Archive: Education
School Computer System On Sabbatical
In the midst of its busiest summer in memory, DCPS is shutting down its main computer system for three weeks, starting tomorrow. Erin McGoldrick, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's data chief, said the system, called D.C. Stars, is routinely taken off line in the summer for maintenance and upgrades. Last year,...
By Bill Turque | July 2, 2008; 11:45 AM ET | Comments (0)
School Letter-Writing Campaign to Council
School Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and Allen Y. Lew, head of the school modernization efforts, teamed up late yesterday in a letter-writing campaign to the District Council. They want to make absolutely sure that the council is absolutely clear that if it doesn't pass the $83 million in building repair...
By Marcia Davis | July 1, 2008; 08:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Fenty Seeks Tenants for Closed Schools
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced today that the city is seeking applications from charter schools and agencies interested in leasing eight school buildings that are closed. Earlier this year, Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee decided to close 23 under-enrolled schools, mostly this summer. The move was in response to a...
By Dion Haynes | June 27, 2008; 05:18 PM ET | Comments (6)
Barry, Others Call for EPA Tests
Surrounded by TV crews and other media, Council Member Marion Barry and a few concerned activists, stood outside Anacostia High School this morning and called for EPA testing of school athletic fields. The group said it's concerned that the toxic silica sand has been used in the renovations of six...
By Marcia Davis | June 25, 2008; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (1)
Barry, Activists Calling for EPA Testing on School Fields
Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) is holding a news conference this morning alongside community activists, parents and educators outside Anacostia High School to demand the EPA do immediate testing on all public school and recreation fields for toxins associated with silica sand. Activists say the fields refurbished by the...
By Marcia Davis | June 25, 2008; 07:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
New Principal for Oyster-Adams
Oyster-Adams Bilingual School, caught up in a nasty dispute last month over D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee's firing of principal Marta Guzman, has a new leader. Rhee, whose two daughters attend the Woodley Park school, has chosen someone with close ties to her top staff. Monica Liang Aguirre is a distinguished...
By Bill Turque | June 24, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (15)
School Reuse Plan Released
The Fenty administration just released its long-awaited school reuse plans for seven of the D.C. public schools that will be closed this summer. Read the full press release after the jump and look for a story in Saturday's Post with more reaction and analysis....
By David A Nakamura | June 20, 2008; 05:32 PM ET | Comments (1)
Rhee Fires 22 Assistant Principals
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee fired 22 assistant principals this week, her second round of school administrative terminations that came about a month after her dismissal of 24 principals. Rhee, who previously said some of the principals were terminated because she differed on the direction they were taking the...
By Dion Haynes | June 18, 2008; 04:57 PM ET | Comments (9)
Rhee Says She's No Drive-By Chancellor
D.C.'s public schools have burned through--and out--leaders with dreary regularity. Six came and went in the 10 years preceding Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's arrival last June. Some DCPS-watchers expect Rhee to follow the same course, perhaps trading up for something in the next presidential administration or the private sector. But...
By Bill Turque | June 16, 2008; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (1)
Students Keep It Real at Gist Forum
A forum on the achievement gap, organized by State Superintendent of Education Deborah A. Gist at Bell Multicultural High School last night, marched earnestly through all the familiar research that surrounds the issue of African American and Latino 17-year-olds who read and do math, on average, at the level of...
By Marcia Davis | June 13, 2008; 06:53 AM ET | Comments (5)
Fenty, Rhee Mark Year 1 of School Reform
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and education officials marked the first anniversary of his takeover of the city's beleaguered public schools today by listing a series of improvements, mainly in business functions and school facilities, and outlined their goal of improving student achievement in Year 2. School system officials acknowledge...
By Dion Haynes | June 12, 2008; 06:03 PM ET | Comments (1)
Report: Janey to be Offered Supt. Job in Newark
A year after he lost his job as D.C. school superintendent when Mayor Adrian M. Fenty won control of the system, Clifford B. Janey apparently is getting closer to becoming school chief in Newark. According to the Star-Ledger, Janey will be offered the job. Valerie Merritt, spokeswoman for the Newark...
By Dion Haynes | June 9, 2008; 01:33 PM ET | Comments (1)
More About DCPS' "Emergency Request"
DCPS had more to say today about this week's emergency request to the State Board of Education. School officials, eager to get a handle on fall enrollment, wanted to get an earlier start on verifying where families live--the basis for their eligibility to send children to D.C. schools. They asked...
By Bill Turque | June 6, 2008; 12:17 PM ET | Email a Comment
Enrollment First, Legal Requirements Later
D.C. school officials are facing a sea of uncertainties this summer. With dozens of schools closing, consolidating or facing federally mandated overhaul, figuring out just how many students will show up for the fall term has been a murkier-than-usual-exercise. So D.C. Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee thought it would be a...
By Marcia Davis | June 6, 2008; 07:29 AM ET | Comments (3)
Principals Union Protests Firings
Officials at the D.C. principals union are protesting Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's recent decision to let go about two dozen principals. The union is planning to ask the D.C. Council to investigate whether the firings were fair, said Aona Jefferson, executive vice president of the Council of School Officers....
By Dion Haynes | May 30, 2008; 05:00 PM ET | Comments (3)
Rhee to Teachers: Have a Happy Summer
In recent months, D.C. Wire has heard from countless D.C. teachers who have felt unappreciated by Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. They have cited Rhee's buyout program -- her attempt to get rid of up to 700 teachers at about 50 schools slated for closure or reorganization -- as well as...
By Dion Haynes | May 29, 2008; 05:12 PM ET | Comments (2)
Another DC Principal Is Out: Ross Elementary
Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee continues to shake up the ranks of DCPS principals. Ross Elementary Principal Sandra Gonzalez told parents in an e-mail yesterday that she has been replaced by Amanda Alexander, currently the principal at Bunker Hill Elementary. Earlier this month school officials announced the firing of 24...
By Bill Turque | May 28, 2008; 04:50 PM ET | Comments (4)
Council Chides Reinoso for Delay in School Study
D.C. Council members at a hearing today criticized Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso for a seven-month delay in naming independent researchers to conduct a required long-term evaluation of the school system's new governance. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration, under the legislation that put him in charge of the schools,...
By Dion Haynes | May 23, 2008; 01:58 PM ET | Comments (3)
Teachers Sign Off on Firing of Oyster Principal
Teachers at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School have weighed in on Chancellor Michelle A Rhee's firing of principal Marta Guzman. And the thrust of their message is: No problem. A statement sent to the parents' listserve a few days ago from the Oyster-Adams' "School Chapter Advisory Committee" (SCAC), an elected body...
By Marcia Davis | May 20, 2008; 06:58 PM ET | Email a Comment
Report: Janey in Talks With Newark School System
There's a market for former D.C. school superintendents and senior-level staffers. Former superintendent Clifford B. Janey, who was fired by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty nearly a year ago when the mayor took over the schools, is apparently a leading candidate to head the Newark, N.J., school system. According to this...
By Dion Haynes | May 20, 2008; 02:01 PM ET | Comments (5)
Rhee Meeting With Angry Oyster Parents
Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee upset some parents at Oyster-Adams Elementary School when she recently fired its principal, Marta Guzman. Rhee will meet with parents at Oyster, 2801 Calvert St. NW, at 5:30 p.m. today to discuss the matter. The chancellor's two daughters, as well as the son of deputy mayor...
By Marcia Davis | May 19, 2008; 03:00 PM ET | Email a Comment
Rhee Details Restructuring Plans for 26 Schools
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee today announced her plans to overhaul 26 schools that have failed to meet academic targets for five straight years. Rhee said she is seeking dramatic changes in the schools to improve student achievement. Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, Rhee had five...
By Dion Haynes | May 15, 2008; 01:25 PM ET | Comments (1)
School Advocates Win Council Support on Hearings
Education advocates scored a big win yesterday over Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee when the District Council voted to reject the administration's proposal to strike the legal requirements for public hearings on the school budget. The mayor had proposed to kill the law in the...
By Marcia Davis | May 14, 2008; 11:13 AM ET | Comments (2)
A Question of Principals?
Post reporter Bill Turque gets inside the story of School Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's firing of Oyster-Adams Principal Marta Guzman. The school just happens to be the place where Rhee's children attend, as well as the son of Victor Reinoso, the deputy mayor for education....
By Marcia Davis | May 9, 2008; 08:49 AM ET | Comments (1)
U.S. Teachers Weigh in on Pay and Reform
D.C. Wire and The Post have written extensively about the challenges facing teachers through school closures and restructuring as well as turmoil in the Washington Teachers' Union. It turns out the issues are not unique to D.C., according to a national study released today. Education Sector, a nonpartisan think tank...
By Dion Haynes | May 7, 2008; 02:41 PM ET | Comments (1)
Going, Going, Not Quite...
Some of the underperforming principals targeted for removal by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee may not actually leave the D.C. school system. An unspecified number may have what are known as "retreat rights," meaning they can return to the jobs they held before becoming principals. Most were either assistant principals or...
By Bill Turque | May 6, 2008; 06:53 AM ET | Email a Comment
Breaking News: Rhee Firing Principals
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, continuing a series of aggressive personnel moves, has started notifying principals--possibly as many as 30--that they will not be reappointed for the 2008-2009 academic year, school officials said today....
By Marcia Davis | May 5, 2008; 05:40 PM ET | Comments (1)
First School, Then Baseball
From Chancellor Michelle Rhee's communications team: MEDIA ADVISORY Rhee Celebrates the Close of Saturday Scholars with Students at a Washington Nationals Game WHAT: Chancellor Rhee will officially close the inaugural Saturday Scholars program by celebrating with students who achieved perfect attendance throughout the14-week program. Saturday Scholars was an academic initiative...
By David A Nakamura | May 2, 2008; 06:21 PM ET | Email a Comment
McCain Gets Rhee's Vote on "No Child Left Behind"
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee calls herself a "card-carrying Democrat," but said Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain is her guy when it comes to his support for the federal "No Child Left Behind" law. Rhee, speaking this evening in Chinatown to the Korean American Coalition D.C. Chapter, accused Democratic...
By Bill Turque | May 1, 2008; 09:22 PM ET | Email a Comment
Rhee Blasts Gray's School Budget Cuts
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee says the $18.1 million cut in the DCPS budget proposed by Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray would not only threaten plans to bring music, art and PE teachers to every public school in the district, it would give public charter schools an edge in...
By Bill Turque | April 30, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Rhee's Proposed School Contractor Under Federal Probe
School activists are buzzing about allegations surrounding the head of St. HOPE Public Schools, one of six nonprofit education organizations that Chancellor Michelle Rhee is considering hiring to overhaul some of the 10 D.C. high schools in restructuring. Circulating through listserves are articles from the Sacramento Bee alleging that St....
By Dion Haynes | April 29, 2008; 02:30 PM ET | Email a Comment
Deputy Mayor's Budget Sliced
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray hasn't made a secret of his skepticism of the office of Deputy Mayor for Education Victor A. Reinoso. At a budget hearing a couple weeks ago, Gray repeatedly suggested that the office was redundant and perhaps unnecessary. Today, during a Committee of the Whole...
By David A Nakamura | April 29, 2008; 11:38 AM ET | Comments (3)
Labor's Diss-Union III
The saga continues. Turmoil in the Washington Teachers' Union is escalating, with the vice president suing the president of the organization over free-speech issues. Nathan Saunders, the union's general vice president, filed suit against President George Parker in U.S. District Court on Friday. The dispute, as D.C. Wire reported last...
By Dion Haynes | April 28, 2008; 02:04 PM ET | Comments (3)
Rhee on the Road in Chi-town
Chicago---Basking in the glow of a national spotlight, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee rattled off to a crowd of about 200 education reporters her accomplishments during her first year on the job: firing 100 central office staffers, finalizing plans to close 23 schools and preparing initiatives to overhaul 27 schools...
By Marcia Davis | April 25, 2008; 03:36 PM ET | Comments (1)
A Clearer Picture of District Students
More than 200 of the District's 234 public and charter schools are over 90 percent African American or Hispanic, while seven are majority white, according to a new study of racial patterns in school enrollment....
By Marcia Davis | April 25, 2008; 07:59 AM ET | Email a Comment
More Vouchers for D.C. Students?
President George W. Bush said yesterday that he will work to expand a federally funded school voucher program for D.C. students. He made the remarks at a one-day White House summit on inner-city children and faith-based schools. Since 1994, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has provided 2,600 low-income District children...
By Marcia Davis | April 25, 2008; 07:30 AM ET | Email a Comment
It Pays to Be Good
D.C. Wire reported yesterday that a number of schools were in line to win mega bucks from the nonprofit Fight for Children at its School Night event. Last night's three big winners took home $100,000 each: DCPS's Strong John Thomson Elementary School, E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, and San Miguel...
By Marcia Davis | April 25, 2008; 07:30 AM 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
Wilson Students: Hurrying Up and Waiting
Efforts to improve security at Woodrow Wilson High School have resulted mainly in long lines to enter the building in the morning, students tell the D.C. Wire. After 13 students were arrested in two fights last month, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee confined all students to their classrooms for...
By Marcia Davis | April 23, 2008; 03:16 PM ET | Email a Comment
WTU President: Don't Blame Teachers for Bad Schools
District teachers say several recent events have made them feel uneasy about the future. As D.C. Wire has reported, the Washington Teachers' Union president and general vice president are embroiled in a philosophical battle about the direction of the organization and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is offering a buyout to...
By Dion Haynes | April 23, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
D.C. Schools Rally Students for High-Stakes Testing
District students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 this week will be taking the high-stakes D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System, or D.C. CAS. Results of the test, required by the federal No Child Left Behind law, will determine whether the 140 schools across the city are deemed to have made...
By Dion Haynes | April 21, 2008; 02:28 PM ET | Comments (1)
Nonprofit Firms Running D.C. Schools: Your Opinion
As reported in today's Post by V. Dion Haynes, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee plans to hire up to six nonprofit educational companies to help run the city's 10 comprehensive high schools and has invited parents to meet with her tonight to discuss the details. Do you support this...
By David Marino-Nachison | April 17, 2008; 03:30 PM ET | Email a Comment
In D.C. Schools, It's All About the Name
Parents, teachers and students this evening will get the chance to comment on Chancellor Michelle Rhee's proposal to hire up to six nonprofit education organizations that would help manage 10 academically troubled D.C. high schools. As with several of Rhee's other initiatives, semantics are everything. Formally, the proposal is called...
By Dion Haynes | April 17, 2008; 12:41 PM ET | Comments (2)
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)
Teacher Quality Is the Question After Buyout
Teachers have been in the news a lot lately, with Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and some leaders of the Washington Teachers' Union at odds over her buyout offer aimed at luring hundreds of educators out of the school system. In coming months, the debate over the buyout will shift...
By Dion Haynes | April 15, 2008; 01:55 PM ET | Comments (8)
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)
Labor's Diss-Union 2
A few weeks ago, D.C. Wire reported about the bad blood between Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker and General Vice President Nathan Saunders. Saunders thinks Parker is too cozy with Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Parker thinks Saunders represents the old-school union model that favored confrontation over cooperation. The...
By Dion Haynes | April 11, 2008; 12:32 PM ET | Comments (1)
Are You a Teacher Ready to Hit the Road?
Are you a teacher ready to take Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's offer of a buyout? The Post's Dion Haynes writes this morning that as many as 700 teachers nearing retirement are considering the offer, which ranges from $1,000--$1,000?--to up to $20,000. D.C. Wire wants to hear from you. Tell us...
By Marcia Davis | April 11, 2008; 08:25 AM ET | Comments (3)
Fenty, Rhee Today to Detail Teacher Buy Outs
Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee at 3 are scheduled to announce details of an early-out program for veteran teachers. As The Post reported first on March 27, the program is expected to spur a huge exodus of veteran educators who are fed up with declining working conditions...
By Dion Haynes | April 10, 2008; 12:55 PM ET | Comments (3)
Report: Most Schools Ready Day 1 for Disabled Students
A report released today by the school advocacy group D.C. VOICE has some good and bad news about special education: Eighty-four percent of principals in a survey said their schools were fully staffed and equipped to serve special education students on the first day of the school year. But those...
By Dion Haynes | April 8, 2008; 03:00 PM ET | Email a Comment
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)
Special Ed Mess Far From Solved
It's no secret that special education is a major financial and legal morass in the District. The school advocacy group D.C. VOICE and a report coming out of a federal court hearing offer some insight into the ongoing challenges in special education. This morning at the John A. Wilson building,...
By Dion Haynes | April 8, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Email a Comment
Residents for School Reform
DC residents Beth Schmierer and Kristin Ehrgood felt like every time they turned on the news, all the commentary about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's efforts to improve the school system were negative. Rather than just gripe to friends, they decided to do something about...
By Theola Labbé | April 7, 2008; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (11)
9 D.C. Students Win GW Scholarships
Taylor Moore, 18, had an inkling something was up this morning when her mother asked her to wear dress slacks to Benjamin Banneker High School instead of her usual jeans. Her suspicions were confirmed later when she saw her parents trying to sneak undetected into the auditorium of the Northwest...
By Dion Haynes | April 4, 2008; 05:05 PM ET | Comments (2)
Fenty, Rhee Talk Education in Memphis
Mayor Fenty didn't have any public events on his schedule yesterday, a rarity. The reason? He and school Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee traveled to Memphis to participate in Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network's national conference, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death....
By David A Nakamura | April 4, 2008; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (1)
'Tower of Power' to Come Down
After years of being derided for a range of structural problems including broken escalators and a far from attractive appearance, H.D. Woodson High School in Northeast Washington is slated to be torn down this summer to make way for a new $99 million school. Woodson High School, otherwise known as...
By Dion Haynes | April 3, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
New High School Baseball Series at Nats Park
During the long and bumpy road that was the debate over the Nationals' publicly financed baseball stadium, critics of the project often asked, "What's in it for the city?" The inaugural invite. (David Nakamura) Well, D.C. Wire just learned about at least one little piece of that puzzle. We got...
By David A Nakamura | April 3, 2008; 09:30 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)
Council to Examine Education, Facilities Budgets
Education activists have made lots of noise this budget season about what they consider a lack of transparency in how Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration proposes to spend dollars in the 140 schools next year. Today D.C. Council members likely will address some of the as-yet unanswered questions at two hearings....
By Dion Haynes | April 2, 2008; 07:01 AM ET | Email a Comment
Fenty Proposes More Money for Children
The lunch bell at Simon Elementary School rang at 11 this morning as D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty was making a presentation to media on city funding for children's programs. "It reminds me of my youth," said Fenty, who was standing in the foyer of the Southeast Washington school during a...
By Dion Haynes | April 1, 2008; 03:00 PM ET | Email a Comment
Wilson Students Push Peace Initiative
Student leaders at Wilson High School in Northwest Washington said they will intensify their campaign to establish their Wilson Peace Initiative to address violence on campus. Angelica Gregory, the student body president, said she and others are working on two fronts: They are trying to get their peers to support...
By Dion Haynes | April 1, 2008; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (7)
Wilson High Students Protest Rhee Policy
About 70 Woodrow Wilson High School students walked out of the building and streamed onto the football field today to protest the loss of their free lunch period, part of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's new security plan aimed at quelling violence at the Northwest Washington campus. Responding to the recent...
By Marcia Davis | March 31, 2008; 03:40 PM ET | Comments (18)
Life After D.C. Schools: Brady, Ackerman
During his 2 1/2 years as then-schools superintendent Clifford Janey's chief business operations officer, Thomas M. Brady made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be the man in charge. Brady, who had trained to become a superintendent at the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles, interviewed for several...
By Dion Haynes | March 28, 2008; 07:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Making More Plans Against Fenty, Rhee Reforms
Education activists say they may have for now lost their battle to stop Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration from closing 23 schools and to play a larger role in plans to overhaul 27 schools with low-achieving students, but their work is just beginning. There certainly seemed to be evidence of...
By Dion Haynes | March 27, 2008; 01:11 PM ET | Comments (16)
Borbely's 'Good Citizen Principles'
D.C. school activists have a massive task in keeping school system and city leaders accountable to the public on a range of education issues -- from school closings, to restructuring failing schools, to budgets, to fixing dilapidated buildings. Now there's a squabble over how much they should hold each other's...
By Dion Haynes | March 27, 2008; 11:30 AM ET | Email a Comment
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)
A New Schools CFO Steps into the Budget Morass
Ding. Ding. Ding. That's the sounding bell for the next round of school budget battles. D.C. education advocates have scheduled a public meeting on the proposed $773 million 2009 school budget, seeking to air their concerns about what they consider the lack of transparency in the process and to give...
By Dion Haynes | March 26, 2008; 12:42 PM ET | Email a Comment
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)
More On School Fundraising
We told you yesterday about the new D.C. Public Education Fund, which has been established to raise money from the private sector for Chancellor Michelle Rhee's school reform efforts. Today we caught up with the fund's executive director Sara Lasner, who explained that the fund has applied for 501c3 status...
By David A Nakamura | March 25, 2008; 02:31 PM ET | Email a Comment
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)
Labor's Diss-Union
Given that some teachers may lose their jobs as schools close and others are reorganized in Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's system takeover, it's not unreasonable to think the leaders of the 4,200-member Washington Teachers' Union might be focusing on unity in their current contract talks with Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee...
By Dion Haynes | March 25, 2008; 07:25 AM 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)
98 Fired, 11 Rehired
Remember those 98 fired DCPS workers? Remember how Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee told the D.C. Council, when she sought its approval to reclassify hundreds of civil service jobs to at-will positions, that they were a financial drain on the city? Remember, according to her, how they were part of a...
By Dion Haynes | March 24, 2008; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (6)
The Four Rs: Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, Raising Money
When Mayor Adrian M. Fenty took over the D.C. schools last summer, he announced plans to raise private money to help supplement the system's operating budget--much as Fenty's mentor, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), did when he took over the schools in New York. Bloomberg, a billionaire...
By David A Nakamura | March 24, 2008; 07:05 AM ET | Comments (1)
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
