Ellington School of the Arts

Last week we aired a series of reports that included exclusive videotape of the deplorable conditions at the District’s Duke Ellington School for the Arts. For starters the seventy students in the dance department have been unable to use the dance studio because the floor has buckled in several spots from constant water damage, making the surface dangerous to even walk on, much less try and dance. There are eight showers for the dancers use after practice; but the students have never been able to use them because they have never worked. The gym at Ellington has been closed and locked to students for the past six months. The reason, a light fixture fell from the ceiling one day while a Phys Ed class was underway. Several other lights are now hanging by a thread and could fall at any time. Students meanwhile are taking gym outdoors. How cold will November be, Topper? The school system has not seen fit to send someone out to repair the lights, the leaking roof, the showers, the theatre seats, the carpet, walls, hallways, and the crumbling plaster. The list goes on and on. DC school officials responded to our reports saying The Duke Ellington School for the Arts is but one of many city schools in dire need of repairs or renovation. The money is now available because of a multi million dollar bill approved by the DC Council and the Mayor. However, under school Superintendent Clifford Janey’s modernization plan Ellington isn’t scheduled for renovation for another six years, in the year 2012. Parents say they can’t and won’t wait that long. Fortunately, a work crew was dispatched to Ellington on Saturday, October 28^th, to begin ripping up the dance floor for a new one. As of this writing on Wednesday, November 1^st, my inside sources tell me two studios are sealed off with no use to anyone while officials try to find the source of the water leaks, make the repairs, and then build new floors. We’ll let you know if and when the Ellington students will dance again.