DCPS students shafted again - sign petition to keep Jelleff field public
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Anonymous
Yes they should, although I’m not sure that the parking lot is big enough. But that doesn’t excuse Hardy staff from hoarding their free on-site parking perks when eliminating the lot and moving the court to the East would allow Hardy to put in a large playing field. It is unseemly that Hardy should have to beg - whether from DPR for Jelleff or from Duke Ellington - to find a practice field. Hardy should and could have their own field on school property. So long as DCPS under invests in Hardy, including short-cutting athletic facilities, Hardy will be a second-tier, also-ran to Deal, etc. |
Anonymous
DP: You think Maret’s parking may not be big enough for a field, but Hardy should definitely magically turn their parking into a regulation playing field?! Maret has 4 times the parking of Hardy, not to mention a campus far, far larger. I think you are spouting talking points without ever having seen Hardy. |
Anonymous
Or even looking at a map. The whole Hardy site isn't the size of Jelleff. |
Anonymous
I get the feeling the PP thinks that public schools are just shabbier versions of private schools. So let me lay it out for you: the administration at a public school doesn't have say over how the facilities are used, and even if they did, they wouldn't be consulting the parents. DC Public Schools is an agency of the DC government, so one school getting resources from another is hardly "begging." It's not like, say, Maret begging St. Alban's to use their track. Nor is getting resources from another agency of the DC government "begging." Since Hardy has no outdoor athletic facilities of its own, the only ways it gets to use them now is either from other DCPS schools or DPR. So there's nothing new or unusual about Hardy wanting to use Jelleff or Ellington, they're just looking to use facilities a little closer than the ones they use now. |
Anonymous
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So why shouldn’t Hardy get its act together and try to get DD build a school field? They could start by telling the staff that starting next school year they can use their discounted Metro passes because the parking is being repurposed to the kids. And, as you readily point out, DPR is a separate agency (and Ellington is... well, an entity that seems unaccountable to anyone). Public school students don’t have a special claim on DPR facilities any more than other kids, and Hardy is just another institution in DC. Many Maret students live in the District, Maret is a DC institution and is a substantial employer. (Maret employs more staff than Hardy, many of whom live in DC.). Maret students have just as much right to use Jelleff, particularly when it has paid substantially for the privilege.
Thanks also for your lesson on how DC public schools, namely that the school administration doesn’t really listen to the parents. The fact that DCPS priorities start first to serve the staff with parents and the students being an afterthought no doubt is why many DC parents who want more voice and accountability choose independent schools if they can. |
Anonymous
A field with at least 90 percent of Jelleff could easily fit at Hardy, north to south. The playing court could move to the eastern corner. If DCPS is flush, then out some parking under the field or better yet, save us taxpayers some money and tell the staff to ride public transportation to work. Anything would be better than the pathetic kindergarten-sized field that Hardy squeezes next to the staff free parking lot! |
Anonymous
Hardy is a middle school. It really does not need a regulation field. Now if you spend money on improving a middle school for rich elite people(Georgetown and Palisade) and not do it for other schools(east of the park) it would cause problems. |
Anonymous
| Maret parents are the worst. I’m sorry your kid couldn’t get into Sidwell. Sucks to be you. |
Anonymous
Sorry that your kid is stuck with Hardy and can’t go to Alice Deal. Still, Hardy is slightly better than most of the DCPS middle schools, which are just plain crappy. |
Anonymous
OK, so what’s your point then? Why all of the whining that Hardy doesn’t have preferred access to Jelleff’s “regulation” field? |
Anonymous
Deal has a very nice field. 
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Anonymous
The bolded is just wrong. It's DC law, passed by the Council, the at DCPS and Public Charter School programs have priority to use DPR facilities. Under the DPR priority system Maret has absolutely the lowest priority. They don't principally serve DC ("principally" being defined in the DC Code as at least 75%) so they are put behind all other users. Maret "paid substantially for the privilege" for 2009 to 2019. Their ten years are up. That was the deal that Maret willingly and knowingly entered into. For the years 2020-2029 they are paying a pittance. |
Anonymous
"Whining" is a strange way of characterizing objecting that the law is being broken. |
Anonymous
Well, Maret should find out then, don’t you think? It is unseemly that a school full of such affluent families, many of whom live in Va and Md and can afford tuition of over $40,000.00 per year for four to seven to as many as 13 years, should be monopolizing a DC public athletic field during prime practice hours in the spring and fall to the exclusion of DC resident kids from neighborhood schools and in the B&GCGW. That is the issue. |
Anonymous
Hardy parents have no issue with demonizing the Maret community, even though Maret has paid a lot for Jelleff capital improvements and maintenance. But when it come to asking for better quality and facilities from DCPS, including just part of what Deal enjoys, Hardy parents are oddly servile, emasculated and afraid to question DCPS. So sad and pathetic. |