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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

Your postings are increasingly illogical.

Sorry that you find it illogical that Dc taxpayers don’t want to be paying to subsidize the athletic field for the 40% of Maret students who live in VA and Md rather than letting the low income students from the DC Boys and Girls Club out of the basement to use the field.

It seems that it’s the other way around. Maret is subsidizing the field improvements enjoyed for free by other users. And speaking of DC taxpayer subsidies, what about the DC taxpayer subsidies to the large number of non-residents who attend Ellington either transparently or by fraud? Or the residence fraudsters who send their kids to Hardy while claiming a DC address?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

Your postings are increasingly illogical.

Sorry that you find it illogical that Dc taxpayers don’t want to be paying to subsidize the athletic field for the 40% of Maret students who live in VA and Md rather than letting the low income students from the DC Boys and Girls Club out of the basement to use the field.

It seems that it’s the other way around. Maret is subsidizing the field improvements enjoyed for free by other users. And speaking of DC taxpayer subsidies, what about the DC taxpayer subsidies to the large number of non-residents who attend Ellington either transparently or by fraud? Or the residence fraudsters who send their kids to Hardy while claiming a DC address?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

Your postings are increasingly illogical.

Sorry that you find it illogical that Dc taxpayers don’t want to be paying to subsidize the athletic field for the 40% of Maret students who live in VA and Md rather than letting the low income students from the DC Boys and Girls Club out of the basement to use the field.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

Your postings are increasingly illogical.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Too bad the Hardy student didn't ask why DCPS doesn't make Ellington field available to Hardy ASAP. Then he might ask his principal and staff why they won't give up their free parking lot so that Hardy's existing kiddie field can be expanded to a proper, on campus field facility.

Too bad Maret can't act like a decent private school and puts its parking lot underground like Sidwell did, to make room for a proper athletic field for the good of its students (and the broader DC community who would like its public park back). Why is Maret so incompetent at planning for infrastructure?

Because if you bothered to check, you would see that Maret’s parking area is about 50 feet wide at most, pushed up against the Swiss embassy compound. Even if the parking were underground, you’d see that a second field wouldn’t fit. Indeed, if you overlay a regular sized field over the entire front lawn and driveway of Maret, it wouldn’t fit (putting aside slope and historic protections that would preclude a field there even if there were space). The bottom line is that even if Maret wished to put its parking underground, there is no room on the campus for a second field.

By contrast, a nearly Jelleff-sized field would fit snugly on a north-south orientation covering the present area of the Hardy court and its mini field. It would of course require moving the court to the area where the parking lot is. Or, if the staff insisted on free parking over kids’ sports needs, the court could be sacrificed to maintain the staff privileges. It is noteworthy that the staff parking lot is wider and about as long as the present Hardy mini-field.

So if Maret’s facilities are insufficient why doesn’t it move? GDS has. Sidwell has. Only Maret wants to stay in its same place while expecting DC taxpayers to pay for its students (nearly half of whom aren’t even DC residents) to play on a big field while many other public schools can’t have the same because Maret won’t share.

I’m sure that if you know of a bigger campus available in Northwest you will let Ms. Talbott know.

As for DC resident students, as you note more than half of Maret students live on the District. But given non-District residents who falsely claim DC residency to attend Hardy or Ellington (as well as official non-DC resident tuition payers at the latter), what’s your point ? One is reminded of the old people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones admonition. At least DC taxpayers aren’t paying to educate nonresident students - or any student for that matter — at Maret. DC taxpayers are paying to operate Hardy, Ellington and any number of schools where students mostly from MD are fraudulently (or in a few cases, transparently) enrolled.

Again, you try to focus the argument on Ellington which is irrelevant to the Jelleff issue and on Hardy which is only part of the larger picture.

Why does Maret refuse to share?

It is not Maret's decision on who uses and doesn't use Jelleff, with one exception. Even though Maret is entitled to use the field on Wednesday's during peak sports season, they have made the field available to Hardy on that day. DPR is responsible for scheduling of the field outside of Maret's limited hours.

Thousands of public school students, Boys and Girls club participants, Stoddert soccer league participants and others have shared in and benefitted from the turf field and other capital improvements, including to the swimming pool, that Maret has funded.

DCPS, DPR and several council members are working on an arrangement to give Hardy reserved priority at the Ellington field, which is playable now but is slated for improvement.

Bull. If Maret were to call Delano Hunter tomorrow and say they want out of the deal that would be the end of it. It's not like the city is making Maret do this against their will. If it weren't for the Maret deal DPR would follow their priority process and a DCPS school would get use of the field.

This is why the pressure is on Maret. This deal is only happening because Maret is making it happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the noise seems to be generated by an activist and failed ANC candidate who lives in Southeast and nowhere near Jelleff, together with a handful of others. Many other users of Jelleff, including schools and rec teams, appreciate the fact that Maret has spent some serious money there, and they they benefit without having to pay themselves.

Yes, if there are no facts on your side resort to personal attacks on the other side.

If this is the same activist quoted in the press, then he is a federal employee and may have a Hatch Act problem with all of his political activity. Maret’s lawyers should certainly look into that.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand exactly WTF Hardy is whining about. They've been promised preferred rights on Ellington's field. Next to having a field on your own campus, that's pretty good. No need to bus across town, just a stroll (or preferably, a run) down the street.

1. They haven't been promised anything.
2. The Ellington field is smaller and lower quality than Jelleff.
3. None of the foregoing makes the Maret deal a good deal for the public.

2 - Then the Hardy community can raise money to raise “Ellington” field to the standard to which the Hardy community wishes to become accustomed. That’s what Maret did. Given that Hardy parents aren’t paying private school tuition, some of them at least could afford a decent contribution or could use their considerable skill set to raise money from deeper pocketed donors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the noise seems to be generated by an activist and failed ANC candidate who lives in Southeast and nowhere near Jelleff, together with a handful of others. Many other users of Jelleff, including schools and rec teams, appreciate the fact that Maret has spent some serious money there, and they they benefit without having to pay themselves.

Yes, if there are no facts on your side resort to personal attacks on the other side.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

Your postings are increasingly illogical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand exactly WTF Hardy is whining about. They've been promised preferred rights on Ellington's field. Next to having a field on your own campus, that's pretty good. No need to bus across town, just a stroll (or preferably, a run) down the street.

1. They haven't been promised anything.
2. The Ellington field is smaller and lower quality than Jelleff.
3. None of the foregoing makes the Maret deal a good deal for the public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?

Great. Then the kids at Maret who are tax-paying DC residents can use the field and the others can stay on the Maret campus. Perhaps then Maret would feel like they can give that space to the kids at the BTCGW after-school program who otherwise don’t get to play on a field after school. Because, unlike schools like Maret, those kids only have the field at Jelleff after school. Because Maret won’t share with those kids, those kids don’t get to play outside after school. That is the point.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand exactly WTF Hardy is whining about. They've been promised preferred rights on Ellington's field. Next to having a field on your own campus, that's pretty good. No need to bus across town, just a stroll (or preferably, a run) down the street.

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Anonymous wrote:Maret takes the field five days per week after school for the prime after school hours during the prime fall and spring athletic seasons - because, as their leadership says, the Maret students really need to get home at a reasonable hour for dinner and homework. These are the hours the BGCGW members are in the after-school program so those kids don’t get any access to the field. This occurs even if Maret doesn’t use the field. It sits empty on those afternoons. So this is a de facto monopoly of the entire space during the only time that others could use it and Maret refuses to share the space despite there being ten other interested parties. Maret doesn’t want to share even it is not using the space. What terrible example are they setting for their students? What sorts of values are the kids there learning?

One thing we can conclude is that even the top of the class at Hardy, if their parents are thinking of private school for high school, had better think of some other school that Maret. Hardy will be a scarlet letter with the Maret admissions director.

Hardy parents are unlikely to want to expose their children to Maret Values.

Right? Maret STILL doesn’t get what a PR disaster this is. One thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Maret isn’t the only school out there with sweetheart deals in DC. Just the only one willing to egg on bad impressions on this very easily searchable website! Google Maret right now — after their own website, a bunch of articles about their “special access” to a public field pop up. Terrible, terrible impressions for anyone looking for private school.

Exactly. Everyone is wondering what is wrong with Maret’s finances such that they prefer a shady low cost deal that gets them raked through the coals rather than a market priced field.

So it’s pretty clear that there is one individual, or several, whose mission is not to advance the interests of Hardy students or some group of supposedly poor kids locked in the Jelleff basement during sports season, but rather to cause Maret harm out of some personal animus.

And how have you reached this conclusion against evidence to the contrary? Perhaps you could visit their website or even drop by Jelleff? It might do you some good to get out for a bit and see the real world.

+1. I don’t care two figs about Maret. But Maret’s actions in taking public resources that should be public are deplorable. Not sure why the Maret PR person is trying to personalize this fight. We would criticize any public school that acted like Maret. But only Maret is behaving poorly in this scenario.

This. With all the many PR executives and journalists on Maret's board, you think they would be better at reading public opinion and realizing how far Maret has fallen in their reputation with the DC public due to their shady dealings and inability to pay a market price for land that meets the needs of their student body.

Most people don't care. Or if they do, they're grateful that Maret put in a turf field and other improvements when DC was wasting money on other things. Maret's limited practice time isn't relevant to most kids who use Jelleff at other times. And their kids benefit for free from the money that Maret has spent.

That’s your opinion, and not a particularly well-founded one. The thousands of DC residents who signed the petition requesting that public parks be public and the hundreds of community members who attended meetings to ask for public school student accesss to a public park that should be public in any functioning governance structure would suggest otherwise.

No one disputes the notion that public parks and facilities are public. But that doesn't obscure the fact that Jelleff was renovated as a public-private partnership, and numerous facilities in DC charge for access. You also forget that Maret students and families constitute the "public" as well. So are members of youth soccer and other sports that play at Jelleff, even if they are playing at reserved times.

Most of the public schools mentioned have their own fields on their own school yards. Hardy, which admittedly has a pitiful little field that is smaller than the staff parking lot, has been given preferred rights to Ellington field which is down the street. The British school, which unlike Maret is for-profit, seems to have a more expansive deal with Jelleff. So what's your point?