Two charter schools are eyeing closed DCPS elementary schools in Ward 5, but the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission chair objects to DCPS’s plan to award the buildings to charters.

The former Charles Young School. All photos by the author.

Two Rivers Public Charter School is interested in expanding into the former Charles Young Elementary School in Carver-Langston, according to the school’s executive director, Jessica Wodatch. Wodatch’s comments came Tuesday night at a meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5D.

At the meeting KIPP DC, a local charter network, also reiterated its interest in converting another closed DCPS campus, the former Hamilton school near Gallaudet, into a centrally located state-of-the-art high school. The high school would serve students from KIPP DC’s four middle schools, with additional slots available to other District students through a lottery.

Hamilton School.

But ANC 5D Chair Kathy Henderson challenged DCPS’s plan to allow charter schools to bid on closed properties such as Young and Hamilton. At the meeting Henderson told Department of General Services (DGS) representative Jackie Stanley that the ANC should have had more say in the school system’s decision to excess the sites.

Henderson has called a special ANC 5D meeting to consider a resolution opposing the “surplus status” of the two school buildings. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 22, at 6 p.m., and will be held at the 5th District police headquarters at 1805 Bladensburg Rd. NE.

KIPP DC recently opened a new campus in a third former DCPS school, Webb Elementary in Trinidad, which currently houses 3-year-olds through kindergarten students. Once the campus is fully renovated in 2014, it will begin serving pre-K through 8th grade students, who would then feed into the high school at Hamilton if KIPP’s bid for the site gains approval.

A portion of KIPP DC’s Webb campus, currently under construction.

During the Tuesday meeting, several residents expressed concern that DCPS had mismanaged the Webb campus. The building has reportedly been the site of break-ins and a fire that may have been caused by arson, which caused extensive damage.

Stanley said that awarding former DCPS properties to qualified charter schools would prevent further vandalism. And allowing Two Rivers and KIPP DC to move into the vacant properties would bring high-performing schools to an underserved part of the District. Nevertheless, Henderson insisted that the bidding process needed to be halted for further review.

Young and Hamilton, along with two other former DCPS schools, the Shaed and Winston campuses in Edgewood and Hillcrest, were included in a DCPS Request for Offers announced in July. Offers for Young, Hamilton, and Winston were due August 14. The deadline for submitting offers for Shaed has been extended to August 30. Awards are expected to be announced this September.

DGS will hold official public hearings on the disposition of each school on the following dates:

6pm

August 20

September 6: Hamilton hearing, at the Trinidad Recreation Center, 1310 Childress Street NE

6pm August 21: Shaed hearing, Edgewood Recreation Center, 3 Evarts Street NE

6pm August 27: Winston hearing, Hillcrest Recreation Center, 3100 Denver Street, SE

Young Campus hearing: TBA