by Manolis Priniotakis
ANC 3F commissioner and Murch parent
The Ben W. Murch School has been a hub for the Forest Hills community since its construction in 1929. It has served as a second home for generations of residents. And it’s been a place of thoughtful instruction and nurturing development, supported by engaged and active parents.
While the cupola is a distinctive Forest Hills landmark and the interior is charming, Murch (and its attendant 25-year-old “temporary” out-buildings) is overcrowded, crumbling and showing every year of its 85 years-long existence. Sometimes it seems like the only things keeping the structure up are the dedicated faculty and staff and time and money of the Murch community. The amenities you’d hope for in a 21st-century center of learning in our nation’s capital are absent. The best you can say for the technology options are that they were probably passable during the Hoover administration. Read more about Murch’s needs at MurchLookingForward.com.
Murch is past due for modernization. And in the past, Murch families have been promised District funding by the mayor to renovate and hopefully expand the school, but these promises have not been kept – and the Council did not act to correct the mayor’s mistakes. During our February meeting, ANC 3F passed a resolution calling for full funding for the project. Please join the Murch community in signing the petition at MurchLookingForward.com and urge our elected officials to do the right thing, live up to their commitment to the children of Forest Hills, and fund renovations for Murch.