最新蜜桃影像

最新蜜桃影像

Francis Stevens parents lack confidence that DCPS can deliver promised modernized school

Teachers and parents cite D.C. Public School鈥檚 lack of communication and poor temporary schooling facilities as reasons they have little faith in the success of the School Without Walls at Francis Stevens鈥 modernization project. The school is scheduled to re-open with the completed modernization in time for the upcoming school year.

Parents and teachers said they lack confidence in D.C Public School鈥檚 ability to deliver a successful modernization for the School Without Walls at Francis Stevens due to little communication from D.C. Public Schools and unacceptable conditions in the temporary schooling facility.

Francis Stevens, which houses elementary and middle school students, is in its final year of a three-year modernization process. The $57 million project is slated to be completed for the start of the 2024-2025 school year.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 confident that D.C. Public Schools will tell us that our building is ready for next year, I do not know if the building will actually be ready or ready to a degree of quality,鈥 said Zach Carroll, a middle school social studies teacher at Francis Stevens, as well as the Washington Teachers Union representative for the school.

Another DCPS school is expected to relocate to the temporary facility that Francis Stevens is currently using in the next school year, he said, so Francis Stevens staff and students will likely have to move back into the school鈥檚 2425 N St. NW location whether the modernizations are satisfactory or even completed.

Parents also expressed a lack of faith in the quality of the modernization and in the city actually listening to feedback.聽

Leah Shoval, the parent of three children at the school, said, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e still not necessarily listening to the needs of the community, per se, in terms of things we care the most about. There are obvious budgetary constraints.鈥

Parents and teachers also expressed concerns that the school community has received about the modernization is heavily filtered and infrequent, leading to a lack of confidence in the project.

鈥淚 think we get fed information from the architecture firm a lot and from the [Department of General Service] project managers that is self-serving to some extent, and so it鈥檚 hard to know what鈥檚 actually getting communicated to the community,鈥 Shoval said.

The DCPS facility planning and design point person on the project, Matthew Dela Cuesta, said he has no concerns and the modernization is on track to be completed on time and ready for the upcoming school year.

鈥淏y all accounts, we will be opening up in time to open the school and welcome students for school year 2024-2025,鈥 Dela Cuesta said.

Francis Stevens is undergoing its second year of modernization construction and is slated to open in time for the beginning of next school year. (Katherine Hapgood/最新蜜桃影像)

He also said the brunt of the requested feedback from the community was during the design phase of the project, back in 2021. However, economics have changed since the budget for the project was last decided, and the allocated funding has not.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 feel like our voices are being heard and/or that budgets are being changed with inflation, with material costs, anything like that,鈥 Shoval said.

After two years in a temporary facility鈥搕he old Benjamin Banneker school two miles away鈥損eople are ready for a new building but hesitant that they will have the quality, modernized building promised by the city.聽

Already, some students have transferred due to the modernization, whether families don鈥檛 want to deal with children being bussed across town or for other reasons.

鈥淎 lot of people kind of jumped ship because they didn鈥檛 want to go across the city and get bussed across the city during the modernization, so the student body has sort of changed as well,鈥 Shoval said.

Laura Frazier moved her elementary-aged son to another nearby public school at the start of the 2022-2023 school year before students were moved to the temporary site at Banneker.

鈥淲e chose to send him to the new school because of number one, communication not being great, the length of time they were going to be displaced, and then the convenience,鈥 Frazier said. 鈥淲e had another option available in our neighborhood that was an equally good school.鈥

Another family moved their daughters to the same school that Frazier moved her son to, she said.

鈥淭hey did the same thing we did,鈥 Frazier said. 鈥淭hey came to the same conclusion and switched both of their daughters to the other school.鈥

Communication was a key factor in the decision for Frazier to move her son.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 really tell us any information, which motivated us to change schools, because they weren鈥檛 really keeping everyone up to date and clear on the modernization project. Plus the school that we sent him too was already renovated so we knew that there would be no chance of him having to re-locate or re-shuffle to a different place.鈥

According to data from DCPS and the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment at the school has dropped from the 2019-2020 school year, which was before the modernization construction began, from 540 to 479 students last year.

Francis Stevens students have been learning in the temporary facilities at 800 Euclid St. since August 2022. (Katherine Hapgood/最新蜜桃影像)

Additionally, Carroll said the temporary facility that Francis Stevens currently inhabits, this past week has had temperatures of over 90 degrees in a few elementary classrooms, Shoval and Carroll both said they have seen flooding as well as rats and mice in the building.

Shoval said her children have told her about heat issues at Banneker and continue to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts to school, even in the winter, to deal with the high temperatures in the building.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e said things like, 鈥榠t鈥檚 so hot don鈥檛 make me go to school with pants on, don鈥檛 make me go to school with long-sleeve shirts on, I never have enough water during the day,’ 鈥 she said. 鈥淪o all of those things to me create a learning environment that鈥檚 not exactly conducive to optimal learning spaces.鈥

Carroll also said he鈥檚 noticed disengaged students and attributed some of the lack of interest to the heat.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really difficult to lead effective instruction for young people and for young people to feel motivated coming to school when the school building is that hot and they don鈥檛 see anything being done to fix the issues,鈥 he said.聽

Students feel undervalued and are more cognizant of the city鈥檚 lack of upkeep of their school building than many people realize, he said. They also appear tired and sleepy, and the heat in the building is likely a contributing factor.

鈥淭hey have the feeling that they鈥檙e uncared for,鈥 Carroll said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 see care for their personal well-being and basic needs.鈥

Katherine Hapgood

I am a fellow at the Center for Public Integrity and a graduate student at American University studying investigative journalism and public affairs. This semester, I am covering the neighborhoods of Foggy Bottom and the West End. I primarily cover government access, accountability, and report on equity.

Add comment

Follow us

Don't be shy, get in touch. We love meeting interesting people and making new friends.

Most popular

Most discussed