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East of the River
Schools Extend Many Hands: Youth-run Website to link sister schools
By Thalia Wiggins
May 2010

The Friendship News Network (FNN) has come a long way since 14 students gathered at Blow Pierce Academy on Feb. 24, 2005, to discuss the development of a teen-written magazine. To date, the award-winning journalism espouses a website, a magazine, a radio and TV programs. FNN's sole purpose is to improve literacy for at-risk youth while preparing them for future careers in either journalism or other professional careers.

In April, FNN launched a new website, www.OurFNN.com, which links up all eight of the Friendship Public Charter Schools, including the schools in Baltimore. It will be available to all FPCS students. FPCS students can read the work of the students of FNN, and if they choose, they can log in and create their own profile to post blogs, video and articles. FPCS students can only create accounts in the presence of a teacher.

Or they can join the FNN team. FPCS students will be exposed to a program that helped student Karlton Chapman hone in on his many talents.

"Not to brag, but they [The FNN staff] kind of see me as a key element, when it comes to things. I have a leadership role, even though I am not editor-in-chief," explained Karlton, now art director for FNN. His duties include training new-comers and motivating staff who are also his peers. "[At first] it was kind of complicated because I did not necessarily have the work ethic like I do now, to get things done. It was a learning experience."

FNN exposed Karlton to the endless possibilities of jobs in communications. "I feel pretty good about it. Since I am one of the senior staff, and we have the newbies come in, I also have to take a co-editor-in-chief role, since I have to go off to college and they have to be here," said Karlton. "I want to be an entertainer. I have a lot of talents, and I want to make sure they don't go to waste."

Newcomer Courtney Shackleford, a senior, was promoted to editor-in-chief in a year. "I put in a lot of work," she said, then shook her head and smiled. "I am still questioning what drives me so hard." She quickly joked that her being a Taurus might be the reason for her success.

"I strive for things. I want to be a doctor. I am pushing for those good grades, pushing on to a good school. I don't want to give up. This will look good on my college resume, that I was editor-in-chief of a magazine." She hinted at the idea of writing a medical magazine in the future with an FNN colleague.

Courtney is glad that all students will be able to have a virtual copy of the FNN magazine, Rated-T. When students log onto www.OurFNN.com, they may be greeted by Courtney's idea to change the theme of the FNN Web page to reflect school celebrations and the changing seasons. She got the idea from Internet media giants Google and Yahoo. "Like [during] homecoming, we could use the school colors."

Positivity in Print

Rated-T offers students a safe forum to voice their opinions of the world around them. In the fall 2008 issue, students jumped at the opportunity to write about their frustrations over stereotypes directed at them.

"Now let's finish this. We're going to break this stereotype, proving, even though the media and their statistics, and even though [there are] teens that fall prey to this assumption, you are not going to jail by 18!" Karlton wrote to his predominantly African-American peers in his article, "I'm Not Going to Jail by 18."

In addition, teens wrote other articles expressing their triumphs of not being another young teen mother or realizing they don't need to wear expensive designer clothes. The magazine also includes an interview of a student's trip to China, a recount of a field trip to an Anime convention, interviews with Mayor Adrian Fenty as well as Bill Gates Sr., and more honest articles, engaging photos and on-point graphics, all designed and written by students.

FNN students are advised by a team of journalism professionals. Among them are Brian Young, a professional website director; Carl Reveerts, who works for The National Geographic; Larry Bradshaw, a professional web designer; Adnaan Wasey, the former website director for The News Hour; and Marilyn Kaufman, whose resume is also extensive but now serves as the director of FNN. Other mentors have come from other media giants such as Bloomberg News, CNN, Dateline NBC, the Washington Post, BET, WOL, WAMU, The Voice of the Hill, The McNeil/Lehrer News Hour, The Radio and Television News Directors Foundation and MTV.

If the magazine is any testament to the capabilities of these talented youth, not including the talent pool yet to have their say, FNN's new website will be a hands-down success.

Feel free to stop by one of the Friendship Schools for information. To view the students' work or to get information on FNN, visit www. friendshipnewsnetwork.com.

The website www.OurFNN.com will be available to all FPCS students by fall 2011.

FNN hosts a summer journalism program free to all students who are DC residents, ages 11-18. While no journalism experience is required to join, the ability to work as a team and the love of reading and writing is necessary. For more information, visit www.friendshipnewsnetwork.com. ?

The Washington Post
White House state dinner for Mexico
Schoolchildren greet the world leaders at the White House
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Yesterday, students from Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School greeted President Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and his wife, Margarita Zavala, at a White House state dinner.

A photo of the students waving to the dignitaries is posted on The Washington Post Web site.  To view the picture, click the following link and view picture #49, titled "Schoolchildren greet the world leaders at the White House":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/05/19/GA2010051902425.html?sid=ST2010051903336

The Washington Post
D.C. charters say raises give traditional schools an edge
By Bill Turque
Thursday, May 20, 2010

The proposed new D.C. teachers contract, which could boost some salaries to well above $100,000, is causing tremors in the city's non-unionized charter school sector, where officials view the pact as the latest inequity in D.C. policies governing the funding of its two school systems.

Charter advocates have praised D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee for moving to dramatically increase compensation for public school teachers, but they say the contract's rich financial package, combined with inequalities in covering the cost of facilities and other services, violates the 1995 law that created the city's charter school system. An advocacy group, FOCUS (Friends of Choice in Urban Schools), is looking into possible legal action.

"I think the issue is so big economically for the charters that they will be forced to take some action," said Terence Golden, chairman of the board of the KIPP-D.C. charter schools and former chairman of the Federal City Council, an influential group of business leaders. (Donald E. Graham, chairman of The Washington Post Co., is on the KIPP-D.C. board). Golden said he has met with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and other D.C. officials to discuss the matter.

The tentative agreement, which is to be submitted to members of the Washington Teachers' Union for ratification this week, would raise pay 21.6 percent by 2012, lifting the average annual salary from about $67,000 to $81,000. It also would provide for a privately financed performance pay program to be launched in 2013, potentially adding $20,000 to $30,000 a year to teacher pay based on criteria that include improvement in student test scores and service in a high-needs school.

The city's 57 publicly financed, independently operated charter schools, which educate 37 percent of the city's 75,000 public school students, have long been seen as competition to traditional public schools. But the contract has raised, for the first time in memory, the prospect of the tables turning.

"I do believe we will lose our best teachers," said Donald Hense, founder and chief executive of the Friendship Public Charter School system, which serves about 4,000 students on six campuses and operates Anacostia High School under a contract with the District.

John Goldman, chief operating officer for the William E. Doar Public Charter School for the Performing Arts, said that if ratified, the contract was a "lose-lose" for charters.

"We'll be forced to spend more money on teachers and less on other items, in order to get the same or a lesser product," he said.

The city's top-performing charters usually pay slightly more than D.C. public schools, offering a premium for what is often a longer work day. Maintaining that edge would be challenging under the new public school pay scale, charter school officials say.

"It's always been a struggle for us," said Susan Schaeffler, founder and executive director of KIPP-D.C.

But others, including some charter school teachers, are not convinced that the new pay scale will trigger a stampede to the traditional public schools. They say money is only a part of an equation that includes working conditions, school culture and career opportunities.

"Naturally I've thought about it," said Marcella Windley, who teaches second and third grades at Friendship Public Charter School's Southeast Elementary Academy. "But I'm quite satisfied where I am."

Advocates say the contract gives new urgency to their contention that charters are disadvantaged by the District's funding system. Under the law, public schools and public charter schools are supported by a uniform per-pupil allocation, set at $8,945 for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

But charter officials say that because D.C. public schools are part of a huge centralized bureaucracy, they are able to offload some operating costs onto other city agencies.

Charters must cover expenses for maintenance and legal services out of their per-pupil funding, but the District's 123 public schools are effectively double-funded because they receive maintenance services from the Office of Public Education and Facilities Modernization and legal help from the D.C. Attorney General's Office. FOCUS estimates the value of these services at $25 million a year.

Public school officials say they shoulder other costs not borne equitably by charters, especially in serving special education students and others with a higher level of needs.

Although charter schools can cap their enrollments, Rhee said, "we have to serve those kids. We have to accept them."

The District also says the cost of the teachers contract is irrelevant. The performance pay system will be financed by private foundations, from which charter schools also raise money. The base pay increases are being funded strictly within the uniform per-student allocation that charters also receive.

Charters "can use that amount (or any other funds) to provide the teacher raises they deem appropriate," D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said in a May 11 letter to D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4).

Bowser said it appeared that charter operators enjoy their independence from union contracts and big government bureaucracies when it suits them, then complain when that same freedom is disadvantageous.

"I'm always surprised by the desire to be separate, except when there's something good," Bowser said at a hearing last month.

Perhaps the most daunting issue, charter officials said, is the absence of a capital budget to finance school construction. Because charters must provide for their buildings, they also receive a per-pupil facilities allowance to cover rent, mortgage and related expenses. But some school operators say the $2,800 per-student stipend doesn't come close to meeting their facilities costs. Allison Kokkoros, principal at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School told the D.C. Council at a hearing in March that the facilities allowance covers about 66 percent of her costs.

FOCUS said its analysis of D.C. public schools, which are supported by a $200 million-a-year capital budget, shows the per-pupil facilities subsidy at $5,822 a student.

D.C. officials contend that the facilities payment is in some cases overly generous and that some schools have diverted part of it to cover non-facilities costs, such as teacher salaries. It is one reason that Fenty moved last year to cut the allowance from $3,109 a student to a maximum of $2,800. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), who is challenging Fenty for mayor, has proposed partially restoring the cut, raising the fee to $3,000.

Charter officials say they don't want special treatment. "From my perspective, the issue is not really a question of competition," said Joshua Kern, head of Thurgood Marshall Academy. "The core issue is equity and parity."

The Current
Haynes school head honored by institute
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Jennifer C. Niles, the founder and head of E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, recently won a fellowship that honors "exceptional entrepreneurial leaders who are committed to transforming public education," according to a release.

The Aspen Institute and NewSchools Venture Fund selected Niles and 23 other educators from a group of more than 150 nominees to be the 2010 winner of the Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship.

Niles founded E.L. Haynes in 2004. According to the release, the school is now the highest-performing charter elementary school in the District, based on 2009 DC-CAS scores. The Georgia Avenue school serves 450 pre-kindergartners through seventh-graders.

The Current
Win-win on contract
Editorial
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

We breathed a sigh of relief when we learned this week that D.C. chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi had certified the school system's controversial contract with city teachers.

Mr. Gandhi certainly had reason to be cautious: Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee had originally proposed funding pay raises with foundation money that trailed a number of strings. The private groups seeking to support D.C. reform had listed both annual test-score increases and Ms. Rhee's continued tenure as conditions of their continued support. And neither is certain.

Now, though, city funds have been reallocated to support the raises. Yet when the private money becomes available - as soon as the contract is ratified - those funds will help support the raises, and the reallocated city money can return to its originally intended uses. The raises are guaranteed, yet the foundations provide support. It sounds like a win-win.

When such a plan was initially floated, some charter school advocates raised equity questions. They said that because of facility funding, traditional public schools actually receive more public money per student than charters do, and they feared that using city money to cover the raises would further that inequity.

Assuming the new plan works, and no extra public money is used to fund the raises, concerns about greater inequity will be answered. After all, charter schools also receive money from private donors. Still, taxpayer contributions must be equal, and we trust local officials will lend an eye to parity as they work through future funding issues. We also hope they will address the longstanding disparity in facility allocations.

The Washington Post
2010 Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Awards
By Timothy Wilson
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Liz Gipson got an A in English her first semester at Barnard College. But she couldn't take all the credit and wrote a letter to thank the person who taught her the most about writing: Allison Finn, an AP English teacher at Blake High School in Montgomery County.

For her efforts in the classroom, Finn was among 21 teachers who were honored Tuesday night at the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Awards.

More than 300 friends, family members, teachers, principals and school officials attended the 27th annual event at The Washington Post's main building in Northwest Washington.

"It's the greatest night of the year for us because of the people involved," said Donald E. Graham, chairman of The Washington Post Co. "We are thrilled to honor you all."

Since 1983, the awards have recognized teachers who show exceptional initiative, creativity and professionalism.

Gipson said she "slid by, unchallenged, bored" in English before taking Finn's class. With Finn as the teacher, she and other students made dramatic improvements, she said.

"We started to think, to write, to talk like the almost-adults we were, rather than the too-old children we had been," Gipson said in a letter to Finn. "With you leading us, the transition came easy."

Awards were given to teachers from 19 area public school systems, a private school and a D.C. charter school.

Other winners:

Rhonda L. Alley, Douglass School, Loudoun County; Derek Anderson, Huntingtown High School, Calvert County; Erica Banks, Cardozo Senior High School, D.C. public schools; Maryel Barry, Henderson Middle School, Falls Church; Kenneth Bernstein, Roosevelt High School, Prince George's County; Joan Carol Bryant, Brumfield Elementary, Fauquier County; Cheryl Ann Cox, Marley Elementary, Anne Arundel County; Marta Janik Craighill, Cougar Elementary, Manassas Park; and Susan Demeria, Mayfield Intermediate School, Manassas.

Also, Margarita G. Doughty, Linganore High School, Frederick County; Gregory Feducia, Mountain View High School, Stafford County; Colette Fraley, Wakefield High School, Arlington County; Nate Franz, E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, the District; Katherine M. Frederick, Leonardtown Middle School, St. Mary's County; M. Tate Kenneally, Battlefield High School, Prince William County; Brigitte Lavey, Langley High School, Fairfax County; Lynn Levinson, Maret School, private, the District; Jill Jowdy Morrow, Higdon Elementary, Charles County; Linda Beck Pieplow, Clarksville Middle School, Howard County; and Jennifer A. Willment, Tucker Elementary, Alexandria.

Russia Today (RT.com)
Young Americans learn language of the competition
Monday, May 10, 2010

While the United States economy continues to struggle, countries like China are experiencing growth in nearly every sector. The role of China in the global financial markets has led many Americans to consider the country a good investment. In Washington D.C., the local department of education is putting almost $1 million dollars into a venture they hope will pay rich rewards: teaching young Americans the language of the competition. The Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School is a public school in D.C. that teaches half it's classes in English and the other half in Chinese.

To view the clip, click HERE.

The Washington Informer
U.S. Secretary of Education Surprises Southeast Teacher
By Norma Porter
Thursday, May 13, 2010

Stephanie Day always had an interest in social causes, whether the issue surrounded health care inequities, economic disparities in the workplace or civil rights, but she had no idea that one day she would be considered a nationally recognized leader in the field of education, helping to affect change one student at a time.

Day received the D.C. Teacher of the Year Award in February for her work as a special education resource teacher at Friendship Public Charter School's Chamberlain Elementary and Middle School Campus in Southeast.

That's why Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who calls education the civil rights issue of the 21st century, surprised Day in her classroom while she was reading a story to her students, Tue., May 4. He wanted to express his gratitude for her hard work during National Teacher Appreciation Week - May 3 through May 7.

"Stephanie was [named] the D.C. Teacher of the Year. I'm going to a number of schools this week just to thank teachers for their extraordinary hard work," Duncan said.

"I couldn't be more proud of how teachers are working across the D.C. area and across the country. We can't do enough to honor them and to let them know how much we appreciate their hard work and shine the spotlight on the difference they make in students' lives everyday."

Ironically, Day, 26, never intended to use the classroom to fight social injustice.

She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and planned to attend graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. Her life changed when Teach for America, an American non-profit organization that recruits recent college graduates to teach for two years in low-income communities throughout the United States, approached her about an opportunity in the District.

"I thought I'd entertain the idea [of teaching], but after I read the statistics about what's going on in so many of our communities with our under-resourced children being left behind I was devastated. I realized it was something I wanted to be a part of immediately."

Day started to teach fifth and sixth grade students at Beers Elementary School in Southeast in 2005, and that's when she fell in love with the profession. She joined the staff at Friendship in 2007 and now works with pre-K through second-graders with autism, speech and language impairments and developmental delays.

The schoolteacher said she teaches her students how to deal with their disabilities.

"I'm in love with my students and I care about them. I feel like they're my own kids now," she said as she helped one of the youngsters in her class write his name.

"Despite the challenges they [the students] face, if they use their strengths to teach to their weaknesses, they can be successful."

Day's friend, Laura McSorley, a pre-K teacher at Bridges Public Charter School in Northwest, said that she nominated her for the D.C. Teacher of the Year Award in September because Day always goes the extra mile.

"Stephanie does more than rehearse one or two lessons to help musical learners or vary the questions she asks to hit multiple cognitive levels. She creates entire experiences around lessons to reach all students," McSorley said.

"I've had the privilege of seeing Stephanie's living room on a school night, the floor covered with poster board and markers, or her notes sprawled out next to iTunes as she rewrites a pop song to teach a math concept."

Day, along with the other 55 teachers who received teacher of the year awards in their respective states, dined with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill. They also had an opportunity to meet personally with President Barack Obama to commemorate National Teacher Appreciation Week.

Keith Stephenson, the principal of Friendship, said that Day truly deserved the accolades.

"She epitomizes the characteristics of a fine teacher," he said.

"She works with early childhood special education, which is not a very popular teaching position. Her instructional strategies are outstanding. She goes above and beyond with her students, parents and colleagues."