Reply to Shaw Middle School -- what's the plan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]http://dccouncil.us/event/education-public-roundtable-9/

Education Public Roundtable
Thursday, November 15, 2018 
10:00 am

LOCATION
Wilson Building Room 500 
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, DC, 20004

The Committee on Education will hold a Public Roundtable on the following Matter:

“The District of Columbia Public Schools’ Plans for Shaw Junior High School Campus and Benjamin Banneker Academic High School”
If you are unable to testify at the roundtable, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. Written statements should be submitted by email to Ashley Strange, Committee Assistant, at astrange@dccouncil.us. or by post to the Committee on Education, Council of the District of Columbia, Suite 116 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004. The record will close at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 29, 2018.

Sign up to testify at http://www.davidgrosso.org/events/2018/11/15/public-roundtable-on-the-district-of-columbia-public-schools-plans-for-shaw-junior-high-school-campus-and-benjamin-banneker-academic-high-school
[/quote]

This conversation is about two separate, but related things. First, the fact that the decisions around moving Banneker have been totally opaque. For those saying that this isn't true: sorry, but even DCPS has admitted that the process around this move has been terrible. Some basic outreach has been done starting the last month or so, but it's wholly inadequate. And people are right to be upset.

The second is about a middle school discussion. To those suddenly calling it Center City -- please, it was called Shaw Middle in the boundary documents. The sudden rebranding smacks of someone trying to help the powers that be save face. And sure, there are alternative sites: Garnet Patterson is a non-starter. It's tiny and no green space. Meyer is booked for years out. Banneker is actually a decent site, but that just rubs the wrong way, doesn't it? I do agree that any discussion of MS is YEARS away, and I think it's a distraction from the horrible Banneker process. Shame on all those involved.

FWIW, I have yet to see anything about traffic calming or environmental impacts to moving Banneker. Both of these issues, to me, have to be addressed before a final decision is made. I, for one, can not imagine what a 700 student HS is going to do to traffic on already congested RI Ave. And for parents of kids across the street, what is going to be done to keep them safe from construction dust (was asbestos remediation already done? if not, that's probably a big thing to think about), and vehicles, more traffic? This whole thing is just another example of DCPS, DME, OSSE, and the lot of them being utterly dysfunctional. 
 [/quote]

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