D.C. Council candidates laid into the city’s mishandling of the now-demolished Bruce Monroe School in the Georgia Avenue/Park View neighborhood at a recent candidates forum, calling the project everything from a broken promise to a disgrace.
The Bruce Monroe Elementary School was demolished a year ago, and ever since then it seems the start date for its reconstruction has been steadily pushed back. As early as a month after the demolition, then-Chairman Vince Gray told parents the school’s construction was to be moved from 2012 to 2018.
“There are a lot of people very upset that this promise was not kept by the city,” said council candidate Alan Page, at a forum held by the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force for at-large District Council candidates.
Page said if the city is unable to find funding for the new school by next year, he would propose developing a public charter school on the site. Charter schools, he noted, have experience with finding creative funding sources.
“There are many high-quality, public charter schools that would be very interested in having that site,” Page added.
Other candidates were less specific about ideas for the school, generally saying they would seek input from the community on what to do with the site. But the verbal lashing was rampant.
“First and foremost, if they’re going to shut down the school, you should shut it down,” said Patrick Mara, a former state board of eduction member. “You shouldn’t walk around lying to the community.”
