Posted tagged ‘Charter Schools’

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Creative Minds International Public Charter School Planning Move to Old Soldiers’ Home

February 10, 2015

Yesterday, February 9th, Congresswoman Norton’s Office announced that she was a featured speaking at the lease signing ceremony at the Armed Forces Retirement Home with Creative Minds International Public Charter School (CMI). CMI is currently located at 3224 16th Street, NW. Beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, CMI will move to the AFRH’s Sherman Building.

Norton to Commemorate Opening of Creative Minds International Public Charter School at Armed Forces Retirement Home, Today

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today will speak at the lease signing ceremony marking a partnership between the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH), a federal institution, and Creative Minds International Public Charter School (CMI) at the Armed Forces Retirement Home Sherman Building South (140 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW) at 2:00 p.m.  Norton will be joined by CMI Founder/Head of School Dr. Golnar Abedin, D.C. Public Charter School Board Executive Director Scott Pearson, AFRH Chief Operating Officer Steven McManus, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense-Military Community and Family Policy Rosemary Williams, and a host of parents and friends.

Sherman Building.

Sherman Building.

In December, Norton met with AFHR and requested that AFRH submit its notification of the lease to Congress, as required by law, by the start of January so that CMI could sign the lease this month and open in time for the start of the school year.  Norton helped secure $15 million for D.C. Public Charter Schools in the fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill.

“The partnership between CMI and AFRH is not only innovative but increasingly necessary in a city where land is scarce and the unoccupied space is often on federal land,” Norton said.  “We appreciate how hard CMI and AFRH have worked together so that hundreds of students will have the opportunity to learn and grow in an excellent charter school surrounded by green space.”

“The Creative Minds International Public Charter School community is enthusiastic about our upcoming move this August to the historic Sherman Building, on the beautiful grounds of the AFRH campus,” Abedin said.  “We look forward to growing a long-term partnership with AFRH, and are grateful for this wonderful opportunity.”

“This new space will be a big improvement to the learning environment of the 250 students that will attend Creative Minds this fall,” Pearson said.  “It is particularly exciting that they will be in a facility close to where so many of our nation’s retired veterans live.”

“We are very pleased that Creative Minds International Public Charter School will be opening in the fall of 2015,” McManus said.  “This will be a wonderful partnership for many years to come, and this partnership will assist AFRH in continuing to grow ties with the Washington, D.C. community.”

The school will lease 32,000 sq. ft. of space for 16 classrooms at AFRH in its North Sherman and Annex buildings.  Beginning this fall, 250 CMI students will attend classes at the AFRH campus.

Categories: Armed Forces Retirement Home, Schools
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Small Preservation Win — Restoration of Historic Preservation Office Review of Charter School Projects in District Owned School Buildings

March 27, 2014
Cesar Chavez Prep's new gymnasium -- Kenyon Street facade.

Cesar Chavez Prep’s new gymnasium — Kenyon Street facade.

Often times at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission level, resolutions are passed but no one knows if anything comes of them or not. Well, last week witnessed a change in District Law that began as an ANC 1A resolution back on June 12, 2013. The issue was identified during the onset of construction for the new gymnasium at Cesar Chavez Prep School located at 770 Kenyon Street, NW. The gymnasium was designed as an addition to the 1898 Bruce School building. The building was considered to have historic merit — though not officially a landmark structure — and as such, everyone expected that the addition to the District owned property would be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Office. However, unknown to the school or the community, a recent interpretation of the District Preservation law had determined that the Historic Landmark and Historic District Protection Act of 1978 did not apply to Charter Schools within District owned buildings because their construction projects were not considered to be “District of Columbia undertakings.” All-in-all, this interpretation seemed to be at odds with what was common practice prior to the interpretation and, for that matter, the whole reason for the District retaining ownership of the school properties to begin with.

With this in mind, I introduced a resolution urging that the DC Council revisit the law to ensure that construction projects involving District owned school properties in use by Charter Schools again be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Office in June 2013. The resolution was turned into a bill titled the “PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL HISTORIC PRESERVATION AMENDMENT ACT OF 2013″ and introduced on June 26, 2013. The first Council vote was on December 13, 2013, the final vote was on January 7, 2014, and Mayor Gray signed it on January 24, 2014. Law L20-0095 became effective on March 14, 2014. You can read a copy of the law’s language here.

Categories: History, Schools
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New Gymnasium at Chavez Prep Completed & Opened

December 17, 2013
Cesar Chavez Prep's new gymnasium -- Kenyon Street facade.

Cesar Chavez Prep’s new gymnasium — Kenyon Street facade.

For those that live near the Cesar Chavez Prep school — located in the historic Bruce School building at 770 Kenyon Street, NW — I’m sure they are glad that the gym  construction project is finished and the impact to traffic on the street is over. While planning for the gym started over a year ago, construction didn’t begin in earnest until August 2013.

Chavez Prep Gym renderingNow, the dust has settled and the gym is open for use. Last week, on December 11th, the completion was celebrated with a ribbon cutting and speakers. Below is a photo from the ribbon cutting shared on Twitter by @Fight4Children.

Principal speaking at Chavez Prep ribbon cutting (from Twitter user @Fight4Children).

Principal speaking at Chavez Prep ribbon cutting (from Twitter user @Fight4Children).

Categories: Construction, Schools
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Foundation Work for Chavez School Addition Near Completion

August 5, 2013

The foundation work for the gymnasium addition to the Cesar Chavez School’s Chavez Prep Campus appears to be done, or nearly so.  The building permit for the above grade construction was finally issued on August 1, 2013, so I expect above grade construction to begin soon. In speaking to representatives of the school this spring, they had hoped to get started on the project at the end of June and have all major construction completed prior to the start of the 2013/2014 school year. I’m not sure if that goal is still possible though.

Readers will recall that the Chavez Prep Campus is housed in the historic Bruce School building at 770 Kenyon Street, NW.

Below are some photos showing the status of the project at the end of July.

View of the site from the northeast.

View of the site from the northeast.

View of the site from the southeast.

View of the site from the southeast.

Parking lot excavation in preparation of construction.

Parking lot excavation in preparation of construction.

Categories: Development, Schools
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Chavez Prep Preparing for Gymnasium Addition

July 1, 2013
Chavez Prep is getting ready to add a gymnasium addition to the east side of the building.

Chavez Prep is getting ready to add a gymnasium addition to the east side of the building.

In checking out the Cesar Chavez Charter School’s Chavez Prep Campus — located at 770 Kenyon — over the weekend I noted that they are in the beginning stages of preparing for their planned gymnasium addition. When I first reported on this addition, I didn’t have as much information to share with the public as I would have liked, but now have more details.

While the building permit was still in the review process when I checked on Friday, it looked far enough along that it could be issued soon. According to the general plans of the addition that I received, the addition will be constructed above the parking lot, preserving the first level for the off street parking the school already has. The gym will be on the second level.

Chavez had hoped to start the project in late June, which clearly hasn’t happened. I know they  have a tight window for construction as they want to have the major work done prior to the start of the school year this fall.

Below is a general sketch of what the addition will basically look like from the street. Frankly, I think the design would have been better if it had gone through the Historic Preservation Office’s design review process. But, currently charter schools, even those in District owned school buildings, are not subject to that review process.

Last month I posted a history of the Bruce School for those interested in knowing more about the building.

Elevation concept sketch of Chavez Prep's gym addition.

Elevation concept sketch of Chavez Prep’s gym addition.

Categories: Construction, Schools
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