Charter school allowance

From Ariana Quiñones-Miranda at FOCUS

Hello all,


We are launching a campaign to preserve the public charter school facility allowance. We need your help in having your trustees, parents and allies contact key city officials to let them know we don’t support cuts to the facilities allowance. And with the wonders of technology, and some help from our friends at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, you can now click on a link (below) to send a customizable email message to the city officials working on the city budget.

THE REQUEST

Please help by calling or emailing one or all of the following individuals before Friday the 13th to state your support for maintaining the facilities allowance at its current level of $3,109 per student. You don’t have to engage in any conversation; it should just take one minute each to make the statement, say thank you, and hang up or to click on the link, customize your message, and hit send.

1. Dan Tangherlini, City Administrator, 202 727-4036, dan.tangherlini@dc.gov
2. William Singer, Chief of Budget Execution, 202 478-9200, william.singer@dc.gov
3. Victor Reinoso, Deputy Mayor for Education, 202 727-3636, victor.reinoso@dc.gov

Paste the web address below in your email browser to send a customizable email message to these officials:
https://secure.publiccharters.org/site/Advocacy?id=227&pagename=homepage.

Thanks for your support and my apologies if you have received this message already.

Ariana
--
Ariana Quiñones-Miranda
Deputy Director
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS)
1530 16th Street NW, Suite 104
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202 387-0405
Fax: 202 667-3798
Cel: 202 903-4609
aquinones@focusdc.org
www.focusdc.org

Rhee and Johnson officially an item?

Okay, we're getting all Page 6 here, but it appears that Chancellor Rhee and Sacramento Mayor (and ex NBAer) Kevin Johnson are out of the closet, romance wise. From Gilbert Lee's blog:

The Cal Basketball season finale versus UCLA was bound to have a huge crowd because of ESPN's national coverage and the assignment of the College Gameday show at Haas Pavilion. Among the folks that we saw...

{snip}

Kevin Johnson - the Mayor of Sacramento was courtside in a smart brown blazer. He was definitely into his date, Washington D.C. school superintendent Michelle Rhee. They exchanged a couple of (edited) of kisses and he was definitely sharing his basketball insights with her during the game. I'm glad that he's "dating" someone his own age.

[Via the City Paper's Loose Lips column]

More voucher coverage

The future of the DC Opportunity Scholarship is still generating press.

• Robert Vinson Brannum of the Examiner says its time to let the program fade away...
• ... but Matt Kibbehe in an OpEd disagrees
• As does the Post's editorial board.
• John Aloysius Farrell over at US News thinks Congress treats DC residents like lab rats
• The WSJ's editorial board wonders if the President will come to the rescue
• The PowerLine blog goes with the slightly more provocative headline of OBAMA SELLS OUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN

'Round the blogs: bad weather edition

Notes from around the blog world...

• A Polish American in DC: Guide to Teaching didn't like yesterday's half school day.
• Neither did Ms. Mindless
... nor Dee.
• PS Montessori was frustrated
• So is Ms. Angala
• The New Teacher on the Block is annoyed (I mean really annoyed)

So, I think we've spotted a theme here. And from my own observations I'd have to agree that school should have probably been canceled outright. Two of the chicklets are in school; they both attend different charter schools. One was closed, the other mirrored DCPS. Much like what some of the above teachers noted we saw very few kids actually make it to the classroom at the opened school on Monday.

Finally, if you haven't already you should go visit the teacher blogs I have listed on the blogroll to the right. There's a lot of great stuff to discover.

Chairman of the D.C. Public Charter School Board interviewed

Mark Lerner has the first part of his interview with D.C. Public Charter School Board Chairman Tom Nida over at the Examiner.

UPDATE: Here's part 2.

Bad weather, or, a first person account of Education Hearing at HD Woodson/Fletcher Johnson

An anonymous reader sent the following photos and blurb about attending the Mayor's Education hearing at HD Woodson/Fletcher Johnson:

I attended the Mayor's Education hearing today March 3rd at HD Woodson/Fletcher Johnson, which Mayor Fenty did attend. I was shocked by the ice and snow that had not been removed from the school's grounds and stairs, nor had any salt been put down. To prevent myself from falling, I actually grabbed onto students who were also sliding around on the ice on the main staircase that students' use to enter the building. I have attached photos of ice and snow that has not been removed from the school grounds and on the public sidewalk surrounding the school.

I too am shocked that Fenty/Rhee did not cancel school when DPW and DDOT have still not removed ice from neighborhood streets and DCPS facilities certainly has not done their job! I'm pretty sure HD Woodson/Fletcher Johnson is not the only school with this problem!

[hat tip to the anonymous reader]

Voucher press

The fate of DC's Opportunity Scholarships (i.e. vouchers) is generating some press again. This newest article is from the New York Times.

Bloggers Eduwonk and Blue Commonwealth weigh in as well.

Congress will most likely kill DC's voucher program

It looks like Rep. Holmes-Norton's wish will soon come true. It looks like the Democratic controlled congress is not going to reauthorize the District's voucher program.

The D.C. voucher program — the first to provide federally funded vouchers to students — was launched as a five-year pilot program through the 2004 omnibus appropriations law (PL 108-199). The language was only included after a bitter fight over the proposed program in the Senate.

Alexa Marrero, a spokeswoman for Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon of California, the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, said reauthorization of the program was highly unlikely.

“I think school choice opponents have chosen to put an end to this program,” Marrero said. “This is a lifeline, and it’s being taken away.”

Most Democrats, meanwhile, have long opposed voucher programs, arguing that vouchers steer funding away from the public schools.

“Sen. Kennedy strongly opposed the creation of the program, which takes funds from very needy public schools to send students to unaccountable private schools,” said Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

More than 1,715 students with an average annual family income of $22,736 take advantage of the program, according to the Washington Scholarship Fund, which administers the program. Under the D.C. voucher system, students can each receive up to $7,500 for tuition.

Some voucher recipients appear in a video that is an "Open Letter" asking President Obama to help save the program.



Reaction at NRO and the Weekly Standard.

Anacostia HS to be restructured by Friendship Charter Schools

While it will remain a traditional public school Friendship Charter School will help DCPS in the restructuring of Anacostia High School.

Anacostia is among 27 schools that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said last year would undergo restructuring because they failed to meet federal guidelines. The No Child Left Behind Act mandates that such schools be restructured if they do not meet specified goals for five consecutive years.

The law gives school authorities five options: reopen the restructured school as a charter school, reconstitute the school by replacing all or most of its staff, collaborate with an external partner, undergo a state takeover, or develop another major restructuring effort.

Mrs. Rhee proposed five schools - Anacostia, Ballou, Coolidge and Dunbar High School, and Hart Middle School - be restructured under the third option.

The chancellor's restructuring plan, which she initially outlined last year, calls for selecting an organization that has "expertise and experience in turning around low-performing schools in order to meet performance standards as effectively and as quickly as possible."

Free citywide conference to address bullying

From the Student Support Center:

Washington, D.C. - The Student Support Center (Center) will be hosting a free, citywide charter school conference entitled, Bullying 101: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You. The conference will address the bullying problem faced by students across the District and provide the strategies and resources needed to effectively address bullying.

Studies tell us:

• Bullying increases the risk of more serious types of violence, interferes with learning, and threatens the long-term well-being of bullies, bystanders and victims.
• Roughly 1 in 6 students consider themselves traumatized by bullying.
• To be effective, a bullying program must pay attention to the family backgrounds of both bullies and victims.
• Schools must set rules and enforce them school-wide if they are to reduce bullying.

National and local experts will discuss proven systems needed to address bullying. Participants will also hear from DC charter schools who have successfully implemented methods to prevent bullying. At the end of the conference, participants will know how to use mental health supports, parent involvement, school-wide discipline, safety planning and Second Step implementation as bully prevention.

The conference will get started with a special presentation by City at Peace, a nonprofit organization using the performing arts to help students address conflict. City at Peace will give conference attendees a glimpse of the troubling effects of bullying on a student. After the performance, students from charter schools across the District will share their personal stories and the affliction they witness on a daily basis.

This conference is influenced by elements of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant initiative. Through the initiative, the Center has worked with 18 DC charter schools to implement evidence- based programs and supports to reduce alcohol and drug use, disruptive behaviors, and increase parent involvement, social and emotional support and school safety interventions.

Directly following the conference, there will be a cocktail reception celebrating the ten years of service provided through the Center and honoring founder and former executive director, Eve Brooks.

As a children’s advocate, Brooks has worked intensely to ensure DC charter schools have access to school nurses, school-based mental health supports, school resource officers, and other vital resources needed to support a safe and healthy school.

The conference will be held at Gallaudet University’s Kellogg Conference Center located at 800 Florida Ave. NE, from 11:30AM-4:30PM. A plated lunch will be served.

To register for this event, visit www.studentsupportcenter.org.

Three DCPS students guests at President's address to the joint houses

Three DCPS students were guests of First Lady Michelle Obama at her husband's first address to the joint houses of congress.

Elizabeth Carballo, Akrem Muzemil and Juan Francisco Rodriguez had all asked questions of the first lady Feb. 10 when she visited Mary's Center, a nonprofit organization in the District.

All three public high school students come from modest backgrounds, said Maria Gomez, president and chief executive of the nonprofit group, and all are serious about their goals.

And, Gomez said, all three, in their Sunday best, were filled with excitement last night along with a sense of, "Wow, this can't be happening to me!"

Also invited to the first lady's box in the balcony of the House chamber was Howard University senior Victoria Kirby. "It was definitely a humbling experience and a wonderful opportunity," she said afterward.

Board begins process to revoke MEI Futures Academy's charter

Mark Lerner over at the Examiner has all the details.

MEI Futures Academy opened in fall 2007 as a residential charter school serving teenage mothers and their young children. A recent PCSB review resulted in a list of deficiencies including failure to operate in accordance with the school’s mission statement, failure to deliver the academic program described in the charter application, failure to comply with federal special education requirements, and a lack of sufficient books and supplies, among other issues. Before the vote, board member Will Marshall told the school’s leaders, “I voted for your application because I believed in your mission and your ability to carry it out. It’s painful to be in this place where we no longer believe you can do it.” MEI’s school leaders suggested that many of the concerns could be addressed with more time. Josephine Baker, the PCSB’s executive director and board secretary responded, “None of this is new. We raised these same concerns last year, and there has been no real resolution.” PCSB members voted unanimously to begin the revocation process, and informed MEI’s leadership of their option of a public hearing before a final vote by the board members.

Rhee on the Politics Hour

DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee was a guest on WAMU's Politics Hour program on the 20th. The audio can be found here.

Rhee drops a bit of a bombshell by basically admitting that her "Plan B" to deal with the ongoing DCPS/WTU work contract is no longer an option that's being pursued. More on this at the Post.

Violence down at DCPS schools

{We're back}

According to Chancellor Rhee serious violence at DCPS schools has decreased 10% from last year.

Rhee says, when school began in September, there was an uptick in incidents, but she says because of consistently enforced consequences, within three months those had leveled off and decreased. The latest data from D.C.P.S. compares August 2007 through January 2008 and the same months the following year. There have been 82 fewer serious incidents, which translates into a decrease of 10 percent. Serious incidents include assaults, drugs, fires and fights.

WAMU audio of this report here.

Posting to resume shortly

More travel, more work, less sleep. Posting should return to normal in a day or so.