The Washington Informer
Former DCPS School Gets Facelift for Charter Schools
By Norma Porter
Thursday, November 19, 2009
District Mayor Adrian Fenty, along with community members and students gathered at the newly renovated Draper Elementary School, the new home of Achievement Preparatory Academy and the National Collegiate Preparatory Public Charter High School, to celebrate during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Fri., Nov. 13.
“I know this campus and over the past couple of years I have come here to check on it. The main reason I was here was because the facilities were in disrepair. The reason that the Chancellor decided to consolidate this school with another one is because the enrollment had declined and we weren’t putting the right resources and energy into this school,” Fenty said.
“But, I am excited to be here today because I really see what you’re doing here in these two fantastic schools and it’s really a model for us,” he said.
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee decided to close Draper and Birney Elementary Schools in Southeast and Webb Elementary School in Northeast due to low enrollment in June 2009. Students from Draper moved to Ferebee-Hope Elementary School in Southeast.
“Draper was closed because of the under enrollment, there were only 84 students in the Pre-K through sixth grade program,” Jennifer Calloway, a spokesperson for the school system, said. “Ferebee-Hope went through some dramatic renovations and we felt that we would be able to offer richer programs and better facilities for the former Draper students.”
Achievement Preparatory and National Collegiate, like many public charter schools in the District, faced facility challenges. The founders of both schools struggled to find a building that they could afford.
Achievement Preparatory, a middle school that starts in the fourth grade, operated within the Draper Elementary School for its first year, but was under pressure to find a permanent home. National Collegiate, which has a focus on international education, struggled this summer to recruit students without an actual building.
“We had our meetings in Busboys and Poets and eventually rented a small office space on 12th Street in Northeast,” Regina L. Rodriguez, co-founder of National Collegiate Preparatory, said. “It was difficult to recruit students and convince parents to send their children to our school without a building and an existing student body.”
Both charter schools moved into the Draper building the beginning of the school year through the Charter School Incubator Initiative (CSII), a private-public partnership between the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), the U.S. Department of Education and Building Hope.
The CSII, which started in 2006, was created to help charter schools tackle facility issues by providing charter schools with expert real estate advice and below market loans. Building Hope, a nonprofit organization established by the Sallie Mae Foundation, helped Achievement Preparatory and National Collegiate obtain low interest loans.
The CSII, which has helped six other charter schools in the District secure facilities, invested $6 million to renovate the Draper building for the two schools. The school now has a new science lab, adequate bathroom facilities and an elevator to accommodate handicap students.
D.C. Public Charter School Board Chair Tom Nida said that he frequently conducts meetings for charter school applicants. In most instances, the applicants are concerned about finding and financing their own facility.
“I see the success of this incubator initiative. What you have is this old building that was almost falling apart and look at it today,” Nida said. “You have two schools here, not one and that’s important because neither one of these schools could afford to be here by themselves.”
Shantelle Wright, founder and head of school of Achievement Preparatory said that she can focus on creating a great learning environment for her “scholars” now that the facilities dilemma is behind her.
“Being in this facility and being a part of the incubator initiative has alleviated so many of the facility struggles [for me] that so many of my co-school leaders struggle with,” Wright said. “This has allowed us to focus on creating a strong school culture that is focused on academic rigor and closing the achievement gap in education.”