5 patients all with serious injuries transported from 18 & C Sts NE. We are clearing the scene. pic.twitter.com/ysf9ursbDF

— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) July 6, 2016

Five people were seriously injured in a car crash near Eliot-Hine Middle School earlier this afternoon, authorities said.

The crash happened at the intersection of 18th and C streets NE some time before 4:15 p.m. today, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.

Though it was unclear how the crash occurred, a video of the aftermath shows it involved at least two cars. One of the cars was flipped on its side.

Video via D.C. Fire and EMS

New principals will lead Miner Elementary School, Eliot-Hine Middle School and Amidon-Bowen Elementary School next year.

Andrea Mial, TaMikka Sykes and Isamar Vargas will lead Miner, Eliot-Hine and Amidon-Bowen, respectively, according to announcements from those schools.

The new principals will start at the beginning of the next school year, according to D.C. Public School (DCPS) officials.

View the announcements below:

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Kingman Park residents and Little League players across the Capitol Hill area will soon have a new place to practice.

Batting cages are set to be installed sometime this spring on the empty lot at the intersection of 19th and C streets NE beside Eliot-Hine Middle School. Events DC, which manages the land, partnered with Capitol Hill Little League to install the cages. Capitol Hill Little League offers baseball and softball instruction for D.C. children age 6-16.

Events DC president and CEO Gregory O’Dell said that the cages are part of an effort to find short-term uses for the area around RFK Stadium while Events DC explores permanent redevelopment options.

“Events DC is excited to partner with Capitol Hill Little League, enabling us to enhance community and family-friendly programming on the RFK Stadium-Armory Campus,” he said. “We look forward to welcoming the batting cages this spring for District residents and our city’s youth to benefit.”

The cages are slated be open year-round for Little League practice and community use.

Photo via Google Maps

The construction of a playground on an empty lot near Eliot-Hine Middle School moved closer to reality last night.

ANC 6A unanimously approved a proposal to transform the vacant property at 20th and C streets NE into a park for children. The decision came after Events DC, which manages the land, spent months trying to solicit support from locals.

“Our ANC is supporting installation of a playground at this location because we believe our neighborhood can be best served by providing additional space for children and families to play and gather,” ANC 6A chairman Phil Toomajian wrote in a letter he plans to send to Events DC on behalf of the commission. “In addition, residents in our ANC living near this location have expressed support for the proposed new playground.”

Events DC has yet to discuss any possible features for the park, which still needs the approval of the organization’s senior officials before construction can begin.

“Just because you guys will provide a letter of support does not necessarily mean this is going to happen,” Events DC spokesman Peter Kirschner told ANC commissioners. “But it’s certainly a help and push in that direction.”

With or without the new park, Events DC still plans to maintain the nearby Oklahoma Avenue NE playground, which also is on property the organization manages. But Events DC may demolish that playground to make way for future development.

Andrew Harrington, Events DC’s director of venue operations, said in August the Oklahoma Avenue property is “sort of a high priority area for whatever is going to be there down the road.”

Ward 6 Councilman Charles Allen and D.C. State Board of Education member Joe Weedon will attend the monthly ANC 6A meeting tomorrow night to participate in a public forum on education in northeast Capitol Hill.

The forum will take place at Miner Elementary School at 601 15th St. NE at 7 p.m. Thursday. Representatives from Miner, Eliot-Hine Middle School, Maury Elementary School, School Within School and Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School will also participate in the forum.

“This is a great opportunity for our schools to share about their programs and areas that we as a community can assist them,” ANC 6A chairman Phil Toomajian said in a Facebook post about the event. “It’s also a great opportunity for community members to learn more about your neighborhood schools and to learn how you can support them and get involved in them now.”

The forum is expected to last a little more than an hour according to the meeting agenda.

Photo via DCPS

Northeast Capitol Hill children might get a new playground if locals back a plan to transform an empty lot near Eliot-Hine Middle School.

Officials with Events DC, which manages the land at 20th and C streets NE, urged locals at a community meeting last night to support a playground on the property. Without neighborhood support, the D.C. events authority won’t go ahead with the project, the officials said.

“Events DC wants to build the playground for the community,” said Andrew Harrington, Events DC’s director of venue operations. “The community’s involvement is critical.”

Harrington and his colleagues at the meeting held by ANC 6A’s transportation and public space committee didn’t discuss possible features for the park. But Harrington said it would cost about $100,000, with support from KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that helps construct playgrounds.

With or without the new park, Events DC plans to continue maintaining the nearby Oklahoma Avenue NE playground, which sits on land the organization manages. But the events authority won’t make significant investments in the playground and may demolish it to make way for future development.

“The current location of the current playground is right in that area where we can rebuild,” Harrington said. “Therefore, it’s sort of a high priority area for whatever is going to be there down the road.”

Locals at the meeting were generally supportive of the playground. But some of them expressed concern about car traffic near the park.

It wasn’t immediately clear when, or if, ANC 6A might endorse Events DC’s proposal.

Photo via Google Maps

Two men robbed a woman at gunpoint near Eastern High and Eliot-Hine Middle schools yesterday.

The robbery happened about noon Thursday between the unit and 200 blocks of 19th Street NE, police said. The area is just east of Eastern High School and Eliot-Hine and about a block west from RFK Stadium.

The thieves approached the woman from behind when she was walking in the area, according to authorities. One of the thieves pointed a gun at her before one of the men snatched something from her hand. At least one of the robbers also searched through her pockets.

The men then told her to walk away, and they fled in the opposite direction.

At least one of the men was 6 feet tall and wore a ski mask, police said.

Photo via Google Maps

Planning for major renovations at Eliot-Hine and Jefferson Academy middle schools would begin in the coming year under a budget plan approved today by a D.C. Council panel.

Each of the Ward 6 schools would receive $1.5 million in fiscal 2016 and 2017 for modernization planning, according to the proposal endorsed this afternoon by the D.C. Council Education Committee. But renovations under the panel’s plan still would begin in fiscal 2019, as Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed last month, angering locals.

Under a previous version of the committee’s proposal, neither school had money to prepare for renovations in fiscal 2016, and only Jefferson could start planning in fiscal 2017. But that plan also left most of the modernization work until fiscal 2019.

Councilman Charles Allen of Ward 6, who pushed for the planning money, said Eliot-Hine and Jefferson both show a “clear need” for updates as soon as possible. He noted that Eliot-Hine has bars on the inside of its windows and Jefferson’s air conditioning system doesn’t work in its gym.

“Neither of these buildings I think serve the students as well as they should and inspire the confidence of the parents,” he said at the Council meeting today on the budget plan.

At the meeting, Allen tried to move up the year for renovations for Eliot-Hine and Jefferson from fiscal 2019, but didn’t receive the support of his fellow Council members.

Overall, Jefferson (801 7th St. SW) would receive $36 million for renovation work between fiscal 2016 and 2020, according to the D.C. Council plan. The sum is $12 million more than the $24 million Bowser has proposed.

Eliot-Hine (1830 Constitution Ave. NE) would get $38.1 million for modernizing the school between fiscal 2016 and 2020, under the Council’s proposal. The amount is $4 million more than the $34.1 million the mayor wants to offer.

Eliot-Hine and Jefferson Academy middle schools wouldn’t get the money locals have requested for major renovations in the coming year under a new D.C. Council budget plan.

The Ward 6 schools would have to postpone modernization plans until at least fiscal 2017, according to a fiscal 2016 budget proposal released by the D.C. Council Education Committee today. But most renovation work would begin in fiscal 2019, as Mayor Muriel Bowser has proposed.

Locals have said the schools need money sooner to help fix malfunctioning heating and cooling systems, broken bathrooms fixtures and classrooms without adequate lighting and ventilation.

Jefferson at 801 7th St. SW would receive $3 million in fiscal 2017 to help start renovations. But Eliot-Hine at 1830 Constitution Ave. NE wouldn’t get any money until fiscal 2019 to begin its modernization.

Overall, Jefferson would receive $36 million for renovations between fiscal 2017 and 2020, according to the D.C. Council plan. The sum is $12 million more than the $24 million Bowser has proposed.

Eliot-Hine would get $38.1 million for modernizing the school between fiscal 2019 and 2020, under the Council’s proposal. The amount is $4 million more than the $34.1 million the mayor wants to offer.

Despite the proposed increase in the modernization budget for Eliot-Hine and Jefferson, Joe Weedon, Ward 6′s representative to the D.C. State Board of Education, said he can’t support the Council’s timeline for renovations.

“I am disappointed to see that the renovations of Eliot-Hine MS and Jefferson Academy MS were not restored” for fiscal 2016, Weedon said on his website, adding that locals should tell the D.C. Council not to approve the budget proposal.

Councilman Charles Allen of Ward 6 wasn’t immediately available for comment. But he has said he has concerns with proposed funding delays for renovations at Eliot-Hine and other Ward 6 schools.

He said at a hearing he saw doors falling off hinges and paint peeling at Eliot-Hine.

“It was a mess,” he said. “I’m going to keep pushing and fighting.”

The Council’s Education Committee is scheduled to vote on the budget proposal tomorrow.

Students at Eliot-Hine Middle School are trying to land a television interview with President Barack Obama at the White House.

A petition went up last week on the White House’s website, asking Obama to appear on the Eliot Hine Network. The network is run by students under the direction of teacher Mandrell Birks.

Since Birks launched the network last year, students already have interviewed Mayor Muriel Bowser, Councilman Charles Allen of Ward 6 and sportscaster James Brown, among others. The students also have appeared on “The Queen Latifah Show.”

Now, they want Obama to come on their network.

“Students are currently building the Eliot Hine Network by investigating, planning, creating and evaluating the entire structure of this unique broadcast media initiative,” the petition says. “The students are embracing technology with an attitude that looks towards their upcoming career goals. Anyone who witnesses the student interaction with our broadcast media equipment will be completely astonished at how students utilize their technical skills.”

As of 3:45 p.m., the petition had 87 signatures. The students are looking to get 100,000 signatures by June 7. After 100,000 signatures, the petition will get a response from the White House.

Photo and video via Ustream/Eliot Hine Network

Eliot-Hine Middle School could receive more money per student than any other D.C. public school in the coming year, an analysis released this week shows.

The Capitol Hill-area school would get $16,467 for each of its students under the fiscal 2016 budget proposal released earlier this month by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, according to a study from public school advocates the Coalition for DC Public Schools & Communities and Code for DC. The sum is a 9.3 percent increase from this year.

The school at 1830 Constitution Ave. NE is expected to have 239 students in 2016.

Locals have lamented that the mayor hasn’t supported funding for major renovations at the school.

Eliot-Hine students and their parents yesterday called on the D.C. Council to fund significant upgrades to the school in fiscal 2016, instead of fiscal 2019, as Bowser has proposed. The school has dated facilities and an outdated HVAC system that often leaves students boiling or freezing, locals have said.

In addition to Eliot-Hine, two other Ward 6 schools would be among the top 10 schools citywide for per student funding.

Van Ness Elementary School, which reopens this fall in Navy Yard, would receive $16,356 for each student. Jefferson Academy Middle School in Southwest would get $15,543 per student.

Not every Capitol Hill-area school would receive five-figure per-student funding, however.

Maury Elementary School, near Lincoln Park, would end up with $9,611 for each student. Watkins Elementary School in Hill East would get $9,562 per student.

Out of all the D.C. public schools, Woodrow Wilson High School in Northwest would have the lowest per-student funding, at $8,312 each.

Photo via Google Maps

Eliot-Hine Middle School students and their parents received a receptive audience with the D.C. Council today as they demanded major renovations to their school.

The locals pressed the Council to fund significant updates to the Capitol Hill-area school in the coming year, despite a plan by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to leave extensive repairs to fiscal 2019. The school has dated facilities and an outdated HVAC system that often leaves students boiling or freezing, locals said.

“Even though they’re teaching us, it’s hard to learn when the building is so bad,” one seventh grader said.

Heather Schoell, a member of Eliot-Hine’s parent teacher organization, said upgrades were made to the school’s bathrooms after Bowser heard complaints about them at an ANC 6A meeting earlier this month.

During that meeting, Joe Weedon, Ward 6′s representative to the D.C. State Board of Education, said his elementary school-age daughter visited Eliot-Hine and wouldn’t use the restroom there, where some stalls didn’t have doors.

The bathroom repairs are a “good start,” Schoell said. But D.C. must do more to fix Eliot-Hine, which is “basically still a school from the 1950s.”

“Given the antiquated facilities, we are still not a competitive school,” she said.

Eliot-Hine would receive $34.1 million for renovations in fiscal 2019 and 2020 under the mayor’s budget proposal released earlier this month. More than 250 students attend the school at 1830 Constitution Ave. NE, according to D.C. Public Schools.

Councilman Charles Allen of Ward 6 said he saw doors falling off hinges and paint peeling at Eliot-Hine.

“It was a mess,” he said. “I’m going to keep pushing and fighting.”

Image via D.C. Council