I don't know why you think this is damning. If there's fraud then, hell yes, they should be found and prosecuted. Even if it's only uncovered due to angry maret supporters being soiteful, that's still a good thing. It'd be ironic but that doesn't matter. There's a fundamental difference between.a public and a private school. We have to provide these things for the public schools. It costs us a lot of money to do that and it's a good thing to do. What's more, it is absolutely essential to do so for the eonomic health and development of the city. Maret made out like bandits under the original deal. It's time to share the public parks. |
No one is disputing that Maret did exactly what they agreed to do in the 2009 agreement. The question is whether that, by itself entitled them to a renewal. While Hunter was thoroughly evasive, the one thing he was clear about was that DPR had the option not to renew the agreement. |
The outrage is real and easily explained by the fact that the quality of thousands of lower- and middle-class parents’ kids’ education is being undercut by the selfish behavior a school that predominantly educates the kids of very rich people and which contributes very little to the city treasury. That outrage is further magnified because it’s not an isolated case. A similar thing is happening with the Old Hardy school building and LAB and with Guy Mason and G.U.. People affected by these cases see that there is an underlying problem and find common cause to fix it. |
Toward the end Elissa got pretty testy with Hunter because he said he didn't know how many other deals like this are out there. She had asked him two weeks ago about it, and was annoyed that he had not prepared for the hearing. He promised to get the answer to her.
I would be surprised if he ever does. That would be giving up the DPR crown jewels, there are a lot of these deals out there, and they all stink. |
I bet you Hardy boosters wish you could go back to ignoring the interests of poor black kids. It must be really hard for you to hear "no" for once in your life. FTFY |
Um.. Please clarify: Are we talking about Maret or Hardy educating the rich and giving little to the treasury? Maret parents who are DC residents give far more to the DC treasury because they are paying for DCPS and not using it. Unlike those greedy Hardy parents who insist on using DCPS funds when they could easily pay for a private school. |
It's almost like you don't know of any injustices east of the park. Very telling. |
Amen. And they want to steal the field from Maret and the BGC for themselves it seems. So glad the powerful, elite, rich white parents of Hardy have stood up to steal a field they didn’t pay for for their white children. |
^^ Mic drop... |
She/He apparently didn't come to play... |
Do you really think that the wealthy families who attend private schools contribute little to the city treasury? One reason wealthy families live in DC is because of the private schools. These people pay high property taxes and support public schools even though their kids don't use those schools. Do all you upper NW DC DCPS families really not understand how private schools benefit this area? |
I knew sooner or later some joker would try and make the “they pay taxes” argument. My taxes pay for lots of services I don’t personally use. Private schools should pay property taxes. |
Wow, now I feel like using eminent domain to take Maret's campus and turn it into a Wegman's and some low income housing. |
Maret could certainly use the fields of WIS, NCS, Sidwell and/or AU. These are closer and better than Jelleff. They didn’t pursue these options, I suspect, because it would be both less dignified (!) and more expensive than taking the public school kids’ fields. And I hope Bowser was listening when Ian Cameron was complaining about the lack of fields in Wards 2 & 3. The previous week, Bowser announced that she wants over a thousand affordable housing units built in that part of the city. Apart from the former Trolley Trail in the Palisades, there is no idle land anywhere west of Rock Creek Park. I can’t see Bowser hacking down trees to build new houses and there’s an argument to be made that the acres upon acres of private school fields make for good candidates. But the President of Maret’s BoT thinks we need more of them. They couldn't be more out of touch if they tried. |
I love that Hardy parents are suddenly wealthy. Hardy families are going to be very excited to learn that! |