Support our Schools. Preserve our Parks.

Brookland-Woodridge Committee for Schools and Parks

We believe:

John Burroughs and Bunker Hill elementary schools must be modernized on-schedule and must stay in the community..
Pro-modulars for Burroughs and Bunker Hill, if they are the best local option. (See below).
In showing compassion for our neighbors who will be negatively impacted, many of whom have lived in Brookland for 2-4 decades. Many neighbors supported modulars if it meant Burroughs and Bunker Hill got modernized and stayed local but were just told on January 23rd that now it will be four schools and 10 years.
These neighbors are the same folks who went to bat for Burroughs time and time again and who saved the school when Mayor Fenty tried to shut it down.
We believe there is inherent value in children having access to open greenspace and that there is already insufficient greenspace for a community of our size and with our number of children. Many of the other elementary school fields are often fenced off and closed. Perry St. is a sports field with heavy demand and is often appropriately utilized for organized sports.
Under DCPS' 10-year plan, no current Burroughs student will have access to their school's full field for the remainder of their elementary school experience.
The Burroughs Field is DCPS land, but it's also true that it has been open and heavily used by the neighborhood for more than 100 years. Maintaining that unique harmony as much as possible seems worth advocating for.
Did DCPS truly evaluate all options? For example, the vacant lot at the site of the former Thurgood Marshall Elementary School is 6-7 minutes away and is not used by a current school or community as it is entirely fenced off. DCPS has not communicated its process on finding a local swing space.

We believe that we as a community can do a better job supporting our schools and preserving public greenspace.

Our Goals:

Transparent communication from DCPS about its efforts to find, evaluate, and secure a local swing space option.
If the best local option is modulars on the field, then DCPS should revert to the original Burroughs-Bunker Hill plan so that modulars are not in place for 10 years.
A written, public commitment from DCPS to restore the field post-modulars.

Take action and sign our petition.

What's this all about?

DC Public Schools has decided to construct a temporary school campus using modular trailers and a parking lot on the John Burroughs field, removing it from student and public use until 2034.

Why?

John Burroughs Elementary School (JBES) will be fully gutted and renovated during the 2025-2027 school years. Bunker Hill Elementary (BHES) will be similarly renovated after Burroughs. Both schools are in desperate need of modernization.
DC Public Schools (DCPS) originally intended to relocate, or "swing," the Burroughs and Bunker Hill children to an empty school 30 minutes away in Columbia Heights during construction.
After hearing complaints from parents, DCPS decided to instead construct a modular school complex and parking lot on the open field at 20th and Monroe Streets NE.
DCPS intends to use the school complex for four consecutive school modernizations (not just JBES and BHES), meaning the field will be inaccessible until at least 2034.

This will result in DCPS operating two schools side-by-side on the same block for at least six years.
DCPS has not authentically engaged the full community in these decisions.
We ask that DCPS do due diligence on all local swing space solutions for our neighborhood schools before committing to modulars on the field.
If modulars are truly the best option, then they should not be in place for a decade.
DCPS has stated it "currently intends" to restore the field after 2034. Ten years is a long time away. We would like to see a guarantee from DCPS that the school's field will be fully restored following modulars.

What can you do?

Join the petition!

There are only a few weeks for the community to act before DCPS will be locked into their current plan.

Join us in respectfully urging DCPS to find a local swing space option that unites the community, not divides us.

Read and sign the petition today!