“Renovations” at DC’s Duke Ellington SHS

Schools observer and activist Peter MacPherson joined the Education Town Hall on October 22 to share his concerns that DC Mayor Muriel Bowser gave an additional $10 million to an already over-budget school project in a wealthier neighborhood at a time when budget is cited in limiting or postponing other needed school modernizations. Earlier community suggestions for relocating the city-wide, application only, Duke Ellington High School for the Arts to a more central and Metro-accessible location were met with rejection “due to cost,” while this project was termed a “renovation” but is clearly becoming a new building within a preserved facade.

View MacPherson’s photos below and listen to Track 2 here —

photo: P. MacPherson, Duke Ellington SHS construction late October 2015
photo: P. MacPherson, Duke Ellington SHS construction late October 2015
photo: P. MacPherson, 10/2015
photo: P. MacPherson, 10/2015
photo: P. MacPherson, 10/2015
photo: P. MacPherson, 10/2015
photo: P. MacPherson 10, 2105
photo: P. MacPherson 10, 2105
photo: P. MacPherson 10, 2105
photo: P. MacPherson 10, 2105

Story/photos continue here

2 comments

  1. “It is not too late to repurpose Ellington. So little construction has taken place that the building could be reconfigured as a comprehensive high school. But peeling funds away from the project seems a difficult task. Using the building for an alternate purpose requires finding a new site for the Ellington School for the Arts. And then bringing new funding to bear to construct it.” — be sure to visit “Georgetown’s Big Sink,” linked above, for Valerie Jablow’s narrative and analysis

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