- DC News in Brief: National Philharmonic to Teach Music at Charter School [William E. Doar Jr. PCS is mentioned]
- This Insider Heads Out
- DC to Train School Staff on Insulin After Sending Away Student with Diabetes
- Two-Alarm Fire Severely Damages Old DC School
DC News in Brief: National Philharmonic to Teach Music at Charter School [William E. Doar Jr. PCS is mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Terence McArdle
July 11, 2012
Beginning in the fall, the National Philharmonic will partner with William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts, 705 Edgewood St. NE, to provide music education at the school. Students will receive daily music instruction from the orchestra’s musicians and music teachers, including daily Suzuki-based violin instruction for all kindergarten through second-grade students. Music students in grades six through eight will have two-hour classes customized for their individual projects.
In addition to the orchestra, the school has partnered with Shakespeare Theatre and the Kirov Academy of Ballet to provide instruction in theater and dance. All of these services will be free to Doar school families. The school serves approximately 500 students.
This Insider Heads Out
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
July 11, 2012
This is my last post for D.C. Schools Insider. As some of you already know, I’ve accepted an assignment to help out with The Post’s presidential campaign coverage.
The schools beat was more than an interesting job; it was a privilege. That’s what made the decision to leave after four years so difficult. People sometimes ask me whether Michelle Rhee’s departure made the story less compelling. My view is that while the post-Rhee days may lack the drama 2007-10, there remains no more important story in the District than the fate of public education.
I see it as a book with the chapters barely half-written. Charter schools continue their growth, but can they lift their quality in a way that dramatically differentiates them from traditional public schools? DCPS, with many more buildings than it needs for its 46,000 students, faces another downsizing. Will it emerge smaller and more robust, or just smaller, leading to a public school enrollment that is majority charter? As the Gray Administration implodes in scandal, can Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson continue to drive the ambitious agenda she described in her five-year plan? Will D.C. Inspector General Charles Willoughby shine any meaningful light on what happened to D.C. test scores in the Rhee era?
DCPS teachers are now among the best paid and most closely evaluated in the country. But does it mean that the system is keeping its best instructors? What do students have to show for all the new rigor and resources? Can educators and policymakers find a way to place the best teachers in front of the students who need them the most? What difference will the much touted Common Core Standards actually make? Will mayoral control of schools, which reached the five-year mark last month, ever get a clear-eyed and fair evaluation?
I’d like to thank everyone — students, teachers, parents, administrators and colleagues at the paper--who helped me. I know I missed the mark on some stories, but I would have missed a lot more without your contributions. I hope you’ll school my replacement the way you schooled me.
DC to Train School Staff on Insulin After Sending Away Student with Diabetes
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
July 11, 2012
D.C. health officials said they plan to train school staff to administer insulin shots after a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education charged that a third-grader with diabetes was asked to stay home -- then labeled truant -- whenever the school nurse was on vacation or out sick.
The only other option given to the girl at Davis Elementary was to have her mother stay with her in the classroom, until the mother was banned from the school for getting into a verbal fight with Principal Maisha Riddlesprigger, according to the complaint. DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and her staff came under intense fire from the D.C. Council's Health Committee when they presented a different version of events in which they said the nurse was rarely absent and Riddlesprigger felt physically threatened.
"If there is ever a wonder why there is flight from DCPS, this is illustrative of that decision," said at-large Councilman David Catania, who became emotional during a roundtable with Henderson, shouting "Bull!" and holding his head in his hands. Catania has a close friend with Type I diabetes, a spokesman said.
Victoria Thomas, a staff attorney with the nonprofit University Legal Services, which filed the claim, said, "We've heard this is a problem for multiple families in DC Public Schools."
According to the complaint, the third-grader can and has experienced sudden, acute hypoglycemia, with can be fatal if not promptly treated with an injection of glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar. She cannot eat lunch without an insulin injection, nor self-administer it because of her age.
But the District refused to train any school staffers to give the injections -- which are designed to be given by lay people -- other than the nurse, and the girl's mother was told to keep her home when the nurse was absent.
Attorneys say the girl was labeled truant because her mother kept her home on those days, while DCPS officials claim she missed school for other reasons. At some point, both parties agree, her mother was referred to Child and Family Services.
Nathaniel Beers, DCPS' special education chief, said he had been told verbally by legal counsel for the Health Department and the school system that he could not train employees other than nurses to administer diabetes medications.
This was a misunderstanding, and the Health Department is planning to train three or more staffers in affected schools by the start of the 2012-2013 school year, said Samia Altaf, the senior deputy director of community health administration for the agency.
"In these large, complex programs, it is likely there is miscommunication or miscoordination, but that is part of the work we do," Altaf told The Washington Examiner.
Two-Alarm Fire Severely Damages Old DC School
NBC Washington
July 10, 2012
Investigators are looking into what caused a two-alarm fire at an old D.C. school building.
Crews responded to the old Webb Elementary School building along Mount Olivet Road NE late Monday night. It took firefighters longer than usual to control the blaze because they had to knock down the doors, which were welded shut.
The fire did so much damage to one side of the building that crews have deemed the building structurally unsound.
“The building is unstable,” said Battalion Fire Chief Brian Lee. “We’re not going to be sending fire investigators inside the building until we get DCRA [Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs] to help shore it up until it it’s structurally sound. Then we’re going to do a grid inspection until we can make a determination.”
Witnesses say they saw people go inside the building about 30 minutes before the fire started.
Sean Rocker-Patterson lives in the area, and says he’s not surprised that people were spotted around the school. “I’ve seen kids playing inside and playing on the roof a lot; it’s kind of like a jungle gym to them.”
No one was hurt.