–The council is holding a public roundtable about the DCPS teachers’ contract renewal this Friday December 20, for invited witnesses. See here for more information. Expect charters to get a chunk of money associated with this renewal because of previous sector payment parity. BTW if you want to see how our charter teachers are paid (and relative to charter executives!), see here.

–As outlined in recommendation 23 of the boundary study, the deputy mayor for education is (theoretically) required to formulate by December 31 a plan whereby the charter board and DCPS will work together for school openings, expansions, and closures. The plan is also supposed to go out for public comment.

As of this posting, however, there is radio silence. And as any real coordination in DC between sectors seems designed to advantage charters (i.e. releasing former DCPS buildings to charters automatically, getting extra money to charters as a result of the DCPS teachers’ contract), best not expect much.

–OTOH the mayor is apparently on sector coordination for school improvement! See the September report on DC’s school improvement plan here, part of a federally required exercise for our state superintendent of education (OSSE). The plan was presented to the DC council in November. Notwithstanding that previous schools identified for such improvement were mentioned only in a footnote (see p.12; recently selected schools are here), this program seems a bit light in the loafers—and its outline of how it is supposed to work a bit bright-sided. In a series of “if, then” statements on p. 21, for instance, a graphic suggests that if only OSSE does X, then schools will do Y, and then “ultimately” we will close achievement gaps and improve outcomes, with peace and prosperity everywhere, hakuna matata!

(And all without substantial resources devoted specifically to this effort at those specific schools!)

Setting aside the apparent assumption here that schools and/or OSSE have not already been doing the stuff listed on that graphic, the reality is that 3 of the 15 schools previously identified for this effort have closed (20%). As school closure is listed as an option after years of “improvement” efforts via this program, it raises the question of how closure actually helps students from the closed schools. Does OSSE find, for instance, that the students from those now-closed schools are doing better elsewhere?

Well, no—because no one in DC has any idea. DC doesn’t track students—and because everyone in DC leadership is more committed to school choice than to rationality, there is no effort to ensure that students from those (presumably failing) closed schools actually have better situations at other schools.

As it is, the idea that school closure is a viable and rational option after years of “improvement” efforts really puts the finger on the problem. Specifically, if the “improvement” protocol isn’t doing what it is supposed to do, why is an option stopping the school? What about stopping the improvement protocol?

Anyway, OSSE paid for a study of what such improvement protocols look like in other jurisdictions (see p. 38ff). Unfortunately, the jurisdictions do not seem remotely like DC—they are entire states, some of which have public education systems burdened by right-wing meddling (hey there, Texas and Louisiana!). And really, did DC need to pay someone to recommend that OSSE “design and implement a strong system of support [for schools] before considering alternative governance structures”? I mean, at any given education oversight hearing for the last decade, there have been literally thousands of words spoken and written about the need to have a strong system of support for schools first and foremost.

(Which, for the record, we don’t have.)

As this is hardly OSSE’s first rodeo at data wrangling (ie see education researcher Betsy Wolf’s excellent testimony earlier this month on OSSE’s interesting explication of DC’s high-impact tutoring), expect general silence.

–The DC auditor has hired a private firm to look into DCPS spending, especially from its central office. No word on how cutting back central DCPS spending will affect food access, security, or digital equity—and naturally no investigation of charter spending (because that’s magic money!).

–In better news, the DC council has approved taking over Eagle Academy’s former school building, McGogney, for use as swing space for DCPS. The legislation covers $13 million in what Eagle owed on the building. Unlike some leases of DC-owned former DCPS buildings, McGogney’s lease with Eagle permitted this clawing back for DCPS use. This is welcome news for Ward 8 schools awaiting modernization.

(That $13 million figure seems to account in some manner for Eagle’s taking out about $20 million in DC revenue bonds in 2016, in part to cover the McGogney renovation. A document I received via FOIA from Nevada (see p. 108 of the google doc or p. 99 of the original) indicates that Eagle spent $20 million on McGogney.)

–Speaking of facilities: The DCPS middle school to be created at the former Banneker high school, on Euclid Street, is moving forward. See DCPS’s modernization website for more information, including the formation of a community working group (application deadline is January 15). The plan is that the school will be the feeder for Cleveland, Garrison, and Seaton elementaries. AFAIK students at other (kinda) close by DCPS elementaries (Cooke, Marie Reed, Tubman) would have rights to opt in if they wanted to not avail themselves of dual language programming at CHEC. (The website linked above also has recent swing space updates around the city.)

–Yay, we are growing enrollment in our public schools—kinda. It is also not clear why these numbers were released so late relative to prior years. (You know, it’s almost like the news wasn’t exactly good or something.)

–It is no exaggeration to say that DC will feel the loss of education researcher Mary Levy for years to come. See here and here for several excellent retrospectives on her work.

–Right-wing policies to brutalize those who are not white, straight, cis, male, and/or wealthy will soon be in effect. So protecting DC students is top of mind for many here in DC, as the city itself will also be a target of fascist efforts to suppress democracy. If you want to help support our sanctuary schools, check out what the good people are doing at Teaching for Change; EmpowerEd; and Empower DC.