The brick monstrosity at 3012 Georgia Ave., NW, looks more like a detention center than a school, with its few slim windows, abundance of concrete and absence of green space. The school was built in 1973 without interior walls, and its facilities have been so shamefully neglected over the years that not even Superintendent Janey could hide his disappointment after a tour three years ago. “It was awful, just awful,” Janey told the Washington Post in 2004.

Despite its physical state, the educational bulwark is home to a thriving elementary school, and dedicated teachers and parents – many of whom have lobbied DCPS to address their problematic facility for years – have since seen $1.4 million invested in upgrades and wall-building in an ongoing construction project. A new playground was built last year, and a thriving bilingual program and increasing academic achievement is trumpeted by those who know Bruce Monroe.

The school may be headed for a bold move, however. Parents and teachers were dismayed to learn last fall that their school was on the list for proposed consolidation with Park View Elementary School; the plan as put forth in the Master Facilities Plan has the kids shuttling between the two buildings during renovations of each school starting in 2008 – until all kids land permanently at Park View in 2010.

But would the move benefit the students? How would a dual-language program at Bruce Monroe integrate with the monolingual program at Park View? Would there be an exodus of students from both schools? Could the schools co-locate with other programs instead?

These are among the questions on parent and teacher’s minds at both schools while Mayor Adrian Fenty’s proposal to run the school system advances another question – who will make these decisions?

The Capacity for Learning
So what’s missing? According to DCPS, it’s the students.

A resolution adopted by the Board of Education last year directs the school system to “[R]educe the District’s operating inventory of schools by one million square feet by 2006 and another two million square feet by 2008.” According to DCPS, the two schools were selected for consolidation because they have too few students: Bruce Monroe had a total of 330 students last year with a capacity for 539, while Park View Elementary’s enrollment was less at 206 with a capacity for 425 students.  

Dr. Palacios, principal of the Bruce Monroe Elementary, says these numbers don’t tell the full story. “[T]hey’re not telling the truth,” she says. “It’s clear that enrollment is down out of the 530 [total capacity], but because of our space restrictions, we couldn’t go out and do recruiting last year or the year before; we didn’t have the space. We are practically at capacity for the last three years,” she says.

Because one-quarter of the building has been under construction for the last two years, says Palacios, the school has been unable to handle more students.

Open walls also play a role in capacity, according to Mary Filardo of the DC based 21st Century School Fund. “For most teachers it’s a challenge to teach in [open walls], although you have a huge square footage, you can’t put that many kids in it because you don’t have walls,” Filardo says. “So the capacity of open-plan schools are much smaller than you’d expect functionally.”

Park View Elementary School, on the other hand, could clearly handle more students at its facility, built in 1916. An addition made in the early 1930s to turn the school into a junior high gave the school a cafeteria, gym and an auditorium. So why not abandon Bruce Monroe to enduring facilities problems and move the kids over?

Parents and teachers argue that merging their bilingual program with the monolingual philosophy at Park View would be detrimental. “These are two different schools with two different populations,” says Cesar Espejo, a fifth-grade teacher at Bruce Monroe. “The dual language program is expected to go up to the fourth grade next year,” Espejo says. “The consolidation does not consider the reality of academics or student learning here.”

Additionally, many are afraid that the shuffling between schools during the renovation would be detrimental to a school system struggling to hold onto 55,000 students. “We’re afraid that parents would choose a different option rather than have kids move from one school to the other,” says Jill Weiler of Teaching for Change who works on the Tellin’ Stories Project at the school.

“The problem is that the buildings are big not that they shouldn’t be a school,” says Mary Filardo. “Park View obviously needs to find other compatible spaces, and I would argue that Bruce Monroe does as well,” she says. “As part of the modernization program, there should be a downsizing of buildings, but it has to be the appropriate use.”

Finding a middle (school) ground?
“We would like to find a creative solution,” says Lillian Hernandez, coordinator of the Parent Center at Bruce Monroe. Hernandez says that the parents have talked with DCPS about potentially locating the new Ward 1 Parent Resource Center at the school. “We acknowledge that there is extra space, but we would like to find a better solution,” Hernandez says.

“Bruce Monroe parents are concerned about the middle school option for their children,” says Nancy Huvendick, DC program director of 21st Century School Fund, suggesting that adding grades to Park View or Bruce Monroe could be a viable option. “Closing and consolidation while it attempts to address the real problem of the underutilization of space, is not a very creative solution…not sitting on [the space] and hording it, like what they’re doing now, but also just put everyone out,” Huvendick says.

The DCPS department of facilities did not return repeated calls for comment.

Fenty and the Future
Parents at Bruce Monroe are trying to set up a meeting with Victor Reinoso, deputy mayor for education, in an obvious attempt to bend the ear of someone who is poised to be influential in the school’s fate. So far, attempts to get clear information from the DCPS Department of Facilities have been thwarted, says Jill Weiler, and schools currently have no representation on the school board as Ward 1 member Jeff Smith resigned last month.

“I’m definitely interested in supporting the parent and other stakeholders,” says Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham. “I must say, I’m also very unhappy with the facility at Bruce Monroe, it is a fundamental bad design,” he adds.

If the Fenty plan goes through, the issue will ultimately end up in the hands of the DC Council. Graham met with Dr. Palacios and Bruce Monroe parents on May 24 to discuss the possibility of co-locating with other programs though Graham says no specifics have been discussed.

“I’m also waiting to get the final word on the governance issue cleared up, because my role changes very considerably,” Graham says.

Meanwhile parents at Bruce Monroe say they will continue to fight; they have already held one protest in front of the school and are considering a petition that would be sent to Mayor Fenty, Superintendent Janey and Councilmember Graham.