By Katie Pearce
May 13, 2009
Three charter schools are eyeing the historic Franklin School building at 13th and K streets NW, which shut down as a homeless shelter last fall. Built in 1869, the three-and-a-half-story building has had many lives. It housed the city's first high school starting in 1880, and later, for 40 years, the administrative offices of the District's public school system. Most recently, the building functioned for six years as a shelter for homeless men. It has sat vacant since September.
The city invited proposals for the Franklin building last month, adhering to a District law that gives charter schools the "right of first refusal" on former school buildings. Charter school advocates have been watching the government carefully when it comes to this law, after observing instances in the past when the city has not followed it.
Among those interested in the Franklin building is the Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School, a Chinese immersion school that needs to find a new home before the lease for its Brookland building expires in 2011. The school, which opened last fall for pre-kindergarten through second grade, plans to expand incrementally over the years, with the eventual goal of offering classes through eighth grade.
The Franklin location is appealing in part because of its proximity to Chinatown, said Yu Ying executive director Mary Shaffner. "We've always wanted to be downtown, so we can be close to educational opportunities in the area," she said. The building also makes sense, Shaffner pointed out, since it was originally designed as a school. Moving in would require some renovations, but "it's not like we'd be turning it from a farm into a school," she said.
Sean Madigan, spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, said three charter schools are interested in the site, but he declined to specify the applicants, citing the city's practice in similar instances. Yu Ying has gone public with its proposal, presenting its plans at the Logan Circle advisory neighborhood commission's May 6 meeting.
Madigan said Monday that the city is currently looking over the proposals and will "have a much better idea in the next couple of weeks as far as what our next steps will be." He said it's possible the city could reject all three proposals if they're unfeasible and put out a new request for proposals.
"I'd be surprised, pleasantly, if a charter school ended up in that building," said Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools. Though the city "is now alert to the need to offer it to public charter schools, it's not at all clear whether they will...follow through with that," he said.
Some homeless advocates are still angry that the shelter that operated out of Franklin was shut down in the first place. Mayor Adrian Fenty ordered it closed last fall, in line with the city's new approach toward homelessness, an initiative called Housing First.