Archive: Theola Labbé
No More Stokes
For nearly five years, John A. Stokes has tried to sell city reporters on good news stories like summer meals for children and college tuition programs for D.C. high school students, as a spokesman for the state education office. Now he'll be doing it from a different perch, as the...
By Theola Labbé | May 14, 2008; 12:00 PM ET | Email a Comment
A Night for Seeing Stars
The phrase Fight Night connotes excitement around an impending boxing match. So what does the term School Night mean?...
By Theola Labbé | April 24, 2008; 08:20 AM ET | Email a Comment
The Chancellor Rhee Ties That Do or Don't Bind?
We told you once, then twice, about DC resident Kristin Ehrgood, and the group she helped put together, DC School Reform Now. A reminder: they are citizens and parents circulating a petition in support of the education reform plans of Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee. Then D.C. Wire heard an...
By Theola Labbé | April 16, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
So Who Worked on the DC Catholic-Charter Conversions?
With the local arrival of Pope Benedict XVI today, D.C. Wire is reminded of a story last week about the state of Catholic education in the U.S. Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl toured Nationals Park yesterday in preparation for Thursday's Papal Mass. (Nikki Kahn-The Washington Post) That piece included...
By Theola Labbé | April 15, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
More on School Reform....At the D.C. Council Today
Beth Schmierer and Kristin Ehrgood, District residents who started an online petition that DC Wire told you about yesterday, are slated to testify before the D.C. Council this morning at the budget hearing for the school system....
By Theola Labbé | April 8, 2008; 07:28 AM ET | Comments (3)
Budget Hearings: Talking Dollars and Needs
April is tax season, but it's also the season for budget hearings, where the council combs through the mayor's proposed budget and talks to agency after agency and department after department to figure out who gets what. This morning it was Brenda Rhodes Miller, the executive director of the D.C....
By Theola Labbé | April 2, 2008; 12:29 PM ET | Comments (1)
More on New Security Policy at Wilson
We told you earlier about students from Woodrow Wilson High School who took their concerns over Chancellor Michelle Rhee's new security policies online, organizing a Facebook page to rally student support for an alternate plan. The students from the Northwest school object to Rhee's recently announced plan to have them...
By Theola Labbé | March 27, 2008; 07:25 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Vacant School Wish List
Recreation center? Art gallery? Charter school? Dozens turned out Monday night at Harriet Tubman Elementary school in Columbia Heights to give their ideas for what should happen with two school buildings in Ward 1 that are slated to close. Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham (D), ever eager to stay on...
By Theola Labbé | March 26, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Want to See How Much $$ Goes to Your Local School?
The school system's finance office has just released school-by-school budgets for 2008. The list is organized by cluster. You can also see the spending plan for the school system's central office, special education programs and other items....
By Theola Labbé | March 25, 2008; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (1)
When Should the Public Testify on the School Budget?
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty released his proposed 2009 budget last Thursday, and D.C. Wire has already read and analyzed every page, from the executive summary to parts 1 and 2 of the agency spending plans to the appendices. Okay, maybe not. But as D.C. Wire continues to pore over this...
By Theola Labbé | March 25, 2008; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
The Future of Empty School Buildings
The decision by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and DC Schools Chancellor Michelle A Rhee to close 23 schools still stirs pain in some parents' hearts. But in some quarters another emotion is taking root, fear -- over the fate of soon-to-be empty school buildings....
By Theola Labbé | March 24, 2008; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
E-Chancellor?
First, there was the YouTube videos of Michelle Rhee at a Democrats for Education Reform event last Fall that had people abuzz because of Rhee's straight talk about her frustrations with the school system. Now the chancellor has made an appearance on Facebook....
By Theola Labbé | March 24, 2008; 06:30 AM ET | Email a Comment
