E L Haynes Public Charter School

EL Haynes is a wonderful school with extremely dedicated and caring teachers and other staff. Its student body mirrors the demographics of the city as a whole, and it gets outstanding academic results, probably due to its year-​round schedule and creative intersession (vacation day-​camp) programs. The children love to come to school. They can participate in a variety of arts and sports programs and learn Spanish from pre-​K onwards. Miraculously (for this city) the parents and staff are not split into racial/​cultural/​economic factions, but work well together. The lottery to get into EL Haynes is one of the most competitive in DC.
Pre-​K through 2^nd grade and also grades 9 and above are taught at the Kansas Ave. campus. Grades 3 – 8 are at the Georgia Ave. campus on the corner of Otis St., NW. A new building for the high school grades is currently under construction.
t.n., you don’t know what you are talking about, or else you can’t write in a way that makes sense.
The main field was always fenced in. Only a small additional area was fenced for the new playground, and the grass was not dug up there. The section with the playground equipment was mulched over, and the other grass nearby has gradually been killed by all the kids running on it.
Neighbors are welcome to use the school grounds, including the new playground, when the school and after-​school activities are not in session, although, honestly I’ve never seen anyone try to kick out a neighborhood kid if they come to play when the after-​care program is going on. The new playground has swings and other play structures that the old playground did not. It doesn’t have those peeling rubber tiles that tripped kids all the time. The old playground had no shade and no barrier to keep kids from running into the parking lot.
The new playground is fenced for safety, but it is not locked up. I believe that, as at all the parks in the city, people are not supposed to be in there after dark. I don’t know if they lock the gates after dark. The old playground was full of obscene graffiti, broken glass, food wrappers, crack baggies, and tobacco spilled from people rolling blunts. That was the «community feel» we parents got when we came to clean up in summer 2010. I haven’t heard about cameras being installed, but if so they would be for deterring criminal behavior, not «keeping the community out». Not sure how a camera could do that, anyway – it would have to be a robotic security guard as well as a camera.
Dogs are not welcome any more because some people don’t clean up after them, and then the children step in the sh*t when they are trying to play sports. This is a problem at any school. There are still large grassy verges on three sides of EL Haynes Kansas Ave. campus outside the fences, not to mention the whole of the traffic circle, where people can walk their dogs. It has never been a right to walk your dog on school grounds in the city. If dog owners want to have a fenced-​in dog park in Petworth, EL Haynes is not obliged to supply it.

Our neighborhook was excited to see the old clark elementary that had been empty for years open its doors as E.L. Haynes charter school. They seemed willing to work with the community because we had all used that field for our kids and pets. They promised to keep the green grass area with large trees untouched. about 2 months ago it was fenced, all the grass was dug up for a private play ground. We all use the field for sports, and everything. It is the only larges fenced in area around. They said they were more then willing to let dogs and neighbors continue to use the field which was another lie. Now they want to install cameras to keep the community out. I am longing for that old abandon school back. It had more of a community feel then this charter school. If they treat students anyway like they treat the community around them don’t send you kid there.