DC Auditor Report on Duke Ellington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read it and weep...

From DCist: http://dcist.com/2016/05/duke_ellington_high_modernization.php

When the renovation of Duke Ellington School for the Arts was proposed in D.C.'s 2012 Capital Improvement Program, estimated costs were set at $71 million. Since then, the price tag of the high school's modernization has ballooned to $178 million, which D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson said is a major problem for the city's school modernization program.

The D.C. Auditor's office released a report today detailing how the Department of General Services failed to provide adequate information to the D.C. Council so that Ellington's modernization plans would be clear and concise from the onset. Instead, DGS has added more money in each year's capital improvement budget until the cost of the school's renovation has more than doubled.

One reason for the price jump is the school's location to remain at the site of the former Western High School at 35th and R streets NW (they are currently being housed at a former elementary school at 11th and Clifton NW while the work is being done). According to the report, a less expensive site was turned down for no given reason. A plan for underground parking has also expanded the cost.
The traditional way to go about building improvements is "design, bid, build," Patterson said in a release. The District's process though, is out of order, she said, pointing out out that although demolition began a year ago, the final cost of the school's construction is up in the air.

This isn't the first time that the auditor pointed out serious flaws in the school modernization procedures. Last year, the agency released another report saying that DGS and DCPS didn't provide basic financial management of taxpayer funds for the projects; they found, for example, nearly $169 million in spending that hadn't been approved. The report came after dozens of school projects were pushed back as a result of cost overruns and the District putting money toward paying off major debt, The Washington Post reported.

The new report gives recommendations to Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to improve the overall process of fixing many of the city's crumbling academic structures.

It also states that students who attend the historic performing arts school have schedules atypical of most DCPS students. Consequently, significant amounts of space will go unused for extended periods of time once the building's upgrades are complete. Therefore, the auditor is also suggesting that DCPS increase the school's enrollment or open up its grounds to other educational programs.



The Report: https://www.scribd.com/doc/314382106/Duke-Ellington-Modernization-Report

Meh. Not an Ellington family, and in fact we have no connection to the school whatsoever. However, if the city is going to spend that much to renovate high schools (and looking at the estimates for Roosevelt, apparently we are) this may not be such a bad deal after all. Ellington is at least recognized as a good school on multiple fronts. (Roosevelt, OTOH, is a blight on the city's educational landscape.) To add insult to injury we the taxpayers are paying in the same 200 million ballpark as any other HS in DC.

Bottom line: it's stupid to have the bidding process we have for construction. Otoh, as long as developers fund the Mayor's campaign coffers, don't expect it to change. In the meantime, as insulting as the Ellington project is, Roosevelt is worse. And the mere thought of doing anything other than shuttering Coolidge immediately is not just a slap in your face, it's also a stick in your eye, a kick in your teeth, and a smack on your ass.

DE has less than 5 percent proficient in math on PARCC. Sure, 1 in 100,000 graduates will become the next Chappelle. What about the rest? I am all in favor of arts programs for disadvantaged kids but... It's like sports programs. They're great to have, but not if kids fail academically. More chance of working at McDonalds than becoming Michael Jordan.

And 50% proficiency in English (compared to 25% for all of DCPS), and 76% graduation rate (compared to 61%). So not all a disaster.

For comparison - all of Wilson has 8% proficiency in math and 50% in English.

Among African Americans Wilson has 2% proficiency in math and 26% proficiency in English.

So you can't really say Ellington is underperforming. It is ALL dismal.

DE is a selective school. Compare it with SWS or Banneker, not Wilson.

I suspect the AAs in either are doing much much better.

[Anonymous]

It's selective about ARTS talent and skills. YOu need a minimum GPA to get in and stay (2.0), but they aren't picking out kids based on academic records.

[Anonymous]

At Banneker, 32% kids perform at level 4 or 5 in Math, and 74% in ELA. 100% graduation rate.

That is a serious school, helping AAs.

[Anonymous]

I am not sure why previous poster was comparing DE as a whole with only AAs at Wilson. Surely not every student at DE is black?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am not sure why previous poster was comparing DE as a whole with only AAs at Wilson. Surely not every student at DE is black?

Ellington

76.5% Black
7.8% White
10.7% Hisp
2.7% Asian

The non-AA cohorts are too small (<25 students per grade) to have their PARCC scores separated out and reported publicly so the data isn't available.

[Anonymous]

I'm an Ellington parent, middle class, EOTP. Our HS options were abysmal and Ellington is doing great things for my DC. Also I see the population they are working with and realize that they are "saving" many many kids. As an example, LGBTQ kids have a safe haven there with the arts program-- Cardozo boys have targeted Ellington boys all year in both swing space locations. The other day four Cardozo males chased an Ellington male student into the school, with a knife, because the boys are perceived as gay due to the arts program. A teacher stood between the Ellington student and the Cardozo students. With a stick. Police intervened.

In other news, the ceiling has fallen in at the swing space arts building (Garnet Patterson) and all arts programming there is done for the year. The kids' instruments, art projects, etc. are all locked inside this literal disaster area-- senior instrumental students did not have a performance at their senior awards dinner because instruments were not available.

The graduation rate is actually in the high 90s and almost all kids go on to a four-year institution. Not every kid is Denyce Graves or Dave Chappelle, but after four years of taking ten classes every semester they are prepared for post-high school life and well-rounded. BTW, their are 550 students and the three kids I know who live outside the district are from Baltimore, McLean and Hyattsville. All of their parents definitely pay tuition. The new building can accommodate more students-- I think the target is something like 650.

Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

The arts are not just an afterthought here-- the kids are in a pre-professional arts setting. This is not the same as "band" at Wilson, or "ceramics" at Walls. They are learning techniques that they would learn in a conservatory or professional arts school. The building should have appropriate studio and rehearsal space. They really wanted a black box theatre, which is appropriate for an exceptional theatre arts program.

I agree with the poster who stated that DC is apparently renovating all the high schools with exorbitant price tags... not just Ellington. If you have driven by the renovated Roosevelt building you will see a gigantic building that was crazy expensive to renovate... but there's NO academic success there. Abysmal graduation rates, low academics, etc. At least at Ellington they successfully educate 550 kids each year (and despite what PPs have written, the vast majority are from DC) and send almost all seniors to colleges or conservatories.

I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

If you read the auditor's report, the price tag and cost explosion is solely on DGS and DCPS, not the Ellington board or community. All the calls for criminal investigations and slandering the school's mission, students and staff and board, sounds very condescending and quite frankly racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an Ellington parent, middle class, EOTP. Our HS options were abysmal and Ellington is doing great things for my DC. Also I see the population they are working with and realize that they are "saving" many many kids. As an example, LGBTQ kids have a safe haven there with the arts program-- Cardozo boys have targeted Ellington boys all year in both swing space locations. The other day four Cardozo males chased an Ellington male student into the school, with a knife, because the boys are perceived as gay due to the arts program. A teacher stood between the Ellington student and the Cardozo students. With a stick. Police intervened.

In other news, the ceiling has fallen in at the swing space arts building (Garnet Patterson) and all arts programming there is done for the year. The kids' instruments, art projects, etc. are all locked inside this literal disaster area-- senior instrumental students did not have a performance at their senior awards dinner because instruments were not available.

The graduation rate is actually in the high 90s and almost all kids go on to a four-year institution. Not every kid is Denyce Graves or Dave Chappelle, but after four years of taking ten classes every semester they are prepared for post-high school life and well-rounded. BTW, their are 550 students and the three kids I know who live outside the district are from Baltimore, McLean and Hyattsville. All of their parents definitely pay tuition. The new building can accommodate more students-- I think the target is something like 650.

Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

The arts are not just an afterthought here-- the kids are in a pre-professional arts setting. This is not the same as "band" at Wilson, or "ceramics" at Walls. They are learning techniques that they would learn in a conservatory or professional arts school. The building should have appropriate studio and rehearsal space. They really wanted a black box theatre, which is appropriate for an exceptional theatre arts program.

I agree with the poster who stated that DC is apparently renovating all the high schools with exorbitant price tags... not just Ellington. If you have driven by the renovated Roosevelt building you will see a gigantic building that was crazy expensive to renovate... but there's NO academic success there. Abysmal graduation rates, low academics, etc. At least at Ellington they successfully educate 550 kids each year (and despite what PPs have written, the vast majority are from DC) and send almost all seniors to colleges or conservatories.

I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

If you read the auditor's report, the price tag and cost explosion is solely on DGS and DCPS, not the Ellington board or community. All the calls for criminal investigations and slandering the school's mission, students and staff and board, sounds very condescending and quite frankly racist.

Your trashing of Roosevelt, which is not a selective high school and serves a far more challenging population sounds very condescending and classist, if not racist. At least Roosevelt has accountability through elected officials.

But hey, I'll throw you a bone. You have changed my position:
I now denounce our Mayor(s) and Council for ridiculous and wasteful spending on all of our high schools, to the detriment of the rest of the schools that have not yet been renovated.

Happy now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an Ellington parent, middle class, EOTP. Our HS options were abysmal and Ellington is doing great things for my DC. Also I see the population they are working with and realize that they are "saving" many many kids. As an example, LGBTQ kids have a safe haven there with the arts program-- Cardozo boys have targeted Ellington boys all year in both swing space locations. The other day four Cardozo males chased an Ellington male student into the school, with a knife, because the boys are perceived as gay due to the arts program. A teacher stood between the Ellington student and the Cardozo students. With a stick. Police intervened.

In other news, the ceiling has fallen in at the swing space arts building (Garnet Patterson) and all arts programming there is done for the year. The kids' instruments, art projects, etc. are all locked inside this literal disaster area-- senior instrumental students did not have a performance at their senior awards dinner because instruments were not available.

The graduation rate is actually in the high 90s and almost all kids go on to a four-year institution. Not every kid is Denyce Graves or Dave Chappelle, but after four years of taking ten classes every semester they are prepared for post-high school life and well-rounded. BTW, their are 550 students and the three kids I know who live outside the district are from Baltimore, McLean and Hyattsville. All of their parents definitely pay tuition. The new building can accommodate more students-- I think the target is something like 650.

Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

The arts are not just an afterthought here-- the kids are in a pre-professional arts setting. This is not the same as "band" at Wilson, or "ceramics" at Walls. They are learning techniques that they would learn in a conservatory or professional arts school. The building should have appropriate studio and rehearsal space. They really wanted a black box theatre, which is appropriate for an exceptional theatre arts program.

I agree with the poster who stated that DC is apparently renovating all the high schools with exorbitant price tags... not just Ellington. If you have driven by the renovated Roosevelt building you will see a gigantic building that was crazy expensive to renovate... but there's NO academic success there. Abysmal graduation rates, low academics, etc. At least at Ellington they successfully educate 550 kids each year (and despite what PPs have written, the vast majority are from DC) and send almost all seniors to colleges or conservatories.

I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

If you read the auditor's report, the price tag and cost explosion is solely on DGS and DCPS, not the Ellington board or community. All the calls for criminal investigations and slandering the school's mission, students and staff and board, sounds very condescending and quite frankly racist.

Your trashing of Roosevelt, which is not a selective high school and serves a far more challenging population sounds very condescending and classist, if not racist. At least Roosevelt has accountability through elected officials.

But hey, I'll throw you a bone. You have changed my position:
I now denounce our Mayor(s) and Council for ridiculous and wasteful spending on all of our high schools, to the detriment of the rest of the schools that have not yet been renovated.

Happy now?

+1.

What's the history with Roosevelt's renovation? Has it also gone $100 million over budget?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an Ellington parent, middle class, EOTP. Our HS options were abysmal and Ellington is doing great things for my DC. Also I see the population they are working with and realize that they are "saving" many many kids. As an example, LGBTQ kids have a safe haven there with the arts program-- Cardozo boys have targeted Ellington boys all year in both swing space locations. The other day four Cardozo males chased an Ellington male student into the school, with a knife, because the boys are perceived as gay due to the arts program. A teacher stood between the Ellington student and the Cardozo students. With a stick. Police intervened.

In other news, the ceiling has fallen in at the swing space arts building (Garnet Patterson) and all arts programming there is done for the year. The kids' instruments, art projects, etc. are all locked inside this literal disaster area-- senior instrumental students did not have a performance at their senior awards dinner because instruments were not available.

The graduation rate is actually in the high 90s and almost all kids go on to a four-year institution. Not every kid is Denyce Graves or Dave Chappelle, but after four years of taking ten classes every semester they are prepared for post-high school life and well-rounded. BTW, their are 550 students and the three kids I know who live outside the district are from Baltimore, McLean and Hyattsville. All of their parents definitely pay tuition. The new building can accommodate more students-- I think the target is something like 650.

Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

The arts are not just an afterthought here-- the kids are in a pre-professional arts setting. This is not the same as "band" at Wilson, or "ceramics" at Walls. They are learning techniques that they would learn in a conservatory or professional arts school. The building should have appropriate studio and rehearsal space. They really wanted a black box theatre, which is appropriate for an exceptional theatre arts program.

I agree with the poster who stated that DC is apparently renovating all the high schools with exorbitant price tags... not just Ellington. If you have driven by the renovated Roosevelt building you will see a gigantic building that was crazy expensive to renovate... but there's NO academic success there. Abysmal graduation rates, low academics, etc. At least at Ellington they successfully educate 550 kids each year (and despite what PPs have written, the vast majority are from DC) and send almost all seniors to colleges or conservatories.

I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

If you read the auditor's report, the price tag and cost explosion is solely on DGS and DCPS, not the Ellington board or community. All the calls for criminal investigations and slandering the school's mission, students and staff and board, sounds very condescending and quite frankly racist.

Your trashing of Roosevelt, which is not a selective high school and serves a far more challenging population sounds very condescending and classist, if not racist. At least Roosevelt has accountability through elected officials.

But hey, I'll throw you a bone. You have changed my position:
I now denounce our Mayor(s) and Council for ridiculous and wasteful spending on all of our high schools, to the detriment of the rest of the schools that have not yet been renovated.

Happy now?

+1.

What's the history with Roosevelt's renovation? Has it also gone $100 million over budget?

I don't know the initial budget, but I think it was also expensive - over $100 million total.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an Ellington parent, middle class, EOTP. Our HS options were abysmal and Ellington is doing great things for my DC. Also I see the population they are working with and realize that they are "saving" many many kids. As an example, LGBTQ kids have a safe haven there with the arts program-- Cardozo boys have targeted Ellington boys all year in both swing space locations. The other day four Cardozo males chased an Ellington male student into the school, with a knife, because the boys are perceived as gay due to the arts program. A teacher stood between the Ellington student and the Cardozo students. With a stick. Police intervened.

In other news, the ceiling has fallen in at the swing space arts building (Garnet Patterson) and all arts programming there is done for the year. The kids' instruments, art projects, etc. are all locked inside this literal disaster area-- senior instrumental students did not have a performance at their senior awards dinner because instruments were not available.

The graduation rate is actually in the high 90s and almost all kids go on to a four-year institution. Not every kid is Denyce Graves or Dave Chappelle, but after four years of taking ten classes every semester they are prepared for post-high school life and well-rounded. BTW, their are 550 students and the three kids I know who live outside the district are from Baltimore, McLean and Hyattsville. All of their parents definitely pay tuition. The new building can accommodate more students-- I think the target is something like 650.

Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

The arts are not just an afterthought here-- the kids are in a pre-professional arts setting. This is not the same as "band" at Wilson, or "ceramics" at Walls. They are learning techniques that they would learn in a conservatory or professional arts school. The building should have appropriate studio and rehearsal space. They really wanted a black box theatre, which is appropriate for an exceptional theatre arts program.

I agree with the poster who stated that DC is apparently renovating all the high schools with exorbitant price tags... not just Ellington. If you have driven by the renovated Roosevelt building you will see a gigantic building that was crazy expensive to renovate... but there's NO academic success there. Abysmal graduation rates, low academics, etc. At least at Ellington they successfully educate 550 kids each year (and despite what PPs have written, the vast majority are from DC) and send almost all seniors to colleges or conservatories.

I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

If you read the auditor's report, the price tag and cost explosion is solely on DGS and DCPS, not the Ellington board or community. All the calls for criminal investigations and slandering the school's mission, students and staff and board, sounds very condescending and quite frankly racist.

Your trashing of Roosevelt, which is not a selective high school and serves a far more challenging population sounds very condescending and classist, if not racist. At least Roosevelt has accountability through elected officials.

But hey, I'll throw you a bone. You have changed my position:
I now denounce our Mayor(s) and Council for ridiculous and wasteful spending on all of our high schools, to the detriment of the rest of the schools that have not yet been renovated.

Happy now?

+1.

What's the history with Roosevelt's renovation? Has it also gone $100 million over budget?

I don't know the initial budget, but I think it was also expensive - over $100 million total.

Total cost: $136 million, to accommodate 1,100 students
http://www.petworthnews.org/blog/new-roosevelt-long-overdue-renovation

Incidentally, 99% of the people in the pics appear to the black. Perhaps the Roosevelt-trashing DE parent is the most condescending and racist person in this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an Ellington parent, middle class, EOTP. Our HS options were abysmal and Ellington is doing great things for my DC. Also I see the population they are working with and realize that they are "saving" many many kids. As an example, LGBTQ kids have a safe haven there with the arts program-- Cardozo boys have targeted Ellington boys all year in both swing space locations. The other day four Cardozo males chased an Ellington male student into the school, with a knife, because the boys are perceived as gay due to the arts program. A teacher stood between the Ellington student and the Cardozo students. With a stick. Police intervened.

In other news, the ceiling has fallen in at the swing space arts building (Garnet Patterson) and all arts programming there is done for the year. The kids' instruments, art projects, etc. are all locked inside this literal disaster area-- senior instrumental students did not have a performance at their senior awards dinner because instruments were not available.

The graduation rate is actually in the high 90s and almost all kids go on to a four-year institution. Not every kid is Denyce Graves or Dave Chappelle, but after four years of taking ten classes every semester they are prepared for post-high school life and well-rounded. BTW, their are 550 students and the three kids I know who live outside the district are from Baltimore, McLean and Hyattsville. All of their parents definitely pay tuition. The new building can accommodate more students-- I think the target is something like 650.

Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

The arts are not just an afterthought here-- the kids are in a pre-professional arts setting. This is not the same as "band" at Wilson, or "ceramics" at Walls. They are learning techniques that they would learn in a conservatory or professional arts school. The building should have appropriate studio and rehearsal space. They really wanted a black box theatre, which is appropriate for an exceptional theatre arts program.

I agree with the poster who stated that DC is apparently renovating all the high schools with exorbitant price tags... not just Ellington. If you have driven by the renovated Roosevelt building you will see a gigantic building that was crazy expensive to renovate... but there's NO academic success there. Abysmal graduation rates, low academics, etc. At least at Ellington they successfully educate 550 kids each year (and despite what PPs have written, the vast majority are from DC) and send almost all seniors to colleges or conservatories.

I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

If you read the auditor's report, the price tag and cost explosion is solely on DGS and DCPS, not the Ellington board or community. All the calls for criminal investigations and slandering the school's mission, students and staff and board, sounds very condescending and quite frankly racist.

Your trashing of Roosevelt, which is not a selective high school and serves a far more challenging population sounds very condescending and classist, if not racist. At least Roosevelt has accountability through elected officials.

But hey, I'll throw you a bone. You have changed my position:
I now denounce our Mayor(s) and Council for ridiculous and wasteful spending on all of our high schools, to the detriment of the rest of the schools that have not yet been renovated.

Happy now?

+1.

What's the history with Roosevelt's renovation? Has it also gone $100 million over budget?

I don't know the initial budget, but I think it was also expensive - over $100 million total.

For the cost of DE and a few other palaces they could have completed Phase I modernizations across the board. The Council has no appetite for big ticket projects but the $ could have been distributed in meaningful ways to ensure things like safe, comfortable and functioning facilities, real ADA compliance, necessary safety measures. Instead of cadillacing all these projects they could just do what's right and do it in an equitable way.

If DE has so many powerful backers why can't they find their own funding source? Maybe it's time DE went independent. DCPS could just sell the entire building and be done with it. They could just reinforce arts education at the other high schools (some of which are already ok).

[Anonymous]

I agree with 10:29 and 11:05.

The city got it into its collective heads that these very expensive Cadillac projects would 'change culture.' They WANTED over the top projects, as if that would affect student performance.

See this excerpt from Washington Business Journal article from 2014. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2014/05/02/forget-facelifts-architects-are-giving-d-cpublic.html

"As this ambitious campaign proceeds, some noteworthy architecture is emerging to accommodate the newest approaches to K-12 education. These new schools reflect a more fluid, dynamic and campus-style approach to learning than the rigid “cells and bells” approach of the past.

Overseeing the building improvements is architect Brian Hanlon, who was appointed director of the District Department of General Services in 2011. He is trying to raise the level of public school design and construction in much the same way that the D.C. public libraries have recast their buildings.

But Hanlon is more interested in certified business enterprises than starchitects. He is relying on design-build partnerships to speed construction and guarantee costs and has awarded multiple school projects to the same firms, throwing into question his pursuit of innovation.

Nevertheless, Hanlon insists, “We are pushing the envelope of design to change the culture.” That effort is clearly being made at some of the newer D.C. school projects, as evident from my recent tours of Ballou High School, now being constructed in Southeast’s Congress Heights neighborhood, and Dunbar High School, opened last year in the Truxton Circle section of Northwest.

The gutsy design for Ballou, created by D.C.-based Bowie-Gridley Architects and Perkins and Will, is rising on a hillside next to the dilapidated 1950s school where classes are now held. Once the complex opens in 2015, the old school will be torn down to make way for new athletic fields and a stadium."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I understand why Ellington's parents and faculty wanted to return to R street-- they had been in a non-renovated shabby old building for 40 years. Peeling paint, faded torn carpets, old dark studios in the basement, warped flooring, old tattered auditorium. Finally they get a renovation... and suddenly developers and Georgetown residents want the building back. The location isn't great for my family but I do understand it.

This line of reasoning drives me crazy. No one in the building has been there for 40 years. Some one else's suffering didn't earn you anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Once the building is finished they plan on using it to the maximum extent possible-- opening it to the public for weekend and night classes and programs. They will partner with other schools and arts programs and community organizations. Which is why neighbors insisted on underground parking.

Using the building to the maximum extent possible would mean having 1000+ students, all DC residents. I don't think that's in the plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has the post done an article on this ? I know the dc current had an article. really feel like something needs to be done...

I am 100 percent sure it's coming.

Hopefully.