Van Ness elementary school Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Dupree/JDLand.com
Last night a group of residents of the Capitol Riverfront community met with Interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson regarding the future of Van Ness Elementary. Van Ness, confusingly, is located on 5th Street SE, adjacent to M Street SE and not in the Northwest neighborhood of the same name. The school was closed by DCPS in 2006 due to low enrollment. The neighborhood immediately surrounding Van Ness was not that long ago filled with public housing which was demolished and the residents relocated.
The many attendees at the meeting were local families, many new residents with young children who are eager to have to public elementary school within walking distance. Several of these potential students were toddling around the back of the room at the Marriott and their presence added to the hopeful vibe. Currently these families are inbounds for Amidon-Bowen in Southwest, a school that is a long distance from the neighborhood and, in the words of one mom, under-performing.
In the months leading up to this meeting DCPS solicited feedback from local families about the number of children in the neighborhood to get an idea of whether the population in the area could support a school. One mom went so far as to go to the DCPS offices in person to amend her responses when she became pregnant with baby #2 to assure the child-to-be would be counted.
As far as public meetings go this had to have been the most upbeat, happy and least contentious I have ever attended. The chancellor was there to listen to the opinions and concerns of the residents. The residents were hopeful and polite and full of love for this newish neighborhood. Several members of the audience were not even parents but simply wanted to to add their support for the school and look forward to an even stronger community with the addition of a well-supported neighborhood school. Chancellor Henderson was not in the position to give a decision this evening but the attendees were assured they would hear by the end of January.
No matter what the decision is there is no way the school will not be open for the coming, 2011-2012 school year but if all the stars align for the citizens of the Riverfront neighborhood it could be an option for kids beginning in 2012.
Quote of the night goes to the chancellor who, remarking on the neighborhood’s (and indeed all of Ward 6’s) fecundity, vowed when and if she needed assistance with conceiving she would eschew fertility doctors and just move over here as we seem to have no trouble with reproduction.
“The school was closed by DCPS in 2006 due to low enrollment. The neighborhood immediately surrounding Van Ness was not that long ago filled with public housing which was demolished and the residents relocated.”
A bit OT but if that large Public Housing project could go, why is it so difficult to do the same to PG? Was there a huge uproar about the EYA redevelopment project displacing families? Just curious.