- D.C. Prep's Julia King selected as D.C.'s 2013 Teacher of the Year [DC Prep PCS mentioned]
- Washington Latin Public Charter School preps for move [Washington Latin, DC Bilingual and Washington Yu Ying PCS mentioned]
- 7 districts to split $25M in education funds designed to foster district-charter collaboration
- Concerns Fester over Proposed Schools Closings
- D.C. may restore ombudsman to field parents complaints, concerns about schools
- Forgotten-child episode should not derail Petties settlement, judge says
D.C. Prep's Julia King selected as D.C.'s 2013 Teacher of the Year [DC Prep PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
December 6, 2012
Yesterday came word that a 7th grade math teacher and grade level lead at D.C. Prep's Edgewood Middle Campus has been picked by OSSE as the nation's capital's 2013 Teacher of the Year.
The award was open to all public school teachers of both the traditional and charter sector. Ms. King underwent an interview, classroom observation, and application process before being selected as the winner. She will represent her school and the city in events across the country related to educating our youth. Ms. King is now eligible to become the national Teacher of the Year Award.
Yesterday afternoon Ms. King was surprised by a visit to her school by Mayor Gray, State Superintendent of Education Hosanna Mahaley, and other education officials to announce the decision.
"I am deeply honored by this prestigious award," said a shocked King. "It's really an exciting time to be in education, and I am thrilled and humbled to represent our nation's capital - and DC Prep - as Teacher of the Year."
Ms. King's students have been recording high levels of academic achievement throughout her tenure at D.C. Prep. Winning awards is not new to this instructor. In 2010 she was given the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award through Teach for America where she started her career.
Commented Rick Cruz, D.C. Prep's new Chief Executive Officer, "The entire DC Prep community joins me in congratulating Julia King on this singular achievement."
Washington Latin Public Charter School preps for move [Washington Latin, DC Bilingual and Washington Yu Ying PCS mentioned]
The Washington Business Journal
By Michael Neibauer
December 5, 2012
Washington Latin Public Charter School has started prep work for its move next year to the former Rudolph Elementary School, at 5200 Second St. NW in Petworth. A permit was issued Tuesday for interior demolition at all levels of the school building. Washington Latin, which educates roughly 600 students in grades 5-12, was awarded a 25-year lease in July for the shuttered D.C. Public School building.
The charter has operated out of four locations since it opened in 2006: 3501 Massachusetts Ave. NW, 4715 16th St. NW, 4115 16th St. NW and 4501 16th St. NW.
The former Rudolph school will be modernized and renovated to include a new new library and gym. The new campus is expected to open in time for the 2013-2014 school year.
The Washington Post reported in July that Washington Latin won the lease over two other applicants — DC Bilingual and Washington Yu Ying.
Tuesday also was a big day for new elevators installed by Otis Elevator Co. Shop drawing permits were approved for new elevators (in most cases, the Otis brand Gen-2 L series with 3,500 pound capacity) at Catholic University, 440 First St. NW (purchased by First Potomac Realty Trust in 2011), the Hotel Monticello of Georgetown, the Heights on Georgia Avenue, and 2028 G St. NW (George Washington University).
New elevators get at least three reviews by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs — first the shop drawings, then the installation permit, and then the operation permit.
7 districts to split $25M in education funds designed to foster district-charter collaboration
The Associated Press
December 5, 2012
Seven school districts committed to working with charter schools to improve student achievement will split about $25 million in grants from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, officials announced Wednesday.
The funding is designed to deepen the collaborations among educators in Philadelphia; Boston; Denver; New Orleans; New York; Hartford, Conn.; and Spring Branch, Texas.
“These cities are particularly committed to advancing college-ready strategies in both district and charter schools,” said Vicki Phillips, education director for the foundation’s College Ready program in the U.S. “What we’re most excited about is the common ground that’s getting established.”
Charter schools, which are publicly funded but operate independently of school districts, have been a lightning rod in the debate over education reform. Supporters say they provide innovative and sometimes safer alternatives to traditional neighborhood schools. Opponents contend they drain resources from school districts without providing a better education.
The seven grant recipients are among 16 communities that entered into compacts designed to reduce tension between districts and charters. By signing the agreements, which entail sharing resources and best practices, districts received $100,000 and qualified for further funding.
Over the next few years, Hartford will get nearly $5 million and Denver about $4 million. The other districts will receive between $2.2 million and $3.7 million each.
Funds will go toward projects including universal enrollment systems, leadership training for aspiring principals and joint professional development for charter and district teachers.
Chris Gibbons, the CEO of Strive Prep Charter Network in Denver, said the compacts are formal recognitions “that resources of the public sector are available to all students ... (and that) the responsibility to educate all students well is the shared responsibility of an entire city.”
In Philadelphia, the compact includes collaboration with private and Catholic schools. Lori Shorr, the city’s chief education officer, said Philadelphia needs all types of high-achieving schools to reduce poverty, enhance public safety and attract economic development.
She also acknowledged that managing charter growth has been a contentious issue in the financially struggling district, where about 30 percent of the 207,000 students attend charters.
Shorr said some tension stems from “early animosities” about charters that have hardened and led to misunderstandings and misperceptions. The important thing, she said, is to “put adult foolishness aside” and focus on what’s best for students.
Spring Branch, a district that includes part of Houston and its suburbs, is slated to receive nearly $2.2 million. Superintendent Duncan Klussmann said a new partnership with two charter school operators is designed to spur innovation and a cultural change in the district, which is striving to double the number of students who obtain a degree or certificate in higher education.
“To do that, we have to have strong partnerships and collaboration,” Klussmann said.
Concerns Fester over Proposed Schools Closings
The Washington Informer
By Dorothy Rowley
December 5, 2012
Hundreds Attend Forum at Sousa Middle School
Despite District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor (DCPS) Kaya Henderson's intent to move forward on a proposal to shutter and consolidate some 20 schools, residents with a vested interest in both their communities and neighborhood schools are determined to keep buildings open.
Some have also expressed belief that rather than Henderson, it's the former chancellor who continues to lead the embattled school system. To that end, a cadre of parents whose children attended neighborhood elementary schools turned out in droves to protest the impending closures.
"It's very important that schools like Adelaide Davis Elementary remain open, otherwise our children would have too far to go to another school,"said Constance Woody, 77, a member of the Benning Road Civic Association. "It seems we have been targeted for too many school closings in Southeast. It's not fair," added Woody, who has lived in the Kenilworth neighborhood much of her life. She made her opinion known during a Ward 7 community meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at John M. Sousa Middle School on Ely Place, where a large contingent of parents, teachers and others perplexed over the path of the school system, gathered to voice their concerns.
Benjamin Thomas, 89, agreed with Woody, saying it's imperative that none of the schools be closed – in his neighborhood or in other parts of the city.
"... All we've gotten is a bunch of lies," he said. "When I first moved to this neighborhood [in Ward 7] over 50 years ago, Davis was so crowded they held classes in the parking lot. If they close Davis, the kids will have to cross Benning Road – which is one of the most dangerous [thoroughfares] in the city. Besides, Davis is located next to a public housing project, where the need for an elementary school is greater than any other location in D.C."
The standing-room only forum counted among the last of several convened over the past few days in wards across the city to address the proposed closings. Many of the schools were added to the list due to issues surrounding low-student achievement and under-enrollment. Henderson's staff will use the remainder of December to consider the public's feedback. Afterward, Mayor Vincent C. Gray, 70, and Henderson are expected to make their decision.
Most of the schools targeted for either closing or consolidation are in wards 5, 7 and 8. Currently, about 41 percent of District students attend charter schools – and, half of the students who live in Ward 7 are enrolled in a charter facility.
There's been a recommendation by the Chicago-based firm, Illinois Facilities Fund, that invests in charter schools, and which was commissioned last year to study the DCPS system, to merge the District's lower-performing schools with high-performing charters.
But another resident, Mary Jackson, 72, a Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioner, had biting words about Henderson's leadership.
"With these school closings, she's got too many white folks telling her what to do," Jackson said. "[Former Chancellor] Michelle Rhee is still here, you might as well say that Rhee is running the schools, and that all of these white people who showed up [at the meeting], are here to make sure Rhee's will is carried out."
Meanwhile, Henderson, 42, said she knew assuming the chancellor's post meant she would have to "make some tough decisions," and that she signed on, unafraid to withstand the heat of her mandates.
Henderson said however, that the purpose of the public meetings were to determine whether changes were needed in order to strengthen the proposal; how to make the closings and consolidations go as smoothly as possible; and how to best utilize schools targeted for shuttering.
Henderson also admitted that money spent four years ago to close schools wasn't that effective. During that process, she said DCPS lost 3,000 students, but went on to stabilize enrollment the following year.
"We spent $40 million dollars the last time we closed schools and we didn't save any money . . . that really didn't go anywhere," Henderson said. "[According to] the auditor' report, half of that money [was] attributed to the reduction of the value of the schools [that were closed]. But "these are aggregate estimates, not real dollars that actually went out the door."
Eboni-Rose Thompson spoke on behalf of residents from wards 5, 7 and 8, who attended the meetings. Although she noted that the chancellor's plan would create conflict among neighborhood schools, Thompson said that the real issue boils down to ensuring quality schools in all quadrants of the city.
She said communities like Ward 7 want to fully utilize their school buildings – including making Ron Brown Middle School a more competitive facility by turning it into a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics facility – in order to attract more in-bound families.
"Henderson's proposal doesn't speak on what will make the schools slated for closing, better," Thompson said. "We want a moratorium on the closings," she said to a resounding round of applause.
"Just because DCPS closes schools doesn't mean more schools will open and that problems with under-enrollment won't continue."
D.C. may restore ombudsman to field parents complaints, concerns about schools
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
December 5, 2012
D.C. parents may soon be able to take their complaints and concerns about city education to an independent ombudsman charged with helping them navigate D.C. public schools and public charter schools.
The ombudsman position was created five years ago during the mayoral takeover of schools to ensure that, despite losing an elected school board, parents would have a voice, a way to vent and a central clearinghouse to take problems in need of investigation and resolution.
In 2007, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty appointed the District’s first and only official ombudsman, Tonya Vidal Kinlow. He called her “the city’s face of customer service for education.” To parents’ frustration, that face has since disappeared: Kinlow resigned in 2008 and the ombudsman’s office closed a few months later.
It’s technically still housed within the office of the deputy mayor for education, but the executive branch hasn’t put forth a nomination to fill the job or a budget to fund it.
The D.C. Council on a voice vote Tuesday tentatively approved a measure that would move the ombudsman to the State Board of Education, presumably giving that elected body the opportunity to nominate candidates to fill the job.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said the bill comes in response to parents and activists who sounded a consistent, clear call to resurrect the ombudsman position. The council will hold a final vote Dec. 18, its last meeting of 2012.
Mendelson and his colleagues supported the bill despite opposition from Mayor Vincent Gray (D), who wrote in a letter to council members that the position should remain in the executive branch and be reestablished only when there is enough money to do so.
The bill’s fiscal impact statement estimates appropriations of $340,000 to get the ombudsman’s office up and running, money that can better be used in classrooms, Gray wrote.
“While there have been a few instances where the services of an ombudsman may have been engaged over the past several years, there has not been enough demand to warrant reestablishment of an entire office.”
The mayor supported other sections of the bill, which give the State Board of Education autonomy to hire its own staff and develop its own budget. Previously, the state board was housed within the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and did not control its own staff and spending.
Here is the bill’s text and its accompanying report and fiscal impact statement.
Forgotten-child episode should not derail Petties settlement, judge says
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
December 5, 2012
An episode last week in which a 4-year-old boy was left forgotten aboard a school bus for seven hours should not interfere with the upcoming settlement of a long-running class-action suit involving transportation of D.C. special-education students, a federal judge indicated during a status hearing Wednesday.
A city investigation of the episode led to the firing of two employees who had failed to observe several safety procedures.
Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia appeared satisfied Wednesday that the incident was an isolated instance of employee misconduct, not a symptom of broad mismanagement.
“I don’t think any of us want this incident to be a reason why this case can’t be settled after 17 years,” Friedman said.
The class-action suit was brought in 1995 by D.C. parents who charged that the city had failed to provide reliable transportation for more than 3,000 students with disabilities.
The long-running suit, Petties v. District of Columbia, led to federal oversight of the city’s special-education school buses until November, when Friedman agreed that the city had demonstrated that it can provide safe and consistent service.
The suit is scheduled to be dismissed after a Dec. 19 fairness hearing meant to give parents a chance to weigh in on the District’s performance.
The forgotten-child episode led lawyers for the Petties plaintiffs to call for an independent investigation of the incident. They retreated from that position Wednesday and asked instead to meet with District officials.
“We still do have some further questions before we’re confident that the District has done everything it can to make sure children in its custody are safe,” said plaintiffs’ lawyer Steven Ney.
Ellen Efros, a lawyer representing the District, agreed to a meeting. But she said city officials had responded rapidly and decisively to a problem that stemmed from the bad judgment of two people.
“If people don’t do what they’re supposed to do, we can’t control for that,” she said, “unless we replace everybody with robots.” Efros said the U.S. attorney’s office is looking into whether the two fired employees should be criminally charged.
Friedman agreed that no one should expect perfection from a bureaucracy. The standard for dismissing Petties, he said, is a high level of confidence — among lawyers representing affected families and among the families themselves — that the District can manage its own system responsibly without court involvement.
“The confidence level is much higher than it used to be,” he said.
Friedman said he expects the Petties fairness hearing to go forward as planned Dec. 19.