- Gray nominates two new candidates for D.C. Public Charter School Board [Paul Public Charter School and Community Academy Public Charter School mentioned]
- D.C. Council votes to increase funding for summer school
- D.C. summer school expanded in passage of $241m supplemental budget
- Students Create Advocacy Archives: Cesar Chavez Seniors Explore DC's “Political Blessing/Curse” [Cesar Chavez PCS mentioned]
Gray nominates two new candidates for D.C. Public Charter School Board [Paul Public Charter School and Community Academy Public Charter School mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
May 7, 2013
Mayor Vincent C. Gray has nominated two candidates to fill vacancies on the D.C. Public Charter School Board, which is responsible for authorizing new charter schools and closing poor performers. The nominees are former charter school leader Barbara B. Nophlin and retired Army colonel Herb Tillery, who now oversees a college scholarship program. The mayor also nominated current board member Sara Mead, a policy analyst with particular expertise in early childhood education, for reappointment.
All three will have to be confirmed by the D.C. Council. Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro said the mayor solicited input from charter board leaders to identify candidates “with a wide range of experience that can bring different things to the table.”
A spokeswoman for the D.C. Charter School Board declined to comment. The seven-member charter board has been operating with six members since William Marshall stepped down in 2011. Nophlin would fill that seat, serving out a term that expires in February 2015, according to aletter the mayor sent to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) last month. Nophlin retired in 2009 as head of Paul Public Charter School in Brightwood. Previously, she had worked as an administrator in the old State Education Office and as a principal both at Community Academy Public Charter School and at the traditional school system’s Amidon Elementary School.
Tillery would replace outgoing board member Brian Jones, serving a term that expires in February 2017. Since retiring from the Army in 1997, Tillery served as a D.C. Public Schools administrator and as deputy mayor of operations in the Anthony Williams administration, among other jobs. Now Tillery runs the D.C. office of the College Success Foundation, which administers theD.C. Achievers scholarship program. (The chairman and chief executive of The Washington Post Co., Donald E. Graham, serves on the foundation’s board of directors.) The council’s education committee is finalizing questions for the nominees and will schedule a hearing this week or the next, a spokesman for committee Chairman David A. Catania (I-At Large) said.
The Washington Post
By Tim Craig
May 7, 2013
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to increase funding for summer school and to continue teaching as many city students as possible over the summer. As part of $100 million in new spending, the 13-member body unanimously agreed to allocate an additional $4 million for summer school, slated to begin in June. The money, which will be divided between traditional public and charter schools, was directed away from Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s plan to spend more money on affordable housing. “I must say, as a father of three children, if a child does nothing from June to September, they lose a lot, and it would be helpful if as many children as possible are in summer school,” said council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), chairman of the finance and revenue committee.
Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chairman of the education committee, fought for the extra $4 million after The Washington Post reported last month that D.C. public schools would scale back summer classes this year. Because of funding constraints, Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson fashioned a program that would serve only about 2,700 students in grades K through 8 on an invitation-only basis. City educators would target students who needed help with reading but were not so far behind that the increased attention over the summer would be unlikely to result in dramatic gains. Catania and other council members blasted that idea, saying summer school should be serving at least 10,000 students.About 3,750 students were enrolled in summer school last year.
“Sixty percent of our young people cannot read and approximately 60 percent of our young people can’t add, subtract and divide, and yet we have a summer school system that allows only some of our young people, by invitation, to attend?” asked council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At large), referring to third-grade reading and math comprehension results. “That just cannot be.” The council also approved an “emergency” declaration stating that all students who need extra instruction should be able to enroll in summer school.
To pay for the additional summer school slots, the council scaled back Gray’s proposal to spend an additional $51 million on affordable housing by $4 million. Catania argued that the council would replenish those funds at a later date. But Pedro Ribeiro, a Gray spokesman, questioned the reallocation of money. “We obviously support the intent of the legislation, which is to have as many children as possible in summer school,” Ribeiro said. “However, taking money from affordable housing is not the right way to be doing it.”
For weeks, Gray has said that he would make affordable housing the centerpiece of his plan to spend a projected $190 million surplus in this year’s fiscal budget. The added revenue is in addition to a $417 million surplus from the fiscal 2012 budget. In all, Gray (D) sent about $100 million in new spending to the council, including $24.2 million for employee pay raises. Council members approved most of Gray’s proposal, but only after an intense debate about whether they should be doing even more to share the city’s wealth with residents. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) proposed spending an additional $50 million, including $16 million on youth employment and $10 million for programs run through the Office on Aging. Last week, about 300 senior citizens packed the John A. Wilson Building, saying they needed more help to pay for food, transportation and other basic needs.
“We ought to have a heart and vote for this,” Barry said. “Every one of these [budget items] affects people. Not machinery, people, so let’s vote and help a lot of people.” But Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and several council members strongly objected, noting that Barry would pay for it by taking money from the city’s reserve funds. “The path being proposed is exactly the path that led D.C. into bankruptcy,” said council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), a reference to the city’s financial challenges in the 1990s. Mendelson and Evans also doubted that the proposed recipients of Barry’s spending, including the Office on Aging, could spend all the additional money before the fiscal year ends Oct. 1.
Barry countered that Evans would rather give extra tax dollars “to Wall Street” than use it to help needy residents “at home,” a reference to efforts to boost the city’s bond rating.
“I find that to be an offensive comment,” Evans responded. “That is the truth,” Barry shot back.
“What I am trying to do is be fiscally responsible,” Evans said. “And as [former council chairwoman] Linda Cropp used to say, ‘It takes members to be fiscally responsible so others can be fiscally irresponsible.’ ” In the end, all members except Barry, Orange and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) voted against Barry’s proposal. Orange predicted that senior citizens will remember the vote on Election Day. “Seniors are a reliable voting bloc, and they expected [the council] to vote in their favor,” Orange said. “There is a price to be a paid for that.”
The Washington Examiner
By Alan Blinder
May 7, 2013
The D.C. Council backed a $241 million supplemental budget on Tuesday, opening up thousands of additional seats in summer school and funneling millions of dollars into housing initiatives. Lawmakers gave swift approval to the proposal from Mayor Vincent Gray, who submitted the supplemental package in late March, though they sought to put their own imprint on the measure during a rancorous session muddled with handwritten amendments and procedural fights. At-large Councilman David Catania, who chairs the committee with oversight of education issues, secured unanimous backing for a $4 million infusion to enlarge the city's summer school program after officials said it would be by invitation this year because of budget constraints.
"We're going to have to do a much better job going forward of budgeting for summer school," said Catania. "We have our work cut out for us as we look at this budget."
Catania said that the city's initial budget would have allowed 2,700 students to enroll in summer classes, far short of the 10,000 that officials say could benefit.
Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry said he was "appalled" that the city had not budgeted for full summer offerings, and he said the extra spending would offer long-term benefits to the District. "It's a good solution in the interim," said Barry, who saw lawmakers later defeat his own plan for $50 million in spending. "Either you pay now or you pay later."
To pay for the expansion, lawmakers temporarily trimmed the budget of the Housing Production Trust Fund, which still received an immediate $48 million boost with Tuesday's vote.
That money will be reimbursed later using excess revenues tied to parking as Gray seeks to make good on his vow to spend $100 million on affordable housing this year.
Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser warned her colleagues against developing a habit of raiding housing accounts. "We'll all have to resist the temptation," Bowser said. "There are many competing and worthwhile issues, but if we are to attack the affordable housing problem, we all have to commit to it." Lawmakers also supported spending $495,000 on a truancy study; about $10 million to forgive a debt the University of the District of Columbia owed the city; and $10.5 million for adult and youth programs within the D.C. Department of Employment Services.
Although Gray and lawmakers spent millions, they did not use the entirety of the windfall that gave the District extra cash, leaving about $96 million available for next year.
Tuesday's supplemental budget was essentially a warm-up for a major vote later this month on a $10 billion spending plan for 2014.
Lawmakers will hold a first vote on that budget on May 22, though they will have to stage a second vote for it to pass.
Students Create Advocacy Archives: Cesar Chavez Seniors Explore DC's “Political Blessing/Curse” [Cesar Chavez PCS mentioned]
Hill Rag
By Virginia Avniel Spatz
May 6, 2013
People who want to change the world flock to Washington, DC. Marches and rallies regularly fill our streets, while advocacy organizations locate permanently in the DC area. The District faces its own challenges addressed by a range of individuals and groups. All this makes DC an active classroom of how people can work together to increase social justice. Some local high school students are using lessons from that living classroom to create a public resource on how change happens.
Seniors at Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy recently interviewed some two dozen activists about their work. They heard stories about interactions with every branch of government. They listened for challenges and pitfalls as well as successes. They learned about change happening in education, housing, immigration, labor, peace, and other areas. They inquired into the passion behind each interviewee’s choice of field. The resulting oral histories will be available to the public through a website developed by the students.
Along the way, the students practiced interviewing, filming, editing, website production, and project management skills. The project is supported by a collaboration with the Tiger Woods Learning Center and a $3,000 grant from the Washington Humanities Council. It is the brainchild of teacher Ayo Magwood who worked with fellow teacher Krista Fantin to revamp Chavez's DC history curriculum.
DC's Blessing and Curse
“When we first reviewed the DC history curriculum, it put us to sleep,” Magwood reports or her work with Fantin. “So we focused on the mission of Cesar Chavez, which is public policy, and we took a few liberties, developed some themes.” The revamped lessons focused on social history. “We looked at why this city has so many black residents, why it's so polarized, why there's no commuter tax,” Magwood continues. “But after the first year,” with the redrafted curriculum, “we realized that the kids felt victimized.” So the teachers did some editing to highlight empowerment, an integral part of the school's mission.
“The lack of political power in DC has been a blessing and a curse, because it has created a real focus on organizing....I wanted students to see that people weren't just sitting around being exploited,” says Magwood. Active learning is essential, she says, and “it's even better if students can do their own primary research....So, I decided: We're going to learn directly from the experts.”
Lesson for Organizing and for Life
Kristi Matthews, an organizer who is part of the Fair Budget Coalition, told her interviewers how the Coalition approaches different branches of government and why. “With the City Council, we do visits and we've been able to get our point across, to work things out,” she related. “With the mayor, though...he's not responding, so we do public actions.”
“It was interesting how they approached one group one way, but were more aggressive in another situation,” senior Euinik Jones said after the interview. “I learned that adapting is important. Period. But also that it's an important organizing strategy.”
Many lessons of the project were quite general: “success takes planning,” e.g. Many were more personal: “My mother always told me I was like her and work well under pressure,” said Kevin Jamison, for example. “I didn't see it 'til I had this experience.” The project even prompted some substantial changes in life direction: “I thought I'd be a mechanic, because I like cars,” said Greg Gilbert. “But when I started meeting these people and seeing what they're doing, they really changed what I thought. I didn't even know Political Science was a field of study, that there was a name for my interest. But now that's what I'm planning to study.”
Lights Going Off
Curtis Mozie, author of Beyond the Yellow Tape, participated in the project to help youth “avoid problems that were documented by me on tape...consequences of at-risk behavior.” David Haiman was happy to bring his experience with OneDC and Movement Matters to the project. “Students asked insightful questions and were listening very thoughtfully. I saw lights going off. Students stayed after the interview to ask me questions.” “It's important for young people – or adults frankly – to understand how change happens,” Haiman said. “Even if they don't do anything directly in organizing, if someone knocks on their door in a campaign, they'll have a better understanding.” But the project also inspired more immediate plans. Gilbert ponders what Matthews said about the importance of educating people about a problem. “We went to a rally at the Supreme Court a few days ago, and it's amazing – these tourists only see a little speck of our city. What if they took just one ride through Southeast or Southwest? One thing we learned is that sometimes you need people from outside to help....”
Gilbert's also considering what local residents need to know. “I didn't know Congress had all that power over us. I was really like, 'no, you're lying.' I never hear people talking about this, and if I'm just finding out now, how many in our community don't know?”
The Story from the Roots
“All schools should do this, get a sense of what's really going on in the community,” said Rasheeda Simmons. “I think people will want to change some things.” Mozie concurred, stressing the importance of “getting the story from the roots of community leaders,” and saying that the project website will promote “the great things that people...are doing to make this a great place to live.” Asked about common elements in the oral histories, student Angelo Daniels, Jr., suggested “opportunity, consistency, and perseverance.” Latrice Holloman said she learned the importance of envisioning steps toward a goal and having “a lot of patience... change might come way later... like with gay marriage.” “No one I met was trying to fix [a problem] for themselves,” Jamison reported. “When many people in the same situation get together, they can approach a problem together.”
Details on the oral history archive will be posted on ChavezSchools.org.
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