Save Our Schools

COME MAKE HISTORY WITH US AS WE STOP DC SCHOOL CLOSURES! 

JOIN EMPOWER DC & THE WARD 8 EDUCATION COUNCIL & THE WARD 7 EDUCATION COUNCIL AT THE:

Save Our Schools Summit

Information Session & Rally building Support for Empower DC’s Lawsuit to STOP the planned closure of

15 DC Public Schools impacting over 2,700 students of color 

Thursday, March 14^th 2013

6:30-8:30 PM

Temple of Praise – 700 Southern Ave, SE

To Include:

Testimonies from impacted families

Introduction of legal team

Review of the legal strategy

Expressions of Support

Call to action

LAWYERS WILL BE ON HAND TO COLLECT STATEMENTS FROM IMPACTED RESIDENTS!

For more information, to RSVP or request transportation contact:

Daniel del Pielago

Education Organizer

(202) 234-9119 x 104 or Daniel@empowerdc.org

US Dept.of Education Faces Pushback on School Closures

By Candi Peterson

Last week on January 29, 2013, activists arrived in Washington, DC for what has been described as a "Journey for Justice." Seventeen cities were represented including:  Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, District of Columbia, Detroit, Eupora- (Miss), Hartford, Kansas City- (Mo.), Newark, New York, L.A., New Orleans, Oakland, Philadelphia and Witchita, Ks. Among their chief demands is a call to the US Department of Education's civil rights office to end top down discriminatory closings of public schools, phase outs and turn-arounds nationally and the sabotage and disinvestment of public schools.

In an AP article titled “SchoolTurn-arounds Prompt Community Backlash”, written by Christina Hoag on Feb. 5, 2013 -  “The U.S. Department of Education’s  (DOE) civil rights office has opened investigations into 33 complaints from parents and community members, representing 29 districts ranging from big city systems such as Chicago, Detroit and Washington, DC to smaller cities… said spokesman Daren Briscoe.” Complaints allege that the criteria and methods used in deciding school closings and turn-arounds are discriminatory.

Eleven cities testified at the DOE hearing. EmpowerDC, a well respected grassroots organization from Washington, DC was represented by Julianne Robertson- King, Esq., a DC Public Schools parent who has a daughter who attends Phelps Senior High School.  King represented both EmpowerDC, as well as Washington, DC at DOE hearings.

According to a Huffington Post article, members of the Obama administration were present for the hearings. US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan remained for 45 minutes despite the chants of protesters demanding to know where Mr. Duncan was once he exited the hearings. Also Obama Education Advisor, Roberto Rodriguez was present.

The overarching theme of the hearings from students and parents included testimony on how the closing of minority neighborhoods displaced students of color without a neighborhood school and destabilized entire communities.

While US Secretary, Duncan proffered to hearing participants that he has no control over local school closings, Journey to Justice activists saw it differently. Their January 2013 press release sums up their beliefs this way - "Despite current research showing that closing these public schools does not improve test scores or graduation rates. Closings have continued primarily because current federal Race To The Top policy has incentivized the closing and turn around of schools by supporting privatization. However, the privatization of schools has resulted in unchecked actions and processes where the primary fallout is those low income minority communities. The devastating impact of these actions has only been tolerated because of the race and class of communities affected."

Other demands of Journey for Justice include the implementation of a sustainable community driven school improvement process as national policy. Daniel del Pielago, Education Organizer of EmpowerDC states that moving forward -  “Communities are planning national days of action and pushing for a meeting with President Obama on this issue. This movement has allowed us to see that we (individual cities) are not in this fight alone and that we will use People Power to continue to organize to bring an end to unjust/discriminatory school closures.”

Following the DOE hearings, students, parents and community activists marched down Independence Avenue with police escorts alongside of them to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Mall chanting, "We won't take it no more, we're fired up," donning t-shirts that read "No schools + no jobs = death." I’m glad Journey for Justice came to DC, and honored to have been among the participants.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Journey For Justice

Journey for Justice "A National Grassroots Education Movement" Members: Atlanta, GA Project South Baltimore, MD  Baltimore Algebra Project Boston, MA Boston Youth Organizing Project Chicago, IL Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization Cleveland, OH Common Good Ohio Detroit, MI Keep the Vote/NO Takeover Eupora, MS Fannie Lou Hamer Center Hartford, CT Parent Power Kansas City, MO Full Potential Los Angeles, CA Crenshaw High School Labor Community Strategy Center Newark, NJ Parents Unified for Local School Education (PULSE) New Orleans, LA Friends and Family of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children Parents Across America C6 New York, NY NYC Coalition for Educational Justice Alliance for Quality Education Urban Youth Collaborative Make the Road NY Oakland, CA Santa Fe Elementary Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Student Union Youth United for Change Action United Washington, D.C. Empower DC Alliance for Education Justice  Leadership Center for the Common Good Wichita, KS Sunflower Action Support provided by:The Annenberg Institute for School Reform FOR MORE INFORMATION: Laurie R. Glenn Phone: 773.704.7246 E-mail: lrglenn@thinkincstrategy.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013 MEDIA ALERT  18 CITIES CONVERGE IN WASHINGTON D.C ON "JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE," CALLING ON DEPT. OF EDUCATION TO END DISCRIMINATORY CLOSINGS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS National Movement Forms In Wake Of Mass School Closings & Turnarounds That Violate Civil Rights & Promote Divestment In Low-Income Communities Of Color WHAT:  Students, parents and advocacy representatives from 18 major United States cities will testify at a hearing before the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. on the devastating impact and civil rights violations resulting from the unchecked closing and turnaround of schools serving predominantly low-income, minority students across the country.   More than 10 cities have filed, or are in the process of filing, Title VI Civil Rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, citing the closing of schools and the criteria and methods for administering those actions as discriminatory toward low-income, minority communities. Representatives from 11 cities will testify at the hearing on the impact of school closings including the civil rights violations and the destabilization of their children and communities resulting from the criteria used for school closings and the current accepted movement to privatize schools. Demands of the Department of Education include a moratorium on school closings until a new process can be implemented nationally, the implementation of a sustainable, community-driven school improvement process as national policy, and a meeting with President Obama so that he may hear directly from his constituents about the devastating impact and civil rights violations. The hearing will be followed by a procession and candlelight vigil at the Martin Luther King Memorial to continue to raise the voices of those impacted by the destabilization and sabotage of education in working and low-income, communities of color. In the wake of the hearing, the 18 participating cities, along with additional cities in the process of organizing, are forming a national movement to unite students, parents and advocacy organizations across the country to spread awareness of mass school closings and their impact on targeted communities.                   WHO: Approximately 500 students, parents and community leaders, impacted or at risk of impact by school closings, representing 18 cities across the country will attend the hearing including: Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Detroit; District of Columbia; Eupora, Miss.; Hartford, Conn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Newark; New Orleans; New York; Oakland, Calif.; Philadelphia; Wichita, Kan.; and Wilmington, Del. WHEN/ WHERE:  Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 2:00 p.m.- 3:55 p.m. EST U.S. Department of Education Auditorium Washington, D.C. Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 5:00 p.m. EST Martin Luther King Memorial Washington, D.C. WHY: Cities across the country are experiencing the results of neglectful actions by the closing of schools serving predominantly low-income students of color including displacement and destabilization of children, increased violence and threats of physical harm as a result of re-assignment, and destabilization at schools receiving the displaced students.    Despite current research showing that closing these public schools does not improve test scores or graduation rates, closings have continued primarily because current federal Race To The Top policy has incentivized the closing and turnaround of schools by supporting privatization. However, the privatization of schools has resulted in unchecked actions and processes where the primary fallout is on those in low-income, minority communities. The devastating impact of these actions has only been tolerated because of the race and class of the communities affected. ####

DC's Ward 8 Parents Tell Mayor "Enough is Enough" !

By Candi Peterson

On a cold, rainy night (January 15)  an estimated 300 parents, students and concerned citizens took a page from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social action playbook on his official birthday and took direct action by holding a vigil at the home of Mayor Vincent Gray, who chose to work late rather than meet with his neighbors.

Led by Ward 8 State Board of Education representative Trayon White, the animated group of parents and children pleaded for the opportunity to keep their neighborhood schools open. “Enough is enough! Instead of giving our children less in Ward 8 we should be giving our children more.”

Parents say it’s more than an inconvenience it’s a threat to their children’s future.

Chanting “Save Our Schools”, parents and activists were joined by a number of enthusiastic children from schools such as Malcolm X elementary as one particularly angry mother stated, “A lot of people don’t have transportation to get these kids back and forth to school. Is that what they are trying to do, they are trying to push us out. It’s not us that is suffering but our children.”

Kaya Henderson appears to be tone deaf to the concerns of the District’s poorest neighborhoods, as she released a statement saying, “As you will see DCPS will reinvest funds from consolidate schools to improve programming across the District. The goal is to use funds and resources more efficiently”.

Poor parents are particularly upset at the cavalier attitude that DCPS has to their desire to keep neighborhood schools open that are in walking distance of their home. In addition to the cost and the added burden of busing their children to schools outside the neighborhood, there are legitimate security concerns as Ward 8 has one of the highest crime rates in the city.

In addition to Malcolm X, two other elementary and one other middle school is a target for closure in Ward 8, and three other elementary schools and another middle school in nearby Ward 7, which represent half of the 20 schools slated for closure.

The irony of the bad timing of these schools closing during the week when the District commemorates the heritage of Martin Luther King, Jr., with a parade in the street named in his honor in Far Southeast, and the nation gears up to celebrate the inauguration of the President, the Chancellor plans to announce her school closing plan this week before a long holiday weekend.

Across the District the spirit of direct civic action is being renewed around the issue of public education. Leading up to the vigil at the Mayor’s residence was an education Summit on DC school closures, sponsored by EMPOWER DC this past Saturday at ward 5’s Guildfield Baptist church where a packed basement of activists participated in a social justice training session.

Those plans call for a similar vigil at the home of Chancellor Henderson this Thursday, and a protest at the Department of Education to meet with Education Secretary Arnie Duncan on January 29^th where activists from across the country are expected to come to the Nation’s Capitol to protest policies that promote the privatization of public education.

Public school closures has finally become the galvanizing issue that has gotten the attention of a broad cross section of parents, educators and education policy activists into an effective coalition.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Mayor Vince Gray = Adrian Fenty on DC School Closures

By Candi Peterson

Ward 8 DC School Board Representative, Trayon White requests that parents, guardians, teachers, students and community members Please Stand With Him and attend a candlelight vigil at the home of DC Mayor Vincent Gray on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 in protest of DC Public Schools closures.

Vigil to be held from 6 - 7:30 pm @

2619 Branch Ave. SE Wash., DC 20020
                                                                                   
 Trayon White @ 202-316-7593
*In partnership with EmpowerDC & Ward 8 Dems.
Photo courtesy of Daniel del Pielago

The Black and White of School Closures

By Candi Peterson

As 2012 comes to an end,  two unmistakable trends have emerged from studies that public schools are being sold down the river to private interests and the rush to close schools has not resulted in any measurable improvement in standardized test scores. The Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) just issued The Black and White of Education in Chicago’s Public Schools report on the “underutilization crisis” in the Chicago Public Schools system. CTU contends that this crisis that has been manufactured largely to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools by privatized charters.

“When it comes to matters of race and education in Chicago, the attack on public schools is endemic,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis.  “Chicago is the most segregated city in the country, and our students of color are routinely deemed as second-class by a system that does nothing but present one failed policy after the next.”

More specifically, Chicago Teachers' Union highlights what  the policy of neighborhood closings and charter openings has led to:

- Increased racial segregation
- Depletion of stable schools in black neighborhoods
- Disrespect and poor treatment of teachers
- Expansion of unnecessary testing
- Decreased opportunities for deep conceptual learning
- Increased punitive student discipline
- Increased student mobility
- Minimal educational outcomes

Locally, DC Action for Children, a non-profit advocacy organization came to a similar conclusion that educational outcomes have been minimal in the District of Columbia.  Their newly released study, DC KIDS COUNT, Third Grade Proficiency in DC: Little Progress (2007-2011) , looked at five years of third grade reading and math test scores from the DC Comprehensive Assessment System, (DC CAS) for insights about citywide proficiency, the achievement gap and neighborhood disparities.

Their results? “We could not prove any statistically significant citywide progress from 2007-2011 in reading or math proficiency. The same held true when we broke scores down by race, by DCPS schools, DC public charter schools, students from economically advantaged or students from economically disadvantaged families."

This study neutralizes the rationale used by Chancellor Henderson and her predecessor Michelle Rhee which is embedded in the first goal of the five-year plan DC Public Schools ) which is: “To improve achievement rates.”

I personally don’t believe that Henderson's under-utilization argument makes any sense. What we know is that the policy of closing schools has not saved DC Public Schools (DCPS)  any money. The evidence shows us that closing our schools has driven more parents out of our public schools to charters and elsewhere. It's a no brainer that less students in our public schools equals less money for DCPS.  

DC Public Schools cannot demonstrate that their continued failed policy of closing 20 plus schools every 4 years, is not achieving its number one goal of improving test scores. So why then is Henderson and other heads of school districts stuck on stupid nationally, one might ask?

The answer lies in CTU's report, "A crisis has been manufactured to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools. There  is a real economic benefit to real estate investors, charter school operators, philanthropists and wealthy bankers."

An August 2012 Reuters article spells out the reason for the national push to privatize. " The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from 5-18. The entire education sector represents 9 percent of the gross domestic product, more than energy or technology sectors. Traditionally, public education had been a tough market for private firms to break into- fraught with politics, tangled in bureaucracy..... Now investors are signaling optimism that a golden moment has arrived. They're pouring private equity and venture capital into scores of companies that aim to profit by taking over broad swaths of public education."

When the smoke clears in 2013 and all the policy arguments are made, DCPS will close another 20 schools give or take a few concessions and 12,000 students and an estimated 1,200 teachers and school staff members will be thrown under the bus.

© Candi Peterson 2013

What's the Impact of DCPS School Closures on Teachers & School Staff?

By Candi Peterson

There has been a great deal of confusion and angst over what will happen to DCPS teachers and school staff after the school consolidation takes place in 2013-14. The districts plans have been made clear in a recent "DCPS School Consolidation Staffing Overview." ( Click on the words DCPS School Consolidation Staffing Overview for attachment). Some DCPS teachers and staff at select schools were provided copies of this 3-page document by their local school principals shortly after Chancellor Henderson's announcement of the school consolidation plan. Other employees at schools slated for consolidation were not provided copies of this document for reasons unclear.

One thing is for sure, whether you received the school consolidation document or not - excess letters will be handed out to teachers and school personnel beginning in June, 2013. By definition, an "excess is an elimination of a teacher's position at a particular school due to a decline in student enrollment, a reduction in the local school budget, a closing or consolidation, a restructuring or change in the local school program when such an elimination is not a reduction in force (RIF) or abolishment." (Refer to page 27 of the WTU Collective Bargaining Agreement)

The School Consolidation Staffing Overview raised many pertinent questions that teachers, school staff and parents should pay attention to as it will have an adverse effect on what happens to employees in consolidated schools.

How will school consolidation affect Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) members?

DCPS answer: " WTU members at consolidated schools will be subject to the excessing process as outlined in the WTU contract. Please note that no one will be excessed until the end of 2012-13 school year."

What happens to Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) members?

DCPS answer: "After being excessed, WTU members will have 60 days to interview for new placements. After that period, WTU members who are unable to find placements may be eligible for an extra year of employment to find a permanent position. These options are only available to WTU members who are in their third year and beyond, and whose most recent IMPACT rating is Effective or Highly Effective. All other WTU members who are unable to find positions will be separated from the system."

Will excessed Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) members be given preference over external hires?

DCPS answer: "In accordance with the WTU contract, DCPS principals will have the authority to hire from whichever source they choose. That said DCPS will work to facilitate the placement of as many WTU members as possible."

Since school staff who are members of the Council of School Officers (CSO), Teamsters, AFSCME have a different collective bargaining agreement, they will be subject to a different set of rules than WTU members. The DCPS consolidation staffing overview states members of other unions will be guaranteed a job at another school as long as the overall number of positions increase and they remain Effective or Highly Effective.

How will school consolidation affect principals and assistant principals?

DCPS answer: "As we do every year, DCPS will evaluate all principals and assistant principals for reappointment in the spring. School leaders from consolidated schools may have opportunities to panel or interview at other schools. Principals and assistant principals who are not reappointed may be eligible to retreat to their last permanent position."

In all the information on student enrollment, average yearly enrollment, building capacity and so-called under utilization provided by DCPS, the one data set that is never addressed is the number of teachers and staff affected. An estimated 12, 233 students are projected to be affected by the school consolidations in the proposed plan. But where is the data on the numbers of teachers and staff affected?

Will it be the estimated 14 teachers slated to be excessed at Mamie D. Lee school with an 8 to 1 teacher-to-student ratio, or the 55 teachers and staff  affected by the 237 students being thrown into the mix when Garrison Elementary School faces closing?

It may be like the case of Malcolm X and the Black Muslims, when asked how many members of the Nation of Islam there were. His pat answer was, "Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say"!

Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) members, you have less than six months to find out the future of your job security as an estimated 1,200 teachers and staff or up to 30% of WTU membership may face the excessing chopping block as the WTU leadership stands silently by hosting and toasting Chancellor Henderson at union membership meetings and holiday gatherings when hard questions are ignored!

© Candi Peterson 2013

Brightwood Protest and Pushback to DC Public Schools Closings

Nathan Harrington protests meeting

By Candi Peterson
The last in a series of educational town hall meetings was held last week at the Brightwood education campus to hear from stakeholders re DC Public Schools consolidation plan to close 20 public schools.


Activist Nathan Harrington, a Congress Heights DC resident blew into the meeting talking over Chancellor Kaya Henderson creating a dramatic start to the meeting and appeared to create some hard feelings among participants who were politely waiting to be heard. “My fellow Washingtonians, it is abundantly clear that the intention of this meeting is to confuse and mislead the citizens of our city into passively accepting decisions that have already been made. A hour and a half of officials promoting their plans is not community input,” Harrington said.

Although stakeholders may not have agreed with how Harrington delivered his message, Henderson told the audience she had no problems allowing Harrington to continue if that’s what the audience wanted. Despite some mild protests by audience members, Harrington continued to deliver his two page speech as he moved throughout the room. A lone female security officer tugged and pulled on Harrington’s sweater trying to facilitate his departure from the room inefficaciously. Harrington concluded by inviting residents to boycott the meeting and reminded them of past experiences of trying to stop school closure plans was unsuccessful and fell on deaf ears.

“I want to hear from you. Come to me with your suggestions and we will incorporate your feedback and will show how we are going to include your ideas. You have my commitment that it will be different this time,” Henderson vowed as she promised participants to work through the month of December incorporating participants ideas in the consolidation plan.

The meeting represented multiple wards of 1,2, 3, 4, and 6. Parents with children in tow, teachers, community residents and activists filled the cafeteria/gymnasium discussing their concerns at tables representing their respective schools. The meeting resembled the same format offered at previous meetings with DCPS staffers facilitating the discussion mainly around questions that focused on what would make the consolidation plan a smoother transition and what had DCPS failed to consider.

An unusually high number of Council members made appearances including Muriel Bowser, Jack Evans, Tommy Wells and David Catania. City council members have not denounced school consolidation plans until Thursday night’s meeting where Council member Evans came out against the closures of Garrison elementary school and Francis-Stevens education campus.

Powerful testimony provided by parents from Garrison elementary school included David Sallie who lives one block from Garrison and has a 2 ½ year old daughter. “I applied for preschool because of the activism of the PTA (at Garrison), amazing things are going on and there is momentum, a new principal and population changes which have not been taken into account”, Sallie said.

Sallie appealed to the chancellor. "You are going to lose families if you cut Garrision. I don’t consider charter schools over public schools", he concluded.

The consolidation efforts had parents advocating for their schools and most often opposing the effort to merge their school with a lower performing school. Some of the most notable concerns of the evening were safety issues the school consolidations would create. The majority of participants opposed shuffling 6th grade students to high schools with significantly older students, students traveling into unsafe neighborhoods as well as the extinction of walkable neighborhood schools.

Virginia Spatz injected some much needed humor at the end of the night when she spoke of the un-central location of the meeting and how it took her 2 buses and a train to arrive at Brightwood from her Ward 6 residence. " The whole process is missing. We need the consolidation to be put on hold, and evaluation with research on grades 6-12. We didn't do so well before with the Pre K-8 model. We want to see some vision," Spatz said.

Speaker after speaker provided a laundry list of reasons why the school consolidations would create more problems then they would solve. Parents raised the issue that charter schools should not be off the chopping block and should be part of the consolidation plan as well.

Chancellor Henderson reassured the standing room only crowd at the end of the evening that, “We will make sure that every question will be answered and made public.” But admitted that of the final decision, “You’re darned if you do, and darned if you don't."

If Henderson's aim is to avoid the mistakes of 2008 school closures, then why was no consideration given to a 'community task force' to plan school consolidations ?  I concur with activist Nathan Harrington's assessment that promoting DC Public Schools' plans does not equate to community input. Somehow we are still putting the cart before the horse. There are better ways to consolidate schools that is if you are willing to do the research. Chancellor Kaya Henderson, like her predecessor is really no different than Michelle Rhee.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Deja Vu All over Again-DC Public School Closures

Written By Candi Peterson

Plans to consolidate twenty DC Public Schools were announced on November 13, 2012 followed by a rush of public hearings and neighborhood stakeholder discussions that gave precious little time for parents, teachers and administrators to respond. The edict sounded all too familiar to those of us who were around for the first round of closures in 2008.

In a nutshell, DC's Chancellor Kaya Henderson proposes to close twenty public schools because they are under enrolled and in DCPS’s opinion are too costly to operate. The list of school closures includes 8 elementary schools, 3 special education schools, 4 middle schools, 2 education campuses, the Choice program, 1 High School STAY program (School To Aid Youth) and 1 high school.

 Two days of City Council hearings that lasted until nearly midnight with over 50 witnesses followed the school closure announcement to allow for testimony from education stakeholders. Community stakeholder meetings were subsequently scheduled to get feedback at four ward-based meetings commencing November 27 at Savoy elementary school in Ward 8, a second meeting at Sousa middle school in Ward 7 on November 28 and a third meeting at McKinley senior high on November 29 in Ward 5. The last meeting will be held at Brightwood education campus on December 5. This meeting will represent multiple wards of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.

 Unlike the meetings of 2008 when stakeholders were escorted off to individual classrooms for private discussion, this year's format for ward based meetings included small table group discussions in an open meeting space like the school gymnasium. The discussions were facilitated by a DCPS staffer leading the dialogue around three main questions: [1] What has DCPS not thought about; [2] What can be done to strengthen the proposal; and [3] What could make the transition smoother. Participants reported back to the larger audience sharing their tables' response.

We need a moratorium on public school closings and charter school openings was a common recommendation expressed at the Ward 5 and 8 stakeholder meetings. When I attended the community meeting at McKinley, I couldn't help but feel the participants frustration and distrust that DCPS has already made its mind made up about going forward with the school closures .

Robert Vinson Brannum, VP of Ward 5 Council on Education questioned the school districts intentions. "The root question is are we working on the premise that the proposal is going forward. If at the end of everything, we say don't do it (close schools), are you going to go forward anyway”, Brannum said. 

 Comments from the McKinley audience ended with an obtrusive presence- none other than Ward 5 ANC commissioner Bob King. King who lives in the Fort Lincoln neighborhood has been a long time commissioner for 30 plus years and a community advocate as well as supporter of Thurgood Marshall elementary school. Commissioner King left a memorable impression when he spoke directly to Chancellor Henderson about Marshall's rich history, community support and the corporate sponsorships he garnered from Costco on behalf of the school.

"I have a written contract for $10,000 yearly from Costco, backpacks for all the students in Ward 5 and I personally delivered 68 computers, 10 smart boards and 1 projector to Marshall. You might be gone and the mayor might be gone, so please right your proposal to keep Marshall open," King said.

The ward 7 meeting at Sousa was markedly different than either of those in Wards 5 or 8. The Ward 7 education council took ownership of their meeting, decided not to entertain DCPS’ questions and presented a proposal of their own to keep schools open. Daniel del Pielago, education organizer of Empower DC said of the plan, "it reflected the concerns of parents and community and ultimately the plan said let's work to save and make our schools better instead of let's close more schools and see what happens as DCPS is saying."

Through two weeks of excruciating meetings the majority of community voices clearly oppose the closures, with only a promise from Chancellor Kaya Henderson to take the community’s recommendations into consideration before she makes a final verdict in January of 2013. A visceral lack of trust in the process exists at the community level, as DCPS and local council representatives appear to be hell bent on closing 20 schools regardless of community input, while ignoring loud persistent cries from the community to stop the madness and consider a moratorium. 

© Candi Peterson 2013

Here We Go Again: More DC Public School Closures!

Written by Candi Peterson

Let's take a trip down memory lane back to 2008 when Michelle Rhee was the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. Rhee rolled out a plan to abruptly close 23 public schools. Her premise was that the closing of under enrolled public schools would save the taxpayers $23 million dollars and that these cost savings could be used to hire additional teachers and create new programs. Sound similar to Kaya Henderson's Consolidation and Reorganization Proposal to consolidate 20 schools?

At the 2008 school closure meetings, parents and education stakeholders voiced strong opposition of Rhee's plan since closures were proposed before the community had a chance to have input. Stakeholders were distrustful of school closures since a disproportionately higher number of minority neighborhoods faced school closures, leaving Ward 3 schools unscathed. And it seems that the politically well connected, upscale neighborhoods west of Rock Creek will be spared again!

Parents are now asking many similar questions of Chancellor Henderson regarding her proposal to consolidate 20 more public schools that they once asked of Rhee. Stakeholders want to determine: What data was used to determine school closures? What will happen to closed school buildings? How will school closures impact DC Public Schools enrollment? Will teachers from closing schools be able to follow their students to receiving schools? What will be the actual cost savings of school closures? How will the money be used?

In 2008, Mary Levy, then Attorney for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and long time DCPS budget analyst  predicted that closing schools would not save the money Rhee projected (23 million)."If these 23 schools are closed, it isn't going to save us a lot of money and it's not going to allow us to do exciting new enrichment programs," Levy said.

By looking closely at some of the available data (DC City audit report, Mary Levy study, etc.) from the 2008 school closures, student enrollment declined considerably. Many dissatisfied parents pulled their children out of DC Public Schools and students were more than twice as likely to enroll in charter schools. The DC City audit reported in 2009 that the loss of enrollment of DC Public Schools cost the school system five million dollars. Mary Melchoir, a DCPS parent and 2nd VP of Ward 5 Council on Education recently testified at the DC City Council hearings on proposed 2013 school closures. Melchoir cited a graphic example of what happens when schools are closed. “The consolidation of Brookland/Bunker Hill elementary school resulted in the loss of 211 students who left DCPS resulting in the loss of 2.5 million dollars”, Melchoir stated.

Given what we have learned from the DCPS 2008 school closures, it is not surprising that parents, city residents and community groups are calling for a 'moratorium' on school closures this time around. Empower DC, a well respected community grassroots organization is leading the effort to halt school closures. Daniel del Pielago, organizer for Empower DC's public education campaign in a November newsletter wrote: "The Chancellor and Mayor have made up their minds so far that more schools need to be closed. The City Council while expressing concerns about this process has not expressed any tangible opposition to continued school closures."

I wholeheartedly agree with del Pielago's position that the chancellor has it wrong and needs to develop a comprehensive plan for public education. I thought we learned what not to do after the Michelle Rhee experiment of 2008. I guess somebody needs to tell Chancellor Henderson what the definition of insanity is: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  

© Candi Peterson 2013

Restore Librarians to DC Public Schools

Please join me in signing this petition. As always thanks for your support.  Click on the word petition

Candi Peterson

Written by:  Bella Dinh-Zarr

My son Kai attends our neighborhood elementary school and loves his librarian, Ms. Woodard, who always had wonderful literacy activities for the younger, just-learning-to-read kids like Kai, as well interesting activities to foster a love of reading in older kids. Thanks to the excellent teachers and Ms. Woodard, our struggling urban school raised its reading scores by 14% last year! 

So I was shocked to hear that Ms. Woodard had been let go, due to "budget cuts." In fact, 57 schools and 16,600 students in DC will have no librarian next year. And the remaining librarians are being re-labeled as optional/flexible staff! According to an independent City Council analysis, the DC Public School system has enough in its budget to fund a librarian and top-notch library materials for all of its schools. But despite the claims by Mayor Vincent Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson that they want to improve literacy and reading proficiency (outlined in their new five-year plan), they have so far refused to shift their priorities and ignored all protests by concerned parents and students.

My husband and I, along with hundreds of other parents in D.C., are fighting hard to Save Our Librarians. Librarians from the whole DC area have been joining us in this fighting including Kamaria Hatcher, a librarian in Maryland, who helped us start this petition. We have been working non-stop, but the Mayor and Chancellor Henderson have so far refused to hear us. We need your help! Tell Mayor Gray and Kaya Henderson that librarians are not optional!

We want a librarian in every school (at least part-time in smaller schools, if needed), a per student allotment for library materials as other school districts have, and for librarians to be put back in the essential staff category. Please sign our petition and help us Save Our Librarians! Thank you!

Remembering Vanessa

Vanessa Countee

 Written by Candi Peterson


A DC Public Schools colleague died last Friday. Her name was Vanessa Countee. I always loved her smile, southern drawl and country charm. I fondly remember her regular greeting of "Hey Gurl !" Vanessa battled a long term illness, which she kept private. While I knew she had been sick, I wished I would have known how serious her condition was so our work group could have done more and bid our last good byes. 


Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. This is why it is so important to live life to the fullest so we don't have any regrets in the end. Tell those that matter that you care about them, while they are still here. Miss you Vanessa Gurl! Rest in peace, my friend. Vanessa's funeral will be held this Friday. (obituary below).

VANESSA FAYE COUNTEE  

Vanessa Faye Countee peacefully entered into eternal rest on Friday, July 27, 2012. She was the daughter of deceased William and Helen Jones; sister of Jonathan Jones (Valerie), Adrian Jones (Sylvia) of Atlanta, GA and Monica Moore of Los Angeles, CA. Cherishing her memories are ex-husband, Roniotis Thomas of Washington, DC; two step-daughters, Angel and Alexis; four nephews, Jelani, Jabari, Micaiah and Malik; and one niece, Pedra.

Vanessa was a Social Worker for the DC Public School System and Premium Select Home Care. She was employed by Georgetown University Hospital. She received her Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology at Talladega College where she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. She received her Master's Degree in Social Work at Howard University.

The homegoing service will be held at Mount Cavalry Baptist Church, 5120 Whitfield Chapel Road, Lanham, MD 20706, Friday, August 3, viewing from 10 to 11 a.m.; Service starting promptly at 11 a.m. Interment will be at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery. The repast will follow at Mount Calvary Baptist Church. Services entrusted to J.B. Jenkins Funeral Homes, Inc., Landover, Maryland.

Ignoring DC Public Schools Erasure Gate!

white·wash:
to whiten with whitewash, to cover up or gloss over the faults or errors of; absolve from blame

Written by Candi Peterson

Last week, Washington Post education columnist, Jay Mathews and blogger of Class Struggle wrote an excellent piece titled: "DC Keeps Ignoring its Test Erasure Scandal." While I don't always agree with Mathews, he certainly hit the nail on the head this time. Two thumbs up to Jay Mathews!

Mathews believes that the results of the second investigation into the testing erasure scandal in DC Public Schools is a cover-up. I wholeheartedly agree with him. As a veteran reporter, Mathews knows a white wash when he sees one.  Mathews gives full disclosure in his article stating that he is married to Linda Mathews, editor at USA Today who conceived and exposed the series of articles in 2011 into testing erasure scandals not only in DC but Atlanta, Georgia, as well.

Mathews asked the million dollar question of DC Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson,"What about all those erasures?" Mathews writes: "Henderson seems uninterested in the question stating that I am pleased that this investigation is complete and the vast majority of our schools were cleared of any wrongdoing." What is interesting about Henderson's comments, is what she doesn't say. The  investigation conducted by Alvarez and Marsal is only for the 2011 school year. We are still awaiting the DC Inspector General investigation results for school year 2010 and there will be no investigation into years 2008 or 2009. DC officials limited the scope of the probe so that a full scale investigation will not take place. Go figure.

I'm troubled that in the years where there was a great likelihood that there was rampant cheating under the Michelle Rhee/Kaya Henderson administration, we will never have a legitimate answer as to what really happened. Mark Simon, DCPS parent wrote a post on the Concerned for DCPS list serve explaining why some think that an investigation into 2009 would be insignificant. Simon writes :"When IFF looked at the test score results for the past three years, they noted an abnormal bump in the scores in 2009. They said that since cheating was widespread across the school system, they discounted it as having an effect in any particular school."

In Mathews' article, he all but asks what's wrong with this picture, when an investigation does not make any mention of asking students about erasures. For me, this is problematic, especially since as Mathews writes, no students were questioned in the initial Caveon Consulting Company investigation. It seems to me this investigation didn't really want to find out what happened. Rather, as Mathew reports, Cate Swinburn, Chief of Data and Accountability for DC Public Schools had her own hypothesis that wrong-to-right erasures "might have been caused by students first making tentative answers, then going back to rethink them as teachers often recommend." How did Swinburn arrive at such a conclusion especially since students were never questioned by investigators about their own erasures? Not to mention, that the frequency of wrong-to-right answers, evidenced by erasure reports in DC Public Schools is unlikely to happen, according to Mathews' sources.

I am more inclined to agree with Mathews position when he makes the argument: ".... had investigators taken seriously the possibility that high erasure rates could have been due to principals or testing coordinators changing answers after students turned them in, it would have helped to determine if students who had many changes on their tests, remembered making them. " That is of course, if Alvarez and Marsal had thought to question students about their erasures. Mathews states DC students were asked questions that were not related to the issue of test erasures. Students were asked if they cheated? and if they knew who did? What else would we expect from a company whose motto is: "when the stakes are high, companies and stakeholders look to A & M to help find the right answer and deliver the solution ?"

In looking at the comments that followed Mathews article, I noticed that one poster asked why are we surprised at the results. I am not surprised at all especially at this 'no accountability administration' who regularly points the finger of blame at teachers for all that's wrong in public education. Being the idealist that I am, I did hope for a comprehensive investigation.

Mathews opines a final point in conclusion, with which I concur: "The failure to do the kind of thorough inquiry that revealed massive test tampering by principals and teachers in Atlanta after high numbers of erasures will leave many people here in doubt. The latest investigation, which cost $400,000, has done the children of D.C. no good at all."

Mathews' article can be viewed by clicking the title of his article: DC Keeps Ignoring its Test Erasure Scandal.

© Candi Peterson 2013