Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

Maret has a field for K-12. Unfortunately they have no room for a second field and can’t level out and turf the front lawn because the mansion house is a national historic landmark. C

So what? They could buy or rent a private piece of land nearby. Or move their parking lot underground like Sidwell did. Or move campuses altogether like GDS and Sidwell have done, when their prior campuses proved insufficient. Maret's inability to do any of this just shows it's a third rate private school with poor planning and administration.

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, this article. Someone should ask Celina Gerbic if she wants some cheese to go with that whine.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

Maret has a field for K-12. Unfortunately they have no room for a second field and can’t level out and turf the front lawn because the mansion house is a national historic landmark. C

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

+1 Or explain why Maret can't afford a field of its own like other private schools despite not having to pay any taxes to DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Deflect and distract.

Address the needs of the other nine parties who wish to share the Jelleff facilities.

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Anonymous wrote:Hardy needs to build its own field. The administration and the parents need to grow a pair and demand that DCPS fund it.

Anonymous wrote:Maret tries to style this as solely a Maret/Hardy issue and seeks to deflect and distract by pulling in arguments about Ellington that are not relevant to use of Jelleff. The fact is that this issue goes well beyond. Ten parties representing DC resident students from across the city are interested in sharing the most desirable hours of playing time at Jelleff. These kids include the members of the BGCGW which serves kids who need a safe place to hang out with friends and play after school. The BGCGW isn’t expensive and they don’t turn away kids who can’t pay. Maret may ‘win’ on legal grounds but they haven’t a moral leg to stand on and should be ashamed of their selfish ways.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Evans backed the deal between Maret and the District, in which the private school has rights to its turf field for the next decade in exchange for spending nearly $1 million on improvements. The arrangement is in effect at peak hours on school days, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the fall and spring.

https://thedcline.org/2019/12/18/following-jelleff-fight-burleith-bristles-over-districts-plans-to-upgrade-a-nearby-field-to-regulation-size/

Peak Hours??? 3:30-5:30 pm. Looks like Hardy can use the field during school. Lots of false info being spread by the Hardy crowd.

They all have a chip of their shoulder because Hardy will never be Deal.

Maret has a chip on its shoulder because it doesn’t like people pointing out that it can’t afford a field of its own like the top tier DC private schools can.

How about Maret practice at Ellington then! (and convert their own parking lot to a baseball field also) Or find a less privileged neighborhood they can go buy out ... since that seems to be their strategy (now that the area around Jellef is aware of the deal & pushing back)...

Yeah, why not ? Maret then could pay to renovate a second major DC asset because the District’s leaders are wasting the tax money instead on crony consultants and sham 8a contracts.

Why don’t you talk to Maret parent (and soon to be indicted councilman) Jack Evans? He will be the first to tell you that DC is flush with catch and doesn’t need the 95k/year that Maret is paying for exclusive access to a facility Dc taxpayers spent $15 million on more than a decade ago. And we all know Maret can’t afford to pay for renovation of anything these days. If they could afford it, they would have moved their parking lot underground to create more field space like Sidwell did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Evans backed the deal between Maret and the District, in which the private school has rights to its turf field for the next decade in exchange for spending nearly $1 million on improvements. The arrangement is in effect at peak hours on school days, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the fall and spring.

https://thedcline.org/2019/12/18/following-jelleff-fight-burleith-bristles-over-districts-plans-to-upgrade-a-nearby-field-to-regulation-size/

Peak Hours??? 3:30-5:30 pm. Looks like Hardy can use the field during school. Lots of false info being spread by the Hardy crowd.

They all have a chip of their shoulder because Hardy will never be Deal.

Maret has a chip on its shoulder because it doesn’t like people pointing out that it can’t afford a field of its own like the top tier DC private schools can.

How about Maret practice at Ellington then! (and convert their own parking lot to a baseball field also) Or find a less privileged neighborhood they can go buy out ... since that seems to be their strategy (now that the area around Jellef is aware of the deal & pushing back)...

Yeah, why not ? Maret then could pay to renovate a second major DC asset because the District’s leaders are wasting the tax money instead on crony consultants and sham 8a contracts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Evans backed the deal between Maret and the District, in which the private school has rights to its turf field for the next decade in exchange for spending nearly $1 million on improvements. The arrangement is in effect at peak hours on school days, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the fall and spring.

https://thedcline.org/2019/12/18/following-jelleff-fight-burleith-bristles-over-districts-plans-to-upgrade-a-nearby-field-to-regulation-size/

Peak Hours??? 3:30-5:30 pm. Looks like Hardy can use the field during school. Lots of false info being spread by the Hardy crowd.

They all have a chip of their shoulder because Hardy will never be Deal.

Maret has a chip on its shoulder because it doesn’t like people pointing out that it can’t afford a field of its own like the top tier DC private schools can.

How about Maret practice at Ellington then! (and convert their own parking lot to a baseball field also) Or find a less privileged neighborhood they can go buy out ... since that seems to be their strategy (now that the area around Jellef is aware of the deal & pushing back)...