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[quote=Anonymous]I live in Mount Pleasant and for more than a decade my family has used Bancroft playground as our local playground.   There really isn't any other playgrounds in the neighborhood and its the playground my kids have grown up on.

After about two years of being closed for construction, Bancroft re-opened to students this fall -- but not to the community.

The playground that was once accessible to all is now locked on evenings and weekends.

I've tried to figure out why, and the best answer I could get was that Bancroft isn't a public park and has no obligation to open to community.   The principal also claims most other DCPS schools, especially ones that have been recently renovated, are also locked on weekends.

Is this a new trend?  I've lived in the city a while and have been to many elementary school playgrounds on weekends.  Have I just been to the handful that are unlocked?   I'm curious because I don't know if taxpayers would be as supportive of all the DCPS school renovations if they knew those grounds would no longer be available for community use.

In Mount Pleasant at least the local elementary school used to serve as a really wonderful community meeting place where an extremely diverse mix of people came together.

I understand Bancroft and other schools have had issues with vandalism in the past and I'm sympathetic to the need to protect the school grounds for the students.  But at what costs?

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