What does parent engagement in schools mean? Ask 100 people--and get 100 different answers. Here is what parent engagement looks like from the perspective of the agencies in charge of DC public schools: DCPS The chancellor has a parent cabinet for which DCPS is seeking new members. The deadline for applying is October 1. Members … Continue reading Parent Engagement in Schools: Part 1

I took two pictures yesterday, September 15, 2015, of separate campuses of my DCPS school, the Capitol Hill Cluster School. How does your school compare? This is a girls bathroom at Watkins Elementary. It has never been renovated since the building was built, in 1962. Watkins is slated to receive a first wave of renovation … Continue reading Eyes on My School: September 15, 2015

Hearings are below, in chronological order. Sign up to testify is available at the links provided (note deadlines for signing up--some may have passed): September 17th, 10 am: confirming appointment of Ms. Ricarda Ganjam to the Public Charter School Board. September 24th, 12:30 pm: discussion with adult education students and providers on literacy and adult … Continue reading Updated: Council Education Hearings, Fall 2015

As representative bodies in DC, ANCs are hyper-local. But not all ANCs get into the nitty gritty of schools in the same way. One ANC on Capitol Hill, ANC6A, held an education summit on September 10. Individual commissioners reached out to schools in their districts, with gratifying results. Here, schools activist Heather Schoell reports what … Continue reading How Might ANCs Deal with School Issues?

[The following is a letter, dated today, addressed to Mayor Bowser from all eight ward-based education councils and education advocacy groups, offering a way for better schools planning. The deputy mayor for education is in the process of forming a task force to look into schools planning city-wide. The groups signing here want to ensure … Continue reading City Education Groups Offer the Mayor a Way to Better Schools Planning

[This below is just in from the state board of education--note the deadline is September 14!  Go to the website to apply. Also, it appears that several different sites within the state board of education give varying information as to how many students will be included on this panel. VJ] The State Board of Education … Continue reading Deadline to Apply for Student Advisory Committee: 9/14/15

A constant refrain in the wake of the recent report by the National Research Council (NRC) on mayoral control of DC public schools (the 2007 PERAA law) is problems with data. But really, it’s the public that is the problem. As in: the educational data DC residents get (or not) for their tax investment in … Continue reading Data, Data Everywhere–and Not a Number to See

DC public school charity has become a summer news item. In May, the DC Public Charter School Board released its annual financial audit, which contained data about donations. The DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) analyzed the audit, in a report released at the beginning of August. Then, in late August, the Post published two stories … Continue reading Public Schools and Private Money

One of the great hopes for the new cross sector task force for collaboration between charters and DCPS is that school building use will be rationalized across the district. Ideally, duplicative programming in adjacent schools can be avoided—and new schools created with community input that reflects community needs and desires. Examples abound of the urgent … Continue reading Collaboration & Community with School Buildings

The education committee of the DC council is holding hearings this fall for a variety of things, including for a bill for charter school fiscal oversight and transparency (Oct. 14); public vetting of a new charter school board member (Sept. 17); school food services (Sept. 30); and, possibly, summer modernization work. But none of those … Continue reading Education Committee Fall Agenda: Charter Fiscal Transparency, School Food Services