Letter to CM Lewis George on Winston

Coalition for DC Public Schools and Communities (C4DC)

Dear CM Lewis George,

Congratulations on your recent victory as the Democratic Mayoral nominee in DC.  We are excited to continue our work with you as a Council Member and head of the Facilities Committee and we look forward to your potential stewardship of the city’s schools next year.  We appreciate and support your focus on equity and on education.  To that end we ask for your support in maintaining the Winston Education Center (EC) site for DCPS going forward. 

DC should maintain the current inventory of DCPS buildings in DCPS including the Ward 7, Winston EC.  This is necessary to allow for the planning to fulfill the goals and the vision currently in place for the publicly managed public school system in Washington DC.  The value of maintaining a publicly run DCPS system of schools has been stated in 2014 and confirmed in 2024 as part of the Student Assignment Boundary Review.  [1]

The Winston EC, which closed in 2014 is listed as one of the 127 DCPS facilities[2] in 2022 retained by DCPS as operating schools , swing space or for other uses.  In the 2024 MEP, it is identified as under the control of DGS, thus available to DCPS to assign a use after a transfer back to the DCPS inventory.   To facilitate this:

We Need an Education Plan :  There has not been a current full Master Education Plan for DCPS for decades since All Students Succeeding (2006).  The Capital Commitment supports the values of equity of opportunity and families being connected to schools but stops short of describing a full plan to achieve these goals.  Ward 7 students travel the farthest to school, on average 1.7 miles and have access to fewer rigorous programs. These equity issues can be addressed as we welcome a new administration coming in next year.  An Education Plan can address a range of issues including arts and science programming, special education, early childhood education, career and technical programming, global education programming, as well as technology uses (AI and Screen use), and access to fully resourced, close by- right DCPS public schools. 

The Ward 7 Education Council and long-standing Ward 7 stakeholders have been clear that Winston EC should be included in the DCPS inventory as a planned middle school for Ward 7 because of the need for an academically demanding middle school with diverse programming. There have been recent proposals for Winston to fulfill programming needs for CTE as well as the desire for dual language at the middle school level.  [3]

The proposals from the DCPS school boundary planning process of 2013 were fulfilled for Ward 4 and Ward 1. There are improved middle school options for the Roosevelt and Coolidge feeder patterns—with reopening and modernizing MacFarland MS and creating Ida B. Wells MS. The Ward 1 request for an additional middle school is being met with the Euclid St middle school to feed into Cardozo.  Left unaddressed was the Ward 7 recommendation for additional middle school options in DCPS for Woodson HS. The ability to do that by maintaining Winston in its inventory is crucial. 

Winston EC needs a DCPS Facility Plan:  Winston is a major piece of infrastructure that is unlikely to be affordable to future use without D.C. funding, if it is to be a healthy and safe environment for children and staff.

Winston EC is a 137,000 GSF school built in 1976—not a good year for school design or construction. It was designed and built during and after the 1973 oil crisis, leading the architects to omit windows to save on energy costs. Additionally, in the 1960s, Ward 7 experienced tremendous growth in its child and overall populations, so open-plan school design was promoted to increase school enrollment capacity. Windowless-Winston was designed with a design capacity for 1190 students. The design included 8 grade-level sections on each of two wings on each floor. There were no walls separating the 8 grade-level sections. In a 1995 survey of facility conditions, Winston EC was already rated in poor condition.  It had a reputation among teachers as a toxic building. 

Winston EC closed in 2014 and has now been vacant for a decade. It suffered a fire in 2020 and will need to be replaced or fully modernized before it is a healthy or safe place for children and staff. As a large vacant property, it is also not a safe place in the community. The problems at Winston EC are not unique.  D.C. has demolished many of its 1970s open-plan, windowless schools: among these are Dunbar HS, Bruce Monroe EC (now a public park), Gage-Eckington EC (now a park), West EC (now John Lewis ES), Shaw JHS (now Banneker HS), and H.D. Woodson HS (rebuilt as H.D. Woodson HS).

The city should fulfill its responsibility to the Ward 7 community with necessary planning and funding at the Winston site as it has with other open plan schools. The site needs to be secured and a feasibility study for future use initiated. 

Responsible Funding: DCPS schools are modernized through their inclusion in the District’s 6- year Capital Plan.  This is a public process.  DCPS uses the PACE Act and public hearings to set priorities.  After decades of neglect, since 2002 a majority of the DCPS buildings have been modernized.   With fewer resources anticipated, the capital budget for DCPS for 2031 is $177,871,000. However, funds for schools can be identified and prioritized by the city as we saw with the purchase and modernization of John Thompson HS which was fast tracked. 

Charter schools are modernized through revenue bonds repaid by the Public Charter School Facilities Allowance.  Overall, they do not use private funding for buildings. These per student funds are operating dollars and currently awarded regardless of need in order to cover facilities costs. DC charter schools are requesting that the compounded escalation of 3.1% per year through FY31 be kept in place. (That was not the recommendation of the Mayor this year.)  If the number of nonresidential students remains stable at 47,657, the facilities allowance cost to the city in FY31 would then be $213,716,863 or $4,484.48 per student.  As happened with the closure of Eagle Academy in the McGogney building, the debt secured with the promise of city funding, can come back onto the city ledger.  Expanding the charter enrollment and inventory with this funding structure is potentially more expensive for the city. Charter schools are not in fact better positioned to fund a modernization.[4] .

Winston is adjacent to the Hillcrest Recreation Center, a terrific location for a DCPS school.  Feeder rights and geographic rights can be extended to elementary schools in the area. Winston needs to be maintained in the DCPS inventory for it to be planned as a DCPS school in Ward 7 with strong programming. 

Sincerely,

Cathy Reilly on behalf of C4DC

Dr. Marla Dean on behalf of the Ward 7 Education Council

[1] We believe that all families in Washington, DC are entitled to a high-quality, by-right DCPS school located within a reasonable distance from their home that offers the fundamental and inclusive programming necessary to ensure students are well-educated and supported. We believe that vibrant

neighborhood schools contribute to healthy communities and neighborhood life. https://dcgov.app.box.com/v/2023dcboundaryreport page 10

[2]https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/2022%20MFP%20Annual%20Supplement_%20FINAL.pdf

[3] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nxPf4e2XWmqckfVxcHbfOsgQ72oxEnVlfeI05uGRA08/edit?usp=sharing

[4] https://dcgov.app.box.com/v/DMEDualLangStudy page 28 “Finally,

there are some modernization funding opportunities available to public charter schools that can

help finance the modernization during tight fiscal times.”