Long Renovation List, and Waits to Match

Brightwood, built in 1926, was expanded with an addition that includes a gymnasium and offices. Luke C. Moore, opened in 1891 as Brookland Elementary School, was gutted and outfitted with new plumbing, wiring, ventilation system and windows. An addition, which more than doubles the building's capacity, contains a gym, cafeteria, auditorium and offices.

Luke C. Moore and Brightwood, officials said, will be models for how schools in the new construction program will be renovated. Both "were on time and on budget," Brady said.

Council members required the school system to devise a management plan outlining how it would ensure that the $2.5 billion in construction money is not wasted. A previous school construction program, run by the Army Corps of Engineers during the city's financial control board era, was criticized for falling behind schedule and going over budget by millions of dollars.

Under the management plan, submitted to the council this summer, the system would appoint one team to supervise the projects and another to audit the money. A nine-member advisory group -- appointed by the school board, the council and the mayor -- would oversee the process.

In addition to the new management structure, the system is hiring nearly 100 architects, project managers and other construction officials to carry out the work.

"The plan is a good overview. The proof will be in whether [the school system] can implement it," said council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), who chairs the education committee. Patterson said the council members will discuss the plan at a public hearing in September before voting on it later in the fall.

A major piece of the master facilities plan will be Janey's second list proposing schools to be closed or consolidated. Enrollment in the school system in the past five years has dropped by about 10,000 students, many of whom transferred to public charter schools. Janey is moving on the school board's plan to eliminate 3 million square feet of space. He eliminated 1 million of that with a first wave of closures and consolidations over the summer and is required to cut the remaining 2 million by summer 2008.

The school board is expected to vote on eliminating the 2 million square feet of space -- the equivalent of about 20 schools -- by December.

Given the intense public interest in the construction plan and proposed closings, school activists had urged Janey to release the master facilities plan during the summer. The school board directed Janey to postpone the plan's release from June to September to give him more time to study its impact.

"The condition of the buildings is so bad," said Marc Borbely, an activist who helped launch the campaign to modernize the schools. "Every week delay is keeping thousands of kids in substandard schools."