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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The comments to the latest Washington Post on the Maret Jelleff debacle are far more insightful
than the article itself.  
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-a-fight-over-a-city-athletic-field-turned-into-a-woke-off-of-washingtons-well-off/2019/12/06/fc2d14dc-07c9-11ea-818c-fcc65139e8c2_story.html%3foutputType=amp
[quote]
What a poorly researched article: 
1) The author tries (and fails) to equate the student body of Maret, a private school with a $40K/year tuition, with that of Hardy Middle School, a public school that has a student body that is 63% Black and Latino and 30% economically disadvantaged (i.e. outright poor).  Less than a quarter of Maret's student body receive some financial aid, which means that 75% of Maret's population is wealthy by any standard.
2) The author neglects to mention  that 7 other public schools other than Hardy (plus the Boys and Girls Club) Washington have requested access to Jelleff fields, a fact documented in other more balanced news articles. 
3) Completely missing from this article is the mention of the finances of this deal that have fueled so much community outrage (what Graham Vyse dismissively terms  the “woke-off”)—and the fact that the city paid $15 million to purchase this land and has committed another $7 million to renovate Jelleff’s rec center. Yet Maret received a backroom no-bid contract that gives it exclusive access to the field during the most popular weekday hours for a mere $95,000/year from a city that according to Maret parent Jack Evans is “flush with cash.” The role of disgraced DC councilmember Jack Evans in this deal, who is under federal investigation for corruption, is yet another glaring omission of this article. 
4) Not sure why the author put “windowless basement” in quotes, the Boys and Girls Club do in fact, spend their afternoons in a windowless basement because they don't have access to Jelleff. 
5) The author’s quote of Maret parent Celina Gerbic (who the author fails to identify as  a private school development director) who fears being assaulted by a community member at Jelleff is little more than fearmongering.  There has been no indication of violence, just disgust at the exclusive use of a public facility by Maret, which for some reason has not identified sufficient finances to pay for a private field. [/quote][/quote]

Nor did the Post article mention how the indifferent staff at Hardy jealously hoard their free parking lot that takes up a significant part of the Hardy site.  Why can’t Hardy staff ride public transportation like other DCPS school staff?  That parking lot would be a great addition to Hardy athletic space so that the Hardy students don’t have to beg for a place to play.[/quote]

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