- Chancellor Kaya Henderson names 15 D.C. schools on closure list [FOCUS mentioned]
- 15 public schools to be closed in D.C.
- Battle won, Garrison parents celebrate
- Proposed graduation standards need work [FOCUS letter]
- Bilingual charters hone plan for combined upper school [Yu Ying, LAMB, Elsie Whitlow Stokes, and Mundo Verde mentioned]
Chancellor Kaya Henderson names 15 D.C. schools on closure list [FOCUS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
January 18, 2013
More than one in 10 D.C. public schools will close as part of a plan Chancellor Kaya Henderson put forth Thursday, a retrenchment amid budget pressures, low enrollment and growing competition from public charter schools.
Henderson will shutter 15 schools, affecting more than 2,400 students and more than 540 employees. Closing half-empty schools will allow her to use resources more efficiently, she said, redirecting dollars from administration and maintenance to teaching and learning.
The move is another benchmark in the fundamental remaking of public education in the District, where the school system has lost more than 100,000 students since its peak enrollment in the 1960s.
City leaders have been faced with underenrollment for years, but the situation has become more pronounced with the rapid growth of charter schools since the mid-1990s. Funded with taxpayer dollars but operated independently of the school system, charters now enroll more than 40 percent of the city’s students, putting Washington at the leading edge of a national movement toward charters.
“We can’t ignore the fact that we as a city have embraced school choice,” Henderson told D.C. Council members during a briefing Thursday. “If we proliferate charter schools, we have to know that is going to have an impact.”
Five years ago, then-Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee accelerated the downsizing of the D.C. school system when she moved quickly to close 23 schools, igniting angry protest and long-lasting political backlash while spurring an exodus of students to the city’s charters.
Henderson’s proposed closures also triggered opposition, but she is widely seen to have handled community relations more deftly than her predecessor, sponsoring a series of public meetings throughout the city and inviting parents and activists to help refine the closure plan.
That feedback persuaded the chancellor to remove five schools from her original closure list, including Garrison Elementary and Francis-Stevens Education Campus, two Northwest Washington schools in relatively affluent neighborhoods. Parents at both schools mounted vigorous campaigns against closure.
Henderson cited parents’ willingness to help recruit new students and demographic data showing that Northwest neighborhoods, particularly around Garrison, are growing faster than officials previously understood. Francis-Stevens will fill its extra space by serving as a second campus for the School Without Walls, a selective high school nearby.
Faced with criticism that she hadn’t given equal consideration to parental concerns and ideas emerging from less-privileged parts of the city, Henderson said that many of the proposals she received included requests for extra investments of millions of dollars.
“Lots of folks came up with plans. Some we were able to move with, others we were not able to,” Henderson said. “Leadership is about making hard decisions.”
Smothers Elementary in Northeast also will stay open, as will Malcolm X Elementary in Southeast, which will be operated in partnership with a “high-performing charter school” that Henderson declined to identify. Southeast’s Johnson Middle School will stay open because school officials say they think that moving the students to other schools filled with teenagers from rival neighborhoods could cause safety concerns.
All 15 schools marked for closure are east of Rock Creek Park, many of them east of the Anacostia River in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, and all had below-average test scores. They include the first high school to close in recent memory — Spingarn Senior High in Northeast — and Kenilworth Elementary, in the middle of a neighborhood that last month won a $25 million grant to strengthen local education and other services.
Thirteen of the schools will close at the end of this academic year, with the remaining two — Sharpe Health and Mamie D. Lee, schools for students with disabilities — to close in 2014.
On Thursday, Henderson for the first time offered an estimate of money to be saved through the closures: $19.5 million in staffing costs. Approximately $11 million will be needed for transition costs, Henderson said, resulting in a net savings of $8.5 million.
The last round of closures, in 2008, cost millions more than initially reported, according to an audit released in August. Henderson said the school system is more confident in its savings estimates now.
The savings will be plowed back into schools to improve programming, including into libraries and arts and foreign language offerings, Henderson said, adding that the public will get a detailed view when school-by-school budgets are released in the coming months.
About 140 staff positions will be lost, but given normal attrition through resignations and retirements, Henderson said, “we actually feel like the loss will be minimal.” She said she does not expect any teacher evaluated “effective” to be out of a job.
The chancellor said she does not anticipate releasing any buildings from the D.C. Public Schools inventory. She said she needs to keep control of the facilities so they can be reopened as enrollment rebounds.
That news was maddening for charter school advocates, who often struggle to find suitable and affordable D.C. real estate. City law requires that surplus public school buildings be made available to charter schools.
“The mayor is making a mistake,” said Robert Cane, executive director of the pro-charter Friends of Choice in Urban Schools. “What we have here, it’s about defending DCPS from the popularity of the charter schools, and it has nothing to do with getting more kids into quality schools. Nothing.”
Henderson said her staff has plans for reusing some buildings, such as Spingarn, which will become a vocational education campus focused on transportation careers. But officials are still working on plans for many of the buildings.
The prospect of closures triggered intense debate in recent months about the future of the city school system, including at community meetings and two D.C. Council hearings that together lasted more than 14 hours.
Some parents, activists and politicians worry that shutting the schools will drive families into the city’s charter schools, which could lead to declining enrollment and further closures in the traditional school system. After the 2008 closures, thousands of children left the system for charter schools, according to a study by three think tanks.
The school system now enrolls about 46,000 students in 123 schools.
“We cannot repeat what happened with the last closures,” said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D). “DCPS has got to be much more aggressive than it was three years ago in retaining students and recruiting students.”
D.C. Council members will have a chance to quiz Henderson about her school closure plan Wednesday at the first hearing of the newly constituted education committee, which is led by David A. Catania (I-At Large).
Across the city Thursday afternoon, schools that had been slated to close cleaved into two groups: those that were spared, and those were not.
“My kids like this school, and I don’t want to see them start over,” said Raheem Bates, 24, the father of two Kenilworth students.
A few miles away, Shannon Smith prepared for a protest at the chancellor’s home. Her two grandchildren attend Ferebee-Hope Elementary, which will close over the objections of parents and staff. “I don’t know why they would want to close this school,” said Smith, who called the move “ridiculous.”
But across town at Garrison, relieved parents hugged each other and high-fived their kids. Kierra McPherson, 23 wiped away tears as she picked up her preschool son. McPherson graduated from Garrison, as did her mother and cousin.
“It’s a tradition,” McPherson said. “This is my school. We got our school back.”
James Arkin and Alex Kane Rudansky contributed to this report.
15 public schools to be closed in D.C.
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
January 17, 2013
DC Public Schools plans to close 15 of its schools, affecting 2,341 students, as it looks to shut schools that are underenrolled to save money on items like building maintenance and staffing.
Thirteen of the schools will close at the end of the school year and another two a year later, Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced Thursday.
Five schools on the list of 20 that Henderson released in November -- Smothers Elementary School in Ward 7, Garrison Elementary in Ward 2, Johnson Middle in Ward 8, Francis-Stevens Education Campus in Ward 2 and Malcolm X Elementary in Ward 8 -- will remain open.
Malcolm X will partner with a "high-performing" charter school nearby, Henderson said. She would not say which charter school, though Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry said the school will partner with Achievement Preparatory Academy Public Charter School, a top-tier charter school. A representative of Achievement Prep could not be reached for comment.
The school system also plans to begin providing bus transportation, Henderson said. Students currently attending Davis Elementary in Ward 7 will take the bus to their new school, Plummer Elementary; students at Kenilworth Elementary in Ward 7 to Neval Thomas Elementary; and students at Marshall Elementary in Ward 5 will have buses to Langdon Education Campus.
Henderson spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz said DCPS does not know how many students will take the bus or how much it will cost.
Since the list of potential closures was announced, parents and community members have raised concerns that the move marks a decline in the availability of traditional public schools. Several D.C. Council members reiterated those concerns.
"Charter schools came here because DCPS dropped the ball," said Ward 7 Councilwoman Yvette Alexander.
Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser criticized the declining number of traditional public schools in her ward. "We're lucky that we have high-quality charter schools in our ward, but our children aren't guaranteed a seat there," she said.
The District cannot allow students at the closed schools to flock to charter schools, as they did when DCPS closed 23 schools in 2008, said Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
But the closings, representing 12 percent of DCPS campuses, could aid the expansion of public charter schools, whose enrollment has grown 61 percent to 35,018 over the last five years.
Though Henderson said she intends to keep all closed school buildings, she said she would consider leasing them to charter schools, which have expressed interest.
The closings will save DCPS $19.4 million but cost $10.9 million, resulting in a net $8.5 million annual savings, Henderson said. That does not include the cost of busing.
Education finance expert Mary Levy disagreed. Although DCPS will save $8.5 million on staff, the net savings probably will be between $1 and $2 million after the schools shell out for the costs of moving, storage and transportation, she said.
But ultimately, the closings are not just about saving money, Henderson said.
"We've heard from people who treat consolidation like a simple math problem and want to argue about whether we save a lot or save a little or save nothing at all. That's not how I look at this," she said. "I have a vision, which is consistent with the community's vision, to reinvest in our schools, to ensure that across the city, students have access to the same diverse coursework and enriching educational opportunities."
Battle won, Garrison parents celebrate
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
January 17, 2013
While some parents and elected officials were ready to take up arms Thursday over the announcement that the District plans to close 15 schools, parents of students at Garrison Elementary School were celebrating.
"I started crying in my meeting," Ann McLeod, the school's PTA president, said of her reaction to the news that the school straddling the border of Wards 1 and 2 -- on a list of 20 schools DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson proposed closing -- would remain open.
The parents were not the only ones elated with the news. Ward 1 D.C. Councilman Jim Graham called the decision to keep the school open "a community victory."
When the proposed closing was announced in November, parents did not take it sitting down. They put up signs urging people to "Save Garrison," gathered nearly 600 signatures on an online petition and gained the support of local community leaders.
"I think one of the good things that came out of it is we realized how much support we have not just from the parents -- not just from the people who are directly at the school -- but also the community at large," said Dima Reda, whose son is in prekindergarten at Garrison.
Henderson said the decision was made partly because of new demographic information showing faster population growth rates in school-age children, which would make fitting the student population into Seaton Elementary School as planned difficult.
Though the crisis has been largely averted, McLeod said the near-miss increases pressure to improve academic programs and continue increasing enrollment.
"Now we have to prove even more that they were wrong to ever include us on the list," she said.
Proposed graduation standards need work [FOCUS letter]
By Ram Uppuluri
The Current Newspapers
January 16, 2013
I’m writing regarding your Jan. 9 editorial “Graduation requirements.” The D.C. State Board of Education’s proposed high school graduation requirements fail to embrace, encourage or create conditions favorable for meaningful improvements in education.
They purport, on the one hand, to embrace “flexibility” by allowing students to meet additional, and some existing, requirements in ways other than taking a class.
On the other hand, ironically,they take flexibility away from schools by increasing the total number of credits required in order for students to graduate.
The proposal contains an explicit acknowledgment that “proficiency” in a subject matter can — and, in many cases, should — be used instead of time spent in a classroom
to satisfy some requirements.
At the same time, the proposal increases the number of requirements and therefore the amount of time that students must spend in order to satisfy them regardless of their proficiency.
The proposed requirements purport to function as a “one-size-fitsall” approach to high school education, when many schools, especially public charter schools, are bringing
innovations to the classroom that may not necessarily fit the one-sizefits-all model.
Finally, the proposed graduation requirements come at a time when there is robust conversation around the country about moving education in the direction of being more tailored and flexible as opposed to being more rigid.
Successes in public education are happening in schools that, beyond meeting minimum core requirements, have the flexibility to be innovative, and tailor their programs to meet the needs of their students in exciting ways. Imposing additional requirements beyond basic core standards stifles teaching, learning and success.
The State Board of Education should hold off on approving the proposed graduation requirements until further consideration can be given to new emerging concepts in education reform, such as competency-based standards and greater flexibility. The board may find, after a more thorough review, that fewer required credit hours, not more, coupled with greater flexibility and room for innovation, may lead to better outcomes.
While the proposed policies contain some good ideas, they generally are at odds with what is working best in schools today, especially the public charter schools that currently educate 43 percent of D.C. public school students. They also go in the wrong direction for improving outcomes for District students.
Bilingual charters hone plan for combined upper school [Yu Ying, LAMB, Elsie Whitlow Stokes, and Mundo Verde mentioned]
By Elizabeth Wiener
The Current Newspapers
January 16, 2013
Leaders of four language-based elementary charter schools are making plans to open a merged middle school in fall 2014, at least a year before their innovative language immersion program moves into permanent digs at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The newly hatched District of Columbia International Public Charter School combines resources of four small charters that now offer French, Spanish, Mandarin and English instruction in various parts of the city. The new school will allow their students to continue on to middle and eventually high school, leaders say, perhaps with space to
enroll additional children as well.
The language immersion school also hopes to gain accreditation as an International Baccalaureate program, offering what sponsors say is a rigorous education for “world citizens.” The middle and upper school, once they are lodged in permanent facilities at Walter Reed, could enroll about 1,000 students.
But the big push for now is finding temporary, or “incubator” space,said Mary Schaffner, founder and director of Yu Ying Public Charter School. The four charters currently operate in scattered buildings, including some closed public schools, and need to find a bigger location to open a middle school with sixth through ninth grades in 2014. Schaffner said plans are still on track to open at Walter Reed for the 2015-2016 school year.
The four schools, of various sizes and class ranges, include Yu Ying, which has a Chinese immersion program in Brookland; Latin American Montessori Bilingual
(LAMB), which has a SpanishEnglish curriculum at the old Military Road School and a smaller site in Michigan Park; Mundo Verde Bilingual, which offers Spanish and English instruction near Dupont Circle; and the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom School in Brookland, which has French and Spanish programs.
The consolidation concept was born after Yu Ying won rights to coveted space at Walter Reed as part of an ongoing effort to redevelop the former Army hospital to serve District needs. Yu Ying will place a middle and high school in 100,000 square feet at a former nurses’ residence known as Delano Hall. LAMB, by the same process, won rights to 35,000 square feet in the same building.
But school leaders soon realized they could combine forces — and money — to offer an even better program to more kids. Under current plans, Yu Ying and LAMB will control the space at Walter Reed, collecting rent from the other two schools, with a student body large enough to support a full academic program as well as the athletic and social programs older kids need.
But the need for a middle school seemed too pressing to wait for the transfer of Walter Reed from the federal government to the city, and for the extensive renovation required before the 1933 Delano Hall can accommodate a school.
Elsie Whitlow Stokes, which started in Mount Pleasant 15 years ago serving largely immigrant families, is the oldest of the bilingual charters. “By the third year, parents were asking about middle school,” said director Linda Moore. “But we could never figure it out. You need a certain amount of size to have a credible program.”
So when Shaffner first broached the idea of a consolidated middle and high school, “I got incredibly excited,” Moore said. “It’s a wonderful idea. This will be new for all of us, because none of us have space for a middle and high school.” Adding grades so that students can continue in the same program will also please parents, she said.
“Having an end point will increase their interest.” The four charters all immerse children in a new language at a very young age — the ideal time to learn a language. So for the older grades, “there is an assumption of a certain level of fluency,” Moore said, noting for example that a science class taught in Spanish at the seventhgrade level would by “pretty difficult for someone with poor Spanish skills.”
Thus the District’s rules for charters, requiring them to enroll all comers regardless of ability, will be “a bit tricky,” Moore said. “It’s important to explain the expectations to parents. We have to tell parents it might not be a good idea.”
Yu Ying is already an International Baccalaureate School, a respected model that “incorporates language, culture, lots of high-ordered thinking,” Moore said. She expects the consolidated middle and high school to win IB accreditation as well. Moore envisions a publicly funded version of the Washington International School, the acclaimed multilingual kindergarten-through-12th-grade private school in Burleith and Cleveland Park, but with a less affluent student body.