We are pleased to report some good news: Murch’s swing space is starting to take better shape. This week, Principal Cebrzynski and representatives from the SIT met with administrators from the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), as well as DCPS and DGS, to discuss the swing space plans. One big piece of news is that DCPS and UDC are now committed to Murch relocating to UDC for two school years rather than moving back to the construction site in year two. This will help avoid multiple, disruptive moves during construction, allow better continuity for students, keep staff focused on education rather than logistics, and allow construction to move more quickly.

The full details of the plans are being decided and, once discussions are complete, the UDC Board of Trustees will meet as soon as possible to review the plan so that it can be finalized.

Other highlights for parents to know about the swing space at UDC:

• Classes and offices will be located in trailer pods designed and built to fit Murch’s needs. These will be similar to those currently in use at Lafayette.
• The Murch site will include a large “bubble” building (like at Lafayette) that can be used for indoor gym classes and other school activities.
• There is currently a playground on the site that will be renovated with new equipment and used for Murch students.
• DCPS and UDC are working with a third group (Field, LLC) on a plan to have the field adjacent to the Murch trailers reconstructed into a turf soccer field. The goal is to speed up construction of that field and have it available for use as soon as possible. If the field is not completed prior to the start of school in the fall, UDC has proposed to make its gym available to Murch to supplement the “bubble” and the playground on the site. Once the soccer field is complete, Murch students would have access to that turf field as well. To ensure that both Murch and UDC students have access to space during Murch’s time at UDC, DCPS is negotiating to allow UDC access to fields and sites at DCPS schools, as necessary.
• UDC is committed to making other spaces on the campus available to Murch as needed, including an auditorium for events.
• UDC is very interested in working with Murch on educational programs and partnerships. Areas that have already been mentioned as opportunities for partnerships between the two schools relate to urban farming, green energy, robotics, music, art, after school athletics and tutoring.

DCPS and DGS are working to prepare diagrams of the site layout to share with the Murch community by next week. In order to help families see what the swing space will be like, DCPS and UDC will work with the SIT to host events for Murch families at both UDC and the trailer pods and “bubble” at Lafayette. UDC also welcomes Murch families to come walk through campus anytime to take a look at the site. The Murch SIT is grateful to the UDC administration team for their hard work to help make a great home for Murch on their campus. While it took a long while to get to this point, the plans for Murch over the next two years look exciting!

On January 21, DC Public Schools (DCPS) announced its decision on where Murch students would be located during the renovation and expansion of the school. The plan is to relocate the school to a trailer complex to be built on the grounds of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) for one year (the 2016-2017 school year). The school would then move back onsite for the 2017-2018 school year, throughout the remainder of the construction.

The option of moving the school twice during the construction was first presented to the School Improvement Team (SIT) in an email on January 20, with slightly more detail given during a conference call mid-day on January 21. DCPS staff told SIT members that remaining at UDC for the full two years was the preferred option, but that a proposal to split the time was being discussed because UDC might not allow access to their space for the full two years. UDC is in the process of negotiating an agreement with a private consortium of soccer clubs and schools (“Field LLC”) to build turf fields on the site for the benefit of UDC’s athletic teams and those private teams financing the field construction. On January 21, UDC told DCPS that it plans to move forward with its plans for turfing the field. Murch would be given access for only one year. Therefore, DCPS chose the most newly created option of splitting time between UDC and onsite.

When presented with this information, SIT members advised DCPS and DGS that this new proposal had significant flaws. The SIT was dismayed with the last-minute nature of the plan and the lack of detail to the plan. Some of the concerns expressed by the SIT were:

• Swinging on site the second year would be very similar to swinging on site for the full two years  – DCPS and DGS say the goal would be to have renovation of the original building complete in the first year for some students to move into, with the exception of the gym/multipurpose room, which would not renovated until the summer of 2018. Only the original building would be accessible after year one, not the cafeteria and the new gym or any of the other new space. Under the plan for the renovated building, there will be more administrative space and fewer classrooms than in the original space. Swinging onsite in year two would still require use of the Kaufman Wing and all trailers currently on the site, plus additional trailers to accommodate at least two other classes and the media center. The Kaufman building and the 5th grade trailers presumably would stay in place, but all other trailers would need to be reconstructed on the current hill area. Due to the last-minute nature of this proposal, DCPS and DGS could not provide any information on the potential placement of those additional trailers.

• Despite numerous requests they have not come up with any solutions for parking and traffic safety – They could not provide any information on how vehicular and pedestrian traffic patterns around and through the site would work. They did not share any information on traffic studies. They did say that it is likely that the parking area on the Murch side of Davenport Street would be fenced off for staging and all pickup and drop off would occur on Ellicott Street. This would further limit the area where teachers can park, not account for the increased parking from construction workers, and would funnel at least twice the amount of traffic onto an already overcrowded Ellicott Street.

• The limitations of play space at both sites in this plan – The play space at UDC in year one would be an open field with severe drainage issues that UDC and others have deemed unusable in the past. Any upgrades to that space would come from the project budget. It also is not clear whether Murch would have full access to that field or share it with UDC teams. In year two, the play space would be limited onsite because more than half the school still would be located in trailers. The National Park Service (NPS) has agreed to some use of the space across Reno Road from the school (bordering Davenport Street), however, no agreement on what that space might look like has been reached. DCPS and DGS stated that one benefit of this plan was that they would have another year to work out playspace with NPS.

• The requirement for multiple, complex, and expensive moves – This plan would require moving the entire school twice and more than half the school a third time. The time and logistics involved in packing the entire school and setting it back up are extensive and historically been disruptive for schools, taking significant time and focus from education. Each move is also likely to be done at the last minute. Experience at other schools and Murch has shown that each new site is typically not move-in ready with sufficient time to allow for proper unpacking, furniture delivery, classroom setup, and making sure everything in the space works. Doing that at the start and finish of the project is a challenge and a understandable necessity. Doing it more times seems unnecessarily disruptive.

• The cost of the proposal – DCPS and DGS had no cost estimate of this split time approach. It would require the building of an entire trailer complex at UDC, upgrades to the UDC field for play space, and then the movement and addition of trailers at Murch. The most recent cost estimate of going to UDC for two years was $6.5 million. The cost of locating onsite for two years was estimated at $2.5 million (without double-decker trailers). This split year plan would save leasing costs on any trailers at UDC for the second year, but would seemingly incorporate many of the other costs of both plans. DCPS and DGS were unable to answer cost questions because this plan emerged within 72 hours prior to the decision being made.

• The potential increase in the length of the construction timeline – Until mid-June 2018, trailers would be located in many areas that will require extensive site work to complete the soccer field, playgrounds and other outdoor spaces. Under the original proposal to swing onsite for two years, DCPS and DGS indicated that the work on those areas would likely extend past the start of school in August 2018. They were unable to say whether that might be an issue under this new plan.

Many of these concerns, including concerns about multiple moves, are issues that DCPS and DGS raised themselves as obstacles to other options. Additionally, members of the SIT asked the agencies in December to outline what could be accomplished onsite in one year, for example, if we needed to swing at Lafayette and then move onsite for the remainder of the construction. The agencies did not develop or provide information, and indicated that a plan to split the time was not a good option, requiring solutions to problems at both sites and favoring the stability of one site for the full two years. That goal was abandoned only because of UDC’s preference for not delaying a partnership with Field LLC for the two years necessary to complete the modernization at Murch.

The SIT, the HSA, and the entire Murch community will work hard to make whatever swing space is developed into the best it can be for Murch students. The SIT members, however, honestly believe that this plan, as currently outlined, is significantly flawed and that it was selected based on poorly placed priorities by UDC and DCPS. We will continue to press DCPS, DGS, UDC, and elected city officials to improve the plan in the coming weeks and will provide more information in the coming days as it is available.

Below is the full text of DCPS’s letter outlining their decision:

Murch Community,

Thank you for all of your input and patience as we have worked through the swing space decision.  This has been a very complex problem to solve and we have been working hard to find the best solution possible for Murch students, staff, families, and the community.  As we have outlined in previous communications, there is not a perfect solution. We have made the decision to build a trailer complex on the UDC field for school year 16-17  and then have the students back on the Murch site for school year 17-18.  The builder will focus on getting the existing Murch building renovated and complete and ready for students in August 2017, which means many of the students will have access to a modernized space a year earlier than anticipated.  We also believe that most of the noisy and disruptive work on the addition can be completed on the addition, which will make for a more suitable learning environment.  There will still need to be some trailers on the site to house some students, but fewer than the full on-site option, which would open up additional space for play.  DGS and the builder are still working together to examine exactly what the site will look like after 1 year, but it will be safe and ready for students when they return.  As we have outlined in previous communications, there is not a perfect solution, and this plan is not without challenges.  We are committed to working through them with our partners at DGS and our other sister agencies.

There are two fields at UDC between Van Ness and Yuma Streets.  The trailers will take up the field closer to Van Ness street and the field closer to Yuma street will be available for Murch students. During the second year the fields will be under construction for a UDC & Field LLC project.  This means that the upper field would not be accessible for play space and there would be an active construction project going on next to students during the second year.

We know how important before and aftercare is for Murch families.  We have been working with and will continue working with the X-Day and the World Languages Program to find a solution to ensure that students still have access to the programs.  There is a great connection between Murch and these programs and we want to try to maintain that as much as possible.  One option we have been exploring with them is providing space in the swing space location and having them operate out of the Murch swing space location.  Additional conversations and planning sessions are required, but we understand how important these programs are to families.

We will also provide transportation to the swing space location.  We will work with the school and parents to fully understand the needs (# of students, pick up times, etc.) of the families and determine safe pick up and drop off areas.

We decided to not use the Lafayette site for a number of reasons.  This scenario would cause a number of operational and safety concerns for both school populations, especially around drop off and pick up, evacuation, school scheduling, and recess.   Having the trailers on the site would limit the majority of the play space to the DPR playground, which would severely impact how the master schedule for both schools is prepared.  The pick up and drop off at Lafayette would be extremely challenging and congested with both school populations.  This would have required DCPS to stagger the start times by up to an hour to ensure there is a safe pick up and drop off for both schools, which would impact families.  There were also concerns with safely evacuating students on the site with the trailers on the site.  A firewall would also need to be constructed to meet the requirements.

We understand that there may be some frustration and concern around this decision.  We will have a team working hard to ensure that we provide the best learning environment for students and staff as possible.

Thanks, 

Bridget Stesney

Deputy Chief, Facilities & IT Initiatives

Office of the Chief Operating Officer

DCPS and DGS met with the Murch SIT the evening of Thursday, January 7, to present updates to three of the four proposed swing sites for the Murch renovation. They have delayed the deadline for making a decision until January 21. At this point, both agencies appear to be leaning towards the UDC site, but none of the options has been eliminated and there are still too many logistics to be worked out for a decision to be made by the original deadline of January 12. Details of the options presented to the community on December 17 can be viewed on the DGS website.

Below is the text of a letter from DCPS regarding the status of the decision making process:

Murch Community,

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback on the swing space options. DCPS and DGS have been working hard to further the scenarios and address as many of the concerns as possible. At the community meeting in December we shared that we were aiming to make a decision on the swing space location by January 12th. At this time there are still a few unanswered questions that we need addressed before we feel comfortable making a decision. Because of that, we have decided to push the decision date back to January 21st. We know the uncertainly surrounding the swing location is frustrating. We are eager to make the decision too, but we owe it to the students, staff, families,and community to make the most informed decision possible.

Since the community meeting we have been working closely with UDC to further evaluate the trailer layout on their field. This decision impacts a number of departments within UDC and they are going through their internal review process. We believe this option has a lot of positive aspects and we will be re-engaging with them early next week to continue working through the details.

As we continue the discussions with UDC, we have also been working hard to address as many of the concerns on the other scenarios as well. There are ongoing traffic evaluations for the on-site, Lafayette, and Murch scenarios. We will be getting preliminary results from those evaluations in the coming days. Safety around drop off and pick up is extremely important to us and these studies will help us better understand the feasibility and potential issues for each of the scenarios.

For the on-site option, we have also been evaluating the placement of the trailers on the site. To limit classroom disruption, our goal is to have the classroom trailers placed as far away from the construction area as possible, and in our latest attempt, we think we have improved that. In the latest on-site drawing the closest classroom would be roughly 90 feet away from the construction zone. We have also furthered discussions with NPS about potentially using some of the property across Reno Road as play space (structured or open play). We have had very productive discussions with them and anticipate getting a response from them in the coming days.

We are also continuing to evaluate the Lafayette option. Because the enrollment at Lafayette is slightly larger than Murch, we have been evaluating to see if some of the trailers from the site can be removed to open up additional play space. We believe that 4 trailers could be removed, which could open up some additional play space to supplement the Lafayette Park play areas. In addition to the traffic study mentioned earlier, there is also an ongoing egress/evacuation analysis, which will help inform if having both student populations on the site would create a safety concern.

While we have not taken any of the scenarios off the table, the option to split the students between the Capital Memorial Church and Murch has not been explored in as much detail as the other options. This option creates logistical and operational challenges for families and staff and was not well received by the community.

We understand the importance of the before and aftercare programs at or near Murch. We have been working with Principal C and the X-Day program to evaluate options for aftercare if an offsite option is selected. We are working together to try and develop solutions to reduce the burden on families. We will continue working with them and the Capitol Language Services program.

Please share this message to ensure we are reaching as many of the Murch families as possible.

Thank you,
Patrick

Patrick Davis
Director, Facility Planning and Design
Office of the Chief Operating Officer