Reply to Surplussing the old Hardy School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let's take it down a few notches people. The Lab School elementary (old Hardy) space may look great when you drive by it on Foxhall (assuming there's no Key Bridge traffic or GDS MacArthur spillover).

But the coveted field, tennis courts, and community center building are [u]DC Parks and Rec[/u] properties. Not DCPS.

The DCPS building itself has a small footprint. More than 100 elementary kids and you're talking serious trailer park minus the parking lot. It hasn't been used as an open enrollment/no limit on students school in over 15 years for good reason. It's an old building with major repair needs (it doesn't have a cafeteria) in a small space with limited street access. DCPS and DGA want nothing to do with it. Private developers aren't exactly chomping at the bit to get space with little parking, zoning restrictions, and very involved residential neighbors who like tennis.

By the way, it's a private and selective SPECIAL EDUCATION school. It's not like the city is giving Sidwell a free ride.

Lab only serves students with diagnosed learning disabilities who have not, or cannot, be served in public schools as required by federal disabilities law.  When the mayor mandated 50% cuts in special education private placements, the school had to enroll more kids from MD, VA, other states and even other countries to subsidize DC residents without cutting the quality of services.

As a Ward 3 resident, yes, I think it would be good to avoid larger classes. But the small Lab School elementary building doesn't address that problem in any practical or sustainable way. Any public or charter school cannot be operated effectively with fewer than 150 students. And that's more than the Foxhall location can handle without getting DPR to give away ground.

We need other options.[/quote]

You deftly missed the point: we need that -land-. DCPS is exploding at the seams in that sides of town and there's NO other parcel of land in the area under DCPS control.

Doesn't matter if the sweetheart deal beneficiary is Sidwell, the Arabic-Only School for Saudi Princes, or the hearstring-tugging private  school for kids with learning disabilities from Maryland and Virginia.   The poor (rich), sad disabled kids argument is a red herring.

Also, there's plenty of land there to build up, not out,  and still widen Foxhall a little. A 3-story building (with underground parking)  is allowed as a zoning  matter of right. See Oyster's building as an example of how to build upward at the elementary level. [/quote]

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