DCPS Plans to Bus Students Across Town for 2 Years; Community Meeting on Feb. 6
Photos from Amidon-Bowen’s 2019 history project school exhibit that recreated Southwest photographer Joseph Owen Curtis’ photos from the mid-20th century. Left: “Corner of 4th and I” by Mekhi Bailey (Amidon 5th grader); Top Right: “4th Street between G and H” by Desean Hill (Amidon 5th grader); Lower Right: photo exhibit in the school lobby (Willem Dicke).
By Sarah Buckley and Willem Dicke
Starting in August 2027, Southwest’s only elementary school, Amidon-Bowen, will close for two years while the school building is renovated as part of DC’s effort to modernize school buildings across the district.
During the school’s modernization, the District’s plan is for Amidon-Bowen students to attend school in a temporary “swing space” at the former Meyer Elementary School in Columbia Heights, nearly 3.5 miles away from the school in Northwest. DC plans to provide a bus to and from Amidon-Bowen, but this would mean long commutes for schoolchildren and changes to family routines to necessitate earlier departures and later arrivals.
Amidon-Bowen parents are objecting to that plan. Parents are concerned about the logistical challenges of sending their children to school in Northwest DC accessible only through heavily congested traffic. Moreover, families are concerned that DC’s plan threatens to break apart the school’s close-knit community, which is deeply connected to the Southwest neighborhood.
One Amidon parent stated that “During the upgrades to the school, my daughter will be starting PK3 and I do not feel comfortable sending one that young on the bus. Additionally, how does the return home work? What happens to aftercare?”
Another commented: “I worry it will be too much commute for most families (myself included) and that it will break up the community of the school. Amidon is a neighborhood school and we want to go to school with our neighbors.”
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen added that “the needed modernization is a great opportunity to rebuild the school facility, but there continues to be a significant concern – one I share – about the location for the swing space during construction.”
More than 70% of Amidon-Bowen families live in Southwest, and a majority walk or bike to school. 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.
Putting the school further from Southwest families also hurts their ability to volunteer at school, participate in school events, or even respond to urgent health needs of their children.
Erica Walker, an Amidon parent, said that her biggest concern is “if a medical emergency occurs, I can’t get to the school quickly, and can’t afford the additional cost of an Uber” to and from Meyer Elementary. Last year, Amidon-Bowen lost its full-time nurse due to a change in how DC allocates school nurses, another issue on which the school community is advocating.
The results of a parent and caregiver survey show that if the plan of busing to Meyer goes forward, almost 70% of families would find a different option closer to home; only 7% reported they would definitely stay at the school.
Separately, teachers have likewise reported that they would look for other school options. Parents in the community have expressed concerns that the current swing space plan represents an existential threat to a pillar of the Southwest community.
As one parent put it, “If DCPS is uncaring and reckless enough to choose a far-away swing space, we would leave Amidon, because we don’t own a car. That’s why we chose to live in Southwest DC—it’s walkable and metro-able. So DCPS would be uprooting us, forcing us away from the community we’ve helped build.”
In response to DC’s plan, Amidon-Bowen parents have asked DCPS instead to install temporary modular buildings on the DC Department of Parks and Recreation Amidon Field directly adjacent to the school. Modular classrooms were used as temporary school space for Jefferson Middle School during its reconstruction several years ago, and have been used for renovations at Whittier Elementary School in Northwest and Burroughs Elementary School in Northeast.
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.
Amidon-Bowen parents are asking the Southwest community to join with families and demand a reasonable swing space solution for local students. The community is invited to a 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 also be invited to this community meeting to hear concerns regarding the planned swing space and to discuss how to keep Amidon-Bowen within the Southwest community during its reconstruction.