Parents whose kids were forced to attend a rat-infested, poorly ventilated school that made everyone sick were promised a new one by 2011 when Bruce-Monroe Elementary was demolished a few years ago. Yet DC school officials now seem to be more interested in offering the land up to high-end commercial real estate developers than quickly rebuilding a school for the kids and teachers currently housed in temporary quarters.
The description to developers who plan to bid on the property was described in a DC business publication dated in late July, 2010:
Bidders must provide two proposals, one for a development that would include a new school and commercial construction, and another for commercial construction only but where the money captured in the property’s sale would be reinvested in the modernization of Bruce Monroe Elementary at Park View, where students of the shuttered Bruce Monroe school now attend. [emphasis by post author]
The solicitation said it’s seeking bidders “who have the creative vision, demonstrated experience, and organizational and financial capacity to plan and develop a world-class educational facility and mixed-use commercial development on the property.”
