Terri Nostrand, a science teacher at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School, proposed an idea novel in public school circles several years ago: build a sloping, bowl-like skateboarding rink on Coolidge's Northwest grounds.
Nostrand obtained $20,000 in grants from two foundations, funding that was routed directly into Coolidge's bank account. The project then ran into resistance from the Board of Education, and Nostrand had to find a new location, at the Langdon Recreation Center in Northeast.
Rene Hayden works on a skateboarding park being built at the Langdon Recreation Center in Northeast. A teacher had hoped to build the rink at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School.
(Larry Morris -- The Washington Post)
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But, Nostrand says, the school system has failed to return the money despite an internal audit six months ago that said it should be repaid to the grantors. She said she needs the funds to pay for concrete and other materials for the rink, which she hopes to open in April.
"We're running into big costs in the next few weeks. We're hoping the money comes through," Nostrand said.
Chris Murray, a lawyer who has been trying to help Nostrand recover the money on behalf of the foundations, said Cool-idge's principal, Cecil Robinson, has failed to return his calls. He said he is considering suing to get the money.
"This is ridiculous," Murray said. "The amount of bureaucratic inertia -- it's institutional incompetence that makes me want to retch."
Bob Rice, a special assistant to schools Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, said Coolidge's principal "has made arrangements for [the money] to be returned" to the Tony Hawk Foundation and Project Learning Tree.
"It's in the process right now, going through the business office," he said. "The principal in the school is interested in getting these distractions off his plate so he can concentrate on the academic performance of the students. I don't think the principal has been dragging his feet at all."
Nostrand, 33, and her husband, Chris, a waiter, are part of a small but enthusiastic subculture of skateboarders in the Washington area, a population that, she said, is constantly on the hunt for places to skate. There is only one skateboard park in the District, at 11th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW.
When she proposed the idea, Nostrand said, Coolidge's principal at the time, Richard Jackson, was enthusiastic. But she said she encountered "a lot of red tape" and resistance from school system officials concerned about issues relating to insurance and liability.
Nostrand then approached the District's Department of Parks and Recreation, which found her a spot at Langdon, on 20th Street NE, for the rink, a 2,500-square-foot structure with sloping walls and grooves.
Volunteers assemble each weekend to build the rink, the base of which is made from more than 2,000 tires packed with dirt. In a couple of weeks, they plan to install metal bars to fortify the concrete.
Andy Neal, 30, who teaches psychology and history at Thomas Edison High School in Fairfax County, is among the dozen or so volunteers who regularly show up.
Neal also helps arrange donations for the cause. He said he persuaded his brother's Montgomery County-based sanitation company to contribute 2,500 tires. A friend donated 15 truckloads of dirt.
"I put in 20 hours a week on this," he said.
Neal said he was speaking by cell phone as he and a friend, Jaime Stapula, 33, were driving to Atlanta for a couple of days to skateboard in an empty swimming pool in a hotel that is to be bulldozed. One of their favorite pastimes is finding new places to skate. Soon they won't have to travel farther than the Langdon Recreation Center.
"It's something to do to let out your energy and express yourself," he said. "You can exercise and do your art."
