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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Talbott says that Maret is aware of the complaints from public school advocates, and so last year agreed to let Hardy use the turf field from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. “on most Wednesdays.”"

Wowie. How isolated and tone deaf can that woman be? It's laughable.

Maret let’s Stoddert soccer use their home field on the weekends.

I don’t know whether there is a right to extend this agreement or not. But before piling on Maret (and we have no connection to the school at all), Remember that Muray parents and the school ponied up substantial money to renovate Jeleff field. This was at a time when DCPS couldn’t buy toilet paper for the schools, DPR couldn’t cut the grass, and Marion Barry didn’t do much more than blow a crack pipe .

Marion Barry had been out of office for a decade when this deal was first struck. To the extent that Maret paid to renovate the field, that money benefited Maret exclusively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

When DPR signed a “Use Easement and Maintenance Agreement” with the Maret School in 2009, the school was granted full access to the field during high demand hours in exchange for renovating the space — including the attached pool and field. Though Maret students only use the field 17 percent of the time during those peak hours, according to Maret’s Director of Communications Linda Johnson, during a community meeting in May, eleven schools or community partners have expressed interest in access to the field.

“Exclusive rights was not part of the agreement,” said Johnson, noting that DPR is the permitting agency, not Maret. She also highlighted that it was the school’s understanding that if the contract is extended that they will renovate the turf field. Johnson continued, “we are really committed to continue working with the community.”

So Maret renovated the space ten years ago in exchange for using it and now has gotten an extension on its use in exchange for another renovation and paying a rental fee?

Considering that Maret was the only entity that could effectively use the fields for those 10 years (and the subsequent 10 years) it's hard to say that they renovated "in exchange for using it." The renovations benefit Maret alone. If they wanted to benefit the broader public, they'd add lights for use after dark.

What on earth are you talking about? I have been to numerous Stoddert games at Jelleff.

I's my understanding that the arrangement is only for 2-3 or so hours each school day. So 10-15 hours a week. That's hardly the "exclusive use" people keep talking about.

Apparently Maret rents the field to Stoddert for $$, so Maret is still the gatekeeper. And those after-school hours are the hours that are needed by other public entities (the aftercare kids, Hardy, other schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still wondering why the WaPo has written about this? Seems like an important story that is just being ignored.

I think they're trying to find a way to blame Trump for it before reporting on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WaPo can’t and won’t ignore it if Hardy students - and their parents and community members - do a mass sit-in of the Jelleff field during the times Maret has it reserved. I doubt they’d also ignore physical protests by Hardy students - and their parents and community members - outside Maret. Sometimes one needs to organize hard for too-shelf media coverage. Venting on obscure forums doesn’t really qualify as doing much at all.

Anything outside Maret will have little impact. Maret does not care.

More media exposure might help. Protests at the mayor’s office and at Council meetings, maybe. One problem is the people most adversely affected are those who may not be able to organize or attend such actions.

It kills me that the city prioritizes Maret students over the kids at Jelleff. Who needs that field more after school?

The most effective action - both in terms of attracting media coverage and political attention - would be a sit-in led by Hardy students. Otherwise, it will just be the NW white middle-class griping again and we all know that no one in DC government is going to respond to that.

[Anonymous]

That might help but publicizing the impact on the kids in the Boys and Girls Club afterschool program would be even more effective.

Any Washington Post story should highlight the effects on this population and contrast it with the needs of the kids at Maret.

[Anonymous]

Winning elections in DC is a product of black votes and white money. Public schools (and rec centers) in wards 2 and 3 are irrelevant to both. A WaPo article isn’t going to change that, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

1) Had Market not stepped in, Jelleff would have closed.
2) Market shouldn’t get another lease because of what they did back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Talbott says that Maret is aware of the complaints from public school advocates, and so last year agreed to let Hardy use the turf field from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. “on most Wednesdays.”"

Wowie. How isolated and tone deaf can that woman be? It's laughable.

Maret let’s Stoddert soccer use their home field on the weekends.

I don’t know whether there is a right to extend this agreement or not. But before piling on Maret (and we have no connection to the school at all), Remember that Muray parents and the school ponied up substantial money to renovate Jeleff field. This was at a time when DCPS couldn’t buy toilet paper for the schools, DPR couldn’t cut the grass, and Marion Barry didn’t do much more than blow a crack pipe .

Marion Barry had been out of office for a decade when this deal was first struck. To the extent that Maret paid to renovate the field, that money benefited Maret exclusively.

+1 it was 2010, not 1995. In 2010, Adrian Fenty was mayor and the DC finances were 9and still are) the envy of every city in the country. This was nothing but a sell out then and it is even more of a sell out now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What on earth are you talking about? I have been to numerous Stoddert games at Jelleff.

I's my understanding that the arrangement is only for 2-3 or so hours each school day. So 10-15 hours a week. That's hardly the "exclusive use" people keep talking about.

Stoddert has to pay Maret for use of the field.

Do the math, school is in session for most kids from around 8am to 3:30PM. That leaves about 3+ hours each weekday for the field. Maret uses all of those hours. There are, let's call it, 10 hours each weekend day that the field is open. Stoddert rents it from Maret for 10 of those 20 hours. Maret uses it for 5 of those 20 hours which leave about 5 hours for Maret to lease to other groups.

Don't be so obtuse.

[Anonymous]

If Maret had not invested the money in the field, you would have nothing today to fight over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Maret had not invested the money in the field, you would have nothing today to fight over.

10 years ago. It's time to move on and develop a fair and transparent process to determine use of the resources instead of just passing them along again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Maret had not invested the money in the field, you would have nothing today to fight over.

And they got 10 years exclusive use and $ from subletting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Maret had not invested the money in the field, you would have nothing today to fight over.

10 years ago. It's time to move on and develop a fair and transparent process to determine use of the resources instead of just passing them along again.

Maret parent here. Both of the statements above are true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Maret had not invested the money in the field, you would have nothing today to fight over.

What would a 20 year exclusive-use contract for Jelleff go for on the open market?

These types of public-private partnerships are troublesome at all times, but especially:
1) when the public sector in question is flush with cash
2) when the private sector doesn't have to go through an open bidding process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What on earth are you talking about? I have been to numerous Stoddert games at Jelleff.

I's my understanding that the arrangement is only for 2-3 or so hours each school day. So 10-15 hours a week. That's hardly the "exclusive use" people keep talking about.

Stoddert has to pay Maret for use of the field.

Do the math, school is in session for most kids from around 8am to 3:30PM. That leaves about 3+ hours each weekday for the field. Maret uses all of those hours. There are, let's call it, 10 hours each weekend day that the field is open. Stoddert rents it from Maret for 10 of those 20 hours. Maret uses it for 5 of those 20 hours which leave about 5 hours for Maret to lease to other groups.

Don't be so obtuse.

Use of Jelleff is through DPR, not Maret. Maret gets no money from Stoddert for the use of Jelleff field. Don’t be obtuse.