Good Afternoon,

 

    Attached are the filed versions of the below measures.  Please note that the measures were condensed into one, so there are now one emergency, one emergency declaration, and one temporary for both the Gibbs School and Shaed School dispositions.  Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

 

Thanks,

 

Christina

 

 

Council of the District of Columbia

Committee of the Whole

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20004

 

 

TO:                       Nyasha Smith, Secretary to the Council

               

FROM:              Phil Mendelson, Chairman

                                                               

DATE:                December 16, 2021

 

 

Please place the following measures on the agenda for the December 21, 2021 additional legislative meeting:

 

§  Gibbs School Lease Extension Authorization Emergency Declaration of 2021

§  Gibbs School Lease Extension Authorization Emergency Act of 2021

§  Gibbs School Lease Extension Authorization Temporary Act of 2021

               

In February 2015, the District executed a 20-year lease with CSII for the Gibbs School, located at 500 19^th Street N.E., Washington, D.C. (Square 4531, Lot 37).  In turn, CSII executed a sublease with Monument Academy Public Charter School (Gibbs), which is a 5^th through 8^th grade weekday boarding public charter school.  Monument remains there to this day.  The school has 128 students enrolled during School Year 2021-2022, and its student population is 100% African American.  A large percentage of its student body is also homeless and has special needs. 

 

In order to renovate Gibbs, which had been closed by DCPS in 2009, CSII took out approximately $17 million in debt.  CSII expected to be able to amend its existing lease with the District to obtain better lease terms – 25 years with an additional 25-year option – which would then have enabled CSII’s debt to be financed long-term with rates and an amortization schedule that would be affordable to both CSII and Monument.  Despite CSII’s persistent request for better lease terms, the Executive failed for over two years to execute an amended lease with CSII for the Gibbs School.  This resulted in CSII’s $17 million debt maturing on June 30, 2021.  While CSII was able to obtain a six-month grace period, that period ends on December 31, 2021.  At that point CSII’s lender could call on CSII to pay its outstanding debt.    If this were to occur under the current financing terms, CSII would default on the loan. 

 

Due to the nature of CSII’s financing for all of the buildings for which it has loans, if it defaults on one loan, it will automatically default on all of its loans.  Thus, if CSII was to default on its Gibbs School loan, this would result in not just 128 students losing their school building, but eight local education agencies and hundreds to thousands of public charter school students losing their school buildings.  Further, given Monument’s high percentage of homeless students, losing their school building has even greater stakes for them – they will lose the homes that they have for five nights of a week. 

 

Thus, for the enumerated reasons above, an immediate need exists to move these measures now and not to wait for the permanent legislation.  Notably, these measures would simply maintain the status quo and, on a practical level, is not a new situation.  Moreover, there is no indication of any change in circumstance that would suggest that the Gibbs School is needed for any other purpose than as a public charter school. 

 

§  Shaed School Lease Extension Authorization Emergency Declaration of 2021

§  Shaed School Lease Extension Authorization Emergency Act of 2021

§  Shaed School Lease Extension Authorization Temporary Act of 2021

 

                In March 2014, CSII executed a 20-year lease with District for the property located at 200 Douglas Street, N.E. Washington D.C., commonly known as the Shaed School (Square 3552, Lot 0816).  In turn, CSII executed a sublease with Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School (“Inspired Teaching”), which is a Tier 1 pre-K – 8^th grade public charter school.

 

                To renovate Shaed for Inspired Teaching, CSII took out approximately $9.8 million in debt.  Similar to its expectations with the Gibbs School, CSII expected to be able to amend its existing lease with the District to obtain better lease terms – 25 years with an additional 25-year option.  However, also like its situation with the Gibbs School, the Executive has failed for over two years to execute an extended lease.  Thus, these measures authorize the Mayor to execute a 25-year lease, with an option for additional 25 years, with CSII for the Shaed School.  If these measures are not approved, CSII’s debt, which matured on December 1, 2021, could be called due.  Currently, if this were to occur under the current financing terms, CSII would default on the loan.  Additionally, just like the Gibbs School, if CSII is to default on the Shaed School loan, it will default on all of its other loans.  Thus, an immediate need exists to approve these measures and not wait for the permanent version of legislation.

               

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

 

cc:           All Councilmembers

                Council Officers

 

 

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

 

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