Herein debuts a new feature on this blog, showcasing communications sent to DC public officials about our schools that got utterly no response. As in: no city leader addressed or copied hitting “reply” and typing “thanks” or “we’re working on it” or “see ya later, alligator!” or “OMG!!” In this plea for help for DCPS's … Continue reading No Response: Sousa Middle School

Last month, DC schools advocate Peter MacPherson spoke with DC auditor Kathy Patterson about DC's public schools. In their hour-long conversation, which is here, they discuss a number of important issues, including lack of public involvement in our schools; the waste of public dollars in school modernizations; the lack of maintenance of renovated schools; personnel … Continue reading Interview With DC’s Auditor On DC Public Schools

The other week, during its monthly meeting, the Senior High Alliance for Parents, Principals, and Educators (SHAPPE) met with the deputy chancellor for DCPS to discuss what DCPS could do to increase its enrollment, given its rather sad enrollment goal in the DCPS strategic plan (54,000 students by 2022, or roughly the same percentage as … Continue reading Increasing Enrollment–And The Role Of The Public–In DCPS

Today, at 2 pm, in room 123 of the Wilson Building (1350 PA Ave. NW), the health committee of our city council will be marking up some version of legislation to provide for 40 hours per week of health care coverage in each DC public school. But exactly what version, and what health care coverage, … Continue reading Hey, Council: Why Can’t DC Do What Pediatricians Recommend And Have Full-Time Registered Nurses In Each Public School?

In these trying times of fake news and 140 character rants, we have yet another English language crisis, such that the word “inequitable” now means “unequal.” Oh, it’s not me saying this--it’s the cross sector task force. Or rather, it’s the people from the office of the deputy mayor for education (DME), who put together … Continue reading “Inequitable” Versus “Unequal”: Fun With Words, Task Force Version

[The following is a transcription, by Suzanne Wells, of Chancellor Wilson's response to a question from David Grosso during the council roundtable on DCPS's strategic plan, held last week on September 21, 2017. At 3:47, Grosso asked about goal 6, which is to have 54,000 students enrolled in DCPS by 2022. Grosso noted that some … Continue reading No Comment

This past week, DCPS rolled out its strategic plan for the next 5 years, with an appearance by Magic Johnson, whose relationship to the school district goes into its food contract, which itself is (still) shrouded in a lack of, well, outrage on the part of elected officials, despite the fact that some city officials … Continue reading The Lemonade of DCPS’s Strategic Plan

and some people are trying to get them to do something about it. To be more precise: on August 9, the DC office of open government (OOG) issued a binding opinion that declared that the DC public charter school board (PCSB) violated public meeting requirements of DC’s School Reform Act (SRA), PCSB custom and practice, … Continue reading So, The Public Charter School Board Violated The Law In June . . .

Last week, the Anacostia studio of progressive media station We Act Radio (which hosts Education Town Hall, to which I have contributed) was vandalized and expensive equipment stolen. As a result, We Act Radio is shut down until it is, literally, rebuilt. Please consider giving to the station's fundraising campaign as well as its community clean-up, slated … Continue reading Help Save We Act Radio

It’s a new school year--and to herald its start, the SY16-17 PARCC test results were announced last week. Despite a lack of significant change from last year, the scores have prompted several interesting remarks. Charter board executive director Scott Pearson was quoted in the Post as noting that DCPS’s relatively stronger performance was evidence that … Continue reading Continuing The Damage