Two high-performing charter schools have won bids to lease former DCPS school buildings in Ward 5, the Gray administration has announced. Two Rivers will redevelop the former Charles E. Young Elementary School in Carver Langston, and KIPP DC will build a new high school on the site of the former Hamilton School near Gallaudet University.

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

Pending DC Council approval, the schools hope to begin serving students at the new locations in time for the 2015-16 school year. KIPP DC expects to move and expand its high-performing KIPP College Preparatory school from Ward 8 to the Hamilton site. Two Rivers will double its enrollment by replicating the successful pre-K-through-8th-grade program it currently runs at its NoMa campuses. The moves will bring high-quality educational options to underserved parts of Ward 5.

Julia West Hamilton School

Both sites were awarded through a process that began with a Request for Offers (RFO) from DC’s Department of General Services (DGS) in July. The same RFO included two other DCPS sites, the Winston school in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Ward 7, which has received bids from three top-performing charter schools, and the Alice and Ernestine Shaed school in Ward 5. DGS plans to announce its recommendations for the Winston and Shaed sites in the coming weeks.

KIPP DC College Preparatory currently serves 450 students at a campus in Ward 8 and has been looking to move the program to a larger site for some time. The new location will allow the school to almost double its size to 850 students. The school, which has a Tier 1 rating from the DC Public Charter School Board and graduated its first class last year, has a 99% graduation rate and a 100% college acceptance rate.

KIPP DC, which operates 12 schools at all grade levels, will raze the existing Hamilton school to build a 120,000-square-foot structure. It will also renovate the multi-use athletic fields, which will be made available for community use. KIPP hopes to partner with Gallaudet University on joint teacher training, student internships, security, transportation, and community service programs.

Hamilton was formerly the site for DCPS’ C.H.O.I.C.E program, an alternative school for students who have been suspended from their regular high schools. At the end of the last school year the program was relocated and the building closed.

Two Rivers, also a Tier 1 public charter school, will maintain its existing 500-seat program and add another 500 seats at the Young site. More than 1,800 students applied for fewer than 35 open spots at Two Rivers in the 2012-2013 school year, according to the school’s CEO, Jessica Wodatch.

As with its existing schools, Two Rivers expects to draw a majority of its students from Wards 5, 6, and 7. Students from anywhere in the city are eligible to apply to any charter school, and if the school is oversubscribed seats are awarded through a lottery.

DCPS closed the Young school in 2008. and it has since undergone demolition by neglect. In a message on the Two Rivers’ website, Wodatch says that the school was attracted to certain qualities of the site, such as its abundant outdoor space and proximity to the Anacostia River. But she acknowledges that the building will require considerable renovation before it can be occupied.