Hefty Renovation Request for Hardy MS Approved by Local ANCs
By • February 22, 2022 0 1625
Resolutions for a significant renovation project for Hardy Middle School building and facilities at 1819 35th St. that could cost upwards of $100 million in budgeted District public school capital funds were approved in February meetings of both the Georgetown/Burleith and the Glover Park Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 2E and 3B.
The project requested by the Hardy School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), reports that the middle school population has grown more than 60 percent to 541 students during the past five years. “This is far more than what the district officials planned for the school when it was last renovated in 2014. The required renovations will require a multi-year funding process,” the resolution notes.
Costs for renovations of elementary schools and high schools in D.C. the past five years ranged between $37 million — Hyde Addison Elementary School for about 350 students — to $178 million for Duke Ellington High School for about 500 students, according to comparables researched by the Hardy PTO. Middle schools might logically fall in between in 2023.
Hardy School is being considered in other school renovation plans however mainly driven by the current and future over-crowding at Wilson High School that serves Wards 2 and 3. As reported in the Georgetowner and others over the past year, proposals have circulated that Hardy Middle School become the site of a comprehensive Georgetown public high school and that the Georgetown Day School campus on MacArthur Blvd. be converted to a large middle school for the area.
However, no one really knows what the lasting impact of the two-year pandemic shut downs and restrictions will have on future enrollment in public schools in the District or Georgetown. The local schools have been reported to have full enrollment, with a larger percentage of students being out-of-district transfers.
The Hardy School renovation resolutions were sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser and City Council representatives Brooke Pinto (Ward 2) and Mary Cheh (Ward 3) to consider in the FY 2023 DC Public Schools budget. Kishan Putta and Brian Turmail are the ANC Commission liaisons.
