As you may know, the Amidon-Bowen Elementary School (ABES) is scheduled to be renovated starting in school year 2027-28. The estimated time period for renovation is two years and our students will need to be relocated to an alternative location during the renovation. According to the current plan from DCPS, the students will be relocated to Meyer Elementary School, nearly 3.5 miles away in Columbia Heights. This temporary space is referred to as the "swing space." We are pushing DCPS, City Council, and other city leaders to find an alternative swing space that keeps our students in SW during the renovation period.

We are deeply concerned about the logistical challenges of sending our children to school in northwest DC accessible only through heavily congested traffic. Commuting to Columbia Heights will seriously disrupt work and school schedules for parents and caregivers—especially those with limited flexibility in their schedules. It will impose special hardships on students with special needs or those from homeless shelters who arrive at the school daily on Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) buses, whose commutes could double from one hour to two. Moreover, families are concerned that DC’s plan threatens to break apart the school’s close-knit community deeply connected to our southwest neighborhood.

ABES parents are asking the SW community to join with families and demand a reasonable swing space solution for SW students. The larger SW community is invited to a community meeting open to all residents on Thursday, February 6th at 6:30 p.m. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church at 400 I Street SW. DC government leaders will be in attendance to hear concerns regarding the planned swing space and to discuss how to keep ABES within the SW community during its reconstruction. To underscore this issue’s urgency, DC government leaders will have to act within the next few months to place funds in the upcoming DC budget if the temporary units are to be built.

Thank you for your advocacy!