For more than 5 hours on February 28, public witnesses at the DGS performance oversight hearing outlined a variety of physical problems in DCPS schools, which DGS is charged with maintaining. To wit: Nonworking toiletsBroken elevators, preventing any handicap accessNonworking HVACFaulty or missing locks on class and other doorsDCPS deferring to DGS on maintenance decisionsStudents … Continue reading The Story Of DGS In Our Schools: Crumbling Infrastructure, Unsafe Conditions, & Work Order Hell

On March 3, on the heels of a 10+ hour hearing for all DC education agencies on March 1 (during which public witnesses testified), the DC Council invited the leaders of those agencies to another mega education performance oversight hearing. (For a cheat sheet on locating testimony and other oversight information, see the note marked … Continue reading Oversight Oversights

The mega education performance oversight hearing on March 1 (7 agencies, more than $2 billion annual DC taxpayer $$) lasted slightly over 10 hours and had more than 200 public witnesses, while only a fraction of the council attended—and all for a fraction of the entire hearing’s time. At various points I saw Phil Mendelson, … Continue reading Some Of What The People Said In 10 Hours On A Wednesday

here’s some other recent stuff going down in DC’s largest LEA: --DCPS used covid recovery funds to pay a school bus company even when the company's operating license was suspended. Shortly thereafter, DCPS students were traveling on one of the buses when its inebriated driver had an accident. --Speaking of money mysteries: DCPS has not … Continue reading And While DCPS Isn’t Providing Equitable, Stable, And Adequate Budgets . . .

[Ed. Note: What follows immediately below is a brief burying of the lede above, for context setting. If you wish, simply scroll down to the bold heading "Powerful Information To Help Advocate For Our Schools," which has some budget resources, including a budget outline by DCPS parent and education researcher Betsy Wolf.] Last Friday, February … Continue reading To Survive DCPS Budget Horrors, Learn From Expert Advocates

[Ed. Note: At the DC state board of education (SBOE) public hearing on February 15, public witnesses again presented testimony outlining serious shortcomings of proposed social studies standards promulgated by the office of the state superintendent of education (OSSE). We do not know (yet) the content of the more than 5000 comments (!) that OSSE … Continue reading Why DC’s Proposed Social Studies Standards Are Troubling–And The Troubling Path Forward

--A few days after the Post ran a story about the shortcomings of the safe passage program, a school safe passage worker was shot to death near Coolidge High school. At the same time, students have been repeatedly left in the lurch regarding mandated DC school buses not showing up on time (or at all; … Continue reading Unappetizing Food, Unsafe Passages, & Other Unsurprising DC School News

By the end of 2023, DC will likely have both a new boundaries study as well as a new iteration of its master facilities plan (MFP). As both are integral to the future of DCPS, it’s useful to look at how we got here—and where we might be going. This is the first of a … Continue reading Planning For Schools AND Saving Them, Part 1: DCPS Closures

--The office of the state superintendent of education (OSSE) is now receiving public comment on draft menstrual health education standards until midnight on February 20. You can email OSSE.HYDT@DC.GOV with your comments on the draft standards, available here. See here for additional information. OSSE is apparently hoping the DC state board of education (SBOE) will … Continue reading Winter Happenings 2023

DC’s office of the state superintendent of education (OSSE) is giving the public just a bit more time to comment on newly revised social studies standards promulgated on December 16, 2022. Specifically, the public now has until February 10 to provide comment—see here and here for how to comment (but ignore any mention of the … Continue reading Rewriting History (Standards)