Some D.C. parents and the council president are pushing back against a plan to use green space at their children’s school to install trailers while another elementary school is renovated.
Some D.C. parents and the council president are pushing back against a plan to use green space at their children’s school to install trailers while another elementary school is renovated.
Drew Elementary School’s “temporary space” is being set up on one of JC Nalle Elementary School’s fields, which the school has used for soccer, flag football and other outdoor events. A temporary space is a series of trailers intended to house an entire school while construction takes place.
Nalle parents and teachers said they are concerned that children in District 7 already have a shortage of safe outdoor spaces and that the use of this field for trailers will hinder their ability to participate in outdoor activities.
Members of the Nalle Elementary community say they were not informed about the plan to use their outdoor field as a site for the trailers until the project was about to begin, which did not give them time to consider the plan. Other districts, they said, are given advance notice when similar projects will take place.
D.C. Council President Phil Mendelson said he believes the community is “being misled.”
“I think it’s pretty outrageous what DCPS has done,” Mendelson said during his monthly Meet Up With Mendo online community chat. “Doing it without consulting the community, working with the community, basically taking advantage of the community.”
Meldelson sent a letter last week to D.C. Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, asking for answers and pausing the project while this is resolved.
Yesterday I sent a letter to the Chancellor of DCPS demanding answers for the scandalous situation in @NalleScholars Community school in district 7. I also mentioned this in my Meeting with Mendo.
DCPS is taking advantage of this community and it is unacceptable! pic.twitter.com/CN0Afbw39m
—Phil Mendelson (@ChmnMendelson) June 14, 2024
Mendelson said the loss of space during the Drew Elementary renovation could last at least five years.
WTOP has reached out to DC Public Schools for comment.
WTOP’s Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.
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