WaPo says Congress should reauthorize vouchers

In today's edition the editorial board of the Washington Post urges Congress to reauthorize the District's federally funded private school voucher program.

Unless Congress acts soon or the D.C. government decides to assume responsibility, the voucher program, which has benefited so many students since its inception in 2004, is in grave danger. The Obama administration closed the program to new students; children currently enrolled, while supposedly assured of getting vouchers until they graduate from high school, face uncertainty as the program's administrator pulls out. This is exactly what the program's chief antagonists, the teachers unions, want; the National Education Association lobbied fiercely against Mr. Lieberman's amendment. Given that a rigorous, federally mandated study confirmed the program's effectiveness and that local leaders such as D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee have supported it, we understand why Mr. Reid sits on his hands. What possible explanation could Democrats devise for killing something that has been so crucial in the lives of thousands of poor D.C. children? How would it look? No, better to do nothing and hope the issue goes away.

Mr. Lieberman vowed from the Senate floor not to give up. He said he will look for other bills that could be subject to his reauthorization amendment. We hope he succeeds in making the Senate own up to its responsibility.

Rhee vs Weingarten in Newsweek

The Post's Newsweek magazine has an article up about pitting foes AFT President Randi Weingarten and DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee regarding their views on tenure and performance based pay.

Weingarten and Rhee are the two principal actors on the most important stage in the ongoing drama of school reform in America. Almost three years ago, Rhee was brought in to fix what was arguably the worst school system in America. The public schools in the nation's capital were notorious for high costs and low performance. Rhee has taken direct aim at the holy grail of the teachers' union: the common practice of giving public-school teachers lifetime tenure under rules that make firing a teacher, no matter how incompetent, very difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Rhee attempted to abolish tenure in exchange for offering merit pay—teachers who agreed to be judged by their performance could make up to $130,000 a year. But Rhee's offer was never even put to a vote by the union. Rhee ran directly into Weingarten, whose union represents the bulk of teachers in big cities across America.

Weingarten, a media-savvy and clever lawyer, can see that the days are fast ending when the teachers' union can count on the support of the Democratic Party and the passivity of the education establishment to protect teachers with near impunity. But she is putting up a spirited rear-guard action to preserve the long-established job security of her union members. The two women have been locked in negotiations for a new union contract in D.C. for more than two years. The battle is being closely watched at the White House, where President Obama has backed his reform-minded education secretary, Arne Duncan, and by school administrators and politicians all over the country. Rhee has a chance to set a strong example for weeding out incompetent teachers—if she doesn't overplay her hand against Weingarten, who is a formidable foe. "You have two strong-willed and very smart and determined women with very different agendas," says Chester Finn Jr., a former assistant secretary of education and a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. "It has an almost gladiatorial aspect to it."

Aside from graduating from Cornell, the two have little in common. During several long and short interviews with NEWSWEEK over the past year, Weingarten spoke in big, round, high-flown sentences, and then artfully changed the subject or lapsed into jargon when challenged with uncomfortable facts. In private negotiations, she is known for letting loose with fits of temper, real or contrived. In public or private, Rhee, whom we also spoke to several times, is direct and blunt to the point of rudeness. In negotiations, she is known for staying cool—or cold—though her eyes burn and bore in. Rhee and Weingarten, who first tangled about five years ago when Weingarten was running the New York City teachers' union and Rhee was testifying against her as the head of a nonprofit organization promoting school reform, clearly dislike each other.

Gotta love the picture they ran with the article.

NewsHour on fixing education features Rhee

PBS's NewsHour recently had a piece on the national debate on fixing education which includes comments from Michelle Rhee.

More on abusive teachers

According to MPD Chief Cathy Lanier warrants have been issued for four DC teachers over accusations of abuse.

"There were four cases in the 69 incidents where there were arrests made," Lanier says.

Lanier later clarified that warrants were issued for four teachers, but only one teacher has been arrested so far.

Lanier says police referred another 12 or 13 cases to the U.S. Attorney's Office, but prosecutors declined to pursue charges.

"A lot of times in cases like this, it's one person's word against the other. We do the best we can to investigate or sustain one side or the other. But the attorneys have to make the decision whether they can prosecute that case. Just because a warrant was submitted and declined, it doesn't give you any real conclusions."

Lanier says the rest of the cases were non-criminal.

You can listen to the "Ask the Chief" program in question here.

UPDATE: The Examiner has more.

Mark Lerner interviews Brian Jones

Mark Lerner over at the Examiner has an interview up with Brian Jones, Chairman of the D.C. Public Charter School Board.

DCPS finalist in Obama admin's "Race to the Top"

DCPS is one of 16 "states" to make it to the final round of the Obama administration's Race to the Top program which will dole out $4.35 billion in grants to the winners.  Recipients are determined by 19 criteria (which you can find in this document) such as student performance, if teachers performance is measured, openness to charter schools.

The Wall Street Journal piece linked above has the following graph showing the average 8th grade student math and reading scores for the 16 finalists.

DCPS still has a long way to go to catch up to the rest of the country.

UPDATE:  More in the Post.

DCPCSB to hold emergency meeting regarding Young America Works PCS

From the DC Public Charter School Board

Board Calls Emergency Meeting to Propose Revocation of Young America Works PCS

Washington, D.C. – The D.C. Public Charter School Board (PCSB) has called an emergency meeting to take place on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 6:00 pm at the PCSB headquarters. The single item on the agenda is a proposal to revoke the charter of Young America Works PCS. If the board votes in favor of the proposal, it will begin a process that may result in the school being closed permanently at the end of the school year. The meeting is open to the public.

The board has decided to call the emergency meeting because of serious and persistent concerns about the school’s increasingly unsafe environment for students, and related deficiencies in academic instruction. The board’s next regular meetings were scheduled for March 15th and 16th, to host public hearings about the 13 charter applications that were submitted in February. Board chair Brian Jones stated, “Given our serious concerns about the learning environment for students at Young America Works, we have decided we must take action on this immediately.” Squeezing a serious matter like this into the already full agenda during the application hearings would not have allowed adequate time to focus on the critical issues before us and to develop a thoughtful, appropriate response to the current situation at Young America Works.”

The D.C. Public Charter School Board currently oversees 57 public charter schools on 99 campuses, serving nearly 28,000 students living in every ward of the city. D.C. Public Charter Schools currently serve 38% of the city’s public school students.

Hardy update

Fox 5 posts the following report about Rhee's meeting with Hardy Middle School parents.



The Post has more here and here.

Two WAMU reports on DC Schools

Over the last couple of days WAMU has had a couple of reports concerning DC schools.

First is a piece on the District mulling over a revision to its Student Code of Conduct that would be applicable to both DCPS and DCPCS students.

Next is a look at the rise in teenage pregnancy in the District.

DCPS publishes revised snow make up calendar

Now that the recent snow is (hopefully) behind us for the year DCPS has published a revised school schedule that accounts for days lost to the inclement weather.

Date	Existing Calendar	Make-Up Calendar	Day Restored
Friday, March 19th	Professional Development Day (no students)	Regular Instruction Day (students and teachers must report)	Feb 8th
Monday, May 17th	Parent-Teacher Conference Day (students do not report)	Regular Instruction Day(students and teachers must report)	Feb. 9th
Friday, June 18th	Half-Day Records Day (students dismissed at 12:15 p.m.)	Regular Instruction Day (students and teachers must report) With agreement of the WTU, 4th Advisory Records Day will not be made up.	Feb. 5th (half day)
Monday, June 21st	Originally designated make-up date	Regular Instruction Day (students and teachers must report)	Feb. 10th
Tuesday, June 22nd	Originally designated make-up day	Last Day for Students and Teachers. Regular Instruction Day (students and teachers must report)	Feb. 11th

Friendship Collegiate vs KIMA

In a battle between two top high school DC charter schools Friendship Collegiate on Friday night Friendship Collegiate pipped KIMA in overtime 81-74.



The rematch was tonight on KIMA's home court. I'll update as soon as I know the score.

Chuck Brown plays for DCPS students

The Post reports on Go Go legend Chuck Brown performing with and for students at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School last Friday in support of the school's Reading Is Fundamental program.

More on fired teachers

Local ABC affiliate WJLA has a report on DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee's defense of her comments about the reasoning behind the recent teacher layoffs.

Kind words for outgoing Chairman of DCPCSB

Harry Jaffe and Mark Lerner both have articles up at the Examiner about outgoing Chairman of the DC Public Charter School Board Tom Nida.

"The Unabashed Dismantling of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program" at NRO's The Corner

Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation and Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, have an op-ed up over at the conservative National Review's The Corner blog on the defunding of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.

On travel...

... posting will be light for the next couple of days.

Yu Ying Charter School marches in Chinese New Year parade

Here are some photos of the students, teachers and parents from Yu Ying Public Charter school marcing in Sunday's Chinese New Year parade.