Traditionally, District parents unsatisfied with their neighborhood public schools have simply avoided them, choosing a better public school or a charter or private school instead.
But a cluster of families near Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School are taking the opposite approach.
These parents, many of whose children are years away from school age, have spent the past year building an extensive community campaign to turn around their local school in a hurry.
Support for their cause has grown, with D.C. Public Schools and members of the D.C. Council pledging to take their suggestions seriously.
Shahna Gooneratne, who has lived near Ludlow-Taylor for almost a decade, said the idea is to put reform into the hands of the people directly affected by the school’s quality. The group’s efforts are in the spirit of prior community action that helped transform Capitol Hill schools like Tyler Elementary School.
“We simply have an eye to the future,” said Gooneratne, whose child will be 2 in June. “If we can increase inbound attendance it would help bring in additional funds and forge community ties.”
School enrollment is currently at about 230, while its capacity is 400. It has not met No Child Left Behind testing standards in reading or math for the past two years.
Just two years ago, it was on track to close because of severe underenrollment.
Ludlow-Taylor’s supporters hope to avoid hitting a low point like that again, especially at a time when close to two dozen schools are slated to “shutdown” or “close” this year in response to dropping enrollment, said parent Kirsten Hartwig.
The group has been drawing up a wish list of programs for the campus in hopes of developing a niche like Tyler’s language immersion program.
A community meeting is scheduled for next week to further involve neighbors. Hartwig said the core group of parents also are involved in the process of picking a new school principal, as Donald Presswood is shifted to a different school in need.
Hartwig said initially there was resistance to the idea of outsiders trying to change a D.C. school, but public opinion is shifting.
“We’re really following in the steps of some of these other Hill schools,” she said. “The way they improved was neighborhood activism.”
