On Monday, February 12, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) leadership held a virtual town hall with the Dora Kennedy French Immersion (DKFI) school community, after the February 1 issue of the News Review broke the news of plans to move DKFI out of Greenbelt. During the webinar, PGCPS leadership gave a presentation about the planned move and read and answered questions they selected. Attendees found the most candid and interesting comments came between the leaders when they thought the call had ended, including the suggestion that the move was a “bad decision.”
Candid Comments
With the recording stopped but the webinar still in progress, leaders (not realizing the video was still live) said the meeting went as they’d anticipated with concerns from the community primarily focusing on transportation and access for students in the north of the county, in areas like Laurel. Director of Pupil Accounting, School Boundaries and School Records Roger Prince stated that 40 percent of students would be closer following the move – a statement that indicates most students could find themselves with a longer commute. During the meeting it was stated that some would be closer and some would be farther but no figures were shared, despite the PTA’s request for data on commute times and the impact of the location change.
PGCPS Chief Operating Officer Charoscar Coleman said, “You know what bothers me? … I feel like we’re doubling down on a bad decision. It is our decision, but if there was space at Goddard and this was an opportunity to put them back at Goddard, why aren’t they back at Goddard? Why aren’t we moving them back to Goddard?”
“Because they hate each other!” exclaimed Director of Capital Programs Shawn Matlock. “They fought each other,” he said, apparently referring to the Robert Goddard Montessori and DKFI schools.
“That’s not a reason,” argued Coleman. “All this data. They hate going to Kenmoor. They hate going to Landover. They don’t want to do anything except stay in that building until they can get a new one right there in Old Greenbelt … This is why we end up twisted up into the facts apply sometimes and sometimes they don’t.”
Coleman was about to reiterate something Matlock had said but was interrupted by Marissa Thomas, Administrative Secretary to Jason Washington, who asked them to “pause for just a moment with our speaking” as Coleman was informed by phone that they were still in a live meeting.
Though Coleman was caught in a “hot mic” moment, many parents from the DKFI community appreciated his request for a fact-and-data-based decision for the future of the school.
Webinar
DKFI’s PTA had requested an in-person town hall meeting with PGCPS leaders and were frustrated with the option of a webinar, in which participants were not able to speak, see each other or see questions asked by others in the chat unless presenters answered or acknowledged a question.
Rationale for Kenmoor Move
During the presentation, Matlock suggested the move from Greenbelt to Kenmoor would be beneficial to DKFI because they would be transferring from a school built in 1937 to one built in 1973. The Kenmoor building is about 12 Facilities Condition Index (FCI) points better than their current building, he said, with a safer parking lot, a playground that’s been put in place for the elementary school that is currently using it as a swing space, and bathrooms adapted to work for elementary school children. There’s also been work on the steampipe and a boiler replacement is scheduled.
They responded to a question about potable water, something DKFI has struggled with in their current location, stating that Kenmoor does not have potable water. This is true of most PGCPS buildings constructed before 2000, they said.
No New Building
DKFI parents and the PTA posed questions about why they have never been in line for a new building, despite being in one of the oldest in the county. During the webinar, they were told that DKFI was considered a program rather than a school.
“This school isn’t just a program. It’s part of our community,” wrote René Richardson in the Q & A period, a comment that was acknowledged. “All of the ‘immersion programs’ are full schools with students who deserve the best possible start to their educations. They shouldn’t be treated as though they are somehow less than the boundary schools,” said Richardson, who lives in Bowie and has a child at DKFI.
Director of Alternative Infrastructure Planning and Development Jason Washington explained that specialty schools are not prioritized for state funding as regular boundary schools are. State money is focused on right-sizing community schools, he said.
There is also no money allocated to renovate Kenmoor. “We’re not going to renovate Kenmoor,” stated Matlock, though he said there may be future upgrades to make the building “comfortable and effective.” Asked why Kenmoor Middle School was moved out of the building but it was suitable for DKFI to move into, Coleman replied that the original Kenmoor Middle School is in good condition. … The new building was constructed to accommodate increased enrollment, not poor building conditions. However, a PGCPS employee at Kenmoor told the News Review that in addition to severe overcrowding, the school also experienced problems with mold and asbestos. During the meeting the presenters did not respond to a question posed about those issues or any remediation that’s taken place. They did mention the replacement of ceiling tiles due to asbestos.
Call for Empathy
Board of Education Member for District 2 Jonathan Briggs asked for the administration to “look beyond the logistics” and approach the situation with empathy for the children. Washington acknowledged the community as a school saying, “Dora Kennedy is a school. It is not a program. It is not an afterthought.”
Superintendent Millard House also attempted to empathize, saying “change is very difficult,” and sharing that his recent move across country with his family for his new job as superintendent had been tough.
A Permanent Home
PGCPS leaders reiterated that Kenmoor would be DKFI’s permanent home. Once they moved in it would no longer be a swing space. Some parents were skeptical. The current Greenbelt building is not a designated swing space but will be used as such due to a boundary school’s need for the space. Could that happen again at Kenmoor if a local school needed the space there? The question was not acknowledged by the presenters.
Transportation and Location
DKFI is a specialty school serving northern Prince George’s County. The dividing line for students to go to DKFI or Maya Angelou (the French immersion school for the south) is Central Avenue. School Boundaries Manager Rhianna McCarter told attendees that the Landover site was “located well within the current service area.” McCarter said they’d expected to find a larger cluster of students around Greenbelt and though there were some, students were well distributed throughout the north of the county. “I understand parents make decisions based on location, which is why we’re trying to give a lot of notice,” said McCarter, though PGCPS was not the one to share the plan with the community.
Asked how students coming from Laurel and others needing transportation would be accommodated, Washington said PGCPS would look to secure more bus drivers, which would enable them to better plan routes.
However, the hiring and retention of bus drivers has continued to be difficult for the school district amidst a nationwide driver shortage. Lyssa Hargrove has a fourth and a seventh grader at DKFI. She lives in Laurel and says though she can drive to the school in Greenbelt in 15 to 20 minutes, depending on traffic, her children have much longer commutes taking the bus. “For their bus route, school lets out at 3:45 p.m. and they are home at 5:30 p.m. I cannot imagine what moving further south would do to that commute,” Hargrove told the News Review. John McElhenny of Greenbelt has three children at DKFI. They were registered to take the bus but are now frequently car riders due to the unreliability of bus service, he told the News Review. “What’s the plan to actually fix the bus driver shortage and why haven’t they fixed it?” he said to the News Review, after the meeting.
Broken Trust
During the meeting Washington stated they had “examined every option,” and there were no other suitable spaces for DKFI. However, the later comments between leaders who thought the meeting had ended suggest the nearby Robert Goddard Montessori building, which would involve very little geographic relocation, might be an option. As another specialty K-8 school drawing from the north of the county, as DKFI does, it also might offer the possibility of shared buses.
Tracy O’Heir of Berwyn Heights is the parent of a first grader at DKFI. She wasn’t against moving until now. “Since PGCPS has been caught admitting they are misleading the school community about this decision, I am against the move at this moment because I don’t believe we have an honest broker who wants the best for our children,” she said. “I do believe we need a new building and don’t mind a move but want it to be built on a trusting relationship and having real information about the location. Based on the hot mic conversation that was caught [Monday] night, I believe there are more options than we were led to believe.”
The author has two children currently attending DKFI.