D.C. Mayor Unveils First School Produced By $2 Billion Education Campaign

By Mariko Lamb-Talk Radio News Service

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty unveiled the Walker Jones Education Campus Tuesday, a new $50 million K-8 public school that is part of an eight year, $2 billion campaign to rebuild and modernize all schools in the sixth congressional district.

The 100,000 sq. ft. campus includes a 20,000 sq. ft. recreation center and a 5,000 sq. ft. library that will be open to the public during non-school hours. This campus is the first in D.C. to combine a school with a public library, recreation center, and athletic amenities.

“[Projects are being completed] on-time, on budget, and we get more out of these public projects than you’d see in any private sector buildings,” Fenty said during the opening ceremony.

The campus is part of what Fenty described as a “grander vision” to improve the Northwest #1 neighborhood near Capitol Hill, noting that the project created more than 150 jobs during its construction. The mayor ensured that he will “keep working to make sure those jobs keep going to neighbors around the projects.”

“So many great schools in our area are finally seeing the upgrade that they deserve,” he said. Although D.C. schools are “not all the way there,” Fenty said, “if you had to pick three school districts in the entire country that are headed in the right direction, according to any of the top critics, we would make everybody’s top three list.”