Are most DCPS school fields closed to the public?

[Anonymous]

I live in Mt. Pleasant and recently was forwarded an email from a Bancroft parent seeking volunteers to open, close, and keep an eye on the Bancroft playground on weekends. I assume that Bancroft or DCPS proposed this as a compromise. I think it's fairly ridiculous that it's not open all the time but appreciate the Bancroft parents putting in the effort to make it available as much as possible to the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Mt. Pleasant and recently was forwarded an email from a Bancroft parent seeking volunteers to open, close, and keep an eye on the Bancroft playground on weekends. I assume that Bancroft or DCPS proposed this as a compromise. I think it's fairly ridiculous that it's not open all the time but appreciate the Bancroft parents putting in the effort to make it available as much as possible to the community.

Did you not read all the previous posts explaining why they got closed in the first place? Maintaining a school is not easy, nice if volunteers can be relied upon but they can not monitor who goes in and out of a public space once open. Sh##, sh##, and more sh## than I care to step in, all dogs, on this topic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Mt. Pleasant and recently was forwarded an email from a Bancroft parent seeking volunteers to open, close, and keep an eye on the Bancroft playground on weekends. I assume that Bancroft or DCPS proposed this as a compromise. I think it's fairly ridiculous that it's not open all the time but appreciate the Bancroft parents putting in the effort to make it available as much as possible to the community.

Hey, another person who doesn't have children at the school thinks it's ridiculous to not want used condoms and broken beer bottles on the playground. At least he or she "appreciates" the effort. That's touching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Mt. Pleasant and recently was forwarded an email from a Bancroft parent seeking volunteers to open, close, and keep an eye on the Bancroft playground on weekends. I assume that Bancroft or DCPS proposed this as a compromise. I think it's fairly ridiculous that it's not open all the time but appreciate the Bancroft parents putting in the effort to make it available as much as possible to the community.

By “open all the time”, do you mean during school hours?

[Anonymous]

Some charter schools like Mundo Verde don't have their own playground or fields. The students walk to local public parks to play. And it sounds like lots of DCPS schools -- Eaton, Janney, Tubman, Shepherd, Deal, Cardozo, and a bunch on the Hill -- also have their space open to the public. Until this year, Bancroft did too. That's long been the default position of DCPS. Some spaces like Hearst, Wilson, and Marie Reed seem to have joint DCPS/DPR management or co-location, which may help share the resource burdens. But those spaces are shared. And public use of public school grounds is also the norm outside of DC too.

So plenty of parents know exactly how it feels to share their kids' playground space with the local neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some charter schools like Mundo Verde don't have their own playground or fields. The students walk to local public parks to play. And it sounds like lots of DCPS schools -- Eaton, Janney, Tubman, Shepherd, Deal, Cardozo, and a bunch on the Hill -- also have their space open to the public. Until this year, Bancroft did too. That's long been the default position of DCPS. Some spaces like Hearst, Wilson, and Marie Reed seem to have joint DCPS/DPR management or co-location, which may help share the resource burdens. But those spaces are shared. And public use of public school grounds is also the norm outside of DC too.

So plenty of parents know exactly how it feels to share their kids' playground space with the local neighborhood.

The first sentence is not at all relevant. And since you bring up Eaton, Hearst and Janney you clearly haven't been keeping up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is really a shame. Maybe the neighbors who would like to use the field or playground could talk to the principal about doing a clean up every Monday morning or something? I agree that these facilities should be open to the public when school is not in session, but I also understand that the schools don't have the staff to deal with a lot of litter, vandalism, and the other problems listed above.

+1

The schools I've lived near have generally been open to the public when school is not in session, which I think is great. But if the public use of the playground is causing problems for the school, then I totally understand why they would lock the gate. I'd talk to the principal and ask what the issues are and try to find solutions.

This. How can anyone argue that playgrounds that have been trashed should be open to the public?

There are lots of schools that don't have this problem - go ahead and drive to one of them. Upper NW is your best bet.

Well, the recently refurbished Lafayette field has a huge problem with dog poop. Even worse, every time a parent posts about it on the local listserv, you get the entitled neighbor that claims their right to have their dog use the field (usually off leash) as a toilet. Also, the outrage that ensued when the police showed up to write tickets for having their dogs off leash was especially entertaining. Upper NW has its fair share of inconsiderate, navel gazing ass wipes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is really a shame. Maybe the neighbors who would like to use the field or playground could talk to the principal about doing a clean up every Monday morning or something? I agree that these facilities should be open to the public when school is not in session, but I also understand that the schools don't have the staff to deal with a lot of litter, vandalism, and the other problems listed above.

+1

The schools I've lived near have generally been open to the public when school is not in session, which I think is great. But if the public use of the playground is causing problems for the school, then I totally understand why they would lock the gate. I'd talk to the principal and ask what the issues are and try to find solutions.

This. How can anyone argue that playgrounds that have been trashed should be open to the public?

There are lots of schools that don't have this problem - go ahead and drive to one of them. Upper NW is your best bet.

Well, the recently refurbished Lafayette field has a huge problem with dog poop. Even worse, every time a parent posts about it on the local listserv, you get the entitled neighbor that claims their right to have their dog use the field (usually off leash) as a toilet. Also, the outrage that ensued when the police showed up to write tickets for having their dogs off leash was especially entertaining. Upper NW has its fair share of inconsiderate, navel gazing ass wipes.

We have more than our share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some charter schools like Mundo Verde don't have their own playground or fields. The students walk to local public parks to play. And it sounds like lots of DCPS schools -- Eaton, Janney, Tubman, Shepherd, Deal, Cardozo, and a bunch on the Hill -- also have their space open to the public. Until this year, Bancroft did too. That's long been the default position of DCPS. Some spaces like Hearst, Wilson, and Marie Reed seem to have joint DCPS/DPR management or co-location, which may help share the resource burdens. But those spaces are shared. And public use of public school grounds is also the norm outside of DC too.

So plenty of parents know exactly how it feels to share their kids' playground space with the local neighborhood.

The first sentence is not at all relevant. And since you bring up Eaton, Hearst and Janney you clearly haven't been keeping up.

A previous poster asked how people would feel if their kids had to share play space with the neighborhood. Turns out LOTS of kids do that every day. Except charter schools don't count and WOTP schools don't count and Hill schools don't count and... We get it. YOUR kid shouldn't have to share.

[Anonymous]

The local parks have dedicated staff to cleaning them, genius.

And the WOTP schools would board up tighter than (insert your own metaphor) if they were littered with used condoms and broken glass every weekend.

It looks like the Hill schools have found a solution for cleanup, which I am interested in hearing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The local parks have dedicated staff to cleaning them, genius.

And the WOTP schools would board up tighter than (insert your own metaphor) if they were littered with used condoms and broken glass every weekend.

It looks like the Hill schools have found a solution for cleanup, which I am interested in hearing.

Sorry, my friend, except for maybe Janney and Eaton, boarding up WOTP DCPS schools is not practically feasible. Try again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The local parks have dedicated staff to cleaning them, genius.

And the WOTP schools would board up tighter than (insert your own metaphor) if they were littered with used condoms and broken glass every weekend.

It looks like the Hill schools have found a solution for cleanup, which I am interested in hearing.

Sorry, my friend, except for maybe Janney and Eaton, boarding up WOTP DCPS schools is not practically feasible. Try again.

None of which has anything to do with the fact that some school playgrounds in DC are repositories for shit and jizz and broken glass. I still can't believe people want them to be open on the weekends without volunteering to bring the at mop at closing time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:That report explains why some people on this thread think there's plenty of play space and other's don't It varies widely by neighborhood and Mount Pleasant is one of the under-resourced areas.

There was open space near Mount Pleasant at 17th and Piney Branch that served as a workable make-shift soccer field. You'd regularly see mostly Latino men playing pick up games there, and it was a great resource for the community. Until the NPS decided to plant trees throughout the whole space.

The NPS doesn't care if people in nearby neighborhoods have places to play sports. That's not their mandate. They assume that's the domain of DPR and DCPS, which unfortunately don't have much space in many neighborhoods, or regularly keep fields locked.

It makes me think that the people on this thread who think there's plenty of play space work for the city. Folks at DPR insist there's no shortage, even while they're asked to mediate intense battles over fields space; people who complain about not having fields are just "whiny." DCPS insists there's no need to open their space to the public, go to DPR. Meanwhile, look at the numbers, there's an objective shortage of recreational space.

Athletic fields are completely different from playgrounds! Sure there are a shortage of fields for games but not for young kids to play if parents used a bit of imagination. Yes it would be wonderful if DCPS could open up playgrounds for everyone to use but completely unrealistic in this day and age. As others have mentioned upkeep, maintenance, safely issues ... not something DCPS needs to take on board right now! They can't even get education right never-mind this... Athletic fields yes, more collab between DPR and DCPS and community organizations!

And yet, somehow, we magically do it on the Hill.

And in towns, cities and counties all over the country. But it's just not possible in this day and age.

This is why I think the naysayer is a DC government employee. The two mantras of the DC government:
1. The real problem is the whiny residents, not the government's inability to solve problems.
2. Things that work in other places don't work here.

How do people on the Hill keep the playgrounds from getting trashed in time for Monday morning?

Unlock it in the morning and lock it up again before dark. It’s not rocket science.

And who cleans up?

Cleans up what??? What kind of a ghetto ass neighborhood are you living in that people are going to leave used condoms on the playground between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM on the weekends?

[Anonymous]

We are at an EOTP school that has recently been renovated. There were three people walking dogs on our soccer field just in the ten minutes it took me to drop off my kid. One dog was off leash, and the owner ignored requests to leave. She was breaking three separate laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That report explains why some people on this thread think there's plenty of play space and other's don't It varies widely by neighborhood and Mount Pleasant is one of the under-resourced areas.

There was open space near Mount Pleasant at 17th and Piney Branch that served as a workable make-shift soccer field. You'd regularly see mostly Latino men playing pick up games there, and it was a great resource for the community. Until the NPS decided to plant trees throughout the whole space.

The NPS doesn't care if people in nearby neighborhoods have places to play sports. That's not their mandate. They assume that's the domain of DPR and DCPS, which unfortunately don't have much space in many neighborhoods, or regularly keep fields locked.

It makes me think that the people on this thread who think there's plenty of play space work for the city. Folks at DPR insist there's no shortage, even while they're asked to mediate intense battles over fields space; people who complain about not having fields are just "whiny." DCPS insists there's no need to open their space to the public, go to DPR. Meanwhile, look at the numbers, there's an objective shortage of recreational space.

Athletic fields are completely different from playgrounds! Sure there are a shortage of fields for games but not for young kids to play if parents used a bit of imagination. Yes it would be wonderful if DCPS could open up playgrounds for everyone to use but completely unrealistic in this day and age. As others have mentioned upkeep, maintenance, safely issues ... not something DCPS needs to take on board right now! They can't even get education right never-mind this... Athletic fields yes, more collab between DPR and DCPS and community organizations!

And yet, somehow, we magically do it on the Hill.

And in towns, cities and counties all over the country. But it's just not possible in this day and age.

This is why I think the naysayer is a DC government employee. The two mantras of the DC government:
1. The real problem is the whiny residents, not the government's inability to solve problems.
2. Things that work in other places don't work here.

How do people on the Hill keep the playgrounds from getting trashed in time for Monday morning?

Unlock it in the morning and lock it up again before dark. It’s not rocket science.

And who cleans up?

Cleans up what??? What kind of a ghetto ass neighborhood are you living in that people are going to leave used condoms on the playground between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM on the weekends?

Broken glass, cigarette butts and lots of dog poop.