The NorThwesT CurreNTWednesday, July 8, 2015 Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967 Vol. XLVIII, No. 27

INDEXCalendar/16

Classifieds/22

District Digest/4

Exhibits/17

In Your Neighborhood/14

Opinion/10

Police Report/8

Real Estate/15

Service Directory/20

Sports/13

Theater/19

Week Ahead/3

Tips? Contact us at newsdesk@currentnewspapers.com

By MARK LIEBERMANCurrent Correspondent

Palisades resident Janice Kaplan discovered Norton Juster’s classic fantasy novel “The Phantom Toll-booth” when she read it to her son Satchel for the first time 17 years ago. Her son liked the book, but she fell in love with it.

Then in 2007, Kaplan found out Juster was scheduled to make an appearance in Satchel’s math class at Georgetown Day School, and she made sure she got permission to attend. After Juster’s talk, Kaplan met the author and got his contact information. The two kept in touch.

That blossomed into a full-time professional partnership — Juster

hired Kaplan as his publicist in 2009 — and personal friendship. One of the products of the relationship is the documentary “The Phantom Toll-booth: Beyond Expectations,” pro-duced by Kaplan, which is making

its D.C. debut at a Smithsonian Associates event at the National Museum of Natural History this Sunday at 3 p.m.

The 82-minute documentary, completed in 2013 with the help of two Kickstarter campaigns that raised $60,000, traces the origins of the acclaimed 1961 novel, the friend-ship that developed between Juster and his illustrator Jules Feiffer, and the book’s decades-long impact on readers of all ages.

As “Beyond Expectations” describes, “The Phantom Tollbooth” story was born out of the author’s childhood frustrations with adults and confusion about the wider world beyond his doorstep. The novel fol-

Palisades filmmaker traces ‘Tollbooth’ tale

Image courtesy of Janice KaplanThe documentary looks at the roots of the classic 1961 novel.

By CUNEYT DILCurrent Correspondent

Advisory neighborhood commis-sioners were left unimpressed last week with revised designs for a new office and retail building in the Spring Valley Shopping Center, a project that has sparked extensive debate over historic preservation in the low-rise residential neighbor-hood.

Commissioners unanimously asked the Historic Preservation Review Board to require developers Washington Real Estate Investment Trust to submit yet another “improved plan for further review,” and called on developers to work with the community on the propos-als before formally submitting any new plans. The board’s hearing on the project is scheduled for July 23.

Architect Rob McClennan pre-sented revised designs at the com-mission’s meeting last Wednesday, featuring tweaks to make the new building match more closely to the Colonial Revival architecture of

neighboring structures.There is also a pedestrian walk-

way in the space between Crate & Barrel and the proposed new build-ing, with renderings suggesting it can have tables and chairs for loung-ing. A children’s play area is planned behind the building near a 65-space parking lot, as part of efforts to “cre-ate vitality on the site and help bring the community together,” Robert Elliot of the development firm told commissioners.

But commission chair Tom Smith and commissioner Alma Gates blast-ed the development team for retain-ing a controversial element of the earlier design plans: connecting the new building to the adjacent Capital

Spring Valley project draws continued ANC opposition

Brian Kapur/The CurrentThe Palisades Citizens Association’s 49th annual Fourth of July Parade drew strong crowds despite earlier rainfall. Participants included a contingent from Tenleytown’s Middle C Music.

P A L I S A D E S P A R A D E

■ Preservation: Opponents cite impact on historic center

By CUNEYT DILCurrent Correspondent

Early one day in late June, a del-egation from the University of Dis-trict of Columbia’s law school and Ward 3 D.C. Council member Mary Cheh boarded a plane with hopes of brokering an exchange program deal with another university. Their desti-nation: Havana, Cuba.

Made possible through the recent restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba announced by President Barack Obama, the university’s David A. Clarke School of Law and Cuba’s oldest university have also agreed to strengthen ties between the two institutions. The interim UDC president, James Lyons, and others came back to the U.S. with an agree-ment with the University of Havana — Cheh says Cubans call it their Harvard — to develop an exchange program between their students and faculty, which they hope to begin as early as January.

Law school dean Shelley Broder-ick, who also traveled, says the deal took some ironing out.

“We knew we wanted to broker a

UDC works on exchange with Cuba

By MARK LIEBERMANCurrent Correspondent

The $65 million renovation of Murch Elementary is going forward following a presentation last week that drew a warm community recep-tion, following resident protests about a previous version of the plans last month.

Construction at the 4810 36th St. campus is scheduled to begin in June 2016, after several rounds of concept approvals and other logistical mat-

ters, and wrap up in time for the 2018-19 school year. The D.C. Department of General Services filed its plans last Thursday with the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a day after meeting with community mem-bers about the latest proposal.

Plans for the renovation include creating new “buried,” or under-ground, spaces for the cafeteria and media center; a garden along the south portion of the campus on Dav-enport Street; 46 underground park-ing spaces; more flexible classroom spaces; and more room for outdoor playground equipment. The new building will be two stories high, just

Parents praise revisions to Murch design plans■ Education: Interim space during project still uncertain

Brian Kapur/Current file photoThe building would replace part of a parking lot at the Spring Valley Shopping Center.

See Murch/Page 6

See Project/Page 12See Film/Page 6

See Cuba/Page 5

Under Armour lax All-America games unite local rivals

— Page 13

Former principal of Powell Elementary leaves strong legacy

— Page 2

NEWS SPORTS

Group pitches plan for teacher museum at historic Riggs site

— Page 3

NEWS

The CurreNT wedNesday, July 8, 2015 5

an accessible door. Unsightly later additions, including fire stairs and mechanical equipment that has accumulated on the roof, will be removed.

“With all that stuff added to the roof, it’s beginning to have an industrial feel,” Baranes said. “Over time the banking hall was dimin-ished. It’s a really beautiful, interesting space.” He noted that the hall or atrium will be the

primary exhibit area for the new museum. The Riggs building was once the city’s pre-

eminent bank, handling major transactions for prominent citizens and the federal govern-ment, according to a staff report. But after some scandals and allegations of mismanage-ment, Riggs merged with PNC Financial Ser-vices in 2005. The headquarters building, now vacant, went on the market in 2013.

The Milken foundation was founded by disgraced financier Michael Milken, once

known as the “junk bond king,” after he served a two-year jail term for securities fraud. A prostate cancer survivor, he has since devoted his fortune to charitable works, including the family foundation focusing on medical research and education. An awards program launched in 1987 has honored 2,600 teachers, principals and education specialists nation-wide, with each receiving a $25,000 prize.

The foundation doesn’t have concrete plans for the museum yet, said spokesperson Bonnie

Somers. “It’s so early in the process,” she said, explaining only that the foundation’s general philosophy since its inception is that “quality education is a cornerstone of the nation’s growth, and that quality teachers are the single most important key.” She said the museum could highlight both the “importance of indi-vidual educators, and how to create great teachers.”

Architect Baranes is expected to return to both review panels with refined plans.

MUSEUM: Boards seek changes to Riggs National Bank site on Pennsylvania AvenueFrom Page 3

relationship between the two univer-sities,” she said. “We were not sure whether or not we could complete that, and so it definitely took some conversation. I think frankly they were very impressed by our delega-tion.”

The full scope of the exchange program remains to be developed, but Broderick says faculty could travel in January to do a mini-course on elder law issues related to end-of-life initiatives. When discussing the program in a conference call, Cheh got excited at that thought: “Did you say go back? I’m available. How about my death with dignity bill?” (The council member’s latest piece of legislation would make it legal for certain terminally ill patients to obtain prescription drugs to end their lives.)

Broderick hopes to begin sum-mer exchange programs in 2016 with roughly a dozen students and faculty traveling to Havana.

“It’ll give perhaps some of the students their first taste of compara-tive law,” Cheh said. “Looking at an entirely different legal system that precedes from a socialist perspective — that of itself would be valuable.”

The opportunity for the exchange program arose after Obama announced the normalization of dip-lomatic relations with Cuba. Tim Rieser, an alumnus of the law school who played a key role in the secret negotiations as a staffer for Vermont

Sen. Patrick Leahy, spoke on cam-pus at Broderick’s request in the spring about U.S.-Cuba relations.

Members of the Cuban Interests Section — which serves as a de facto embassy for the nation, as it lacks formal diplomatic ties — caught word of the campus talks and liked what they saw. Broderick says they set up a meeting with her to pitch the idea of an academic exchange. “I thought that was a fab-ulous idea,” she said.

Cheh got word of the trip through Broderick, a friend of hers, and agreed to pay her own expenses. “I thought I could add some value,” said Cheh, who teaches law at George Washington University in addition to being an elected govern-ment official.

Cheh says she experienced a legal landscape much different from America’s, with the government having a say in how many people become lawyers and what their assignments might be. “I just found it from a comparative law perspec-tive really eye-opening,” said Cheh. “It was a really fascinating experi-ence.”

In particular, she tells the story of a man in an elevator who hugged them after learning they were from D.C.

“They seem very, very enthusias-tic and hopeful about better relations with the United States,” Cheh said of the Cubans she encountered. “In general I found them to be a very pleasant people and very congenial.”

CUBA: UDC exchange plannedFrom Page 1

“She’s an amazing person to work with,” Hinton said. “She had her own vision. She stuck to that as a person.”

The community has taken notice too. Parent organization vice presi-dent Carla Ferris, whose daughter Mia Ferris-Artiga, 6, just finished kindergarten, said she has been con-sistently impressed with Docal’s fearlessness.

“I know that she looked at the school not just from an academic standpoint, but she very much looked at the school as a whole com-munity and [focused on] involving teachers, students and parents,” Fer-ris said. “I think that’s pretty amaz-ing and one of the things that made her such an excellent leader.”

Docal’s work also attracted the attention of President Barack Obama, who made a speech about the nation’s budget in the Powell Elementary cafeteria in March 2014. During his remarks, Obama said America should look to Powell as a model for elementary education.

“When I heard him say that, I almost fainted,” Docal said. Last November, Docal earned the 2014 D.C. Public Schools awards

for Principal of the Year and Excel-lence in Leadership. The honors earned her a call from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Docal said she’s thankful to have worked in D.C., where she believes education is a high priority in the

local government. “I feel super lucky to have such a great central office,” she said. “I think our budget is amaz-ing.”

Lisa Strzepek, an instructional coach at Powell who worked closely with Docal, credits her with estab-lishing programs that allow teachers to operate independently.

“Powell, thanks to her, is very poised and ready,” she said.

Though much has changed since Docal’s first day at Powell, with enrollment more than doubling from 200 students in 2009 to nearly 500 for the upcoming school year, Docal

said there’s more work to be done. The neighborhood is gentrifying, which presents challenges at the bilingual school. Sustainability is becoming a higher priority. But wherever Powell’s destiny lies, Docal will be providing support when she can.

“I want to make sure that the next person is set up for success,” Docal said. Former Center City Public Charter Schools principal O’Kiyyah Lyons-Lucas took over as Powell’s principal on June 29.

In addition to caring for her fam-ily, Docal will spend her time in Spain pursuing a doctorate degree in education and interviewing Spanish-speaking candidates for teaching positions in D.C.

Though many point to Docal’s efforts as remarkable, she sees it as simply fulfilling her duties. “It’s just what it’s supposed to be,” Docal said.

But co-workers like Strzepek say Docal’s work has indeed stood out. Strzepek came to work at Powell because she admired Docal’s advo-cacy of teachers and students alike.

“All of the things happening in the building are because Ms. Docal built it,” Strzepek said. “That is the greatest legacy.”

POWELL: Departing principal draws accoladesFrom Page 2

❝All of the things happening in the building are because Ms. Docal built it.❞— Instructional coach Lisa Strzepek

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