The D.C. Council on Thursday threatened to reject or stall Mayor Adrian Fenty’s $2.5 billion school modernization plan unless the council is provided more detail and the community is afforded more opportunity to participate.
Council Chairman Vincent Gray described the 10-year Master Facilities Plan for the D.C. Public Schools, released this month, as “more of a concept than a plan.” Whether it is approved, Gray said, “is in the administration’s court. …”
“After years of delay in getting a sound plan, we can either move forward readily, or we can limp along, spending only what is necessary to finish what has been started and to respond to urgent repairs,” Gray said during a roundtable on the proposal.
The roundtable offered council members their latest opportunity to chastise the mayor for not consulting with them, or the public, on education-related issues. Similar complaints were raised over school reform, school closings and the summer school repair blitz.
Allen Lew, director of the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, acknowledged there is “certainly room for much more public input and dialogue.” More public meetings will be scheduled on the facilities plan, he said.
D.C. law requires the blueprint include a condition assessment for each school building, the capacity and current level of use of school space, historical and projected enrollment, and current and projected demographics. The draft, developed to square with Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s vision, lacks much of that detail. Nor does it explain, to the dismay of council members, how school projects were prioritized or how the money will be spent.
But Lew indicated all of the information would be provided.
The long-range plan will allow the city to renovate every classroom affordably and within five years, Lew said. It is a phased approach — take on the classroom and learning environments first, followed by support areas such as auditoriums and cafeterias, and eventually a building’s mechanical systems.
Lew has earned praise so far as he spent $500 million over 18 months to modernize, repair and reorganize 114 schools. But council members said they would not rush to approve future plans without the additional detail.
“This is a once-in-a-two-or-three-generation opportunity,” said at-large Councilman David Catania. “We don’t want it to be wasteful.”
