Long Renovation List, and Waits to Match
$2.5 Billion Plan, Set to Be Released, Spans Many Years

By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 24, 2006

In a few weeks, Superintendent Clifford B. Janey is to release a long-awaited plan outlining how the school system will transform the city's aging and deteriorating schools into gleaming, state-of-the-art buildings.

The good news is that the system finally has the money -- $2.5 billion to be allocated over at least 10 years -- which was approved by the D.C. Council in the spring.

The bad news is that Janey's 600-page master facilities plan is likely to spur a new round of battles because a long list of schools would not be modernized for many years. Moreover, the document probably will spark anger because as many as 20 schools will be identified as candidates for closure or consolidation. Five schools were closed over the summer.

"I think with the modernization bill, the aspirations for folks in the local schools have been fueled and to some extent people don't realize how long it takes to do planning, procurement and construction," said Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, which studies school facilities issues.

If the school system "doesn't have a really robust maintenance and repair program" to help schools that are low on the list, "people will be upset to see how long it takes to do what needs to be done and will be disheartened," she added.

In mid-September, Janey is expected to release the master facilities plan, which will detail the rehabilitation schedule for some 130 schools and list those that would be closed or consolidated. The plan, which has been delayed at least twice, was last supposed to have been released in June.

School system officials declined to disclose the contents of the plan, but they said it would focus on renovating senior high schools.

"The board prioritized high schools as the crown jewels," said Thomas M. Brady, the chief business operating officer. "We anticipate that will continue."

City officials announced last year, before the approval of the $2.5 billion, that they would no longer be able to fully fund a 30-year school modernization plan approved in 2000. The school board responded by approving a significantly scaled-back plan that focused on rebuilding seven senior highs -- Anacostia, Cardozo, Coolidge, Roosevelt, School Without Walls, Wilson and H.D. Woodson -- and replacing only antiquated infrastructure at other schools.

Cornell S. Brown, executive director of the school system's facilities department, said the priorities for the construction projects were set by Janey's master education plan, which was released in February. Brown said that decisions about the projects also were based on neighborhood demographics, the city's housing development plans and the condition of the schools.

Still, he added, schools that are low on the list will receive some attention in the early years. "We will be providing component replacements" for aging plumbing, wiring, windows, roofs and carpeting "for those schools that may not be on the front burner," he said.

The system has been completing renovations of two schools a year on average. Students at Brightwood Elementary in Northwest and Luke C. Moore Academy, a Northeast alternative senior high for dropouts, are expected to return to fully renovated buildings Monday. But once a new construction management team has been assembled, school officials expect in a few years to be finishing about five schools each year.

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."