- Henderson and Gray Sketch Out Big Plans for DCPS
- Mayor Gray Pushes for Closing of DCPS Schools
- D.C. Chancellor Announces New 5-Year Education Plan, Warns of Closures
- Some D.C. Schools Closing, Mayor Gray Says
- After Sniping and Insults, Gray and Brown Deny Rift
- Gray Willing to Deal on Paying for Furlough Days
- Henderson: Cheating Probe 'Wrapping Up'
- ‘Ambitious’ Goals in D.C. Schools’ Five-Year Plan Put Focus on Teaching
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
April 18, 2012
Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson sketched out their new five-year plan Wednesday for a higher-achieving DCPS that graduates more students, shores up low-performing schools and boosts enrollment.
But the glossy brochure announcing the system’s new “Capital Commitment” left out a major objective of Henderson and Gray: dramatically shrinking the footprint of the 123-school system.
Under questioning, Gray and Henderson discussed plans for “right-sizing” the traditional school system for the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year. Gray made plain what has been widely acknowledged by Henderson and other city officials, which is that DCPS has too many buildings for its 45,000 students.
“We now have 220 buildings,” Gray said, apparently counting both public and public charter school campuses. “We are going to have to consolidate the number of schools in the District of Columbia.”
Henderson said she would begin a round of community discussions about possible closures to take place at the end of the 2012-13 school year. Only one school is scheduled to be shuttered at the end of the current year, River Terrace Elementary in Ward 7.
More to come on this and the new strategic plan.
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
April 18, 2012
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray pressed for school closings Wednesday as he and the D.C. Public Schools chief discussed cutting costs to find new revenue for ideas such as an extended school day.
Gray said he will make an announcement within the next few weeks on school closures, which have loomed since a January study commissioned by the mayor recommended that the city turn around or close about three dozen schools in poor neighborhoods.
"People have very nostalgic, emotional ties to schools in this city," said Gray, copping to "fond" memories of his own time in the school system. "But I think even more fondly of what we [need to do] right now."
Enrollment in DCPS appears to be stabilizing after four decades of steady decline. But the school system's 45,191-student body is still vastly below the 65,748 enrollment of 10 years ago, leaving many of the roughly 220 school buildings significantly underenrolled. At least 40 schools have 300 or fewer students.
"Just do the math on it -- it's not sustainable," Gray said. "We're going to have to consolidate."
The last round of school closings, undertaken by former Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and former Mayor Adrian Fenty, was not received well by many areas of the city, particularly Wards 5, 7 and 8, which bore the brunt of the closings. Rhee's decision to consolidate schools in Ward 5, mostly by creating K-8 campuses at elementary schools, was partially reversed by current Chancellor Kaya Henderson in March.
Henderson cautioned Wednesday that decisions about school closings would be in conjunction with a boundary study and closer examination of school feeder patterns.
Gray said he did not have a timeline for closings, but that "it's right in the middle of the radar screen" and "we will be back at you in a couple weeks to talk about the closing of schools."
Reducing these "fixed costs" would free up more cash for classrooms, Gray and Henderson said. The school system recently announced $10 million in grants for schools looking to innovate by extending the school day or school year, or other nontraditional means, noting that this would allow principals to test these ideas.
Gray said he supported a longer school day for the entire system, but both he and the chancellor noted that they were limited by funding.
"If that's where we're going, we'll have to recoup the spending from somewhere," Henderson said.
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
April 18, 2012
D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced a new five-year plan Wednesday that calls for higher-achieving public schools with longer days and better graduation rates, but she warned that paying for improvements will require closing some campuses.
The plan is Henderson’s clearest and most specific articulation of a long-range vision since replacing Michelle A. Rhee in October 2010. It is also the latest in a series of moves aimed at placing her own imprint on attempts to overhaul the historically low-performing system. In February, for example, she proposed that her office be given authority to open charter schools to raise academic achievement.
Henderson committed the city to a series of educational goals by 2017. They include raising citywide math and reading proficiency on standardized tests from the current 43 percent to 70 percent and lifting proficiency rates at the 40 lowest-performing schools by 40 percentage points. She also wants to expand enrollment and boost four-year graduation rates from 53 percent to 75 percent.
Perhaps most noteworthy in the plan is Henderson’s interest in extending the District’s school day, which generally runs from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. She said a new $10 million grant program would enable some schools to try a longer day on a pilot basis, emulating the practices of some of the most successful charter schools. She said the 2010 collective bargaining agreement with the Washington Teachers’ Union provides “flexibilities” that will allow experimentation with an extended day.
But Henderson also warned that any long-term improvement will be possible only though a dramatic shrinkage of the system’s footprint. About 47,000 students attend 123 schools, 45 of them with enrollment of less than 300. By contrast, Fairfax County operates 194 schools for 177,600 students, officials said.
Five-year plans are a staple of government agencies, and the D.C. school system has a year remaining on the last one, rolled out in 2008. Henderson said that much of the previous plan, developed under Rhee, focused on basic operations such as textbook delivery and timely payment of employees.
Speaking at a news conference with Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), Henderson said the objective now is to “really move aggressively and urgently around making the revolution happen in the classroom.”
Henderson said the school system had achieved about 90 to 95 percent of the 2008 plan. But a reading of the 79-page document reveals a more mixed picture.
While Rhee’s blueprint avoided specific numerical goals, the system has, as promised, expanded access to preschool and pre-kindergarten. It has also transformed its approach to evaluating and developing teachers, upgraded food service and renovated or rebuilt numerous decrepit buildings. Use of student data as a tool for crafting teaching strategies has also improved.
But much of the plan remains a set of aspirations rather than accomplishments. It promised that, by 2013, D.C. students would be “fully prepared for college and work” — a distant objective, considering current high school completion rates. The plan also vowed that persistently underperforming schools would be closed. More than two dozen schools were shuttered on Rhee’s watch, but officials attributed those closures to low enrollment.
Asked Wednesday how the new plan distinguishes her from Rhee, a mentor and friend with whom she agrees on most education matters, Henderson said it reflects a closer collaboration with parents, teachers and other stakeholders. “I feel like this is not about me. This about us,” she said. “One of the things we did differently was before we developed the plan we asked people what they wanted to see.”
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D) said he thought Henderson’s strategic vision was on target. “I think it’s bold,” he said, “and it shows exactly where we want to take this school system.”
At a council budget hearing after the news conference, Henderson repeated her warning about school closures.
“It would be a mistake if I did not take this opportunity to share with you my concerns for the future,” Henderson said. “If we are going to continue to make strategic investments that benefit our schools, we cannot continue to fund 123 schools for 47,000 students. The inefficiencies created by our small schools work to the detriment of our students.”
The cost of running lightly enrolled schools has forced unpopular moves, such as the proposed reduction in the number of school librarians at smaller schools.
“As costs continue to increase in future years, we will need to make additional cuts unless we work together to establish systems of public schools — both traditional and charter — which use our limited resources wisely, strategically and efficiently,” Henderson said.
Henderson and other D.C. officials have said in recent months that closures are inevitable, although any major round of closures would not come until the end of the 2012-13 school year. Henderson said that this spring she will initiate community discussions about the number of schools and feeder patterns that affect enrollment. The sessions will also consider a report by IFF, a Chicago-based consultant, that identified nearly three dozen schools that should be overhauled, closed or replaced by charter schools.
“We want to deal with the whole enchilada,” the chancellor said.
Also at the council hearing, Henderson addressed the mayor’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. She said that despite an increase in the per-student funding formula, probable reductions in federal aid will yield a 1 percent decrease in 2013 school spending, from $802 million to $795 million.
WJLA
By Sam Ford
April 18, 2012
Washington D.C. has an "unsustainable" number of schools and some will be closed, says D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray Tuesday.
Speaking at a news conference at the Wilson Building alongside D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, Gray said the city has too many schools and some of them are going to be closed. He said that the city is only averaging about 300 students per school.
"What we have is unsustainable, " Mayor Gray said. "When you put DCPS with public charter schools, you have 220 buildings. It's not sustainable."
The mayor said that compared to surrounding jurisdictions, including Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, D.C. has more schools and fewer students than each.
Chancellor Henderson says that D.C. Public Schools is doing a major review of school facilities and will present a list for closure by January 2013. There is no word as to which schools may be shuttered.
She said the school system would work with communities on what residents would like to see happen with the vacant buildings.
Opposition to the plan has already emerged. Dorothy Douglas, who represents D.C.'s Ward 7 on the State Board of Education, complained that areas like hers will be targeted for school closings.
The mayor called the news conference to tout plans the city has for improving student learning and test scores, spurred by a $10 million fund that would focus on the 40 lowest performing schools in the city.
Remedies could including longer school days or school years for individual schools. Principals of D.C.'s schools will compete for the funding.
The Washington Examiner
By Alan Blinder
April 18, 2012
A senior aide to D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray thinks Council Chairman Kwame Brown is “a do-nothing chairman.”
Brown called Gray’s spokesman “clueless.”
But the mayor says he has a rosy relationship with the head of the city’s legislative branch.
“The chair and I have worked together since we came to this council, and we’re going to continue do that,” Gray, a former council chairman himself, said on Wednesday. “We live in the same area of the city. We share some of the same values and goals and aspirations for our children [and] for the city.”
In a statement released through his spokeswoman, Brown agreed.
“Mayor Gray and I have a strong working relationship that has been established for years,” Brown said. “Even though sometimes we have differing opinions on a particular issue, at the end of the day the mayor and I are both deeply committed to serving the people of the District.”
Brown said that rumors throughout the Wilson Building of a rift between him and the mayor are inaccurate.
“Anyone who says that our relationship is contentious or strained is simply mistaken,” Brown said.
Gray also hinted that he has a closer relationship with Brown than has been disclosed publicly.
“He and I probably talk more than what you all realize,” Gray said. “We’ll continue to do that.”
As for Pedro Ribeiro, the Gray aide whom Brown dismissed as out-of-the-loop, well, he acknowledged Wednesday that Brown’s comment had drawn some support from an unlikely source.
“My wife would agree with the chairman,” Ribeiro told reporters. “She’ll probably vote for him.”
The Washington Examiner
By Alan Blinder
April 18, 2012
Less than 24 hours after the D.C. Council stripped his supplemental budget of a $20 million plan to repay District employees for forced furlough days, Mayor Vincent Gray signaled that he's open to a compromise with legislators.
"In this environment, you have to have conversations," Gray said at a news conference Wednesday. "Eventually, you find a solution that people can work with."
Gray's comments came after legislators unanimously voted Tuesday to approve only $15 million of the $77 million supplemental budget package Gray requested after the city learned it had collected more money than anticipated.
Paid to unpaid to paid?
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray wants to pay most city employees for four furlough days they were forced to take in 2011. The furlough days were already city holidays and became unpaid days:
-- Presidents Day
-- Emancipation Day
-- Memorial Day
-- Independence Day
Under the mayor's original proposal, the District would have spent about $20 million to pay most city employees for the four furlough days they were required to accept last year. Those furloughs, ordered as the city tried to plug a $188 million budget shortfall, changed four city holidays from paid to unpaid days.
"It came as a result of holidays," Gray said. "People worked the same number of days, as it turned out, so we had four holidays in which people were not paid for those holidays."SClBThat the city ultimately didn't need the money it saved by furloughing workers made the episode more troubling, Gray said.
"I think everybody ... really felt badly we had to ask people to take four furlough days," Gray said. "I felt even more badly about it in the aftermath when it turned out that we had a surplus."SClBAlthough some legislators have criticized it as a poor use of public dollars, Gray defended his plan, cheered by unions, for furlough repayments instead of tax cuts or increased welfare spending.
"We know that money came directly back from people who otherwise would have earned it," said Gray, who added that he would not accept any additional compensation even though he was among the city's furloughed employees.
Despite Tuesday's vote, the outlines of a compromise plan have begun to emerge.
Council Chairman Kwame Brown told reporters this week he was open to a proposal that would pay public employees for two furlough days.
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
April 18, 2012
Chancellor Kaya Henderson said Wednesday morning that the D.C. Inspector General’s inquiry into suspected cheating on the DC CAS during the Michelle Rhee era — which Henderson requested more than a year ago after a USA Today investigation — is close to completion.
Speaking at Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s regular news briefing, Henderson said she met with Inspector General Charles Willoughby about two weeks ago to discuss the status of the probe. She did not describe any findings but said they would be available soon.
“They indicated that they are wrapping up,” she said. “I expect we should see some results very soon.”
The U.S. Education Department has also been active in the investigation, sparked by a USA Today piece looking at high rates of answer sheet erasures at more than 100 D.C. public schools between 2008 and 2010. The District has hired a New York firm, Alvarez and Marsal, to look at possible testing irregularities on the 2011 DC CAS.
The Washington Times
By Tom Howell Jr.
April 18, 2012
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and public schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson outlined an ambitious five-year plan Wednesday to improve student performance, increase graduation rates and fund pilot programs that could lengthen the school day or academic year at specified schools in the District.
Mr. Gray said the strategic plan, titled “A Capital Commitment,” is designed to meet key goals as education continues to be a leading topic of discussion among constituents and is part of his “One City” agenda. The initiative is being launched while investigators continue to look into allegations of cheating on standardized tests in years past at certain schools and as talk of school closures begins to accelerate. It also arrives at the tail-end of the five-year plan started under former Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee comes to a close.
While the strategy from Ms. Rhee focused on quality personnel and wholesale changes in how the school system operates, Ms. Henderson feels educators now can focus on their teaching techniques.
“I think we’re finally at a point where we can really ramp up what’s happening in our classrooms,” she said at a news briefing on Wednesday.
The plan is organized into five goals — increase citywide proficiency in reading and math to 70 percent, improve the proficiency rates in the city’s 40 lowest-performing schools by 40 percentage points, increase the high school graduation rate from 52 percent to 75 percent, increase overall enrollment in traditional public schools, and make sure 90 percent of students like the school they attend.
“I know it’s a little crazy,” Ms. Henderson joked about the last item, but she stressed that young people perform best when they are enthusiastic about what they are doing.
Ms. Henderson said the goals “are ambitious, but we know that we have to be aggressive and urgent if we’re going to ensure that our young people are ready for college, career and life.”
The plan is complemented by “Proving What’s Possible,” a $10 million grant program designed to fund innovative endeavors at city schools.
Mr. Gray said some schools may implement a pilot program that lengthens the school day or year. It is time, he said, for the city to reconsider the “agrarian concept” of an academic calendar that runs from September to the start of summer.
“I know we have a couple of urban farms in the city, but actually it is not a huge part of our economy at this stage,” Mr. Gray quipped. “So we’re starting to rethink concepts that have become truisms, [and] that really need to be rethought, revisited and changed in many instances.”
Mr. Gray said a gradual approach is more responsible than systemwide changes to the public schools’ schedule.
“I think you have to demonstrate there is evidence that this works,” Mr. Gray said.
The D.C. Public Schools system is embarking on the multipronged mission while it waits for the city’s Office of the Inspector General to weigh in on accusations that some schools enjoyed dramatic improvements in their test scores during Ms. Rhee’s tenure through a suspicious number of erasures that turned wrong answers into correct ones.
Ms. Henderson said she spoke with the inspector general recently and it appears the office is “wrapping up their investigation.”
“This I.G. does these things at the I.G.’s pace,” Mr. Gray said, responding to a question about why the inquiry has taken so long.
Officials also indicated that school closures are on the horizon. Despite nostalgia for the neighborhood buildings, Mr. Gray said the city uses 220 buildings for instruction of 76,000 students in traditional public schools and charter schools while nearby jurisdictions serve many more students in far fewer schools.
“Just do the math on that,” Mr. Gray said. “It’s unsustainable.”
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