Operation Backpack Needs More Help

The following email was distributed on the Georgia Avenue Listserv yesterday, and with school nearly upon us, it struck me as being critical that the word get out. If you are in a situation where you can help that would be great.

The Central Union Mission is currently planning for our back-to-school program, Operation Backpack, in which we provide backpacks and school supplies to children from low-income families in the DC Metro area. This program will only be successful with your help. By becoming a sponsor you will ensure that a child starts the school year off with the supplies they will need to lead them to success. Hurry, there’s only 10 days left and we still have over 100 children without a sponsor! If you, your business/organization or church would like more information about how to get involved, please contact Ben Doggett at bdoggett@missiondc.org, or 202-745-7118. Thank you for you help!

Monroe School Library

Before there was the Bruce-Monroe school, there was a Bruce and Monroe school. Here is an image from the library of the Monroe school from a photograph by Addison N. Scurlock.

(Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

Balustrade and Brick Entry Restoration Complete @ Park View Elementary

I walked down to Park View Elementary last weekend to see how work was progressing with the balustrade restoration … and it was done. Not just done, but chain link fence gone done. It looks great. An added bonus was finding that crepe myrtles, roses, and variegated liriope have been planted. You can see from the photos below how nice it turned out, and if you don’t remember what it looked like when they started, you can go to this earlier post.

More photos after the jump

Draft Scenarios for Future of Bruce-Monroe/Park View Elementary

Here’s a little more information on the current ideas for the future of the Bruce-Monroe and Park View Elementary schools. If you click on the image below — of a document distributed at last week’s meeting on the Bruce-Monroe school — you will see a draft of the three options being discussed at this time. As the document shows, there are two options where the Park View school would still be used as a school

… and Speaking of Bruce Monroe Redevelopment

I’m for getting rid of the old Bruce Monroe school 100%. I think its an eye sore and don’t see how you expect children to learn in anything that even remotely looks like a prison.

That said, do we really need to spend money building a new school? Currently the Bruce Monroe school is using the historic Park View Elementary. From the neighbors I’ve talked to, we love it. Its a far more attractive building, in a more attractive residential neighborhood, with a large grass sports field across the street from it.

Why can’t the school continue to use Park View Elementary? Georgia Avenue is largely, or at least once was, a commercial corridor. Is that really where we want our children?

Out of curiosity, I’d like to know what others think, whether it is in the poll or as a comment. 

Update on the Bruce Monroe Elementary School Demolition Schedule

I got the following notice form the Georgia Avenue group listserv:

–Demolition of the Bruce Monroe School is supposed to start on/or around July 15, 2009. (A press conference is being planned at the site the morning that demolition starts.)

–Demolition will take approximately three (3) months. (Work will proceed every Monday – Saturday from 7 AM to 7 PM. Signs will go up around the site.)

–Solicitation of construction bids will begin on July, 15, 2009. It will take 60 to 75 after the closing of the bids to evaluate them. A contract may be awarded by the end of 2009. The contract has to be approved by the DC City Council.

–The site will be redeveloped as a school with commercial and/or residential construction on the Georgia Avenue side of the property through a public/private partnership. The school will have 75,000 to 100,000 square feet of space.

–The new Bruce Monroe Elementary School is tenatively scheduled to open in 2013. It’s educational programs will include grades Pre-K through 5 or grades Pre-K through 8 (to be worked out by the school system and the school community.)

***Active discussions are taking place between the Chancellor’s Office, DCPS, Bruce Monroe administrators, teachers, and parents, the DC Education Ombudsman’s Office, Councilman Gray’s office, Councilman Kwame Brown’s office, DC economic develpment officials, and the community.

This Date in History

July 6, 1921: Unusual crowding in the vacation courses of the District schools was reported from virtually all the schools opened for the six weeks’ intensive work of the summer schools. School officials found the summer schools in 1921 handicapped due to insufficient funds to supply a larger staff of teachers to care for all pupils who wished to take the summer courses.

This Date in History

June 27, 1912: John G. McGrath, president of the Park View Citizens’ Association, and Mrs. Charlton Moore Clark, president of the women’s auxiliary of that association, were appointed to confer with Commissioner Cuno H. Rudolph, in reference to having several portable school houses transferred to the Park View neighborhood. At that time there were over 600 school children in Park View that were without school facilities, many of them attending the Hubbard and Petworth schools.

This Date in History

June 26, 1912: An announcement by Superintendent of Schools W.M. Davidson, of an economy program by which nearly $5,000 would be saved immediately and much more in the future, was made at a meeting of the board of education held at the Franklin School. The announcement was greeted with applause by the members of the board.

Dumpster Fire at Raymond Elementary School

I chanced upon this last night as I was walking west of the Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro. There was a dumpster fire around 6:45 pm, and strangely enough, when we called 911 to report it, the fire truck was already on the way. I don’t think anyone cared too much about the dumpster … but it was way too close to the building and could have caused serious damage.