For a week, how about we put aside the toxic talk and general negativity around public education in D.C.? We have much to celebrate, namely four new schools. Let’s agree that our schools are coming out of decades of decline — finally — and kids willing to get an education now have a better chance, in welcoming schools. On Monday, Anacostia High School showed off its new gymnasium, the start of a phased renovation. It’s H.D. Woodson’s turn on Wednesday. The high school that anchors a middle-class-to-rough neighborhood near the Prince George’s County line will unveil a new building that’s a model of engineering and design for students. On Thursday the new Woodrow Wilson High opens its doors for public view. Janney Elementary shows off later in the day.
No doubt Mayor Vincent Gray will bask in the glow and wax grandly. Council members will elbow one another for a moment before the cameras. All were bit players. Two people deserve top billing for these four new schools, the ones delivered last year and projects in the pipeline.
The first is former Mayor Adrian Fenty. It was Fenty in his final year on the city council who focused the city’s political class on fixing the schools. He muscled through the School Modernization Financing Act that — for the first time — devoted billions toward renovating and rebuilding D.C.’s decrepit schools. True, he needed help from finance committee Chairman Jack Evans and the votes of the council, but it was his crusade.
Fenty’s first act as mayor was to take control of the schools; the council concurred. His second move was to hire the best person in Washington to manage the money and the construction of major projects: Allen Lew, now the city administrator.
True, Lew has taken heat for busting budgets. But without Lew, his relationships with local builders, such as Gerry Sigal, his demanding style and his team, we would not be celebrating new school construction this week — nor the five schools rebuilt in the last few years, nor the new athletic fields in every high school, nor the new recreation centers across town.
Fenty was single-minded to a fault. He pushed Lew, Lew pushed his contractors, they finished the jobs. Lew demanded quality and got it. In my many decades covering D.C., I can assure you no other construction projects have been done with such dispatch and success. We who have sent our kids to the schools, even the best in Ward 3, have suffered through leaky roofs, busted toilets and funky furnaces. Fenty and Lew fixed most of those problems.
Who knows if Fenty will show up when the new schools open. I doubt Gray would have the grace to invite his former foe. Fenty is all about making money these days, not political points, so he might decline. But he should not be forgotten. If not for Fenty, his hiring of Lew, and Lew’s setting a high bar for design and construction, we would be whining about busted air conditioning, not celebrating spiffy new buildings.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
