Here is a timeline based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other sources. It shows that, throughout 2008, DCPS was planning to move Janney up near the front of the modernization queue based on "right-sizing" initiatives, but that in the final days before the release of the September draft Master Facilities Plan (MFP), political intervention pushed Janney's addition to the very end of the modernization line, despite a protest from DCPS's facilities expert.
In July, after Mayor Fenty announced his decision to pursue a public-private partnership for the site, Allison Feeney wrote an email to CM Mary Cheh, offering advice regarding how to pressure the community into accepting a deal it clearly did not want. Cheh forwarded Feeney's note to Deputy Mayor Albert, adding her own endorsement of the strategy. Subsequent events seem to indicate that DMPED followed this advice -- including manipulating DCPS's modernization queue to suggest that the only way for Janney to ensure that its facilities would be addressed in a timely manner would be to consent to ceding part of its campus to private development.
In the March 2009 revised draft MFP, the Fenty Administration seems to have adopted that position. Now the question is before the Council. Will it reject the notion that which schools get what facilities when may be a function of the market value of their campuses? A Council hearing on the MFP, currently scheduled for March 26th (during DCPS's Spring Break!), may prove decisive.
The documents on which this timeline is based can be found at http://documents.scribd.com/docs/jr77ouz4qn4qvpr6ywv.pdf
September 2006 – Superintendent Clifford Janey submits his Master Facilities Plan draft to the DC Board of Education. In this plan, where the order of the modernization queue is determined primarily on the basis of the condition of a school’s existing facilities, Tenleytown’s Bernard T. Janney Elementary is near the end of the line (#104), despite the fact that it is one of the most overcrowded schools in the District and there is a lengthy wait list for out-of-boundary students seeking admission.
January 23, 2008 – As part of its “right-sizing” effort, DCPS anticipates accelerating Janney’s modernization. [Anthony DeGuzman email to Eric Lerum]
March 6 – Bev Sklover announces at a Community Meeting that she has spoken with the consultant working on the MFP who told her that, as a result of the school closures, Janney’s modernization will be moved up to 2010.
March 31 – Consultant’s draft Master Facilities Plan places Janney near the head of the modernization queue. In this document, Janney is #8 in line for modernization (the line does not include the 11 modernization projects already in progress). Janney’s renovation and addition is scheduled to begin in FY2010 and be completed by FY2012. The document makes no reference to PPP discussions and, judging from the timeline and budget figures, it does not assume that there will be a PPP at this site.
July 10 -- Despite overwhelming community opposition, Mayor Fenty announces that he's going forward with a PPP for the Tenley Library/Janney School site and has chosen LCOR as the private partner.
July 12 – Janney parent/SIT member Allison Feeney writes to Councilmember Mary Cheh suggesting that the only way to gain community support for the PPP is to ensure that there is no other way for Janney to get moved up in the modernization queue. If Janney is #8 without a PPP, Feeney points out, then no one will support a PPP. CM Cheh forwards Feeney's email to DM Albert, expressing her hope that Albert “will co-ordinate with those responsible and pursue” Feeney’s suggestions.
September 2-4 – As the final touches are being put on the draft MFP in anticipation of its public release, Anthony DeGuzman and Eric Lerum agree that Janney’s addition should take place in 2010 with renovations to follow in 2012 or 2013 depending on budget pressures. Lerum informs Chris Dunlavey (the consultant preparing the draft MFP) of this decision, emphasizing the order (addition before renovations) as well as the timeline.
September 8 – After a high-level meeting, Dunlavey circulates a new draft of the MFP, indicating that the “Changes include…shifting Janney addition out to 2014.”
September 9 -- DeGuzman questions this change: “why has the addition been moved to 2014? Schools with lesser space needs have leapfrogged them. This contradicts the guiding principles.” Dunlavey responds that it was made “per DME” (Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso).
September 10 – The draft MFP is released with Janney’s addition at the very end of the line (2014) and scheduled to take place after Janney’s renovations.
October 10 and 24 -- ANC 3E Commissioner Anne Sullivan and the Janney SIT and PTA submit testimony to the DC Council contesting Janney's position in the MFP queue, and citing some of the documents mentioned above. For the text of that testimony, go to http://ttownrfp.blogspot.com/2009/02/public-oversight-hearing-committee-of.html
November 25 -- Andrew Smiles reports to the Janney SIT that Anthony DeGuzman has told the Facilities Committee that Janney was likely to be moved up in the queue regardless of whether the PPP went forward. He adds that "The Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by the ANC meant downtown got called on Janney students’ needs not being prioritized in the MFP placement according to guiding principles of DCPS assessments."
http://www.janneyschool.org/PTASITPPP/SIT_Minutes/SIT%20Fall2006-2009/2008_Nov_SIT_minutes.pdf
January 30, 2009 -- Chancellor Rhee and DMPED officials meet with the Janney SIT. Rhee suggests that the only way to move the school's modernation up from 2014 is with the PPP. http://ttownrfp.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-which-chancellor-rhee-joins-dm.html
March 3-- OPEFM submits a revised MFP schedule to the Council. In this schedule, Janney's addition is restored to its original slot in 2010, only now a footnote states "Janney schedule is predicated upon a successful partnership between a private development company and the District of Columbia with respect to the redevelopment of the former Tenley/Friendship library site." Interestingly, another section of the MFP contains the same scheduling information without the footnote.
