Preteen and adolescent students sit on desk chairs and toilets designed for kids half their size in Ward 5, the only area of the District without a standalone middle school. And many of these D.C. middle schoolers don’t have access to a wide range of extracurriculars, like music and art and athletics, because there aren’t enough students to draw big dollars under the city’s per-pupil budget formula. Most attend elementary schools refurbished into pre-K-8 campuses.

Now, almost a year after the community gathered 1,000 signatures for a middle school, D.C. Public Schools officials are starting the Ward 5 Great Schools Initiative at a meeting Thursday evening at Luke C. Moore High School.