Neighbors,

TOMORROW (Friday) is the deadline to sign up to testify at Monday’s DC Council hearing about this important social equity issue that you and almost 3000 others have spoken out about! Email rya@dccouncil.us ASAP to register...

JELLEFF CHILDREN SPEAK OUT:  We have received several POIGNANT statements from youths affected. Please SCROLL DOWN and SEE BELOW:

Hearing INFO: Monday, October 21,2019,11:00 a.m. Room 500, John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.  The Committee invites the public to testify or to submit written testimony, which will be made part of the official record. Anyone wishing to testify at the public oversight roundtable should contact Nathan Fleming, Committee Director  via email at RYA@dccouncil.us. and provide their name, address, telephone number, organizational affiliation, and title (if any) by close of business Friday, October 18, 2019. The purpose of the roundtable is to conduct oversight regarding the Department of Parks and Recreation's approval of a contract that provides access to the Jelleff Recreation Center for the Maret School during afterschool hours for ten years. There has been significant community need for additional field access by the recreation center, neighboring public schools, and the community at large. Community stakeholders provided considerable input expressing their desire for the Department of Parks and Recreation to not renew the use agreement with the Maret School. 

CHILDREN SPEAK OUT:  We have received several POIGNANT statements from current students -- Here are some EXCERPTS from Belinda, Reuben, and Alexandra:

• “Jelleff should be a diverse center not a space to separate us. I as an attendee of Hardy feel as if we are being put less just because private schools want Jelleff only for them and feel disrespected. One thing that could solve this issue is just to simply organize every school that uses Jelleff field to have certain days to come so it could be equal and Jelleff could still be many kids' second home.”
• “Jelleff has become a home to me and many others. We are honored to have access to Jelleff, a place to feel at home, do homework, and collaborate with others from various schools. Many of my peers and school teachers are devastated with the situation with Maret and private schools only having access to the prime hours at Jelleff.”
• “As stated by an ANC Commissioner in DCist, ‘No one has a problem with Maret playing at DPR parks. All we're asking is to share the facility.’ This quote demonstrates how unfair it is that Maret should be able to gain exclusive primetime access to Jelleff, even when Jelleff can be shared.”
• “The situation with Jelleff Recreation center is way worse than you could think. This may not seem important to you, but this will change D.C. forever. If you allow this public place to be exploited, then other places will be too. You must stop this unfairness! All you have to do is just say “no."

-Elizabeth Miller, ANC 2E07 - Represents Jelleff Recreation Center

-Kishan Putta, ANC 2E01 - Represents Hardy Middle School

-Abigail Paulsen, Steven Brown, Co-Presidents, Martin Welles, VP, Hardy Middle School Parent Teacher Organization

-Nicole Jackson, Jelleff Afterschool Parent, School Without Walls Parent, Wilson High School Parent

-Are You For Fairness in Sharing Public Resources?  Add Your Name (and any title/org) Here and ALSO state the reason why this matters to you and where you live in DC... Email jelleffcommunity@gmail.com