- Judge declines to block D.C. school closures
- D.C. schools try to shrink number of special education students
- Standout students shine at STARS Gala [Friendship PCS, William E. Doar, Jr., PCS, Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science PCS, Dorothy I. Height Community Academy PCS, Center City PCS, Briya PCS, Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS, Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS, and Carlos Rosario International PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
May 15, 2013
Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson can move forward with plans to close 15 D.C. schools, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting activists’ claims that the closures violate the civil rights of city children. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg acknowledged that the closures will disproportionately affect black, Hispanic and disabled children, but he wrote in a strongly worded 31-page opinion that there is no evidence that D.C. officials intended to discriminate against certain groups of students. City officials “are actually transferring children out of weaker, more segregated and under-enrolled schools,” the judge wrote, and activists’ push to keep students in those schools “seems curious, given that these are the conditions most people typically endeavor to escape.”
D.C. officials said they sought to close schools with low enrollment to use resources more efficiently and improve education across the city. Those half-empty schools were clustered in parts of the city where charter schools have grown quickly and where residents are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic. Boasberg ruled that the city had provided a reasonable justification for closing the schools and a reasonable explanation for the disparate impact on minority students. Thirteen District schools are slated to close in June and two more next year, displacing more than 2,700 students. All but two affected children are black or Hispanic, according to a complaint filed in March by five plaintiffs— including three parents and two advisory neighborhood commissioners — who were organized by community group Empower DC.
They sought a preliminary injunction to halt the closures until the case could be heard, arguing that students would suffer “irreparable harm” if schools are shuttered. Boasberg was unswayed by that argument and declined to grant the injunction. Most of the affected students are slated to move into more-integrated schools with higher proficiency rates in math and reading, he pointed out. Though Boasberg denied the injunction, the case remains alive, and Empower DC vowed to continue pursuing it.
“We are fighting not only to have equal access to neighborhood public schools but to save the fabric of our communities that is threatened by displacement and gentrification,” Empower DC’s Daniel del Pielago wrote to supporters Wednesday. “This is as much about who gets to live in DC ten years from now as it is about our schools.” The judge issued his opinion on the same day that the Chicago Teachers Union filed two complaints in federal court to stop that city from closing 53 schools, arguing that the closures would disproportionately affect black students. Boasberg added that the plaintiffs’ legal theory was overly broad, suggesting that it would be illegal for city officials to close any school with a higher-than-average population of minority students.
He also rejected the claim that D.C. officials broke the law by failing to give advisory neighborhood commissioners proper notice of the school-closure plans. While Henderson’s staff members did not send notice by certified mail to commissioners as required by law, they did send e-mails. They also broadcast the closure plan to the public and solicited feedback that they used to revise the initial closure plan, reducing the number of schools to be closed from 20 to 15. “This desire for community input was no charade,” Boasberg wrote.
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
May 15, 2013
DC Public Schools officials are trying to cut down on the number of students being diagnosed with disabilities and enrolled in special education programs. The effort is part of the school system and the city's goal of reducing the number of public school students attending "nonpublic schools," relatively pricey private schools and public schools in neighboring Maryland and Virginia school systems paid for by the District. DCPS enrolls 8,221 special education students, accounting for 18 percent of the schools' population, according to data provided by the school system. Of those, 1,189 attend nonpublic schools.
DCPS would like to cut the number of special education students to roughly 6,800, said Nathaniel Beers, chief of DCPS' Office of Special Education. The goal stems from a finding by the U.S. Department of Education that the school system tends to overidentify students as special education although they may simply be struggling academically, he said. A spokesman at the Department of Education said the department has not told DCPS it must reduce the number of students with disabilities. "Historically, DCPS has not done a spectacular job of providing great general education for students," Beers said. "If you get to middle school and are reading at a third- and fourth-grade level and you don't know what's going on in the class because you can't keep up with the content, you act out behaviorally. Then you get identified as a student who has emotional disabilities when the reality is that we didn't provide the upfront education."
To meet its goal, DCPS is spending some of its special education dollars on social workers and guidance counselors who work with all students to address problems before they escalate into behaviors commonly mistaken for disabilities. But Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children's Law Center, warned against thinking about special education students in terms of numbers. "I don't think it's about percentages," she said. "It's about carefully identifying students." Among the existing special education population, the school system hopes to integrate more students into classes with their nonspecial education peers as often as possible. That will help DCPS meet its goal of having 70 percent of students proficient in math and reading by 2017. Students from low-income families tend to be particularly susceptible to being misdiagnosed with a disability, and with 77 percent of students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals, DCPS has a particularly high rate of special education participation compared with other urban districts. "Many children in the District experience high levels of trauma because of living in high concentrations of poverty [and] violence in their homes," Sandalow said.
Standout students shine at STARS Gala [Friendship PCS, William E. Doar, Jr., PCS, Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science PCS, Dorothy I. Height Community Academy PCS, Center City PCS, Briya PCS, Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS, Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS, and Carlos Rosario International PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
May 16, 2013
The D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools held its third annual STARS Tribute Gala on May 9, to celebrate the successes of the 43 percent of District public school students who are educated at public charter schools, and their teachers, mentors and parents. Judges from a wide range of community, fraternal, business and professional organizations across the District established the criteria for the awards, reviewed all the nominations and selected the finalists and winners. Mayor Vincent Gray and Council Chair Phil Mendelson were among those presenting the 14 award categories. Representatives from NASA, the D.C. Public Charter School Board, United Bank and the Brookings Institution also took part.
Students from Friendship Collegiate Academy Chorale provided vocal support and sang “Shining Star” and “The World’s Greatest,” while current and former students from William E. Doar, Jr., PCS provided a dance routine during the reception. NBC 4’s Barbara Harrison, as the Mistress of Ceremonies, kept the event moving along. Council Chair Mendelson presented the evening’s first award, for Most Outstanding All Around Student, to Kendra Spruill of Friendship Collegiate Academy. Spruill also earned the award for Most Outstanding Female Student Athlete. Spruill, who is a Posse scholarship winner, will attend Bucknell University in the fall. Spruill was not the only student to win multiple awards. Hanna Endrias of Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science earned awards for Most Outstanding Student, Most Outstanding Student Scientist and Most Outstanding Student Mathematician.
It was only fitting that, during Teacher Appreciation Week, we also honored great work being done by teachers in charter schools. This year’s Most Outstanding Teacher/Leader award went jointly to Natasha Parrilla of Dorothy I. Height Community Academy, Joshua Johnson of Center City Public Charter School, Eric Blood from Friendship Collegiate Academy, and Judy Kittleson of Briya Public Charter School. The Most Valuable Administrator award was won by Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, Athletic Director and football coach at Friendship Collegiate Academy, who has had 80 student athletes earn college scholarships. Mayor Gray concluded the evening by presenting Most Outstanding High School Graduate to Philip Pride of Friendship Collegiate Academy, and Most Outstanding College Graduate to Jerrell Davis, who also attended Collegiate, which has a a 91 percent on-time graduation rate. The winners were presented checks for $4,000, while runners-up received a $1,000 check.
Here is a complete list of award winners:
Most Outstanding All Around Student - Kendra Spruill (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School)
Most Outstanding Student - Joshua Reynolds (William E. Doar, Jr., Public Charter School for the Performing Arts), Kyla Alston (Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School), Hanna Endrias (Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science), Earica Parrish (Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School) and Juan Carlos Miranda (Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School).
Charter School HOPE Award - Diamond Miales (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School)
Most Outstanding Student Writers - Keneon Williams (Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School)
Most Outstanding Student Scientist - Hanna Endrias (Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science)
Most Outstanding Student Mathematician - Hanna Endrias (Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science), Marion Washington (Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School), Daniel Spruill (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School)
Most Outstanding Student Athlete - Kendra Spruill (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School) and Kijon James (Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School)
Most Improved Student - Jazmin Walker (Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School)
Most Valuable Administrator - Aazaar Abdul-Rahim (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School)
Most Outstanding Teacher/Leader - Natasha Parrilla (Dorothy I. Height Community Academy), Joshua Johnson (Center City Public Charter School), Eric Blood (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School), Judy Kittleson (Briya Public Charter School) and Sheryl Sherwin (Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School)
Most Outstanding Parent - Cynthia Jordan (William E. Doar, Jr., Public Charter School for the Performing Arts)
Most Outstanding High School Graduate - Phillip Pride (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School)
Most Outstanding College Graduate - Jerrell Davis - University of the District of Columbia (Friendship Collegiate Academy, Friendship Public Charter School)
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