So literally a day after DCPS held a public forum on October 6, on its forced march to re-open on November 9, the school system fired (or removed or forced to resign, depending on your source) the principal of School Without Walls HS and and School Without Walls @Francis-Stevens. Together, those two campuses comprise one … Continue reading Good Trouble: Re-Opening DCPS Edition

Hello, DC! Do you know who you are voting for WRT education? At last count, there were more more than 20 candidates for two at large seats on the DC council (!) and 6 candidates for one at large seat on the state board of education--and that's not counting lots more candidates for seats in … Continue reading Education Election Information

--Last Monday, September 21, the DC public charter school board (PCSB) held a discussion of Ingenuity Prep (IP) and allegations that special ed services were not provided appropriately or safely. (See the video here.) Before the meeting, the charter board made clear it is not calling for a revocation of the school’s charter (see its … Continue reading The Waning Weeks Of September: Just Like The Others, Only More So

***Today, Wednesday September 23, at 3:30 pm, the education committee of the DC council will hold a vote on bill 23-0717, which concerns creating an at risk preference for charter schools in the lottery. A hearing was held on the legislation in the summer. More information is here. (Speaking of the council: there’s been a … Continue reading The Week(s) Ahead: Petitions And Hearings And More, Oh My!

Several efforts are well underway in DC to change how money is apportioned to our public schools. The results of either may rapidly change our school landscape. DC’s Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF) working group, convened by the office of the state superintendent of education (OSSE), has just had two meetings out of a … Continue reading The School Expense That Must Not Be Named (Or, How DCPS Schools Might Close Faster)

[Ed. Note: On Friday, DCPS parent Danica Petroshius sent a plea for DCPS to cover the (as much as 60%!) shortfall in digital devices and internet access before school starts tomorrow, Monday August 31. Below, Petroshius outlines what has happened since her plea: her school has received needed devices, possibly at the expense of other … Continue reading A Case Study In Inadequate Planning, Budgeting, Communications And Transparency (Digital Devices Update)

[Ed. Note: Right now, an astonishing 60% of respondents to a DCPS survey on technology apparently do not have adequate digital coverage at home to engage in mandatory distance learning when school begins on Monday August 31. To delineate this outrage, which parents across the city warned about for months running, look to the email … Continue reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being [a Public School Family in DC]: Digital Device Edition

In a pandemic that has wrecked the economy generally, and DC revenues specifically, the spectacle of a last-minute addition of $48 million in capital spending to purchase the Georgetown Day School’s lower school building, to create a new Ward 3 middle school, provided unique entertainment value. It added to $56 million newly committed to build … Continue reading Advantaging The Advantaged: A Tale Of $312 Million

--DCPS has a survey out on technology for students and online learning. (See screenshots of each page here.) Please fill it out by July 31 if yours is a DCPS family. Context: Earlier this year, in late May, the deputy mayor for education had a tech survey for DCPS that received 17,000 responses--without any ability … Continue reading What A Year This Week Will Be: Upcoming Events

Yesterday, Mayor Bowser announced that she would not announce what the plan was for re-opening DCPS. Instead, at the press conference, officials outlined several scenarios for DCPS, including a “hybrid” model of part-time in person instruction, alongside an all-virtual model, all of which they clearly had planned to roll out yesterday as a done deal--then … Continue reading Now That Distance Learning Is The New Floor For DC Education, Students Need Devices And Internet STAT