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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell, Georgetown Day School, St. Andrews, and Potomac also benefit as this is where they play for Maret home games.

I think that's a bit of a stretch. The games would still be played, just at a different location. If you're getting the team on the bus anyway I doubt it makes much difference where the bus goes.

Thank you! So the answer is Maret uses the fields available in its own league! Hey, maybe they can even pay St. Albans/NCS for to use their fields. Those are much closer to Maret. Save gas, save time, save the planet!

+1 This is the logical solution. But Maret would clearly rather grift off of DC taxpayers, thanks to the councilmembers *cough Jack Evans* who sent their kids to Maret and were happy giving away taxpayer property for a song.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I’m a maret parent and I’m going to post then never come back because I’m too scared of DCUM to face the vitriol.

I just wanted to remind everyone who’s really angry about this situation that the kids (and most parents) had/have no idea about the deal, what really happened behind closed doors, what happened out in the open, or anything else to do with fields.

As a parent of a lower schooler, i would have no reason to know anything about sports fields or games. I also had no idea where the older kids play sports, how they get there, who else could use those fields or why we don’t buy our own fields or find closer fields.

Students k-6 don’t play any team sports. Kids 7-8th grade must do team sports and some sports require fields so at that point you might know maret uses Jelleff fields but not how often they’re used, how much it cost or who else wanted those fields. Then in the upper school, there’s more choice again and there could be kids who never step foot on Jelleff fields in all 4 years.

I’d just like to remind everyone that the people who created this situation are the heads of several organizations, not the kids or parents who might (or might not) show up at Jelleff in the future. Please remember to save your anger and protesting and any loogies (sp?) you may want to hawk for the people who made these decision and/or can affect these decisions. Your average parent or student only knows what’s going on because of the petition and press, and our opinions on how the school should be run are typically not very important to anyone.

You think you have less power than public school parents?

+1 Maret is a small school. If the administration faced pushback from Maret parents who insisted that Maret demonstrate the social values it purports to teach their children, this deal would never been pushed through in this untransparent way. But presumably most Maret parents are like the PP, and throw up their hands innocently, while refusing to take responsibility for being complicit.

+1 million. And since this dialogue is taking place on the DCPS board of DCUM rather than on the Metropolitan Politics or Private School boards, people like the PP can continue to hide their heads in the sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I’m a maret parent and I’m going to post then never come back because I’m too scared of DCUM to face the vitriol.

I just wanted to remind everyone who’s really angry about this situation that the kids (and most parents) had/have no idea about the deal, what really happened behind closed doors, what happened out in the open, or anything else to do with fields.

As a parent of a lower schooler, i would have no reason to know anything about sports fields or games. I also had no idea where the older kids play sports, how they get there, who else could use those fields or why we don’t buy our own fields or find closer fields.

Students k-6 don’t play any team sports. Kids 7-8th grade must do team sports and some sports require fields so at that point you might know maret uses Jelleff fields but not how often they’re used, how much it cost or who else wanted those fields. Then in the upper school, there’s more choice again and there could be kids who never step foot on Jelleff fields in all 4 years.

I’d just like to remind everyone that the people who created this situation are the heads of several organizations, not the kids or parents who might (or might not) show up at Jelleff in the future. Please remember to save your anger and protesting and any loogies (sp?) you may want to hawk for the people who made these decision and/or can affect these decisions. Your average parent or student only knows what’s going on because of the petition and press, and our opinions on how the school should be run are typically not very important to anyone.

You think you have less power than public school parents?

+1 Maret is a small school. If the administration faced pushback from Maret parents who insisted that Maret demonstrate the social values it purports to teach their children, this deal would never been pushed through in this untransparent way. But presumably most Maret parents are like the PP, and throw up their hands innocently, while refusing to take responsibility for being complicit.

+1 million. And since this dialogue is taking place on the DCPS board of DCUM rather than on the Metropolitan Politics or Private School boards, people like the PP can continue to hide their heads in the sand.

Yes, the Maret parents who don't have access to the Washington Post or other local media that have covered this situation (Georgetowner magazine, DCist, Deadspin) can hide their heads in the sand. But they know. Even if they try to pretend they don't know.

[Anonymous]

Not that a petition means much unless Bowser and co decide to reverse the deal, but there's been a lot more new signatures on the petition. 1500 people signed so far. Bad press is the only thing that keeps DC from doing stupid things.
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-bowser-private-schools-should-not-have-exclusive-rights-to-public-fields-makejelleffpublic?recruiter=1000133193&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&utm_term=share_petition&recruited_by_id=80a548f0-c78e-11e9-be24-7db67d90b55a&share_bandit_exp=abi-17484774-en-US&share_bandit_var=v0

[Anonymous]

I agree with a sit in on the field at home games. I’d be willing to participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I’m a maret parent and I’m going to post then never come back because I’m too scared of DCUM to face the vitriol.

I just wanted to remind everyone who’s really angry about this situation that the kids (and most parents) had/have no idea about the deal, what really happened behind closed doors, what happened out in the open, or anything else to do with fields.

As a parent of a lower schooler, i would have no reason to know anything about sports fields or games. I also had no idea where the older kids play sports, how they get there, who else could use those fields or why we don’t buy our own fields or find closer fields.

Students k-6 don’t play any team sports. Kids 7-8th grade must do team sports and some sports require fields so at that point you might know maret uses Jelleff fields but not how often they’re used, how much it cost or who else wanted those fields. Then in the upper school, there’s more choice again and there could be kids who never step foot on Jelleff fields in all 4 years.

I’d just like to remind everyone that the people who created this situation are the heads of several organizations, not the kids or parents who might (or might not) show up at Jelleff in the future. Please remember to save your anger and protesting and any loogies (sp?) you may want to hawk for the people who made these decision and/or can affect these decisions. Your average parent or student only knows what’s going on because of the petition and press, and our opinions on how the school should be run are typically not very important to anyone.

You think you have less power than public school parents?

+1 Maret is a small school. If the administration faced pushback from Maret parents who insisted that Maret demonstrate the social values it purports to teach their children, this deal would never been pushed through in this untransparent way. But presumably most Maret parents are like the PP, and throw up their hands innocently, while refusing to take responsibility for being complicit.

In other words, the PP would like to eat steak but doesn't care to see the cow slaughtered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I’m a maret parent and I’m going to post then never come back because I’m too scared of DCUM to face the vitriol.

I just wanted to remind everyone who’s really angry about this situation that the kids (and most parents) had/have no idea about the deal, what really happened behind closed doors, what happened out in the open, or anything else to do with fields.

As a parent of a lower schooler, i would have no reason to know anything about sports fields or games. I also had no idea where the older kids play sports, how they get there, who else could use those fields or why we don’t buy our own fields or find closer fields.

Students k-6 don’t play any team sports. Kids 7-8th grade must do team sports and some sports require fields so at that point you might know maret uses Jelleff fields but not how often they’re used, how much it cost or who else wanted those fields. Then in the upper school, there’s more choice again and there could be kids who never step foot on Jelleff fields in all 4 years.

I’d just like to remind everyone that the people who created this situation are the heads of several organizations, not the kids or parents who might (or might not) show up at Jelleff in the future. Please remember to save your anger and protesting and any loogies (sp?) you may want to hawk for the people who made these decision and/or can affect these decisions. Your average parent or student only knows what’s going on because of the petition and press, and our opinions on how the school should be run are typically not very important to anyone.

You think you have less power than public school parents?

+1 Maret is a small school. If the administration faced pushback from Maret parents who insisted that Maret demonstrate the social values it purports to teach their children, this deal would never been pushed through in this untransparent way. But presumably most Maret parents are like the PP, and throw up their hands innocently, while refusing to take responsibility for being complicit.

In other words, the PP would like to eat steak but doesn't care to see the cow slaughtered.

Or to keep on with the cow metaphors--why would Maret buy the cow when it can milk DC and get the fields for (nearly) free?

[Anonymous]

How many signatures will the petition need before Bowser is forced to respond? 1500 is a lot but so far only one council member has offered support

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many signatures will the petition need before Bowser is forced to respond? 1500 is a lot but so far only one council member has offered support

No politician cares about a random online petition. They care when they hear from substantial numbers of:

1. People.who give them donations, or can influence those who give major donations (clergy, etc)

2. Voters who make up.an important part of the politician's support.

Think its pretty obvious almost no one in group 1 cares about this. And thus far, haven't seen much evidence that those who have supported the mayor in the past have been part of those protesting. If you voted for Silverman you probably didn't vote for Bowser. So she really doesn't care about mollifying you. Now if you can convince your friends who voted for her....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many signatures will the petition need before Bowser is forced to respond? 1500 is a lot but so far only one council member has offered support

No politician cares about a random online petition. They care when they hear from substantial numbers of:

1. People.who give them donations, or can influence those who give major donations (clergy, etc)

2. Voters who make up.an important part of the politician's support.

Think its pretty obvious almost no one in group 1 cares about this. And thus far, haven't seen much evidence that those who have supported the mayor in the past have been part of those protesting. If you voted for Silverman you probably didn't vote for Bowser. So she really doesn't care about mollifying you. Now if you can convince your friends who voted for her....

And there’s also the small matter of the Old Hardy building in Foxhall. The mayor has been asking the council to permit renewal of LAB School’s 20 year lease, despite the fact that Key ES has its entire 5th grade in trailers (see kohp.org for more). So she seems to be down with giving away public resources to rich private schools. I can’t see her saying anything until every news station in the city is covering this. That will take a sit-in or something similar.

[Anonymous]

It’s sad because although most people get that this deal is not in the best interest of the DC taxpayer, Bowser doesn’t seem to care. And that WaPo article was so poorly written and lacking in critical tonight...”well, the head of Maret says everyone is in favor of this deal” that I don’t have much faith in journalism shining the light on this corrupt deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many signatures will the petition need before Bowser is forced to respond? 1500 is a lot but so far only one council member has offered support

No politician cares about a random online petition. They care when they hear from substantial numbers of:

1. People.who give them donations, or can influence those who give major donations (clergy, etc)

2. Voters who make up.an important part of the politician's support.

Think its pretty obvious almost no one in group 1 cares about this. And thus far, haven't seen much evidence that those who have supported the mayor in the past have been part of those protesting. If you voted for Silverman you probably didn't vote for Bowser. So she really doesn't care about mollifying you. Now if you can convince your friends who voted for her....

And there’s also the small matter of the Old Hardy building in Foxhall. The mayor has been asking the council to permit renewal of LAB School’s 20 year lease, despite the fact that Key ES has its entire 5th grade in trailers (see kohp.org for more). So she seems to be down with giving away public resources to rich private schools. I can’t see her saying anything until every news station in the city is covering this. That will take a sit-in or something similar.

I feel like the LAB school is way more justifiable than the Jelleff fields deal. At least the LAB lease is for an entire school, which enrolls some DC kids with public funding, and provides other benefits to the public (lectures, therepeutic summer camps, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the LAB school is way more justifiable than the Jelleff fields deal. At least the LAB lease is for an entire school, which enrolls some DC kids with public funding, and provides other benefits to the public (lectures, therepeutic summer camps, etc).

That's just like the argument put forth by Maret - "other users are benefiting from the maintenance and improvements that we are paying for and we're only using the field 10% of the time". At the end of the day, both Maret and LAB are very well-resourced private schools that have ample other options to acquire or lease private property when they outgrow what they already have; DCPS schools do not and so must be given priority. And LAB's use of Old Hardy provides no benefits to the public that use by Key ES would not.

But much of this is beside the point, which is that what both cases certainly have in common is that the city (DPR for Jelleff; the mayor for Old Hardy) has or is trying to push these "deals" through with zero transparency and in contravention to their own laws. The mayor asked the council to renew the Old Hardy lease on an "emergency" basis without any justification. DPR then is only following the practices that have been established by their leader.

[Anonymous]

Yes guys let's do all of our grievances at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes guys let's do all of our grievances at once.

One common grievance about the lack of transparency in decision-making that benefits private interests at the expense of DCPS.