Community members ask DCPS to invest in Washington Met, not close it

Students, parents, teachers and community members on Monday night urged against the proposed closure of Washington Metropolitan High School, which some say suffers from lack of investment from DC Public Schools.

“Nobody’s listening to us,” said Lyric Johnson, one of several current students to speak at a public meeting held at Washington Met, a converted elementary school near Howard University. “We’ve been preaching. All we want is some resources.”

The session was the first of two taking place this week on DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee’s proposal to close the Ward 1 alternative school, which serves middle and high school students who have struggled in traditional programs. Mayor Muriel Bowser is expected to decide before the end of January on whether to close the school at the end of the academic year.

Washington Metropolitan High School opened in 2008 in Ward 6 under the name Youth Engagement Academy and moved in 2010 to its current location. The school is one of the District’s four Opportunity Academies, designed to provide special resources for students who are off track for graduation. Washington Met is the only academy open to middle schoolers.

DCPS officials during the Monday meeting said enrollment, attendance, and student satisfaction figures are lower at Washington Met than at the other three Opportunity Academies: Ballou STAY, Luke C. Moore and Roosevelt STAY. According to their findings, Washington Met’s building utilization rate is 32%, significantly lower than the other alternative schools, where utilization rates are above 70%. Officials also said most Washington Met students live in Ward 8 and have to commute long distances to school. 

If the closure is approved, officials said Washington Met’s 157 currently enrolled students will either graduate, if they’re seniors, or be transitioned to other Opportunity Academies, neighborhood schools or other DC public schools. According to a DC Office of the Auditor study, Washington Met’s highest enrollment was 282 students in 2012.

The building itself would remain in the DCPS inventory “for future use,” according to a Q&A prepared by officials.

Chancellor Ferebee first informed Washington Met parents about the proposed closure in a Nov. 26 letter, with a formal notice published in the DC Register the next day. Initially Ferebee was not expected to appear at Monday’s meeting, and attendees criticized his absence. But he arrived about half an hour into the meeting, with staff explaining that he was available for part of the evening due to a change to another event on his schedule.

“It’s our intention to ensure that every student is in the best learning environment,” Ferebee told attendees. “We’re thinking now about how we can create a transition that will allow our high school students to matriculate and go onto graduation and preparing students who are in those middle grades for their transition to high school.”  

Students, teachers, staff and other community members said low enrollment and attendance is a consequence of lack of investment in Washington Met, which lacks some of the vocational programs — such as digital media and culinary arts — available at other Opportunity Academies. 

In her comments, Johnson decried a lack of support for the school, which she said needs more teachers, more social workers and a new building. The current Washington Met campus at 300 Bryant St. NW occupies the former K.C. Lewis Elementary School, which shut down in 1997 as part of a round of about a dozen closures.

“Our teachers here are very good” but haven’t received the necessary resources, Johnson said. “As someone else said, we have to put the puzzles together ourselves.” 

“You’ll be sending us back to the same neighborhoods we got kicked out of,” said another student named Travius. He, too, asked for another social worker at Washington Met, and criticized the limitations of the personalized, online Summit Learning model students use. “I want to learn something.”

Monday’s meeting also included small-group discussions. Summarizing feedback from her group, Emily Gasoi, Ward 1 representative on the DC State Board of Education, said some Washington Met staff members believe that paper surveys of students and parents did not adequately reflect the community’s opinion of the school, and that a new survey should be conducted over the phone. She also mentioned requests for more mental health services and vocational training.

Although they readily expressed concerns with the learning environment at Washington Met, most who spoke at the meeting also said closing the school could be harmful for students who did not feel supported or safe in their neighborhood schools. 

“You’re putting students back into the same danger,” said parent Shereeda Jones. While acknowledging Washington Met’s shortcomings, she asked where DC Public Schools planned to send vulnerable kids. “You’ll put them where — outside?”

The Washington Teachers’ Union circulated a petition at the meeting asking DCPS to postpone for a year the decision to close the school and provide more opportunity for community input. The online version of petition had about 200 signatures as of Wednesday night.

Melissa Kim, deputy chancellor of DCPS, said at the meeting that Washington Met teachers would be spread among District schools and that the majority of cost savings from shutting down the school would come from eliminating custodial staff and the school’s leadership team. 

The meeting was scheduled to last from 6 to 7:30 p.m., but continued past 8 p.m. due to the number of people who wanted to speak. The second community meeting on the proposal — taking place in Ward 8, where most of Washington Met’s students live — will be held Thursday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. at Martha’s Table, 2375 Elvans Road SE.

“We do not take this proposal lightly, and we definitely want to hear your thoughts, your perspectives, your voice, your input,” Kim said. “We don’t have all the answers today.”