Photo by dullshick

Bill Turque reports that on Wednesday, District officials will cut the ribbon on the new $102 million H.D. Woodson Senior High School in Ward 7, and bid adieu to the campus Turque writes had “the look and feel of a penal institution rather than a high school.”

Renovating Woodson is part of a $1.8 billion reconstruction and modernization of the D.C. public schools system to provide safer, more supportive classroom environments for students in the District.

Turque makes sure to point out that a beautiful building doesn’t necessarily translate to higher academic achievement.

While Principal Thomas Whittle is excited about the renovation and hopeful for the future of his students, he did express concern that the new campus could prove an attractive target for neighborhood criminals. “The District has invested a lot of money in this school but very little in the security of it,” he said.