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Parents! Taxpayers! Citizens! Voters!Congress — through the Control Board — has been running our schools since 1996. They promised us reform: we got General Becton. They promised us roofs on our schools: our children sat home for three weeks of school because of late opening (and we paid through the nose for the repairs). They promised us accountability: we got a surprise $60+ million deficit. They promised us good education: we got the Stanford 9. They promised us responsibility: their Emergency Trustees have been declared illegal (but still meet anyway — to "advise"). The Control Board promised to return control of the schools to our elected Board of Education in June of 2000. Now the chair of the Control Board, Alice Riviin, says they won't (Friday, January 21) and Congressman Tom Davis (R., Va.) says that Congress "is not going to hesitate to take control" if we don't abolish the elected board and give the school system to the Mayor ( Washington Times, front page, Saturday, January 22). The Council of the District of Columbia should act like they have a spine: don't let Congress or the Control Board intimidate and threaten you! Mayor Anthony Williams should listen to the people: if we're good enough to elect him and pay his salary, we're good enough to elect our own Board of Education! Congress should listen to their own rhetoric about local control of schools. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton should tell Congress that they have done more than enough damage already.STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY —
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