- The DCPS-charter relationship is getting heated in this education "hot spot"
- Another $142 million DCPS building renovation, another swipe at charters
- D.C. leaders celebrate topping-out at new Ballou High
The DCPS-charter relationship is getting heated in this education "hot spot"
Greater Greater Education
By Natalie Wexler
July 15, 2014
An op ed in the Washington Post on Sunday said the balance between the DCPS and charter sectors resembles a "thoughtful weave of charters and traditional schools." It's not clear many others would agree.
Richard Whitmire, the author of a biography of former DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee and a recent book on the Rocketship network of charter schools, dubbed DC an "education hot spot" in his Post opinion piece. He noted the high proportion of top-ranked charter schools in the District and praised both Rhee and current DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson for making DCPS "the fastest-improving urban district" in the nation.
No doubt there are those who would quibble with some of these statements, but at least they're based in fact. Where Whitmire really goes off the mark is in characterizing the current relationship between DCPS and the charter sector as harmonious, and the pattern of DCPS and charter schools as "thoughtful."
Whitmire seems to have somehow overlooked the recent flap about joint planning, which has brought to light tensions that have been lurking under the surface of the generally cordial relationship between the two sectors in recent years.
DCPS and the Deputy Mayor for Education want limits placed on where charters locate and on the number of charters that can be approved. The charter sector is adamantly opposed to that idea, saying it would threaten the very autonomy that has enabled them to thrive.
Recently, irked by the announcement that a new charter will open across the street from a DCPS school with a similar focus and serving the same age group, Henderson compared the situation to "cannibalism." The charter sector's response, although phrased slightly more diplomatically, is that DCPS simply can't compete. Harmony? Hardly.
One thing both sectors would probably agree on is that Whitmire's characterization of the district-charter landscape here as a "thoughtful weave" is way off base. Both sides see waste and duplication. Some DCPS schools, even some that were recently built or renovated at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, stand half-empty.
Meanwhile, charters scramble for space, often spending millions to retrofit buildings that were not designed for school use, while DCPS hoards its mothballed vacant buildings in hopes it will be able to use them again.
Thoughtfulness implies planning, and that's one thing we don't have. At least, not in any truly thoughtful sense. That is, plans can be made for DCPS, as in the recent proposals for new boundaries and feeder patterns. But charter schools can then completely upend them.
Even one member of the PCSB had to take issue with what she called Whitmire's "overly rosy picture of the potential for charter-DCPS collaboration."
DC isn't different
One of the most puzzling things Whitmire says is that the "DC model is different" from that in other cities, where "it's a matter of market share," and the traditional public schools "view every child in a charter as a revenue loss." He follows that by explaining that DC has had a "liberal charter school law and generous per-student payments that allowed for quick growth."
But DC isn't different from those other cities. When a child leaves DCPS for a charter, she takes that generous per-student payment with her, making it more difficult for DCPS to sustain programming for those who are left. And the charter sector's "quick growth" has only made the problem worse, from DCPS's point of view.
DC charters now serve 44% of the "market," if that's how you want to characterize the student population. And that has led DCPS to close almost 40 schools over the past 6 years.
What's remarkable is that, despite this competition, DCPS and the charter sector have managed to work as cooperatively as they have. This year the common school lottery was a huge step towards rationality in school admissions, even though some charters chose not to participate. And Henderson has shown her willingness to enter into partnerships with charter organizations that want to collaborate with DCPS to improve outcomes for DC's most disadvantaged kids.
But given the recent heated rhetoric, it's not clear how long that kind of cooperation will continue. I certainly hope that both sides find a way to resolve their differences. But ignoring their existence, as Whitmire does, won't make them disappear.
Another $142 million DCPS building renovation, another swipe at charters
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
July 16, 2014
The Washington Post's Emma Brown today describes the celebration of politicians and school officials at the topping off ceremony for the new Ballou High School. The $142 million renovation includes, according to the reporter "science labs, auto mechanic training and cosmetology training centers, a culinary arts kitchen, a greenhouse, performing and visual arts spaces, a swimming pool and more."
The Mayor reflected on the project this way, “What we’re doing for one, we’re doing for all." Not so fast.
It is easy with all the political goings on in this town to forget that Mr. Gray ran on a "One City" campaign. But in an extremely important way D.C. is split into two. There are the traditional schools that receive hundreds of millions of dollars for school renovation, and then once the new facilities are built the government pays for its maintenance. Then there are the charters, educating about the same number of students as the regular schools but who boast a higher academic performance, that must fend for themselves in fixing up buildings and tend to their upkeep using an allotment of about $3,000 per student.
Charters are not asking for much. There are 23 closed DCPS facilities sitting gathering dust that could provide homes to these alternative schools. "Gathering dust" is actually a gross simplification of what it is like to be granted the use of one of these sites. The buildings are literally falling apart, left even without the plumbing's copper tubing that has been stolen for the money that it brings.
I have recently been invited to tour a couple of these places once they have been repaired and improved. The inhabitants are as proud of what they will have accomplished as new parents. They are excited because they have just pulled off something that is almost impossible to do. These heroes have been able to amass approximately $20 million dollars to build classrooms for public school students through strenuous and stressful efforts that no one involved in the field of helping children should ever have to endure in a moral universe.
Ms. Brown points out that the new Ballou is being built to hold 1,400 students. But only 700 pupils are currently enrolled. Could the Mayor, the "One City" Mayor, have announced at yesterday's ceremony that a charter that serves kids living in poverty, and has already proven that it is able to close the academic achievement gap, is going to co-locate in this beautiful space? I'm sure among our town's leaders, this was not even a passing thought.
D.C. leaders celebrate topping-out at new Ballou High
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
July 15, 2014
Mayor Vincent C. Gray and D.C. Council member Marion Barry on Tuesday joined hundreds of hard-hatted construction workers in celebrating the topping-out of Southeast Washington’s new Ballou High, expected to open to students in January 2015.
Standing under the steel ribs of what will eventually be the roof of the new gymnasium, Gray (D) said the $142 million building — located in the District’s Ward 8 — represents his commitment to investing in neighborhoods across the city. “What we’re doing for one, we’re doing for all,” he said.
The new facility is the latest in a string of massive high school renovation projects that have replaced crumbling old buildings that were infamous for their disrepair. Many of those remade buildings, gorgeous as they are, remain half-empty with a majority of students working below grade level, giving rise to questions about how and whether the city can improve not just the schools’ physical infrastructure but the schools themselves.
“We all know it’s not what happens on the outside of a school. It’s what happens on the inside,” Barry (D-Ward 8) said. “From this point on, we’re going to look at what’s going on on the inside.”
Students tend to arrive at Ballou years behind grade level; by 10th grade, about one in five are proficient in reading and math, according to city tests. Fewer than half of students graduate on time and more than 60 percent are considered chronically truant. Enrollment has dwindled to fewer than 700 as charter schools have attracted more families, but the new Ballou is designed to fit 1,400.
Charged with reinvigorating Ballou is new principal Yetunde Reeves, who comes to the District from a career as a teacher and principal in Oakland and East Palo Alto, Calif. She replaces Rahman Branch, who had led the school since 2008, when he was hired as principal by then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
The new building will welcome students back from winter break in January 2015 with 37 new classrooms as well as science labs, auto mechanic training and cosmetology training centers, a culinary arts kitchen, a greenhouse, performing and visual arts spaces, a swimming pool and more. The second phase of construction, including a new football stadium and auxiliary field, is slated to be done in August 2015.
“We’re all excited,” said Ballou librarian Melissa Jackson, flanked by a group of incoming ninth graders she’d brought to give a glimpse of where they will spend most of their high school careers.
Jackson arrived at Ballou several years ago and managed to turn its neglected library into sanctuary, a center of student life. But she said she’s looking forward to what the new building will bring: more space, more light, more technology and — she’s been promised — more books.
“It’s long overdue,” she said.