DCPS students shafted again - sign petition to keep Jelleff field public

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Evans backed the deal between Maret and the District, in which the private school has rights to its turf field for the next decade in exchange for spending nearly $1 million on improvements. The arrangement is in effect at peak hours on school days, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the fall and spring.

https://thedcline.org/2019/12/18/following-jelleff-fight-burleith-bristles-over-districts-plans-to-upgrade-a-nearby-field-to-regulation-size/

Peak Hours??? 3:30-5:30 pm. Looks like Hardy can use the field during school. Lots of false info being spread by the Hardy crowd.

They all have a chip of their shoulder because Hardy will never be Deal.

Maret has a chip on its shoulder because it doesn’t like people pointing out that it can’t afford a field of its own like the top tier DC private schools can.

How about Maret practice at Ellington then! (and convert their own parking lot to a baseball field also) Or find a less privileged neighborhood they can go buy out ... since that seems to be their strategy (now that the area around Jellef is aware of the deal & pushing back)...

The area around Jelleff has a name: Georgetown and Burleith. But most of the Hardy crowd wouldn’t care to even know that. To them it just “Dee-Cee’”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Evans backed the deal between Maret and the District, in which the private school has rights to its turf field for the next decade in exchange for spending nearly $1 million on improvements. The arrangement is in effect at peak hours on school days, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the fall and spring.

https://thedcline.org/2019/12/18/following-jelleff-fight-burleith-bristles-over-districts-plans-to-upgrade-a-nearby-field-to-regulation-size/

Peak Hours??? 3:30-5:30 pm. Looks like Hardy can use the field during school. Lots of false info being spread by the Hardy crowd.

They all have a chip of their shoulder because Hardy will never be Deal.

Maret has a chip on its shoulder because it doesn’t like people pointing out that it can’t afford a field of its own like the top tier DC private schools can.

How about Maret practice at Ellington then! (and convert their own parking lot to a baseball field also) Or find a less privileged neighborhood they can go buy out ... since that seems to be their strategy (now that the area around Jellef is aware of the deal & pushing back)...

Yeah, why not ? Maret then could pay to renovate a second major DC asset because the District’s leaders are wasting the tax money instead on crony consultants and sham 8a contracts.

Why don’t you talk to Maret parent (and soon to be indicted councilman) Jack Evans? He will be the first to tell you that DC is flush with catch and doesn’t need the 95k/year that Maret is paying for exclusive access to a facility Dc taxpayers spent $15 million on more than a decade ago. And we all know Maret can’t afford to pay for renovation of anything these days. If they could afford it, they would have moved their parking lot underground to create more field space like Sidwell did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Evans backed the deal between Maret and the District, in which the private school has rights to its turf field for the next decade in exchange for spending nearly $1 million on improvements. The arrangement is in effect at peak hours on school days, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the fall and spring.

https://thedcline.org/2019/12/18/following-jelleff-fight-burleith-bristles-over-districts-plans-to-upgrade-a-nearby-field-to-regulation-size/

Peak Hours??? 3:30-5:30 pm. Looks like Hardy can use the field during school. Lots of false info being spread by the Hardy crowd.

They all have a chip of their shoulder because Hardy will never be Deal.

Maret has a chip on its shoulder because it doesn’t like people pointing out that it can’t afford a field of its own like the top tier DC private schools can.

How about Maret practice at Ellington then! (and convert their own parking lot to a baseball field also) Or find a less privileged neighborhood they can go buy out ... since that seems to be their strategy (now that the area around Jellef is aware of the deal & pushing back)...

Yeah, why not ? Maret then could pay to renovate a second major DC asset because the District’s leaders are wasting the tax money instead on crony consultants and sham 8a contracts.

Why don’t you talk to Maret parent (and soon to be indicted councilman) Jack Evans? He will be the first to tell you that DC is flush with catch and doesn’t need the 95k/year that Maret is paying for exclusive access to a facility Dc taxpayers spent $15 million on more than a decade ago. And we all know Maret can’t afford to pay for renovation of anything these days. If they could afford it, they would have moved their parking lot underground to create more field space like Sidwell did.

If DC is so flush with cash, then why do Hardy boosters deflect that a field at Hardy or even a renovated Ellington Field for Hardy are impossibilities?

[Anonymous]

Maret tries to style this as solely a Maret/Hardy issue and seeks to deflect and distract by pulling in arguments about Ellington that are not relevant to use of Jelleff. The fact is that this issue goes well beyond. Ten parties representing DC resident students from across the city are interested in sharing the most desirable hours of playing time at Jelleff. These kids include the members of the BGCGW which serves kids who need a safe place to hang out with friends and play after school. The BGCGW isn’t expensive and they don’t turn away kids who can’t pay. Maret may ‘win’ on legal grounds but they haven’t a moral leg to stand on and should be ashamed of their selfish ways.

[Anonymous]

If BGCGW participants need field time and most participants (being lower income) come to the after school from some distance to Georgetown, wouldn’t it make sense to move the program to a more available facility closer to where more of the participants live or go to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maret tries to style this as solely a Maret/Hardy issue and seeks to deflect and distract by pulling in arguments about Ellington that are not relevant to use of Jelleff. The fact is that this issue goes well beyond. Ten parties representing DC resident students from across the city are interested in sharing the most desirable hours of playing time at Jelleff. These kids include the members of the BGCGW which serves kids who need a safe place to hang out with friends and play after school. The BGCGW isn’t expensive and they don’t turn away kids who can’t pay. Maret may ‘win’ on legal grounds but they haven’t a moral leg to stand on and should be ashamed of their selfish ways.

Maret is proof that what's legal isn't always what's moral. Or maybe their deal will turn out to be not quite legal once the federal investigation into Jack Evan's deals is concluded. In the meantime, 8 public schools and the BGCGW hope that somehow this deal will be overturned so they can use a public park that should be open to the public, not just rich kids whose parents know how to grease the wheels of city government.

[Anonymous]

Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Why can't Maret build its own field? It has $40K/year in student tuition payments. Is there some financial mismanagement at Maret that you're hinting at such that they can't pay for or rent a private field like other DC private schools in the area? If so, please name names. The public school children of Eaton, Hardy, Hyde-Addison, Mann, Stoddert and the Boys and Girls Club of Washington will thank you for getting them their field back from Maret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

Maret has a field for K-12. Unfortunately they have no room for a second field and can’t level out and turf the front lawn because the mansion house is a national historic landmark. C

[Anonymous]

Ugh, this article. Someone should ask Celina Gerbic if she wants some cheese to go with that whine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-a-fight-over-a-city-athletic-field-turned-into-a-woke-off-of-washingtons-well-off/2019/12/06/fc2d14dc-07c9-11ea-818c-fcc65139e8c2_story.html
Jelleff Recreation Center doesn’t exactly look like a hub of neighborhood controversy. Owned by the D.C. government and operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, it’s a slightly run-down facility tucked off Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown near a Safeway. An outdoor mural features a vibrant rainbow evoking an Eric Carle illustration, painted above the words “Bringing People Together.”

But lately this place is tearing people apart. Celina Gerbic, a Dupont Circle resident whose 16-year-old son plays soccer on Jelleff’s athletic field, has begun to worry that she could be physically assaulted on the premises. “You feel that way,” she told me, “because of the vehemence and vitriol.”

The cause of all these bad feelings is the city’s recent extension of a controversial agreement giving exclusive prime-time field hours at Jelleff to the Maret School, the elite private school in Woodley Park that Gerbic’s son attends. The District originally struck this bargain after the 2008 recession, when city budgets were tight and the field desperately needed repair. Maret invested $2.4 million for artificial turf, field lights and a pool on the property. In exchange, its student athletes were guaranteed use of a regulation field — where you can also play baseball and lacrosse — between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. on weekdays during the academic year. Though Maret has an athletic field on its grounds, the school says it’s not sufficient space for all its athletes.

Trouble is, there’s another school — a public one — right across the street from Jelleff. And Hardy Middle School has no playing field at all. Its student athletes are currently forced to travel long distances, sometimes up to an hour away, to find a field for their “home games.” And so there are those who think the Department of Parks and Recreation’s July decision to renew the pact with Maret until 2029 — with the school pledging to fund an additional $950,000 in improvements — wasn’t quite fair, especially now that D.C. government finances have improved. Over the past few months, more than 2,700 people have signed a Change.org petition condemning the move, arguing that a private school with a $34 million endowment shouldn’t monopolize public space at in-demand times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

Maret has a field for K-12. Unfortunately they have no room for a second field and can’t level out and turf the front lawn because the mansion house is a national historic landmark. C

So what? They could buy or rent a private piece of land nearby. Or move their parking lot underground like Sidwell did. Or move campuses altogether like GDS and Sidwell have done, when their prior campuses proved insufficient. Maret's inability to do any of this just shows it's a third rate private school with poor planning and administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, this article. Someone should ask Celina Gerbic if she wants some cheese to go with that whine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-a-fight-over-a-city-athletic-field-turned-into-a-woke-off-of-washingtons-well-off/2019/12/06/fc2d14dc-07c9-11ea-818c-fcc65139e8c2_story.html
Jelleff Recreation Center doesn’t exactly look like a hub of neighborhood controversy. Owned by the D.C. government and operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, it’s a slightly run-down facility tucked off Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown near a Safeway. An outdoor mural features a vibrant rainbow evoking an Eric Carle illustration, painted above the words “Bringing People Together.”

But lately this place is tearing people apart. Celina Gerbic, a Dupont Circle resident whose 16-year-old son plays soccer on Jelleff’s athletic field, has begun to worry that she could be physically assaulted on the premises. “You feel that way,” she told me, “because of the vehemence and vitriol.”

The cause of all these bad feelings is the city’s recent extension of a controversial agreement giving exclusive prime-time field hours at Jelleff to the Maret School, the elite private school in Woodley Park that Gerbic’s son attends. The District originally struck this bargain after the 2008 recession, when city budgets were tight and the field desperately needed repair. Maret invested $2.4 million for artificial turf, field lights and a pool on the property. In exchange, its student athletes were guaranteed use of a regulation field — where you can also play baseball and lacrosse — between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. on weekdays during the academic year. Though Maret has an athletic field on its grounds, the school says it’s not sufficient space for all its athletes.

Trouble is, there’s another school — a public one — right across the street from Jelleff. And Hardy Middle School has no playing field at all. Its student athletes are currently forced to travel long distances, sometimes up to an hour away, to find a field for their “home games.” And so there are those who think the Department of Parks and Recreation’s July decision to renew the pact with Maret until 2029 — with the school pledging to fund an additional $950,000 in improvements — wasn’t quite fair, especially now that D.C. government finances have improved. Over the past few months, more than 2,700 people have signed a Change.org petition condemning the move, arguing that a private school with a $34 million endowment shouldn’t monopolize public space at in-demand times.

Someone points out in the Washington Post comments that "concerned parent" Celina Gerbic is actually a development director for a private preschool that feeds to Maret (although the post doesn't identify her as such). It's a pretty poorly reported story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

Maret has a field for K-12. Unfortunately they have no room for a second field and can’t level out and turf the front lawn because the mansion house is a national historic landmark. C

So what? They could buy or rent a private piece of land nearby. Or move their parking lot underground like Sidwell did. Or move campuses altogether like GDS and Sidwell have done, when their prior campuses proved insufficient. Maret's inability to do any of this just shows it's a third rate private school with poor planning and administration.

If I were associated with Hardy, I’d think twice before tossing around pejoratives like “third rate school.” No one from Upper Northwest Washington, given a free choice between Hardy and Deal, would choose Hardy. DC has had to resort to compelling more Northwest kids to go to Hardy by gerrymandering the boundaries. Hardy’s prime distinction is that it is better than some other DC middle schools that are truly awful. It’s sad the way that Hardy still seems stuck in the Eighties or Nineties with its uniforms, a fad from that era that unruly urban schools embraced in an attempt to instill discipline, along with midnight basketball. Jelleff may still be available if Hardy wants to run a midnight hoops game. Maret probably would graciously step aside at that hour.