysmal physical condition, and has had students in temporary classrooms in increasing amounts for 26 years. |
Anonymous
| About 10 years ago, Murch had quite a (sort of deserved) reputation for having extremely difficult, unreasonable, and vocal parents. Not that it's right, but perhaps that has something to do with it? You need an ally to get things done at DCPS. |
Anonymous
Yes, of course, it is all the parents' fault. |
Anonymous
But making the process such an effort is completely counterproductive to getting families to invest more time and resources in the schools. Why waste families' time on some grand political game and just renovate the damn schools. The need everywhere else in the system for that same energy is so great. And trust me no one feels like they came out ahead at the end of it. Personally, at our school, for a little while I felt like just giving up on helping out. |
Anonymous
They aren't whining. Answering people's questions by stating the facts is not whining. In fact, entire push to modernize the schools across the city started in 1997 when Murch was supposed to be renovated. Instead, Murch parents got a grant enabling the city to review the conditions of all schools, and urged the city to undertake the process of modernizing all of the schools. "We thank the Murch Elementary School parents, Murch teacher Deborah Ziff Cook, and especially principal Dr. Marjorie Cuthbert. They made this report possible because of their willingness to look beyond the many pressing concerns of their own school to the needs of the entire district. We would also like to thank Mary Gill, principal of Murch Elementary School from 1984 to 1998 and current chief academic officer of DCPS, for her strong support of the early activities of this project." from "Replace or Modernize? The Future of the District of Columbia's Endangered Old and Historic Public Schools" May 2001. So while other schools advocated for themselves, Murch advocated for everyone across the whole city. Is that the "whining" you are talking about 15:04? So maybe we should all thank Murch for getting the ball rolling in the first place and acknowledge that pushing Murch back in the process over and over and over again for the past 15 years is not quite the same as what other schools have been through, especially under the circumstances faced by double the number of Murch kids 15 years later. |