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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s Wednesday. The day of the week Maret Head of School Marjo Talbott has been telling any media outlet that would listen that she generously grants Hardy use of the public Jelleff field (even though they don’t have to). Well, this Wednesday afternoon the Hardy football team, boys soccer team, and girls soccer team all had to share the small green space at Hardy for their practices. This is a space that isn’t regulation size for one team, much less three. So what happened to Wednesdays at Jelleff for Hardy? Another untruth? The absurdity and inequity just keeps ratcheting up.

If you're connected to Hardy (as seems to be the case), please organize a sit-in en masse (next Wednesday or any other day) by Hardy students of the Jelleff field. We will join you. And call the media. Please. This is the only way we are going to have any hope of reversing this thieving "deal" between DPR and Maret. Please. Before we all find other things to be outraged about and forget about this for the next 10 years.

The Deadspin article says 'most Wednesdays.' This is what, the first Wednesday of organized sports practices for most teams?

Optics matter. She should not boast about her “generosity” and then not follow through the very first Wednesday after she boasted. It’s shameful.

Perhaps that's because of the agreement she helped get arranged with Hardy? It's not shameful--perhaps you need to not jump to conclusions. Maret is not all EVIL. They did the city and community a great service by redoing the field (which could very well be a high rise right now). There are many community groups, and other schools, that use the field well over 15 hours a week during the school day through the permitting process--schools using a field that otherwise wouldn't be available. One would hope that with communication, rather than name calling, innuendo, and straight out lies--many seeming to come from folks who want higher political offices, there could be compromises that allow more field usage. Including perhaps Duke Ellington Field. Do the neighbors of Duke Ellington Field favor opening up that space to neighborhood schools and teams that desperately need the space?

Or perhaps the bogus agreement should be nullified. Maret should show some self awareness, be willing to walk away from the contract and take a couple of the many million they report having and play elsewhere. Maret built a lovely field on public land for Maret. Let’s not rewrite history and pretend they built the field as a community service project.

+1 Even back in 2010 the first deal was controversial. The neighborhood has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and there have been tons of community activity to make sure Jelleff didn't get given to Maret again, yet Maret did an end run around the normal contracting process. I find it ironic that Maret touts its service leadership and sense of civic responsibility on its website.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

Maret believes that social and emotional development is central to students' well-being and success. We encourage our students to tackle challenges in a culture of nurtured risk taking. ... We engage in service opportunities that enhance students' sense of civic responsibility and leadership.

https://www.maret.org/about-us/mission

I also hope that DPR will look into transforming Duke Ellington Field into a usable space. It is big enough for a nice athletic field (or two) and generous parking. I hope the neighbors there work with Putta to bring even more much needed space to DC public school children. With all of the groups working to get permitting for Jelleff, it just makes sense. I’m certain all of the good will from neighbors clamoring about Jelleff will be equally as vociferous to bring even more development and usable space tomDuke Ellington field. Was that discussed at the ANC meeting?

Why would anyone in ANC 2E trust DPR to “do the right thing” with regards to Ellington field?

The worry is that DPR will do the same thing with Ellington as they did with Jelleff - effectively privatize the field for political insiders and leave DCPS kids to hang, in violation of DC Code w/r/t procurement and DPR priority of use regs.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s Wednesday. The day of the week Maret Head of School Marjo Talbott has been telling any media outlet that would listen that she generously grants Hardy use of the public Jelleff field (even though they don’t have to). Well, this Wednesday afternoon the Hardy football team, boys soccer team, and girls soccer team all had to share the small green space at Hardy for their practices. This is a space that isn’t regulation size for one team, much less three. So what happened to Wednesdays at Jelleff for Hardy? Another untruth? The absurdity and inequity just keeps ratcheting up.

If you're connected to Hardy (as seems to be the case), please organize a sit-in en masse (next Wednesday or any other day) by Hardy students of the Jelleff field. We will join you. And call the media. Please. This is the only way we are going to have any hope of reversing this thieving "deal" between DPR and Maret. Please. Before we all find other things to be outraged about and forget about this for the next 10 years.

The Deadspin article says 'most Wednesdays.' This is what, the first Wednesday of organized sports practices for most teams?

Optics matter. She should not boast about her “generosity” and then not follow through the very first Wednesday after she boasted. It’s shameful.

Perhaps that's because of the agreement she helped get arranged with Hardy? It's not shameful--perhaps you need to not jump to conclusions. Maret is not all EVIL. They did the city and community a great service by redoing the field (which could very well be a high rise right now). There are many community groups, and other schools, that use the field well over 15 hours a week during the school day through the permitting process--schools using a field that otherwise wouldn't be available. One would hope that with communication, rather than name calling, innuendo, and straight out lies--many seeming to come from folks who want higher political offices, there could be compromises that allow more field usage. Including perhaps Duke Ellington Field. Do the neighbors of Duke Ellington Field favor opening up that space to neighborhood schools and teams that desperately need the space?

Or perhaps the bogus agreement should be nullified. Maret should show some self awareness, be willing to walk away from the contract and take a couple of the many million they report having and play elsewhere. Maret built a lovely field on public land for Maret. Let’s not rewrite history and pretend they built the field as a community service project.

+1 Even back in 2010 the first deal was controversial. The neighborhood has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and there have been tons of community activity to make sure Jelleff didn't get given to Maret again, yet Maret did an end run around the normal contracting process. I find it ironic that Maret touts its service leadership and sense of civic responsibility on its website.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

Maret believes that social and emotional development is central to students' well-being and success. We encourage our students to tackle challenges in a culture of nurtured risk taking. ... We engage in service opportunities that enhance students' sense of civic responsibility and leadership.

https://www.maret.org/about-us/mission

I also hope that DPR will look into transforming Duke Ellington Field into a usable space. It is big enough for a nice athletic field (or two) and generous parking. I hope the neighbors there work with Putta to bring even more much needed space to DC public school children. With all of the groups working to get permitting for Jelleff, it just makes sense. I’m certain all of the good will from neighbors clamoring about Jelleff will be equally as vociferous to bring even more development and usable space tomDuke Ellington field. Was that discussed at the ANC meeting?

There is plenty of demand from DC kids to use both fields. There are 100 kids in aftercare at Jelleff who are playing on concrete while the Maret high school kids play lacrosse on the Jelleff field. Duke Ellington should not be a substitute cookie for a normal governance process that would allocate Jelleff time to DC schools and organizations that seek to use it during daytime hours, because DPR wants to make this shady deal with Maret. Public parks should be public, not given away to $40k/year private schools in non-competitive bidding processes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s Wednesday. The day of the week Maret Head of School Marjo Talbott has been telling any media outlet that would listen that she generously grants Hardy use of the public Jelleff field (even though they don’t have to). Well, this Wednesday afternoon the Hardy football team, boys soccer team, and girls soccer team all had to share the small green space at Hardy for their practices. This is a space that isn’t regulation size for one team, much less three. So what happened to Wednesdays at Jelleff for Hardy? Another untruth? The absurdity and inequity just keeps ratcheting up.

If you're connected to Hardy (as seems to be the case), please organize a sit-in en masse (next Wednesday or any other day) by Hardy students of the Jelleff field. We will join you. And call the media. Please. This is the only way we are going to have any hope of reversing this thieving "deal" between DPR and Maret. Please. Before we all find other things to be outraged about and forget about this for the next 10 years.

The Deadspin article says 'most Wednesdays.' This is what, the first Wednesday of organized sports practices for most teams?

Optics matter. She should not boast about her “generosity” and then not follow through the very first Wednesday after she boasted. It’s shameful.

Perhaps that's because of the agreement she helped get arranged with Hardy? It's not shameful--perhaps you need to not jump to conclusions. Maret is not all EVIL. They did the city and community a great service by redoing the field (which could very well be a high rise right now). There are many community groups, and other schools, that use the field well over 15 hours a week during the school day through the permitting process--schools using a field that otherwise wouldn't be available. One would hope that with communication, rather than name calling, innuendo, and straight out lies--many seeming to come from folks who want higher political offices, there could be compromises that allow more field usage. Including perhaps Duke Ellington Field. Do the neighbors of Duke Ellington Field favor opening up that space to neighborhood schools and teams that desperately need the space?

Or perhaps the bogus agreement should be nullified. Maret should show some self awareness, be willing to walk away from the contract and take a couple of the many million they report having and play elsewhere. Maret built a lovely field on public land for Maret. Let’s not rewrite history and pretend they built the field as a community service project.

+1 Even back in 2010 the first deal was controversial. The neighborhood has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and there have been tons of community activity to make sure Jelleff didn't get given to Maret again, yet Maret did an end run around the normal contracting process. I find it ironic that Maret touts its service leadership and sense of civic responsibility on its website.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

Maret believes that social and emotional development is central to students' well-being and success. We encourage our students to tackle challenges in a culture of nurtured risk taking. ... We engage in service opportunities that enhance students' sense of civic responsibility and leadership.

https://www.maret.org/about-us/mission

I also hope that DPR will look into transforming Duke Ellington Field into a usable space. It is big enough for a nice athletic field (or two) and generous parking. I hope the neighbors there work with Putta to bring even more much needed space to DC public school children. With all of the groups working to get permitting for Jelleff, it just makes sense. I’m certain all of the good will from neighbors clamoring about Jelleff will be equally as vociferous to bring even more development and usable space tomDuke Ellington field. Was that discussed at the ANC meeting?

Why would anyone in ANC 2E trust DPR to “do the right thing” with regards to Ellington field?

The worry is that DPR will do the same thing with Ellington as they did with Jelleff - effectively privatize the field for political insiders and leave DCPS kids to hang, in violation of DC Code w/r/t procurement and DPR priority of use regs.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

+1 The ANC and local schools have been very vocal to DPR for the last year about their feelings that the Maret deal should not be renewed. The only person who doesn't see the community outcry is Ms. Talbott, head of school at Maret.
https://georgetowner.com/articles/2019/09/03/jelleff-contract-concluded-still-contentious/
https://georgetowner.com/articles/2019/05/20/burning-questions-about-jelleff-center-plans/
https://georgetowner.com/articles/2019/07/03/anc-meeting-heats-up-over-jelleff/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s Wednesday. The day of the week Maret Head of School Marjo Talbott has been telling any media outlet that would listen that she generously grants Hardy use of the public Jelleff field (even though they don’t have to). Well, this Wednesday afternoon the Hardy football team, boys soccer team, and girls soccer team all had to share the small green space at Hardy for their practices. This is a space that isn’t regulation size for one team, much less three. So what happened to Wednesdays at Jelleff for Hardy? Another untruth? The absurdity and inequity just keeps ratcheting up.

If you're connected to Hardy (as seems to be the case), please organize a sit-in en masse (next Wednesday or any other day) by Hardy students of the Jelleff field. We will join you. And call the media. Please. This is the only way we are going to have any hope of reversing this thieving "deal" between DPR and Maret. Please. Before we all find other things to be outraged about and forget about this for the next 10 years.

The Deadspin article says 'most Wednesdays.' This is what, the first Wednesday of organized sports practices for most teams?

Optics matter. She should not boast about her “generosity” and then not follow through the very first Wednesday after she boasted. It’s shameful.

Perhaps that's because of the agreement she helped get arranged with Hardy? It's not shameful--perhaps you need to not jump to conclusions. Maret is not all EVIL. They did the city and community a great service by redoing the field (which could very well be a high rise right now). There are many community groups, and other schools, that use the field well over 15 hours a week during the school day through the permitting process--schools using a field that otherwise wouldn't be available. One would hope that with communication, rather than name calling, innuendo, and straight out lies--many seeming to come from folks who want higher political offices, there could be compromises that allow more field usage. Including perhaps Duke Ellington Field. Do the neighbors of Duke Ellington Field favor opening up that space to neighborhood schools and teams that desperately need the space?

Or perhaps the bogus agreement should be nullified. Maret should show some self awareness, be willing to walk away from the contract and take a couple of the many million they report having and play elsewhere. Maret built a lovely field on public land for Maret. Let’s not rewrite history and pretend they built the field as a community service project.

+1 Even back in 2010 the first deal was controversial. The neighborhood has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and there have been tons of community activity to make sure Jelleff didn't get given to Maret again, yet Maret did an end run around the normal contracting process. I find it ironic that Maret touts its service leadership and sense of civic responsibility on its website.

https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2010/01/21/city-turns-over-jelleff-fields-to-maret/

Maret believes that social and emotional development is central to students' well-being and success. We encourage our students to tackle challenges in a culture of nurtured risk taking. ... We engage in service opportunities that enhance students' sense of civic responsibility and leadership.

https://www.maret.org/about-us/mission

I also hope that DPR will look into transforming Duke Ellington Field into a usable space. It is big enough for a nice athletic field (or two) and generous parking. I hope the neighbors there work with Putta to bring even more much needed space to DC public school children. With all of the groups working to get permitting for Jelleff, it just makes sense. I’m certain all of the good will from neighbors clamoring about Jelleff will be equally as vociferous to bring even more development and usable space tomDuke Ellington field. Was that discussed at the ANC meeting?

There is plenty of demand from DC kids to use both fields. There are 100 kids in aftercare at Jelleff who are playing on concrete while the Maret high school kids play lacrosse on the Jelleff field. Duke Ellington should not be a substitute cookie for a normal governance process that would allocate Jelleff time to DC schools and organizations that seek to use it during daytime hours, because DPR wants to make this shady deal with Maret. Public parks should be public, not given away to $40k/year private schools in non-competitive bidding processes.

It’s not a cookie. Jelleff AND Duke Ellington should be available for Hardy teams. If Hardy needs field space for girls soccer, boys soccer and football to practice, will Jelleff really be enough? Why did DCPS transfer the Ellington field to DPR this summer? Was that discussed at the ANC meeting? There are other schools, some private, that also use Jelleff during the school day. Does Hardy need Jelleff for PE classes during the day as well? Ellington AND Jelleff should be reconfigured for the benefit of students that need those spaces to thrive. To the point about the BGC, will they also need the entire Jelleff field for football and kickball practice, and for how long during the afternoon? Would three Hardy teams using Jelleff just also prevent the BGC from using that field? Ellington should also be redone to benefit not only Hardy, but also BGC. I hope Putta is working with the Ellington field neighbors to bring about positive change for DC public school athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s Wednesday. The day of the week Maret Head of School Marjo Talbott has been telling any media outlet that would listen that she generously grants Hardy use of the public Jelleff field (even though they don’t have to). Well, this Wednesday afternoon the Hardy football team, boys soccer team, and girls soccer team all had to share the small green space at Hardy for their practices. This is a space that isn’t regulation size for one team, much less three. So what happened to Wednesdays at Jelleff for Hardy? Another untruth? The absurdity and inequity just keeps ratcheting up.

Please post pictures if that happens again!

+1

[Anonymous]

Comments from the deadspin article:

https://deadspin.com/the-legendary-public-rec-center-in-a-private-schools-po-1837648863
Maret's argument that a ten year contract extension is an “expectation” of the original contract is laughable. If they wanted more than ten years they should have negotiated that into the original contract*. Since they didn’t, it’s completely irrelevant that they invested all that money ten years ago with the expectation that they’d be able to use that field for 20 years instead of 10 years. I deal with contracts for a living and I’m constantly dealing with these sorts of complaints from my customers (usually the other way around, stuff like “we didn’t think any of our customers would cancel our service when we signed that five year contract”). If it’s not in the contract, it might as well not exist, and I’ve yet to apologize to someone for enforcing the terms of a mutually agreed upon contract.

The possibility that they’d only get ten years’ return on their initial investment is a risk they took when they signed that 10 year contracts. At this point it looks like the city has a lot more leverage and should act in its own best interest here, with zero concerns for Maret’s “expectations”, nor for what they paid in the previous contract.

*my guess is that the city wouldn’t go longer than 10 years because they knew that the ten year deal would be unpopular and they didn’t want to push public opinion too far. there may also be statutory limitations on the length that they can negotiate on contracts like this. In either case, a 20 year contract was simply not on the table, and Maret tried to have it’s cake and eat it too by negotiating one thing and then making a handshake deal behind the scenes for something else. If that’s what happened, I have no sympathy at all for Maret if they extension somehow falls through.

[Anonymous]

ANC 3D just voted 8-1 to ask the city to reopen the contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ANC 3D just voted 8-1 to ask the city to reopen the contract.

Who was the pelican who voted against it? Karnofsky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ANC 3D just voted 8-1 to ask the city to reopen the contract.

But does that have any impact? The ANC was always opposed to the Maret exclusivity deal. DPR went ahead anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ANC 3D just voted 8-1 to ask the city to reopen the contract.

But does that have any impact? The ANC was always opposed to the Maret exclusivity deal. DPR went ahead anyway.

Well, Councilman Silverman is trying to get this deal reversed too. Now it's time to get people on record and see who wants to keep public parks public.

https://twitter.com/CM_Silverman
On Friday, @tweetelissa sent a letter to @DCDPR and @DCDGS asking the agencies to explain their decision to extend an agreement with the Maret School for the exclusive use of fields at Jelleff Recreation Center during high demand times. Her letter is below.

[Anonymous]

Amazing that Arthur Mola, the Bancroft Elementary School principal, wrote a letter in his capacity as principal of Bancroft making a big statement to defend Maret (he discloses that his kid attends Maret a few paragraphs in).
https://www.maret.org/athletics/jelleff

Bancroft isn't not even that close to Jelleff (it's like a 20 minute drive in traffic), and they're not one of the 10 schools/community organizations who had been petitioning to use the field, as far as I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ANC 3D just voted 8-1 to ask the city to reopen the contract.

Who was the pelican who voted against it? Karnofsky?

Don't be silly. Karnofsky left the room for the vote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazing that Arthur Mola, the Bancroft Elementary School principal, wrote a letter in his capacity as principal of Bancroft making a big statement to defend Maret (he discloses that his kid attends Maret a few paragraphs in).
https://www.maret.org/athletics/jelleff

Bancroft isn't not even that close to Jelleff (it's like a 20 minute drive in traffic), and they're not one of the 10 schools/community organizations who had been petitioning to use the field, as far as I know.

The Bancroft guy didn't defend the details of the Maret detail or the contracting process as much as he tried to make Maret look less evil by noting their work with underprivileged schools (even as they crowd kids from those schools out from using public fields).

[Anonymous]

Wow, can't believe the Bancroft principal got involved., just because his kid attends. Shows really poor judgement.

[Anonymous]

And, I think Delano Hunter's role in this needs to be investigated. He approved this deal despite vocal opposition from DC schools, the boys and girls club and DC citizens. Why? It is a really bad deal for everybody but Maret. Does he have kids applying to Maret? What did he get out of this deal?