FOCUS DC News Wire 2/26/2014

 

 

Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) is seeking to shift nearly $100 million in school capital funds for the current fiscal year, a move that would accelerate renovations at some schools and delay expected work at others.

 

One of the biggest winners is Powell Elementary in Petworth, which would receive nearly $20 million for an addition and major renovation. Powell has seen impressive growth in both student achievement and enrollment in recent years, and while part of its building was modernized last year, the school has more children than it can hold.

 

I'm so grateful that all of Powell's students will very soon be learning in a healthy, productive environment, said Powell parent Martha Holley-Miers, adding that the increase demonstrates that the entire city is behind our powerful Powell community, and invested in the growth and successes we have seen here.

 

Other projects need more money than originally expected because the scope of work has expanded or because the District's post-recession economy has driven up construction costs, said Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro.

 

Stanton Elementary in Southeast, for example, would receive an extra $11.2 million this year to do more renovation than had been previously planned, including an addition to accommodate the growing number of students. Stanton, like Powell, has drawn attention for its improving culture, academic performance and enrollment.

 

Other schools to see significant increases include Hearst Elementary ($6 million), Janney Elementary ($2 million), Deal Middle ($2.9 million), Marie Reed Elementary ($3 million) and Roosevelt High ($14.8 million), all in Northwest; Stuart-Hobson on Capitol Hill ($2.5 million); and Plummer Elementary ($4.4 million), Kramer Middle ($11.7 million) and Ballou High ($3.5 million), all in Southeast.

 

The city would also spend an additional $2.5 million to improve special-education classrooms around the city. Gray detailed his request to shift the funds in a letter Tuesday to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D); the request must be approved by the council before it is final.

 

Where there are winners, there are also losers ” the money has to come from somewhere. For example, a partial renovation of Logan Circle's Garrison Elementary, expected to take place this summer, would be pushed back to summer 2015.

 

That reverses the D.C. Council's decision last spring to push Garrison's renovation forward after parents ” who mobilized to save the school from closure in 2012 ” mounted a campaign to press for modernization.

 

It's unfortunate that the council got people's hopes up, said Ribeiro, Gray's spokesman, who said the administration's aim was to restore Garrison's original position in the order of school modernizations.

 

Vanessa Bertelli, who has helped Garrison's advocacy efforts, said she was disappointed and surprised. I don't understand what the whole budget process is about if once the entire council has agreed on something, then it gets changed again, she said. I find that amazing.

 

Garrison has not been renovated since it was built in the 1960s and is showing its age; it also lacks an elevator and is not handicapped-accessible. The building was slated for a partial Phase 1 renovation this year, but parents have been advocating for a full modernization, arguing that Garrison is a high-need school in a fast-growing part of the city ” the kind of school that is most in need of full-scale remodeling, according to the Gray administration's facilities plan.

 

We agree everyone should be in a modern school, Ribeiro said. That being said, the District has x amount of money, x amount of schools, and there's a balancing act.

 

Other schools to see cuts include Garfield Elementary in Southeast, Amidon-Bowen Elementary in Southwest, Houston Elementary in Northeast and Payne Elementary on Capitol Hill.

 

Orr Elementary in Southeast and West Education Campus in Northwest had both been scheduled for Phase 1 renovations this year. But both have open-space floor plans and and it is more efficient to fully overhaul them to take a piecemeal approach, said Ribeiro. Construction for those schools is targeted for 2016 and 2017.

 

The largest chunk of funds came from the redevelopment of the Skyland Shopping Center. More than $26 million in capital funds originally allocated to Skyland were freed up after another funding source became available for that project, Ribeiro said.

 

A $6 million grant meant for D.C. International, a 6th-12th grade school that is a joint effort of several language-immersion charter schools, has also been stripped in the wake of an opinion by the city's attorney general that capital dollars cannot be granted to non-governmental entities. (Charter schools are nonprofits.)

 

 

D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced Tuesday that she will set aside $5 million in next year's budget to help city schools boost student satisfaction.

 

The move comes in response to pleas from parents, teachers and principals to invest in making schools places that children enjoy and are excited about, Henderson said in a call with reporters Tuesday.

 

I have two young men in the D.C. Public Schools system, and I want them to not only do well on their tests, I want them to thrive and I want them to love going to school, Henderson said. Everyone in every ward across the city wants the same thing for their students.

 

All of the District's 111 traditional city schools will be eligible to apply for funding, provided they lay out a strong plan for using it to make school a more enjoyable place. Grants will be based on enrollment, with schools receiving about $100 a student.

 

The school system does not yet know how much money it will be allotted for the 2014-15 school year. But making sure that children like going to school is one of Henderson's top three budget priorities, and she has set a goal that 90 percent of students will say they like school by 2017. We now have a clear idea of what we want to exist in our school system, and I'm stepping out on faith to say that we are making a big bet on student satisfaction, she said.

 

Last year, 78 percent of students said they liked their school, according to a survey that officials administered to more than 20,000 children in grades three and higher. Younger children were more enthusiastic than teenagers, according to the survey, which also found racial and geographical gaps in students' feelings.

 

For example, 74 percent of black students said they like their school, compared with 92 percent of white students. And 69 percent of students in Ward 8, east of the Anacostia River, said they liked their school, compared with 91 percent in Upper Northwest's Ward 3.

 

School system officials billed the $5 million student satisfaction initiative as an extension of Proving What's Possible, a $10 million grant program that gave money to 59 schools to experiment with an extended day, new technology and teacher training.

 

Henderson credited those grants with improving student achievement: Most of the schools that extended students' time in class saw better scores on standardized tests.

 

But while those grants were competitive grants, the student satisfaction money is available to all interested schools. And while the previous round gave schools a one-time infusion of cash, Henderson said she hopes the satisfaction money becomes part of the annual budget.

 

Soumya Bhat, education analyst for the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, said such sustainability is crucial.

 

While schools certainly can benefit from additional funds, it would be better to have a comprehensive plan for serving students beyond the classroom, with consistent funding, rather than a series of one-time special initiatives that may or may not be continued in future years, Bhat wrote in an e-mail.

 

Schools may use the money for whatever principals, teachers and parents agree would improve students' engagement, such as adding new after-school clubs and sports or establishing anti-bullying programs.

 

Patricia Pride, principal of Hardy Middle School in Northwest Washington, said that the new grant program is one of the best things to come across my desk. Hardy had already begun brainstorming new after-school programs, she said, and we were really wondering how we were going to fund it all.

 

Schools don't have a lot of time to create their plans: Applications are due next week, and awards will be announced the week of March 10.

 

 

Incumbent Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham and challenger Brianne Nadeau both stress the importance of improving neighborhood schools. But Graham points to the progress that's been made during his 16 years on the Council, while Nadeau has a list of innovations she'd like to see to make schools work better for both at-risk and higher-achieving students.

 

With only about 51% of DCPS students scoring proficient on standardized tests, Graham acknowledged that he's "as impatient as everybody else" about the pace of improvement over the last several years. But, he said, "We're getting there."

 

"I think we have an education strategy in terms of substance which is producing a lot of progress," he said. "Maybe it's not the best approach in every regard, but I think we're getting better schools."

 

He pointed to the renovation at Cardozo High School and other schools in the ward. "It's not just about buildings," he said, citing changes in staff and curriculum as well. But he characterized the old Cardozo as "a depressing place" and said that the newly refurbished building "affects the whole psychology of learning in that school" and is "a huge step forward."

 

He also mentioned progress at other Ward 1 schools, including Harriet Tubman, Garrison, and Bruce-Monroe elementary schools. And he cautioned against closing under-enrolled schools, predicting that they'll attract more students as they improve.

 

Graham called for re-establishing Adams Elementary School, now part of Oyster-Adams Bilingual Education Campus, as a neighborhood school, and said that a new middle school may be needed in Ward 3 to relieve overcrowding at Deal.

 

Graham didn't mention any specific policy ideas that would speed the pace of improvement in DC schools. Nadeau, on the other hand, suggested quite a few.

 

Nadeau, who has served as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Ward 1, called for increasing community engagement with schools and introducing "wrap-around services" for at-risk children, a term she defines on her website as including "healthcare, counseling, food pantries, [and] after school jobs for older children."

 

She said at-risk children would benefit from an extended school day and summer school, with "one-on-one mentoring time" possibly provided by community members and nonprofit organizations.

 

But, she said, "we also need to ensure that we're not forgetting about our higher achievers." Teachers can use technology, she said, to individualize instruction and ensure that each child in a classroom is learning at his own level.

 

Both Graham and Nadeau noted that Ward 1 has a highly diverse population. But its schools are largely minority and low-income, particularly at higher grade levels.

 

Nadeau said that based on what she's been hearing from parents, the key to attracting higher-income families to Ward 1 middle and high schools is ensuring "a rigorous academic course-load for their kids." So, she said, "at the same time that I talk a lot about providing wrap-around service to at-risk kids, we also need to ensure that we're offering AP, IB [International Baccalaureate], and honors courses."

 

Neither Nadeau nor Graham embraced the idea of encouraging diversity through legislation or a controlled choice assignment system. Nadeau said she thought the latter idea was "not proven," and that the focus should be on strengthening neighborhood schools.

 

Asked whether DC should encourage the expansion of high-performing charter school networks, which have a better track record of success with high-poverty students than DCPS, Nadeau said that the goal should instead be to replicate "what's working in those schools" within DCPS.

 

"What we need is to ensure that we have a good matter-of right education system," she said, "so that kids don't have to trust a lottery to get into those schools."

 

To view the interview segments in their entirety, click on the videos below. Graham's runs about 8 minutes and Nadeau's about 11 minutes.