- D.C. public charter schools enable all students to succeed
- Northeast Washington Charter School Staff, Parents Brace for Fight, Oppose Plan by Charter School Board to Close Potomac Prep [Potomac Prep PCS and Maya Angelou PCS mentioned]
- Youth Display Knowledge of Robotics: Friendship Public Charter Hosts LEGO Tournament [Friendship PCS mentioned]
D.C. public charter schools enable all students to succeed
The Washington Post
Letter to the Editor - Ramona Edelin
December 3, 2014
Jay Mathews, a seasoned columnist, made a misstep in his Nov. 24 Education column on the District’s public charter schools [“Questioning the racial balance at some high-scoring D.C. charters”].
While a few D.C. public charter schools, which educate 44 percent of District public school students, do enroll a higher share of white students, this also is true of many schools run by D.C. Public Schools. These schools are largely in more affluent neighborhoods where larger numbers of white families reside. Charter schools, as schools of choice, draw students from all wards of the city. The attraction for more racially diverse families is the autonomously designated focus of their curricula and instruction, their faculty and leadership and their vision for education.
District public charter schools educate a higher share of economically disadvantaged students than traditional public schools. And, 78 percent of D.C. charter students are African American compared with 68 percent in DCPS; 12 percent of DCPS students are white, compared with 5 percent in public charter schools.
An injustice in the system is that the District is short nearly 40,000 high-quality public education seats, according to a study. Despite this, charters’ strong academic performance is unmistakable. It would be productive to ask how public charter schools are succeeding with all student populations.
Ramona H. Edelin, Washington
The writer is executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools.
Northeast Washington Charter School Staff, Parents Brace for Fight, Oppose Plan by Charter School Board to Close Potomac Prep [Potomac Prep PCS and Maya Angelou PCS mentioned]
The Washington Informer
Avis Thomas-Lester
December 3, 2014
The principal, staff, parents and students of Potomac Preparatory Charter School in Northeast have a message for the D.C. Public Charter School Board: Please do not close this school.
The stakeholders are gearing up to fight a decision made by the charter board at its Nov. 17 charter review meeting to initiate revocation of the Ward 5 school's charter. At the meeting, board members spotlighted problems that have plagued Potomac Prep for the last decade. The board is scheduled to have a meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at the school to hear testimony on the issue.
Potomac Prep Principal Marian White-Hood and Nicholette Smith-Bligen, chair of the board of trustees, said the decision was made to revoke the charter without a visit to the school and without the school's leadership having an opportunity to point out improvements made this year under a new school administration. Members of the charter board visited the school in the aftermath of the decision. Potomac Prep, formerly called Potomac Lighthouse Charter School, was previously operated by Lighthouse Academies, a national charter management organization which was awarded a charter to open in 2005. The school is currently being managed by a D.C.-based company that handles budget, finance, human resources and student information and data systems. "Potomac Prep is a different school than it was when the doors opened 10 years ago under Potomac Lighthouse Academies. It is a different school than it was last year," said Smith-Bligen. "We do not believe Potomac's charter should be revoked without consideration to our school's current performance and demonstrated ability to [improve] student achievement in the years to come."
School officials and parents want the charter board to allow the school to continue to operate.
White-Hood, an award-winning principal in Prince George's County for years who most recently worked as chief academic officer for the Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools in the District, has a track record for helping children reach their highest heights. Her many accolades include the Washington Post Distinguished Leadership Award for principals, the Maryland State Principal of the Year Award and the $25,000 Milken Family Educator Award.
As principal of Kettering Middle School, then a U.S. Dept. of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, and Ernest Just Middle School, where she was chosen by the community's leadership to serve as the inaugural head of school, she took students on college trips to Atlanta, Raleigh and Boston, urged parents to visit their children's schools and held quarterly programs to recognize everything from straight As for scholars to improvements for academically-challenged students.
White-Hood said she believes the board has tagged the school to close based on failures of the past. She's confident that her staff, along with the current group of parents, will continue to help students improve academically.
When she took over as principal on July 1, she implemented some of the strategies that had worked in Prince George's. She conducted a national search and brought in a number of new teachers. Parents who had not visited the school were invited in for Muffins for Moms and Donuts for Dads programs. Once there, she and her staff engaged them about the importance of being involved with their children's education by joining the PTA and checking homework every day. She established an advisory board made up of parents and brought on a parent engagement coordinator.
She started a Student Government Association and her trademark Gentlemen's Association and Rose Court to help foster pride in academic achievement in boys and girls, respectively.
Her goal was for 80 percent of the parents of her students to visit twice before the school year ends. She's already met that goal and the school year is not even half over. She's got attendance sheets with names and signatures to prove it.
Test scores are up. Suspensions are down.
Larry Lewis, whose daughter, Candice Mason, 13, is an eighth-grade honor student at Potomac, said he was skeptical that WhiteHood could improve the once-failing school. Candice is among the 85 percent of students who are bused in each day.
"I met with her over the summer when she first came and she talked about what was needed in the school. We went over her policies and procedures," he said.
Melody Giles, the parent engagement coordinator and mother of four students, said children are now thriving at the school.
"I plan to speak at the hearing to tell them that … the children feel more comfortable learning now," she said. "They have textbooks, science experiments, computer lab and drama. They didn't have any of those amenities last year."
Several said they plan to present what they hope will be compelling reasons to keep the school open at the Dec. 10 meeting. If the process ends negatively, Potomac Prep would lose its charter effective in June 2015 and be forced to close, officials said. Board members could not be reached for comment.
White-Hood said her team has only just begun.
"When I got here, there were 260 students. Now we have 425 and for the first time, we have a wait list," White-Hood said. "Some parents who left have brought their children back. We have a new board of directors with people who have national board experience. And although we had a horrible financial past, our finances are doing well now.
"All we need is time for the changes we've made to work," she said. "The board is on board. The teachers and staff are on board. The parents are on board and most importantly, the students are doing better. It would be devastating for them to lose their school."
Youth Display Knowledge of Robotics: Friendship Public Charter Hosts LEGO Tournament [Friendship PCS mentioned]
The Washington Informer
D. Kevin McNeir
December 3, 2014
Twenty-first century classrooms bear little resemblance to the ones that challenged Baby Boomers almost 40 years ago.
Fundamental skills like reading, writing and arithmetic must be mastered at an earlier age in order to make room for science, technology and engineering – opening the door to all kinds of new and often lucrative careers.
“I remember participating in my first LEGO League Tournament when I was a fifth grader and it really got me interested in the world of engineering and robotics,” said Joseph Adams, a 10th grader at Friendship Tech Prep in Southeast.
Joseph served as a student ambassador along with 20 other youth at the regional qualifying tournament for the FIRST LEGO League [FLL] held at Friendship Collegiate Academy in Northeast on Saturday, Nov. 22.
The event, sponsored by FLL World Class Learning Unleashed in collaboration with Friendship Public Charter School and several others, served as a prime example of how schools can expose students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM], preparing youth, particularly minorities, for 21st century college courses and careers of the future.
“I’ve remained in the STEM curriculum since elementary school and it’s helped me to become a well-rounded student,” said Joseph, 15. “I’m looking at studying astronomy, computer engineering or cyber security when I get to college.”
The tournament brought together 20 teams in grades four through eight from across the District and Virginia – each participating in head-to-head competition in skills, or missions, that included robot programming, robot design, core value challenge (or teamwork) and overall project design. Friendship Collegiate Academy served as the only D.C. location this year for the tournament and entered four teams from its several campuses: Chamberlain, Blow Pierce, Woodridge and Tech Prep.
“The first and second place winners go on to the state championship held at James Madison University on December 6 and 7,” said Cherice Greene, a judge advisor and the STEM coordinator for Friendship Collegiate Academy.
“No one stepped forward to sponsor the qualifying round in this area and we knew that it was too important to ignore – minority students must continue to be encouraged in Information Technology [IT] and engineering if they’re going to be ready to compete in the job market when they finish college,” said Greene, 38, a resident of Bowie, Maryland.
About 150 children, parents and educators filled the school’s gymnasium where the competition took place. One teacher said it’s never too soon to expose youth to STEM-related activities.
“I facilitate courses in IT, computer networking, engineering and design and we have about 150 children in various classes whose imaginations are unparalleled,” said Kathryn Procope, Friendship Collegiate Academy’s director for IT and engineering.
“When children see the kinds of options that are available, they learn quickly – that’s what these robotics tournaments are all about – providing new ways of learning and helping them develop new skills,” said Procope, 60, who lives in Bowie, Maryland.
One instructor from Friendship Tech Prep said preparing his team for the competition showed him the resiliency of his students.
“After we heard about the competition, we decided to assemble a team – that meant I had to give my students a crash course in how to program their robots and surprisingly they caught on pretty quickly,” said Joshua Brown, who lives in Northwest.
“We only had about three weeks to prepare but I’m very proud of my students. They learned the software so that they could get their robot ready for action and they worked well together,” said Brown, 24, who entered the teaching field this year.
The youth making up Brown’s three-member team, all residents of Southeast and sixth graders, said they hoped to win and move on to the state championship.
“I think we did pretty good for our first time competing and it was so much fun that I’d like to continue to learn more about robotics and STEM courses,” said Kevon Gordon, 11. “I still want to be a professional football player when I grow up, but if that doesn’t work out I can always become a mechanical engineer.”
One teammate agreed that he enjoyed the experience.
“We’ve learned things that were new and fun but I have to admit that the programming part was hard at first,” said Deontae Howard, 12. “During the competition I felt the pressure but then I realized that I was part of a team and that we had come prepared. If I continue with my education, perhaps I can become a computer technologist. But my real dream is to become a player in the NBA.”
Mykel Davis, the third member of the team, said he likes sports too but believes that computer design will be his future career.
“My favorite subjects are math, reading and science and I’m doing well in school too,” said Mykel, 12. “This competition was hard and it was different from playing a game like football or basketball. You had to really do your homework prior to the competition and get your robot prepared. But we did it.”