A bunch of hearings slated for next week, on schools and their recovery from the pandemic, showed up on the council calendar recently:

Monday May 24, 12 pm: hearing with invited experts on school re-opening and academic recovery; more information is here.

Wednesday May 26, 9 am: hearing with public and invited witnesses on the district’s public education system in the wake of the pandemic; sign up (by 5/24) is here.

Wednesday May 26, 6 pm: hearing on school re-opening and academic recovery with ward 7 & 8 families; sign up (by 5/24) is here.

Friday May 28, 9 am: hearing with government witnesses on school re-opening and academic recovery; more information (including how to submit your own testimony) is here.

Also regarding schools & pandemic recovery:

DCPS is reaching out for feedback on $191 MILLION in federal recovery funds it is slated to receive. Per federal government guidance, states are required to get public feedback on the use of all recovery money in schools. The federal government has already stated what it considers appropriate uses for this money, including ensuring no staff cuts.

The DCPS survey is here and has a deadline of next Friday May 28.

Unfortunately, it will likely continue to remain unclear–at least until the mayor drops her budget next week, on May 27–what exactly DCPS is doing with individual school budgets, which had been subjected to widespread cuts that the mayor attempted to undo in part using federal funds.

Also recall that OSSE, as DC’s office of the state superintendent for education, is supposed to be the agency leading this effort at getting public feedback for all federal recovery money given to all our publicly funded schools (i.e., including charters)—but at last notice, the agency was still figuring out what it wanted to do (against a June deadline).

So, uh, stay tuned?