Here’s a chronological round-up of local and upcoming education events, many of which help elucidate and strengthen the connection of DC taxpayers to the public schools we fund and send our kids to.

–On Thursday September 19, at 6 pm, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and the National Coalition for School Diversity will host a conversation on segregation in schools and home. Location is 740 15th St. NW, Suite 300. See more information here.

–Teaching for Change is offering free workshops for DCPS elementary and early education teachers on how to engage families while examining how race, class, and equity affect school relationships. The workshops are October 4 and November 22, but the deadline to sign up is September 20. For more information and to apply, see here.

–On September 24 at 6:00 pm at 1811 14th St. NW, the City Paper is hosting a moderated discussion on school transparency in DC. Free registration is here.

–On September 27 at 6:30 pm at 1770 Euclid St. NW, local nonprofit Story of Our Schools will hold a fundraiser to support the group’s programming, which entails DC students researching and then creating museum-quality exhibits about their own schools, in their own schools. For more information, see here and to get tickets, see here.

–On October 2, at 10 am at our city hall, the Wilson Bldg. (1350 PA Ave. NW), the DC council takes another bite at transparency in our public schools by holding a hearing on a bill to require all of our publicly funded schools to be subject to FOIA and have open meetings. Sign up is here. More information is here on the school transparency bill under consideration; and here is background on all the school transparency bills under council consideration.

(In a fascinating coincidence, the DC office of open government recently ruled that all LSAT meetings in DCPS are actually public meetings. Who knew?? See their decision here; there is a related decision here from the same office.)

–On October 3, at 10 am at the Wilson Bldg. (1350 PA Ave. NW), the DC council will hold a hearing on the dangers of artificial turf in DC’s outdoor recreational and school spaces. To sign up to testify, see here. To get background information on why DC has this problem, see here.

–At some point in the (near-ish) future, stay tuned for a possible council hearing on the department of parks and recreation (DPR)’s, uh, interesting relationship to its stated mission to provide the public with publicly accessible and publicly owned recreation places. If it transpires, the hearing will address the mayor’s apparent agreement to allow a private school, Maret, near-exclusive access to a public facility overseen by DPR, Jelleff. (To sign a petition opposing the mayor’s efforts, see here. And here and here are a few more ways to get involved.)