For too long, far too many of our vulnerable students, those with special needs, have languished in the absence of sufficient resources to serve them.  There is a great deal more that can be done.  Just as we have demanded that DCPS raise the bar in how it delivers special education, we are right to demand that our public charter schools do the same.  

The Sharpe Health facility was built to serve a population with a broad spectrum of needs, thus it includes resources unavailable at typical school facilities.  For example, one such amenity is a playground with equipment designed to include all students - those with special needs and those without.  It is important that our children with limitations have the opportunity to interact with peers of all abilities for a combination of reasons – socialization, exercise, playtime, and, above all, bridging the historic divide between student populations.  

Bridges, Briya, and DCI's proposal for Sharpe Health offers an unparalleled opportunity to leverage aspects of how the facility was designed and will greatly benefit the Ward 4 neighborhood and community.  More specifically:

 1.   It will increase the number of high-quality educational seats for more than 600 students, especially those students with defined individual education plans as well as those who receive free and reduced meals;

2.   It will optimize the Sharpe Health building to serve students and the community, providing a much-needed single-site, multi-school program that includes early intervention for 0-3 year olds, early childhood and elementary education, a middle-school program, and adult education; 

3.   It will promote local job creation, both from the construction to refurbish the building as well as the employment of more than 200 full-time and additional part-time staff for the schools; and

4.   It will renovate and revitalize the Sharpe Health facility so that it enhances the surrounding neighborhood and provide an attractive, vibrant learning environment in which District of Columbia students – both children and adults – can thrive.

Bridges’ track record speaks for itself.  It has repeatedly produced students with strong academic and developmental scores.  This achievement is all the more remarkable in that, historically, 25-40% of its students have IEPs (the average in DC public schools is approximately 10%), and over 40% of its student population is also in the English language learner category.

Briya provides much-needed family literacy services.  Adult students will build literacy, career skills, computer skills, and parenting skills while their young children learn in high-quality settings in the classroom next door.  Briya will enroll 200 adult education/workforce development and pre-k students. Briya partners with Mary’s Center to provide early intervention services to infants and toddlers with special needs, mental health services, and home visiting services.

DCI is a partnership of DC Bilingual, Elsie Whitlow Stokes, Latin American Montessori Bilingual, Mundo Verde, and Washington Yu Ying.  DCI has a language focus and will employ the world renowned International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma Programs. The school would open with 6th and 7th grades at the Sharpe Health facility for two years, helping to alleviate the paucity of quality middle school education in our community.

For these reasons, and many more, we endorse the Bridges-Briya-DCI partnership's bid for the Sharpe Health facility.