The following email was sent to Arlington County Schools asking for various maintenance actions and requesting representation for planning. Mr. Michael Day who works in Mr. Stukes facilities organization responded and will get back to us by Feb 18, 2003, on the maintenance actions.

From: Paul Derby
Date: Tue Feb 11, 2003 5:36:29 PM US/Eastern
To: Clarence Stukes
Cc: Robert Smith , Stephanie Marcus , Dottie Dake , Mark Antell , Greg Slater
Subject: Wilson School

Hello Mr. Stukes,

I tried reaching you by telephone early today. The person that answered your phone said you were in a meeting. I left a voice mail but didn't hear back from you. Maybe email will work better since we both get tied up in meetings.

There has been a fair amount of discussion at our Civic Association meeting about Wilson school and the future plans of Arlington County Schools regarding this school site located in our neighborhood. Our concerned members have expressed a desire to see the trailers go away as soon as possible and for the field to return to a shared recreational resource benefiting both the school and the community as it was before the arrival of the trailers. Can you give us a commit date and plan for the transition of these trailers? We would like to meet with you or your representatives to plan a long term use for this field that works for both the school and the community. We have concerned members ready to plan with you.

There is concern regarding the condition of the original Wilson School building. The foundation paint and trim has faded considerably and much of the paint is peeling away from the masonry substructure. Can you let us know when the building will be brought back to reasonable condition and appearance?

The trailers are faded and look terrible. Our desire is to see these eyesores removed from the neighborhood. Arlington County Schools has indicated they are going to use these trailers for at least 2 more years. If you insist on keeping these eyesores in our neighborhood for two more years, can you clean up the exterior so these trailers don't look like aging, abandoned trailers? Some tastefully colored paint, power washing and landscape might help soften the temporary look.

The signage on the school fence is out of date. The signs state the school is "Drew Model School" and direct visitors to the office in the main building. The current occupant, Langston, has offices in the temporary trailers.

The basketball court located on the county property to the east of the school has a large sign stating that this recreation facility is reserved for school use from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Langston school doesn't use the basketball court at all for any of their programs. Langston school finishes operaton at 2:45 each afternoon. There isn't any issue in sharing the basketball with anyone from the school that wishes to play basketball. However, since the basketball facility is part of the limited neighborhood recreation provided by Arlington County, we would like to see the reserved sign removed so residents feel they can use the basketball court at any time. We have such limited recreation facilities in North Rosslyn that reserving facilities, especially when they are not used, impacts the neighborhood. Our residents use the basketball court year round. Would you please remove your reserved sign from the basketball court?

We have a commitment from Arlington County to get the lights along the sidewalk between the county property and the school property operational. This will benefit both the school and the community.

We look forward to your response and working with Arlington County Schools to improve our neighborhood.

Regards,

Paul Derby
North Rosslyn Civic Association

The signage on the fences has been updated to remove the references to Drew School.

The "reserved" signs on the basketball court have been removed. Residents and workers in the area have started using the court during the day, a welcome sight!