Closure Plan Draws Heated Objections

Fear of Losing Students to Charters Cited

Alecia Hauhton, left, and John Burns, with Jazmyn Burns, 2, are teachers at Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School in Northeast Washington. They were joined by about 100 others at a hearing on the closure of some D.C. public schools. (Photos By James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post)

They crammed into a musty fifth-floor room without air conditioning for 3 1/2 hours yesterday to give the D.C. Board of Education a piece of their minds about a proposal to close or merge an estimated 30 schools.

The crowd of about 100 parents, teachers and activists filled all the seats in the school board chambers, and nearly 40 of them took a turn launching a three-minute attack.

Some criticized specific elements of the proposal, such as one that would generate money for the cash-strapped system by leasing space to fast-growing charter schools. And others offered impassioned arguments about why their schools should be spared from the chopping block.

"I'm upset that Sharpe [Health School] is even being considered," said Cynthia Bland, who has a daughter at the special education facility in Northwest Washington.

"These are God's ambassadors from Heaven," she said. "We need to take care of children with special needs. They matter, too."

The hearing was intended to solicit feedback from the public on Superintendent Clifford B. Janey's draft criteria for closing schools. After the session, dozens of people stayed for another 2 1/2 hours, dividing into focus groups in two ninth-floor conference rooms, where they used hand-held devices to register their opinions on the nuts and bolts of the draft. Janey plans to use the data to devise the final version of the criteria.

But the earlier session generated the most sparks.

The speakers expressed dismay over a school board decision to eliminate 1 million square feet of excess space by Aug. 28 and 2 million more two years later. The overall reduction would be achieved by consolidating and closing buildings.

Enrollment in the District's school system has shrunk by about 10,000 students in the past five years, and officials have said the cuts are necessary to adjust space accordingly. Janey is planning to list the first group of schools this month and the second group next month.

Although the school system has not identified any schools, Janey recently set enrollment standards that could leave about 70 schools -- nearly half those in the system -- vulnerable to consolidation or closure. To be considered "viable," an elementary school must enroll 320 students, a middle school 360 and a high school 600.

School officials said money saved from the reduction of space -- an amount that hasn't been determined -- would be invested in the classroom.

Janey tried to allay fears yesterday, emphasizing that no decision has been made on which schools to cut. "You can influence how the work gets done to a standard of quality that you can support," he said.