D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee announced Thursday that Washington Metropolitan Opportunity Academy will close at the end of the academic year — the first campus the city has closed in the traditional public school system since 2013.
The closure announcement came an hour before students were scheduled to protest in front of their school — widely known as Washington Met — in the LeDroit Park neighborhood of Northwest Washington.
Ferebee said in an interview that Washington Met students would be better served at the city’s other campuses, many of which have more robust career-education options. He said the school had poor academic results and that he could not allow students to remain there.
“I do not feel comfortable that this is the best place for students,” Ferebee said. “We cannot allow students to have another year in a place that has those types of outcomes.”
Washington Met is an alternative school that serves middle and high school students who, in most cases, have struggled with academics or behavior.
Ferebee proposed in November that the school be closed. He cited low enrollment, dismal attendance and poor academic outcomes. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has signed off on the decision, Ferebee said.
Students and teachers said Ferebee’s characterizations of the school did not tell the whole story. They said they felt the city set them up to fail by providing inadequate resources and staffing. The building was among the city’s only high schools in the traditional public school system that did not receive an influx of cash for modernization.
Employees from the school system’s central office delivered the news to Washington Met staff and students Thursday morning. Teachers said they feared what the closure would mean for their livelihoods.
Brian Morrison, a history teacher, said he is not convinced the city has effective education plans for students with the greatest needs — such as those at Washington Met.
“The real measure will be what happens to our students next year,” Morrison said. “How are we going to help the kids who have the greatest challenges? What happened at Washington Met is symptomatic of much larger problems.”
The chancellor said the school had ample resources.
“There is always room for improvement,” he said. “Has there been sufficient support there? Absolutely.”
Ferebee said officials are focused on ensuring that the 150 Washington Met students have a smooth transition to other schools in the coming academic year. The school system promised to have staff members specializing in school placement meet one-on-one with every student.
After students learned their campus would close, about two dozen teenagers walked out to protest on the nearby campus of Howard University.
“They want to close our school, but we won’t let them,” they chanted.
Students said they were angered by the news and said they believed that city leaders did not listen to their pleas to keep the school open and provide it with more resources. Some said they were planning to transfer to a neighborhood campus or to another alternative school. Two teenage mothers said they would attend a campus next year that has day care for their children — something Washington Met does not offer.
Lyric Johnson, 16, said she plans to work diligently this semester so she can get enough credits to graduate at the end of the academic year. That way, she said, she will not have to switch high schools.
Travius Butler, 17, said he does not yet know what he will do next year. He was expelled from a neighborhood high school and does not want to go back there. He said he benefited from the small environment at Washington Met and is back on track. He does not want to attend the alternative high school near his home in Southeast Washington because he is anxious about the social dynamics of the larger campus.
“They gave off the vibe that they don’t care what happens to us,” Butler said. “It’s the same energy as always.”
The city has three other alternative high schools. Washington Met has the only classes for middle schoolers who have been identified as possibly benefiting from an alternative school. The charter sector has two alternative middle schools.
Washington Met opened in 2008 and moved to its current location near Howard University in 2016.
A spokesman for Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn said the District does not yet know what it will do with the building. He said keeping it in the school system’s inventory is one option.
