Not sure what announcements will be made this week other than city giving a long-term lease on the closed Keene Elementary School to DC Bilingual Public Charter School.  Must be why they chose this location for the event. MEDIA ADVISORY     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 29, 2017 CONTACT: Susana Castillo (EOM) – (202) 727-5011; susana.castillo@dc.gov Shayne … Continue reading Accelerating School Reform???

Mayor Bowser’s call for a citywide vote in November to make Washington, DC the nation’s 51st state was planned to coincide with the 154th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.  That reminded me of one of Lincoln’s best-known speeches, his “House Divided Speech” where he said “a house divided against itself … Continue reading A Public School System Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Over Spring Break, Kristina Vidal and I did an extreme makeover to a couple bathrooms at Eliot-Hine Middle School. Both Kristina and I have daughters who are going to attend 6th grade at Eliot-Hine next fall.  Stories about the bathrooms at Eliot-Hine are infamous.  A couple years ago there weren’t stall doors in the girl’s … Continue reading Extreme Attitude Makeover?

Michael Chandler reported in The Washington Post on November 5, 2015, that the Cross-Sector Collaboration Task Force meetings will be held in public. Shayne Wells, a spokesman for the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME), said the DME’s office will comply with the Office of Open Government’s ruling that the Task Force is a public body … Continue reading Behind Closed Doors – Part 2

This blog was printed in the November 2015 issue of The Hill Rag. The Deputy Mayor for Education recently announced the formation of a Cross-Sector Collaboration Task Force. According to an 8/19/15 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document prepared by the Deputy Mayor for Education’s office, the Task Force is charged with “developing clear and fair … Continue reading Behind Closed Doors

The start of the school year at Tyler Elementary School found my daughter’s 5th grade class with four fewer students than they’d had in 4th grade. Her four classmates had left Tyler after 4th grade to attend a public charter school. I wanted to find out if something similar was happening at other DCPS elementary … Continue reading Where Have All the 4th Graders Gone?