19 Oct 2009

A New Charter School for Capitol Hill?

If you’re like me, you’ve wondered what the International Graduate University which is on the 400 block of 13th St SE is all about. Or, more accurately, was about, as the university’s board recently voted to close it.

Fear not, however, the old Buchanan School building will soon have a new tenant, if the two representatives of University High Public Charter School who presented their case at the latest ANC6B meeting get their way.

A June article in the City Paper gives a fascinating glimpse into a building many neighbors have wondered about for the last 15 years. The university, which their website claims has existed for 40 years, bought the building in 1998 (the school had closed in 1992 due to declining enrollment) and moved in a few years later.

The board of governors of the university recently voted to close it, and so there is a great opportunity for the neighborhood, in this case, the University High Public Charter School. Two representatives from the school, Terry Shelton and Dr. Edwin Jones, recently attended the ANC6B meeting to present their plans.

They want to create a charter school for 9th to 12th graders, with the focus on preparing their students for college, said Dr. Jones in a phone interview. The method is called ‘Early College,’ which has students from 11th grade on taking what are essentially college classes. Discussions have begun with UDC and UMD, in hopes that a partnership can be forged there.

They hope to start in 2011 with 75 students, who will be drawn from all across the District, but they hope to get a good contingent from the neighborhood.

The next step, along with fund-raising, will be to get a charter from the city, something that Dr. Jones said they hope to have by April of next year. In the course of that, they will be returning to the ANC meeting to get the support of the commissioners.

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3 responses to “A New Charter School for Capitol Hill?”

  1. David says:

    Great news. For far too long this property has been a slowly decaying dead zone in our community. It will be good to see it fully utilized.

  2. I couldn’t agree more. I hope they get creative about how to use all the green space on the west side.

  3. If they aren’t using all the space when they first move in it would be great to see the excess space used for community meetings and gatherings.

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