The District’s school modernization chief is warning of dire consequences for dozens of facilities if Ward 8 D.C. Councilman Marion Barry doesn’t lift his hold on millions of dollars destined for school renovation.
Barry’s disapproval of $8.9 million for school fixes, issued July 25, “will severely impede” the ability to “complete repairs to critical school projects scattered throughout the city before students return to the classrooms,” Allen Lew, executive director of the D.C. Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, wrote in a letter to Council Chairman Vincent Gray.
Included in the list of affected projects are those to “rectify problems that post a direct threat to life and safety to the teachers and students in those school buildings,” Lew wrote in the letter, dated Monday.
Barry is expected to hold a news conference this morning on the issue, a spokesman said.
The reprogramming includes $5 million for the refurbishment of 38 schools, Lew said, including the stage at Anacostia High School, the roof and air conditioning system at Ballou High School, the bathrooms at Ferebee-Hope Elementary School and the floor at Ketcham Elementary School.
Another $3.9 million is needed to bring schools into compliance with building and health code requirements, Lew wrote, such as installation of building exit signs, replacing fire alarms and extinguishers, repairing sprinkler systems, and installing ventilation systems.
The disapproval resolution puts an immediate hold on all contracts tied to the reprogramming during a 45 day council review. D.C. Public School students return to the classroom on Aug. 25.
Barry issued a package of disapprovals on the same day that could affect schools, development, and staffing programs. He said last week that Mayor Adrian Fenty dropped dozens of contracts on the council on the eve of summer recess, leaving little time for review and demonstrating a lack of proper planning and transparency.
Fenty officials say the resolution is retribution for the closure of the Washington East of the River Academy.
