River Terrace Students, courtesy DDOE

I just finished listening to the December 27 edition of the Latino Media Collective, a radio program that airs on WPFW every Wednesday night from 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM. This episode focuses on the city’s penchant for closing schools in neighborhoods that private developers have shown an interest in developing. River Terrace, a quiet, residential community along the Anacostia Waterfront, right across the river from long sought-after Kingman Island, is one such neighborhood. Despite loud and persistent objections from the residents, River Terrace Elementary School was the latest to make the school closure list.

Education advocate Alicia Rucker claims that you can predict when a school is going to be closed by the incremental withdrawal of attention and resources to the surrounding community by District government. She is concerned about her children’s school, Houston Elementary. River Terrace was at one time on the school modernization list, but with no explanation to the community, it was withdrawn. Houston Elementary has also been on the school modernization list, but because DCPS has become silent with regards to modernization plans, the school community speculates that Houston has been or shortly will be removed. One city official in the District’s Office of Facilities Planning has confirmed this, although no public announcement has yet been made. Will closure be next for Houston as well?

And then there’s the Illinois Facilities Fund Study. The Deputy Mayor for Education (De’Shawn Wright) hired the Illinois-based firm to evaluate the competing needs of charters and traditional public schools for DCPS space. Should we be concerned that the Illinois Facilities Fund is known for working with charter schools (often to the detriment of traditional public schools) or that the study was funded by the Walton Family Foundation (Wal-Mart)? Because the funding is private, IFF was chosen without any competition or public input.

How School Closures Hurt Our Community by the Latino Media Collective

All of these issues and more are covered in the above audio podcast. The show was co-hosted by Oscar Fernandez and Daniel del Pielago. Education activist Alicia Rucker was their in-studio guest and Diana Onley-Campbell joined them on the phone. If you think school closings ended in DCPS when Michelle Rhee left, you’re wrong. If you think school closings are good for DC’s historically Black communities or for DCPS students, then this program should prove enlightening.