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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully there is no such other arrangement in the city. Hearst Park is being renovated and hopefully will be available to all when completed.

Hearst is being redone as natural grass. If it gets one re.4th the use of Jelleff it won't last one season.

I confess I have only reviewed the plan online, but, a small clarification, I think the small turf field close to the school remains, but the large field on the lower level will be grass.

[Anonymous]

Here's one version (from 2010) of the "deal".

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

[Anonymous]

12:49 here again. The comments to the article give some useful background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:49 here again. The comments to the article give some useful background.

It’s really maddening. The lack of transparency, the failure to seek multiple bidders, the likely self-dealing of Jack Evans — these were all noted issues at the time of the original deal!

It seems that the objections then went unaddressed, time faded the resistance, and Maret got their 10 years free access to land.

So they are imaging the same thing will happen this time. But I think they underestimate community anger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:49 here again. The comments to the article give some useful background.

It’s really maddening. The lack of transparency, the failure to seek multiple bidders, the likely self-dealing of Jack Evans — these were all noted issues at the time of the original deal!

It seems that the objections then went unaddressed, time faded the resistance, and Maret got their 10 years free access to land.

So they are imaging the same thing will happen this time. But I think they underestimate community anger.

The community has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Many more families in ANC 2E are opting into the public schools, whereas they had traditionally been private school families. They are much more invested in the public schools and their extracurricular offerings; some of the most vocal organizers are Hardy families who are forced to send their kids to SE DC to play "home" athletic games. Hyde-Addison will likely be 70%+ in-bound within the next 5 years - it's changing much more rapidly than DCPS has predicted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:49 here again. The comments to the article give some useful background.

It’s really maddening. The lack of transparency, the failure to seek multiple bidders, the likely self-dealing of Jack Evans — these were all noted issues at the time of the original deal!

It seems that the objections then went unaddressed, time faded the resistance, and Maret got their 10 years free access to land.

So they are imaging the same thing will happen this time. But I think they underestimate community anger.

And that no one *ever* mentioned 20 years in any of those articles. The outrage was that it was a ten year deal beck in 2010!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:49 here again. The comments to the article give some useful background.

It’s really maddening. The lack of transparency, the failure to seek multiple bidders, the likely self-dealing of Jack Evans — these were all noted issues at the time of the original deal!

It seems that the objections then went unaddressed, time faded the resistance, and Maret got their 10 years free access to land.

So they are imaging the same thing will happen this time. But I think they underestimate community anger.

The community has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Many more families in ANC 2E are opting into the public schools, whereas they had traditionally been private school families. They are much more invested in the public schools and their extracurricular offerings; some of the most vocal organizers are Hardy families who are forced to send their kids to SE DC to play "home" athletic games. Hyde-Addison will likely be 70%+ in-bound within the next 5 years - it's changing much more rapidly than DCPS has predicted.

Yeah but it’s a park not a school property. Why do you think it’s a school property?

[Anonymous]

This was just posted to the Palisades listserv:

"I wanted to respond to Councilmember Cheh's depiction of the situation regarding the Jelleff Field and Recreation Center in its agreement with the Maret School. To clarify, DPR hasn’t "leased away" Jelleff for the next ten years. Jelleff remains a DPR facility that is used by dozens of schools and community groups. The agreement extension between DPR and Maret was also not made under the cover of darkness - or under the cover of summer, as the Councilmember suggests - but rather went through a transparent and regulated process, including public hearings, consultation with neighbors and the community. Also to clarify, Maret does not use the field on weekends except for a couple of weekend days in spring. Maret recognizes that lack of field space is an issue for many fellow schools and has opened its field and two gyms to a number of outside groups. The school actually rescheduled games and practices, so that the Hardy Middle School is able to use the field on Wednesday afternoons from 4:00-5:30.

Maret has, since the initial agreement with they city in 2009, provided $2.4 million to upgrade the field, redo the swimming pool for community use, and add fencing and lights. The school continues to maintain the property and assure its upkeep. For all of this, Maret has preferred permitting for 10% of operational field time in the fall and spring. The extension would see Maret investing an additional $700,000 to redo the turf and improve fencing, and committing up to an additional $250,000 toward renovating the Recreation Center.

Rather than nullifying this partnership, a better solution is to make more fields available, like Duke Ellington field, which was just transferred to DPR. There is also enough space at Hardy to build a middle school sized field. If the current partnership were revoked, it would not solve the field shortage problem but would instead just lead to more schools requesting permits for time at Jelleff. No amount of permitting would solve any one school’s field demands. Better to develop new fields, like Duke Ellington. Finally, it would be a mistake and set a bad precedent for the Council to revoke an agreement already signed by DPR and Maret. In Play DC, the 10 year strategic plan for recreational facilities in DC released in 2015, public-private partnerships are hailed as an effective way to leverage resources to meet the demands of citizens for more parks and recreation facilities. Based on budgetary projections, Play DC concluded that that demand could not be met without these partnerships. Rather than revoke a deal that has been good for the city and good for taxpayers, why not let Maret and Hardy negotiate a solution, while the Council spends its time identifying underutilized fields and pay for renovations with the money Maret is saving the city at Jelleff!

I hope that councilmembers and the community will appreciate the resources and benefit that Maret has and continues to provide to the Jelleff Field and Rec Center and will support the continuation of this partnership."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was just posted to the Palisades listserv:

"I wanted to respond to Councilmember Cheh's depiction of the situation regarding the Jelleff Field and Recreation Center in its agreement with the Maret School. To clarify, DPR hasn’t "leased away" Jelleff for the next ten years. Jelleff remains a DPR facility that is used by dozens of schools and community groups. The agreement extension between DPR and Maret was also not made under the cover of darkness - or under the cover of summer, as the Councilmember suggests - but rather went through a transparent and regulated process, including public hearings, consultation with neighbors and the community. Also to clarify, Maret does not use the field on weekends except for a couple of weekend days in spring. Maret recognizes that lack of field space is an issue for many fellow schools and has opened its field and two gyms to a number of outside groups. The school actually rescheduled games and practices, so that the Hardy Middle School is able to use the field on Wednesday afternoons from 4:00-5:30.

Maret has, since the initial agreement with they city in 2009, provided $2.4 million to upgrade the field, redo the swimming pool for community use, and add fencing and lights. The school continues to maintain the property and assure its upkeep. For all of this, Maret has preferred permitting for 10% of operational field time in the fall and spring. The extension would see Maret investing an additional $700,000 to redo the turf and improve fencing, and committing up to an additional $250,000 toward renovating the Recreation Center.

Rather than nullifying this partnership, a better solution is to make more fields available, like Duke Ellington field, which was just transferred to DPR. There is also enough space at Hardy to build a middle school sized field. If the current partnership were revoked, it would not solve the field shortage problem but would instead just lead to more schools requesting permits for time at Jelleff. No amount of permitting would solve any one school’s field demands. Better to develop new fields, like Duke Ellington. Finally, it would be a mistake and set a bad precedent for the Council to revoke an agreement already signed by DPR and Maret. In Play DC, the 10 year strategic plan for recreational facilities in DC released in 2015, public-private partnerships are hailed as an effective way to leverage resources to meet the demands of citizens for more parks and recreation facilities. Based on budgetary projections, Play DC concluded that that demand could not be met without these partnerships. Rather than revoke a deal that has been good for the city and good for taxpayers, why not let Maret and Hardy negotiate a solution, while the Council spends its time identifying underutilized fields and pay for renovations with the money Maret is saving the city at Jelleff!

I hope that councilmembers and the community will appreciate the resources and benefit that Maret has and continues to provide to the Jelleff Field and Rec Center and will support the continuation of this partnership."

What crap. “There’s not enough field space to satisfy everyone, so you might as well give it to us.”

And since Duke Ellington is now being flogged as the savior field, why doesn’t Maret apply (through normal channels) for use of it and let the schools and groups immediately surrounding Jelleff have priority there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:49 here again. The comments to the article give some useful background.

It’s really maddening. The lack of transparency, the failure to seek multiple bidders, the likely self-dealing of Jack Evans — these were all noted issues at the time of the original deal!

It seems that the objections then went unaddressed, time faded the resistance, and Maret got their 10 years free access to land.

So they are imaging the same thing will happen this time. But I think they underestimate community anger.

The community has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Many more families in ANC 2E are opting into the public schools, whereas they had traditionally been private school families. They are much more invested in the public schools and their extracurricular offerings; some of the most vocal organizers are Hardy families who are forced to send their kids to SE DC to play "home" athletic games. Hyde-Addison will likely be 70%+ in-bound within the next 5 years - it's changing much more rapidly than DCPS has predicted.

Yeah but it’s a park not a school property. Why do you think it’s a school property?

You keep saying this, but who do think uses DPR fields on weekday afternoons? School teams and youth rec leagues, of course!

Meanwhile, why does it seem more logical to you that a private school have exclusive access to prime field time rather than public schools and organizations sharing it?

[Anonymous]

I found this particularly hilarious:

Anonymous wrote:The agreement extension between DPR and Maret was also not made under the cover of darkness - or under the cover of summer, as the Councilmember suggests - but rather went through a transparent and regulated process, including public hearings, consultation with neighbors and the community.

A process so transparent that even the local ANC reps didn't know about it? Really? The only "consultation" that I believe happened where the desperate entreaties by the ANC to DPR to *not* renew the agreement without proper consultation, which of course were completely ignored.

Is everyone at Maret high on drugs? Do they really believe this nonsense?

[Anonymous]

I just left a message with my rep I hope I hear back

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found this particularly hilarious:

Anonymous wrote:The agreement extension between DPR and Maret was also not made under the cover of darkness - or under the cover of summer, as the Councilmember suggests - but rather went through a transparent and regulated process, including public hearings, consultation with neighbors and the community.

A process so transparent that even the local ANC reps didn't know about it? Really? The only "consultation" that I believe happened where the desperate entreaties by the ANC to DPR to *not* renew the agreement without proper consultation, which of course were completely ignored.

Is everyone at Maret high on drugs? Do they really believe this nonsense?

Maret is digging in because they know that for the price of what they’re paying DPR for a prime piece of public land in Georgetown thanks to their sweetheart deal, all they could afford is a field in Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

School without Walls could also really benefit from using Jelleff. They have no fields of their own and have to trek over to RFK for soccer. Next year the city is going to demolish RFK so what will happen then?

[Anonymous]

"why not let Maret and Hardy negotiate a solution...?" Because we have already seen the results of that kind of deal and it was a disaster.