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Clark Ray of OSSE is responsible for setting up a championship game between DC public schools and public charter schools to give public charters the chance to compete. That vision is now one step closer to being realized.
Ray has invited all public charter principals and athletic directors to a meeting on Tuesday, May 1 centered on the topic of charter schools playing for citywide championships this upcoming athletic season. We’re pleased that Ray is meeting with charter leaders to craft a plan moving forward and we applaud him for his leadership.
Ultimately, of course, this is about what’s fair for all DC students. When Haseem Marshall, a 6th grade student from Achievement Prep PCS and a member of the Public Charter Youth Leadership Council (PCYLC) testified at last month’s DC Council public budget hearing, he made a fantastic point on the current state of DC athletics:
Students should be given the chance to show their athletic talents as well as their academic talents. Having students play sports builds value, hard work, and skill. Allowing them to compete will foster the above qualities.
Percee Goings-King of Friendship Collegiate PCS, who played football and accepted a scholarship from Columbia University last National Signing Day, credits his school’s focus on academics in launching his success story:
Thankfully, my coaches at my high school were as impressed with my straight “A’s,” as they were with my touchdowns. My school’s commitment to academic success, as well as my own, helped make my 4.1 GPA possible.
Friendship Collegiate’s football team is a prime example of why Ray needs to introduce fair competition to DC athletics. Not only has the school become a football powerhouse in the District, but, as a recent Grantland feature by Dave McKenna highlights, “[i]n the three years Friendship has held National Signing Day celebrations, 42 players have been awarded college scholarships.”
In spite of the team’s national notoriety, McKenna also describes how Friendship Collegiate is denied the chance to compete with DC public schools:
Friendship has no regular-season championship to play for, and travels more than some college squads each fall. Last season the team had two games in New York (including a showcase game against perennial New Jersey powerhouse Bergen Catholic, which needed a second-half comeback to deal Friendship its only loss) and a nationally televised showcase in Cincinnati. Friendship played only one game against a D.C. school.
Academically, public charter schools already succeed in bringing out the best in their students. We think that they should be allowed to do the same on the athletic field, and we’re thrilled that progress is being made to bring fair competition to DC athletics.