"No viable public use" for Franklin School

Today's Washington Business Journal [subscription only] highlights the ongoing saga of the disposition of the Franklin School building. 

Jose Sousa, a project manager with the deputy mayor for planning and economic development’s office is quoted as saying, “It is our belief there is no viable public use for that space.” 

Thus, the D.C. Council Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development will hold a public hearing on November 18 as it considers whether to declare the 150-year old historic building "surplus."  If approved, the District will likely enter a 99-year lease with Brooklandville, Md.-based Cana Development, which will turn the building into a boutique hotel and restaurant.

The Coalition of Franklin School, however, believes there are many viable educational uses for the Franklin School - but they have not be adequately sought and vetted.

The problem is that the District, as owner of the building, has allowed it to deteriorate for decades.  When built by famous architect Adolf Cluss 150 years ago, it was a model public school that was looked to for inspiration not just within the United States, but internationally.  After later serving as the District's Department of Education, and as a vocational education center, it was left vacant, then turned into a homeless shelter.  It has remained empty again since Mayor Fenty cleared it out in 2008.

Estimates are that it will take $35 million to bring the building back up to par.  The District has not made a commitment to renovate the building for an educational use.  Nor does it appear to have vetted potential uses with D.C. Public Schools, the Charter School Board, the University of the District of Columbia, or others.  Yet, it puts out RFP's and, receiving no proposals to take on a lease without a commitment from the city to make the building habitable, finds that there is "no viable public use."

Here's just a few viable public uses for the Franklin School:

• A gifted-and-talented middle or high school, so that parents of high-achieving students have options other than sending their children to private school or leaving the District.
• A downtown campus for UDC's new community college system or a new facility for its law school.
• A home to one or more charter schools that are seeking space.
• A public high school for Ward 2-area residents (many of whom currently treck up to Wilson High School in Tenleytown), particularly given the growing residential population of downtown.
• A space for nonprofits providing job training and career services programs.
• A facility for teacher training and continuing education.
• Flex space for lectures, conferences, exhibits, performances, and meetings, similar to the use of the Sumner School near Dupont Circle.

Others would rather see the prime-location property turned into a money-maker for the city, rather than the city invest in improving it.  “There’s only one bidder and that is a hotel, and if that’s the only prospect then that is what I want to see,” said D.C. Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, who represents the Franklin School neighborhood. “I would like to see Franklin return to the tax rolls.” 

That's certainly an enticing position, particularly in this economic climate.  But the better long-term solution is to identify a best educational use for the Franklin School and invest, perhaps from District's School Modernization Fund, to make it a model for the 21st Century.

The public hearing on surplusing the Franklin School will be held on Thursday, November 18, 2010, 6:30pm, at Thomson Elementary School (large meeting room in basement), 1200 L Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005.  Contact persons on this project are Jared Kahn (202) 213-9215 and Nimita Shah (202) 215-3650.  You can sign up to testify against the proposed surplusing here.

Franklin School to Become New UDC Law School?

One week ago, at a meet and greet in Cleveland Park, DC Council Chairman and Mayoral Candidate Vince Gray declared, "I think the Franklin School would be a great place for the David Clarke School of Law. That certainly would better serve the community than another hotel."

The Fenty Administration has remained silent on this issue.

Seven months have passed since the deadline expired for Requests for Proposals (RFP) for use of the historic Franklin School building.  Three applicants submitted proposals for use of the site: a boutique hotel/culinary school, a successful Chinese-language immersion charter school, and the Coalition for Franklin School, a group that has urged the District to refocus on promising educational uses for the site.  Representatives of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) have repeatedly declined to comment on the status of the process.  An earlier RFP for Franklin, focusing on charter school use, was abandoned as "not viable." 

Use of the Franklin School as a new home for the UDC's law school is promising.  Currently, the law school, which has about 300 students and 20 faculty members, occupies one floor of two buildings on the Van Ness campus, plus a basement level.  Classrooms and clinics are on the second floor of building 38, administration and reception/special event space are on the 2nd floor of  building 39, and the library is at the basement level. 

In 2008, Councilmember Kwame Brown (D-At Large) introduced legislation, co-sponsored by 9 fellow councilmembers, to require UDC to develop a campus plan for the purpose of modernizing its facilities, including a separate facility for the law school.  The legislation does not appear to have moved forward, however, the law school's website states, "We are planning a state-of-the-art 'green' building, in which we will co-locate with many D.C. legal services providers to better serve clients and provide great internship, community service, fellowship, clinical, summer and post-graduate job opportunities for students." 

The status of plans for a new building, now two years later, are not known.  New and green sound snazzy, but there is something to be said for location, location, location.

Is Franklin a good fit for the law school?  Here's what a UDC student wrote us:

The David A. Clarke School of Law is the only American Bar Association-approved law school in the United States without its own, stand-alone building. We are currently housed on a single floor of the incredibly bland UDC-Van Ness campus. On an aesthetic end, a recent coat of yellow paint was applied in an attempt to make the interior of our building more bearable, but no one was fooled. Our school is tiny and our classrooms cramped, even with a student body of under 300 future lawyers.

Having such limited space inhibits enrollment, which in turn hampers our school's ability to recruit and develop a student body that reflects its mission statement of serving those traditionally underrepresented in law school enrollment. The current concrete building in which our one-floor law school sits looks as if it were built in Soviet Russia. Sometimes it feels like it, as well.

As a member of the student body, I have heard rumor after rumor that our school is looking for a stand-alone building in which to put the law school. Someone even suggested that a bland office building downtown would be our next home. But imagine our school in your building. We wouldn't have to remodel as much as would be needed to turn a suite of offices into a law school. Your building is already a school. And quite a beautiful one at that. It once helped shelter homeless persons--our school runs clinics that help lower income DC residents like the homeless. The fit seems perfect.

I agree and apparently so does Vince Gray.

Courtyard expansion area

The Franklin School could provide a great boost to the reputation of UDC's law school. It would provide 51,000 square feet (38,000 usable) including 14 classrooms with room for about 400 students and its Great Hall.  There's room for expansion.  As the RFP notes, while adding additional floors above the existing building is not feasible due to its historic designation, "use of some of the rear yard is expected to provide modern core facilities."  The site is zoned for a height of up to 110 feet with the highest Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 10.0.  This area might host a new modern library and administrative space.  More importantly, the location would place law students within blocks of the District's courthouses and numerous private firms.

It also meshes well with the school's proud focus on public interest law. As the Coalition pointed out in a recent letter pitching the idea to Law School Dean Katherine S. Broderick, "As the administrative headquarters for the DC Public Schools for 40 years in the Twentieth Century, the Franklin Building was often the site of demonstrations, sit-ins, and court challenges related to the struggle to integrate DC public schools."

What say you Mayor Fenty?

Franklin School Exhibit Begins 7/28

An exhibit on the Franklin School will open at the
Historical Society of Washington in Mount Vernon Square (801 K Street NW) on Wednesday, July 28, from 12-2pm.

The exhibit is expected to be on display through Labor Day at HSW and then will be taken "on the road," hopefully to the Wilson Building, Eastern Market, UDC, office buildings and retailers which border Franklin Square, Union Station, the MLK Library, the Sumner School, and other locales.  The beautifully designed and documented 8, 3' x 7' panels will be affixed to stands/easels/tripods that make the exhibit easily transportable.

The exhibit is organized by the Coalition for Franklin School, a group that has organized to support a future educational use for the historic school building located at 13th and K Streets NW.  Others involved include Cindy Janke (curator), Kesh Ladduwahetty (designer), Humanities Council of Washington, DC, Sumner School Museum & Archives (Kimberly Springle), Historical Society of Washington, DC (Sandy Bellamy), Margaret Hutto, Jack Brewer, Association of Oldest Inhabitants (Bill Brown), and Tanya Edwards Beauchamp (project humanities scholar / adviser). 

I strongly support their efforts.  You can reach my Washington Post op-ed on the future of the Franklin School here.

According to a recent article in the National Trust for Historic Preservation magazine, the building, which was the site of Alexander Graham Bell's and last used as a homeless shelter, is deteriorating. 

"There's water on the top floor, and there are broken windows or open windows," says Joe Browne, chairman of the steering committee of the Coalition for Franklin School, whose members toured the building last November. "Because there's no climate control, [an] original mural is deteriorating fast."

Franklin, Betts, Shootings, and more...

What's the Status of the Franklin School RFP?  Based on a statement made at the April 7 Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2F meeting, which had supported Yu Ying Public Charter School's proposal for use of the Franklin School as a Chinese language immersion program, there is speculation the District has again rejected the idea.  At the meeting, ANC2F Chairman Charles Reed reported that the Deputy Mayor's office commented that there was "a glitch" in the Yu Ying proposal.  That would leave the boutique hotel option, which includes a restaurant and culinary school of some sort.  No award of the RFP yet.  The Coalition for Franklin School continues to push for an educational use for the building, as discussed in The Intowner.

Brian Betts. According to Friday's Washington Post, police believe that at least two people were involved in the beloved Shaw principal's shooting. Also read Petula Dvorak's column exploring the impact of Betts' death on the many young lives in which he played an important part. The DC Agenda also has a story on Betts - please refrain from the gay conspiracy theories, really. There will be a memorial service for the public at Strathmore Hall (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Maryland) on Saturday, May 1 (time TBD). There will also be a school tribute for students, parents and staff at Shaw at Garnett-Patterson on Thursday, April 29.

Shootings are Back.  This past Monday (4/19), we had two shootings in Shaw around the area of 5th/6th and N NW at about 8:30pm and then again at about 9:30pm.  [UPDATE: The bullets keep flying. There was another shooting on Saturday, 4/24 at six in the afternoon around the same location.]  The warm weather is here.  I am told that MPD recovered a discarded gun after the first shooting and questioned some potential suspects.  Fortunately, no one was hit.  There's a crime camera right above the site.  Hopefully, MPD will be able to make an arrest.  Amazing how secure the neighborhood was during the Nuke summit.

DC Refund Comes in Last.  My wife and I filed our federal, District, and Maryland tax returns at the same time -- in late February or early March. We received our tax refunds from the federal government and Maryland about one month ago. The District's has yet to arrive.

Back to basics at the Franklin School

An op-ed that I drafted on the future of the Franklin School will be included in the print edition of Sunday's Washington Post.  You can read it online here.  Please comment on the Post website and pass the article on to others.

Over the past few weeks, a number of organizations and individuals have expressed strong support for putting the Franklin School back into educational use.  Some include the Federation of Citizens Associations, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C, Commissioner Keith Silver (ANC 6C02), and former Historic Preservation Review Board Chairman Charles I. Cassell.

Considering that the city received only a single submission from a private developer in response to its Request for Proposals (a boutique hotel and restaurant), clearly, the momentum is building toward returning the building to a use that advances the education system and workforce development in the District.

Survey Results: Franklin School

Residents overwhelmingly favor putting the historic Franklin School to an educational, rather than a private, use, according to my unscientific online public survey. 

Of 136 respondents, 79% favored an educational use for Franklin.  Less than 1 in 4 (22%) would rather see the building in private hands.  Four percent supported using the building for a public, but not education-related, purpose.

Of those that support an educational use for the building, more than half (58%) favor using Franklin School to house public charter schools that are in need of space.  The remainder split among preferring a downtown community college campus (17%), magnet high school (12%), or innovative elementary school (9%).  Only a handful advocated for using the building as space for college "semester in DC" or internship-type programs (4%).

Since the District of Columbia published a Request for Proposals seeking potential uses for the Franklin School that is geared toward private development, a Coalition has emerged to advocate that the city rewrite the RFP and reopen the process to give fair consideration to public uses.  Proposals that would restore the historic building's educational purpose for which it was designed should receive a strong preference.

Yesterday, the deadline expired for submitting proposals.  Unless the city reverses course, it is likely that the Franklin School will be awarded to a private (and politically-connected) developer on a long-term lease (i.e. 99 years), possibly at a substantial discount compared to the value of other core downtown properties, to construct a boutique hotel.

At first glance, it appears that the public property disposition law recently enacted by the D.C. Council would not require additional Council hearings regarding the whether the property should be declared surplus and used for private development.  The legislation became law without Mayor Adrian Fenty's signature when his review period expired on January 14, 2010 and now awaits the 30-day Congressional review period before it takes effect.  Even if applicable to the ongoing RFP-process for Franklin, the law's new safeguards that require the DC Council to assess and determine, after considering public comment, whether a public property is no longer required for public use before putting it into private hands, appear to apply only to outright sale of public property.  Although the originally introduced bill applied to long-term sales, the bill was watered down before it passed.  A 99-year lease, however, should be regarded as a constructive sale.

In any event, at a very minimum, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) should fully disclose the responses that it has received for the Franklin School and provide public hearings to discuss the potential options.

Photo Tour of Franklin School

On Thursday, December 3, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) held an open house at the Franklin School for those interested in responding to its Request for Proposals. Although the RFP clearly is geared to submissions from private developers, those who attended included charter school representatives, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, and historic preservationists, among others. I attended as a support of the Coalition for Franklin School, which supports using the building as a model school for the 21st century.  There was no guided tour or handouts.  Those who attended wandered the building on this rare opportunity.

As you will see by the photographs, the building is frozen in time from the six-year period it served as a homeless shelter.  A calendar hangs on the wall of what was an office marking September 2008, when the city closed the build, and a flier tells occupants to register to vote because "this is the most important election of our life time."  Looking more closely, one can find remnants of its history as a school building.  Outlines of chalkboards and room numbers.  I am told that above the false ceiling in the great hall, there is is a portion of a mural that once extended down to the floor.

Press coverage:

• Fighting over Franklin School in D.C., Washington Business Journal
• D.C. Charter Schools Frustrated with City in Search for Home, Washington Post
• Should the Franklin School Become an Actual School Again?, Housing Complex, Washington CityPaper

New Poll: Franklin School

The Franklin School, located at 13th & K Street NW, was designed by Adolph Cluss in 1869.  It is a National Historic Landmark. Photo: army.arch on Flickr.

What do you think is the best use of the vacant Franklin School building at 13th & K?  Please take a moment to vote in the poll in the top right corner of the blog.  Here are some of the options:

Magnet high school:  Did you know that aside from School Without Walls, which has far more applicants than available slots, there is no public high school in all of Ward 2?  Students on the west side of the Ward travel up to Woodrow Wilson in Tenleytown.  Those on the east side head over to Dunbar in the area of Shaw near New Jersey Avenue that extends into Ward 5.  Franklin's central location would be easily accessible through multiple metro stations and bus stops.  I attended a magnet high school in New York, as I believed it provided an environment that was more conducive to learning (i.e. safer than my neighborhood school and with more focused students) and it had an alternative curriculum that was a better fit for me.  The magnet school could also have a limited in-boundary area to guarantee a slot for those who live downtown.  It could provide an innovative program, such as focusing on international studies or the arts.  The school has a capacity of approximately 400 to 450 students.  While there is no athletic field, arrangements might be made with another school. 
Innovative elementary/middle school program: According to the Downtown BID, there are now about 3,000 apartments and 2,500 condos downtown. Not all of these are in the immediate area of Franklin, but some are, and more will be.  For instance, about 700 additional units are planned for the Old Convention Center site, just a few blocks from the Franklin School.  While there may be few children in these buildings, if DC is going to have a sustainable and livable downtown, it will need high-quality schools in the area.  Franklin may provide a location to fulfill this need.  A challenge, however, is that it does not have playground or outside recreation space, is not conducive to busing, and downtown streets could pose a safety challenge to walking to school.  Parents who live or work downtown, however, would find it convenient to walk or drop off their children at school.  For instance, Stevens Elementary (closed this year) located on K Street had a population of out-of-boundary students whose parents worked downtown.  Likewise, Hardy Middle School in Georgetown is about 80% out-of-boundary students.

Community college: Earlier this year, UDC established a community college.  In addition, DC Appleseed and the Brookings Institution have voiced support for establishing an independent public community college.  While the Franklin School would not provide capacity for an entire community college, it could provide a flagship downtown campus.  The school might focus on a program such as hospitality management, a paralegal program, construction management, or provide technical training.  This is consistent with UDC's goal of opening several campuses throughout the city over the next few years.  The downtown location would be particularly convenient for DC residents, many of whom might work in the area while taking classes, who would otherwise need to travel to Van Ness.  Franklin Square would provide a quad that students could use for study groups, reading, and lunch.

DC-Semester college programs.  Various public and private colleges throughout the country have semester-in-DC programs.  Some of the larger universities, such as the University of California, have classroom space in the District, but many do not.  The Franklin School classrooms might be made available, for a fee, for such programs.  In addition, the building's Great Hall could host lectures both for students and the DC community.  If not filled by educational programs, rooms in the building might provide ideal conference space for business and other meetings.

Charter school.  The city recently put out a "Request for Offers" for charter school use of the school, but, after receiving responses, deemed none of them acceptable.  That may be because the city expected the charter school to finance renovation of the massive building.  There are many quickly expanding charter schools that are looking for space and could fill all or a part of the building.  KIPP and a chinese language immersion public charter school, Washington Yu Ying, are two examples.

None, prefer another public use: The Franklin School was designed for educational uses, however, there may be other options that serve District residents.  The building might provide space for local artists and exhibits, performances in the Great Hall, or cultural events.  In the past, the building provided administrative space for the Board of Education.  It could provide government offices or a recreation center of some type.  Fortunately, the building is no longer being used as a massive emergency homeless shelter without sufficient services.

None, prefer private development.  Currently, the District government is accepting proposes for a private use of the Franklin School.  In the past, developers have expressed interest in turning the building into a boutique hotel.  The private option has its attractiveness.  Such a use would generate tax revenue for the city and put the building into productive and well-maintained use.  There would be limitations, however, given the building's historic landmark designation, which covers both the inside and outside of the building.  Such a hotel, at that location, would have few rooms, extremely expensive rates, and could not have any retail/restaurant space opening onto the street.

Some view private development as a faster way to fill the vacant building, particularly given the RFP process already underway. That's not necessarily the case. Think Convention Center Hotel, 5th and I project, Old Convention Center site, O Street Market. Not exactly quick movers. Nor is private development necessarily free for the city. Quick frequently in recent years, the DC Council has provided substantial public financing for such projects.

Even when the building opened over 150 years ago, there were those who thought it was too magnificent for a school.  Men in top hats fought and lost that argument back then.  Will their arguments win the day in 2009?

Flagship College or Boutique Hotel?

This week's Current Newspapers includes a viewpoint feature in which I suggest using the Franklin School as a flagship downtown campus for UDC's community college, developing thoughts from my earlier post. The Current also includes a cover story applauding the opening of the new, separate community college ("After Years of Discussion, Community College Debuts"). Transforming the Franklin School into a downtown campus fits perfectly within UDC's long-term goals. According to the article:

"Plans for other satellite campuses [beyond use of the Backus Middle School in Ward 5] will follow. UDC already runs workforce-development programs at McKinley Technology High in Ward 5, the old Fletcher-Johnson school in Ward 7, and the Patricia R. Harris Education Center in Ward 8. “We want satellites everywhere,” said Emily Durso, chair of the University's Board of Trustees. “Research shows that community college students want to go to school where they live.”

I would add that nontraditional students are also likely to appreciate the ability to take classes where they work.

You can view the entire September 2, 2009 edition of The Current here. The viewpoint op-ed, reprinted below, appears on page 13. The report on UDC appears on page 1 and continues on page 25.

A flagship college or a boutique hotel?

VIEWPOINT
CARY SILVERMAN

“Ah! sir, I hope the time may never come when we would make less beautiful and attractive the places where our children are to receive an education, where lasting impressions are to be made upon the young mind, than we would the offices of State ... It has been well said by an eminent thinker, ‘Show me the churches and schoolhouses of a nation, and I will tell you what is its civilization and enlightenment.’”

Those were the eloquent words of Alderman W.H. Chase at the dedication of the Franklin School in 1869. His words were a reaction to critics who believed the building, designed by Adolf Cluss, was too fine for a public schoolhouse.

We return full circle today, as the District government, after soliciting requests for offers, opted not to award use of the now-vacant historic building at 13th and K streets NW to the city’s burgeoning public charter schools. Rather, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (read, private developers) may now hold the key to its future.

When constructed, the Franklin School was the flagship of seven modern urban public school buildings that housed, for the first time, a comprehensive system of free universal public education in the District.

Over the years, its mission evolved but remained true to public education. It housed the first normal school in D.C., providing teacher training, and held the first high school classes. Technical/vocational training classes were introduced, and a business high school arrived in 1891. From 1925 until 1968, the building served as the Board of Education’s headquarters. It then hosted an adult education center until 1989, when it closed for renovation. It did not reopen. Instead, the building decayed. Not coincidentally, so did the District’s educational system.

In its latest life, the Franklin School served as a low-barrier shelter for the homeless. The shelter, which had virtually no support services, took in more than 300 men each evening. Out into Franklin Square Park and the surrounding downtown streets they flowed when the shelter tossed them out each morning.

After gradually removing its beds to reduce capacity, Mayor Adrian Fenty abruptly closed the homeless warehouse in September 2008. The move was part of a noble, but still unachieved, goal — to move the homeless into transitional housing and smaller shelters across the city.

Even while the building still operated as a shelter, the city solicited proposals for its reuse. In 2005, the city entered a no-bid agreement with a politically connected developer to transform the building into a boutique hotel and private club. After questions arose regarding the city’s authority to enter the lease, the District backed out, leading to a lawsuit the city settled for a half-million dollars.

Transforming the Franklin School into a high-end hotel certainly has its appeal, not the least of which is tax revenue.

But what would Alderman Chase say?

If the Franklin School is not to house charter schools, there’s another sound option: the flagship building of D.C.’s new community college.

This year, the new president of the ailing University of the District of Columbia, Allen L. Sessoms, made the bold, wise decision to end open admissions for four-year degree programs and split off a separate community college. This marks an opportunity to return the Franklin School building to its roots.

The city is striving to repair its bruised and battered elementary and secondary education systems. But how do we provide tools for success to the generation that system has already failed? And, if Chancellor Michelle Rhee is successful in bringing students back into the public schools, what are their options when they graduate?

A downtown community college campus would provide adult education, technical training and four year degree programs. It would prepare students for the jobs that are so vital to the District’s economy, but for which employers find themselves relying on the Maryland and Virginia workforces.

Envision the new downtown campus opening its doors onto Franklin Square Park, where students would prepare for classes and eat lunch on the lawn.

Night students would walk to class from their downtown jobs. Steps away, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library would provide a resource for students. It would add vibrancy and energy to downtown — and further public education.

Turning the Franklin School into a boutique hotel may have appeal, but this historic building must be something more.