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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ugh, this article. Someone should ask Celina Gerbic if she wants some cheese to go with that whine.

[quote]
https://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
Jelleff Recreation Center doesn’t exactly look like a hub of neighborhood controversy. Owned by the D.C. government and operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, it’s a slightly run-down facility tucked off Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown near a Safeway. An outdoor mural features a vibrant rainbow evoking an Eric Carle illustration, painted above the words “Bringing People Together.”

But lately this place is tearing people apart. Celina Gerbic, a Dupont Circle resident whose 16-year-old son plays soccer on Jelleff’s athletic field, has begun to worry that she could be physically assaulted on the premises. “You feel that way,” she told me, “because of the vehemence and vitriol.”

The cause of all these bad feelings is the city’s recent extension of a controversial agreement giving exclusive prime-time field hours at Jelleff to the Maret School, the elite private school in Woodley Park that Gerbic’s son attends. The District originally struck this bargain after the 2008 recession, when city budgets were tight and the field desperately needed repair. Maret invested $2.4 million for artificial turf, field lights and a pool on the property. In exchange, its student athletes were guaranteed use of a regulation field — where you can also play baseball and lacrosse — between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. on weekdays during the academic year. Though Maret has an athletic field on its grounds, the school says it’s not sufficient space for all its athletes.

Trouble is, there’s another school — a public one — right across the street from Jelleff. And Hardy Middle School has no playing field at all. Its student athletes are currently forced to travel long distances, sometimes up to an hour away, to find a field for their “home games.” And so there are those who think the Department of Parks and Recreation’s July decision to renew the pact with Maret until 2029 — with the school pledging to fund an additional $950,000 in improvements — wasn’t quite fair, especially now that D.C. government finances have improved. Over the past few months, more than 2,700 people have signed a Change.org petition condemning the move, arguing that a private school with a $34 million endowment shouldn’t monopolize public space at in-demand times.
[/quote][/quote]

Someone points out in the Washington Post comments that "concerned parent" Celina Gerbic is actually a development director for a private preschool that feeds to Maret (although the post doesn't identify her as such).  It's a pretty poorly reported story.[/quote]

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