Council of the District of Columbia

Committee of the Whole

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20004

MEMORANDUM

TO: Nyasha Smith, Secretary to the Council

FROM: Phil Mendelson, Chairman

DATE: July 29, 2021

RE: Request to Place Emergency Measures on the Agenda for the August 3, 2021 Additional Legislative Meeting

Please place the following measures on the agenda for the August 3, 2021 additional legislative meeting:

§ Bill 24-295, Wilkinson School Disposition Authorization Emergency Act of 2021

§ Bill 24-296, Wilkinson School Disposition Authorization Temporary Act of 2021

§ PR 24-278, Wilkinson School Disposition Authorization Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2021

I am placing these measures on the agenda again after a meeting with the Mayor and Councilmember Trayon White. The Mayor has agreed to retain part of the Infrastructure Academy in Ward 8, probably at Reunion Square as Councilmember White requested. The Mayor offered to have IT training, and probably other classroom-type training at the Ward 8 campus. This compromise enables the Mayor to utilize Spingarn as planned while the Ward 8 member keeps a substantive portion of the Academy in Ward 8.

There is an urgency in the need to approve this disposition legislation because DC Prep Public Charter School must move out of the Birney School building (and into Wilkinson) in order to accommodate the expansion of Excel Academy in Ward 8. All of this was worked out last year and underlay the Council’s unanimous approval of Spingarn as the new location for the Infrastructure Academy. Wilkinson requires extensive renovation, which DC Prep must begin now or its 224 students will be without a school.

These measures approve a 25-year lease, with the option for a 25-year extension, of Wilkinson Elementary School. Wilkinson is located at 2330 Pomeroy Road, S.E., in Ward 8. As part of D.C. Law 23-149, the “Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Support Act of 2020,” the Council approved the Mayor giving the right of first offer of lease, purchase, or otherwise use to a charter school facility incubator that leased, or a public charter school that occupied, all or a portion of the former Birney Elementary School building as of October 1, 2020. DC Prep satisfies the latter requirement, as its middle school is currently located at the former Birney Elementary School and will remain there through School Year (SY) 2021-2022. DC Prep’s middle school will relocate to Wilkinson at the beginning of SY 2022-2023.

The measures are attached. Please call me or Ms. Christina Setlow if you have any questions at (202) 724-4865.

cc: All Councilmembers

Council Officers

Thanks,

Christina K. Setlow, Deputy Committee Director

Committee of the Whole, Chairman Phil Mendelson

Council of the District of Columbia

1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Suite 410

Washington, DC 20004

Ph: (202) 724-4865

Fax: (202) 724-7139

www.chairmanmendelson.com