School Solutions
Dear Problem Solvers:
The discussion of how to improve public school education continues in
this issue of themail. Can schools be improved only by dictatorial
methods that disrespect parents, treat them as hindrances rather than as
the senior partners in their childrens’ education, and shut them off
from decisions made about schools? Can schools be improved without
stereotyping dedicated, longtime career teachers as incompetents and
setting out to replace them en masse with younger, inexperienced
teachers, who see teaching as a temporary job? Are only new,
experimental teaching methods successful, or are there “old-fashioned,”
proven methods that work? Can the schools be changed only by treating
everyone who worked in the school system before the new chancellor
arrived as an enemy, as untrustworthy?
At a meeting of the Federation of Citizens Associations last night,
Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police, suggested
that the single most effective thing to do to improve education in DC
was simply to make the schools safe, so that children don’t dread
going to them. There have been other ideas about improving our schools
in the last two issues of themail and in this issue. Lets not stop
there. What ideas do DC school teachers, parents, and students have?
We may have school administrators who don’t hear, and don’t want
to hear, any ideas that don’t originate with them. But that doesn’t
mean that we have to stop thinking for ourselves, and have to acquiesce
in their ill-considered programs.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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This morning, the DC Board of Elections and Ethics held a public
hearing for the purpose of certifying election results from the
September primary, pursuant to DC Code Sec. 1-1001.05(a)(11). The
meeting was especially significant since, prior to the hearing, the
Board and its staff had refused to explain or respond to inquiries
regarding the irregularities that occurred during the primary, including
thousands of write-in votes that were initially tabulated and reported
at 9:35 p.m. on election night, then miraculously disappeared when the
final returns were reported by the Board at midnight. Despite public
interest and concern, even by citizens attending today’s hearing, the
Board refused to discuss the primary or provide details about the
internal investigation and audit that BOEE has underway. Instead, the
Board’s interim executive director, Sylvia Goldsberry-Adams, asked the
BOEE to postpone certifying the election results until after a
hand-tally was done of the votes that had been cast at Precinct 141, a
Ward Two precinct whose voting place was at the Reeves Center. This was
the precinct where most of the phantom votes had appeared, supposedly as
a result of one voting machine’s malfunctioning cartridge. This
morning, the Board authorized the hand tabulation to be done at 1:00
p.m., and said it would reconvene at 4:00 p.m., since Goldsberry-Adams
assured it that the calculations would “only take a couple of hours.”
When the votes had not been counted by 4:45 p.m., the recount was
halted and the Board meeting was reconvened only to give a further
extension of time to Goldsberry-Adams. Now the recount will recommence
at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning, and the Board’s certification meeting
is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. During the reconvened meeting this afternoon,
Goldsberry-Adams tried to mislead the Board and the public by stating
that the initial results of the recount of Precinct 141 showed a “match”
with the returns reported by the Board on election night in at least ten
of the election races. However, Goldsberry-Adams failed to note that the
“match” was only among the hand counts of the paper ballots done by
three tabulators that afternoon, not between those hand counts and the
election-night results reported by the precinct’s touch-screen voting
machine and optical scan machine that reads the paper ballots.
At this morning’s meeting of the BOEE Board, I said that bad things
happen to good, well-intentioned people — and Boards. It is how those
people and Boards respond to these occasions that shows their mettle and
worth. Clearly, the BOEE and its staff have failed to respond at all,
much less respond adequately, to ongoing public doubts. This raises
serious concerns about their ability and readiness to conduct the
November general election and future elections.
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Christina Culver for Ward 2 Councilmember
Paul Craney, press@dcgop.com
Today, Christina Culver kicked off her campaign to unseat
Councilmember Jack Evans for DC Council (Ward 2). Culver spoke to a
gathering of concerned citizens at an “Americans for Tax Reform”
meeting and signed a “No New Tax Pledge.” “I am proud to be
offering Ward 2 residents an alternative for this November. If elected,
I will put in place a plan for better government accountability. I will
work to make government more transparent and earn a positive return for
your tax dollars. I will end the bloated government that is forcing
taxpayers to dig deeper in their pockets. As my first task as a
candidate, I wanted to sign a No New Tax Pledge. Now, I challenge
Councilmember Jack Evans cosponsor my efforts,” stated Christina
Culver.
Christina Erland Culver brings a wealth of political, policy, and
nonprofit experience to a growing education practice. She was at the US
Department of Education, where she served as Acting Assistant Secretary
and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental and Interagency
Affairs, as well as Managing Director of Foundations, External
Relations, and Regional Services in the Office of Communication and
Outreach. At the Department she oversaw federal relations with state
governments and was responsible for external relations with corporate
partners, foundations and community organizations on the federal No
Child Left Behind law. Prior to that she was Vice President of Public
Affairs for Children First America, a national nonprofit organization in
support of K-12 scholarship programs for low-income families where she
advanced school choice public policy at the state and federal level
giving thousands of disadvantaged children better education options.
She worked at the White House in the first Bush Administration for
President George H.W. Bush, and the US Department of Education under
Secretary Lamar Alexander, where she worked on education reform programs
in partnership with major corporate, nonprofit and community partners. A
native of Lawrence, Kansas, she got her start working for the Kansas
Secretary of State and then for Senator Bob Dole’s presidential race
in 1988. Christina also serves on the board of the Kansas based
Innovative Learning Systems (ILS) a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization
that conducts educational research and media-based accelerated learning
programs to help individuals with learning disabilities. Christina is a
recent graduate of the US Naval War College with a Masters Degree in
National Security and Strategic Studies. Christina has resided in Ward 2
since September 2001.
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Echoing what Gary Imhoff has already mentioned [themail, September
21], I’m not an expert at education policy or the way the government
works, nor do I even have children, but I would like to take a stab at
offering some ideas to improve the system that eventually my children
will be enrolled in. Speaking with a friend of mine who teaches fifth
graders in North Carolina, he mentioned one issue he has always had with
his “bosses” is that they never see what goes on in the classrooms
but offer a lot of theoretically explanations of why he may be having
issues with some of the children. He said he wanted to videotape the
class and play it on public television, but was advised against it. The
point he was trying to make was not to air the tapes to show how unruly
the children can get, but to show how difficult it is for the dedicated
and determined children to learn when there are book shortages and two
have to share a book, or when he’s teaching geography and doesn’t
have a wall-sized map for everyone to use.
One thing I though interesting about the filming of the class was how
the parents would respond if they saw their children in a class with an
extremely disruptive handful of culprits, how they would respond. Would
they blame the teacher, the administration or the parents of the
disruptive children. Also, how would the students behave if they knew at
7:00 p.m. each night on the local PBS channel their friends, their
parents, their community would see how they were performing and
behaving. Also, perhaps the teachers would put a little more oomph in
their work knowing their colleagues were watching as well as their peers
who think the reason they are having a bad day is because of the class
when really, maybe they don’t know the materials, or how best to teach
it. And then maybe, the administrators, or dictators as some call them,
could work with the teachers to find solutions after seeing first hand
what’s going on in the classrooms.
He also mentioned how there are certain things that have to be taught
based on these exams that have to be passed for him to be considered
competent. So, his “bosses” urge him to cover a lot of information,
specifically to prepare for an exam, which forces him to move at a pace
which doesn’t always allow him to have enough time to thoroughly any
questions the students may have or move so fast to the next subjects
that a handful of students can’t keep up and aren’t going to do
well, but since the majority get it, it’s OK as long as they pass
these state-administered guidelines and test results. Hey, just a
thought.
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How do we get beyond the Chancellor’s stunning assessment in the Newsweek
article that it is “second nature” for eight-year-old children to
trample their stumbled classmates?
There are numerous tried and true methods that were successfully
practiced in the old Division II (Black) schools. These efforts assured
that my peers and I became both literate and civil. Everything that is
new is not necessarily better.
The Joplin Plan, for instance, required no additional staff, just
judicious management by the principal. I recall that as a third grader,
after testing, we spent part of the day with our reading ability peers,
but the remainder of the day with our age/grade groups. No expensive
studies, imported, newly minted “experts,” nor demonization/demoralization
of teachers were used or needed. We learned to read and did not trample
our classmates.
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No Recommendations
Malcolm Wiseman, Petworth County, Washington FreeDC.org, mal@wiseman.ws
As I don’t read into Ms. Labson’s question any of the assumptions
that Mr. Imhoff mentions in Solutions [themail, September 21], perhaps
from him a response of “I have no recommendations” would have
sufficed. Ms. Labson doesn’t say much if anything at all about what
Chancellor is doing nor how fast she is doing it.
She seems to allow that Ms. Rhee might be a dictator, and I would
agree with her that in such an entrenched dysfunction of more than
thirty years, a turnaround leader would probably have to be dictatorial.
Fortunately, institutions in a democracy need not be operated
democratically.
We in DC should quit wasting energy whining and fussing and fuming
about how undemocratically DC government or mayor are treating us. We
need to focus all that ire toward the entity that teaches us in the
first place what democracy is supposed to be and then arrogantly denies
it. Territory/Statehood first, democracy and everything else second.
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Such a Wonderful Job
Katherine Pearson-West, wkpw3@aol.com
I think I must be missing something. Now tell me why people and the
media think that the chancellor and mayor are doing such a wonderful job
with the DC schools. Apparently closing lots of schools without a
well-thought-out plan and against the wishes of neighborhood citizens
and firing employees as more of a public relations stunt than for
accountability are reasons to celebrate, and people consider schools a
target.
No one listens to regular citizens. Only when the kids of the
business community have problems will people wake up. Maybe we have to
get used to Puppet Dictatorships and Benevolent Dictators.
Well, griping and venting isn’t going to do the job. It is good
that citizens air their concerns so that the rest of us will know what’s
happening. At some point, maybe pressure can be applied collectively to
return the city to the citizens and have a say in the DC public schools.
I’m frustrated with this new “democracy.”
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I’m flattered that my note prompted a “call for recommendations”
on how to improve the DC Public Schools. Always nice to hear what people
have to say, and schools generate public opinion. I dare say that if we
knocked on a dozen doors in the District to ask what specifically (“specifically”
is a key word) is most important in our schools, we’d likely get a
dozen different answers, all given with the confidence of a professional
educator. Most of us would not say we know best how to pave roads. That’s
what makes education different from paving roads. Let’s go through
some of your points:
1) You say enrollment in the DC Public Schools is down more than 8
percent since last year, and attribute that decline to Chancellor Rhee’s
presence as head of the school system, but you have no facts to back up
that this is a cause-and-effect phenomenon. How do you know Ms. Rhee is
the reason for the decline? 2) Ms. Rhee does say it will take seven
years for her plan to change DC Schools from the below failing grade
they had when she came here to results that make us proud of the
education our children receive. When we consider the depth of
dysfunction and decay the schools had been allowed to sink to before
Mayor Fenty took office, seven years is a nanosecond. Any serious, deep
change will take time. It’s a thoughtful, pause-to-evaluate, approach
to education that works over time, even if a relatively quick fix was
her hope when she got here. Don’t forget that this was a “dying
patient.” A dying patient doesn’t leap off the sick bed to run a
marathon.
3) One of the too-often silent issues here is the strong resistance
among many in the schools’ professional staff to encourage anyone who
dares to propose accountability, performance evaluation, and the primary
importance of basic skills among its own members. Not everyone has been
resistant. We have some fine teachers and administrators. But too many
so-called leaders have been. One new superintendent after another has
come here with high hopes, tried to cooperate and build consensus with
staff, only to get worn down and worn out in months to a few years, with
little to show for the efforts at cooperation and collaboration. My
hunch — when I don’t know something is a fact, I say so — is that
Chancellor Rhee tried the same, but with a shorter clock. There would’ve
been every reason for her to want to enlist a majority of staff members
to join her effort. But she wasn’t going to allow months or years to
tick by — waiting to inch forward in a system that needs leaps. Our
children’s future is too important to her.
4) By the way, Ms Rhee has talked about confirming whether her
program is effective through the use of respected evaluation
instruments. Without objective results, she will be the one who gets a
grade of “F.” She says that herself. This raises the issue that
prompted my previous note: what recommendations do you have to change
the school system into one that is worthy of respect? If you have
specific ideas, let’s hear them. This is about our children, and they
can’t wait.
###############
This is a reply to the posting of Jack McKay [themail, September 21].
My observations support his views. Let me give you an example of how the
single beer ban does not work along H street in northeast DC. The
drinkers used to buy single beers at the corner grocery at 14th and H.
Today since the ban prevents this, they simply walk one block from 14th
and H to 14th and Maryland to another liquor store. That’s during the
six days the liquor store is open.
Today I discovered what beer drinkers along H Street do when that
particular liquor store is closed on Sundays. They walk an additional
block to a Chinese Carryout near the Pinnacle Apartments that sells
beer, wine, and blunts, as well as fast food. I was amused to discover
that during the work week the carryout charges $1.50 for a beer, but on
Sunday they charge $1.65 because their buyers have nowhere else to go.
Seemingly the laws of supply and demand defeat the single beer panacea.
As long as a neighborhood wants certain items, someone will supply them.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Art in Extremis is a series of conversations around diverse topics
with prominent artists, scientists, clinicians and healers. Artists’
dialogues explore both aesthetic and spiritual meanings which, for those
who view the work, gives voice to a shared experience. At Thursday’s
event, James S. Gordon, MD, founder and director of The Center for
Mind-Body Medicine and author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven
Stage Journey Out of Depression, will give a talk and book signing.
We look forward to seeing you there. At the Healing Arts Gallery at
Smith Farm Center, 1632 U Street, NW, Thursday, September 25, 5:30-7:30
p.m.; free. For additional details about this event, please call
483-8600.
Dr. Gordon believes that depression is not an end point, a disease
over which we have no control. It is a sign that our lives are out of
balance, that we’re stuck. It’s a wake-up call and the start of a
journey that can help us become whole and happy, one that can change and
transform our lives. Unstuck is a practical, easy-to-use guide
explaining the seven stages of Dr. Gordon’s approach and the steps we
can take to exert control over our own lives and find hope and
happiness. Using dramatic and inspiring examples from the patients he
has worked with over the years, he explains the practical, mood-healing
benefits of: food and nutritional supplements; Chinese medicine;
movement, exercise and dance; psychotherapy, meditation and guided
imagery; and spiritual practice and prayer.
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Call for Justice in The Workplace/Prayer
Service, September 26
Candi Peterson, kepmclp@msn.com
On Friday, September 26, at 6:30 p.m., please join us for a prayer
service for Social Justice In The Workplace. The service will feature
Denise Hamilton, a blind teacher of visually impaired students who was
wrongly terminated by DCPS. The service will also facilitate a call to
action on behalf of all public servants including teachers, aides, and
other workers who have been fired unjustly. The service will be held at
the Covenant Baptist Church located at 3845 South Capitol Street, SW.
Contact 321-9071.
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Fun Family Films Under the Stars, September
26-28
John A. Stokes, john.astokes@dc.gov
The District’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will hold
“Fun Family Films Under The Stars,” its 2008 Family Movie Night
Season, this summer. “Fun Family Films Under The Stars,” which
continues until late-September, will afford residents of all ages and
families of all sizes the opportunity to enjoy viewing the free,
family-oriented films in DPR’s outdoor settings. As in previous years,
viewers are invited to bring their own snacks, chairs, and blankets.
This year, District residents will have a greater selection of viewing
locations. Movies will be shown from 8:45 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Community members who arrive early enough for each screening will
have the opportunity to place a vote between two movies that may be
shown that evening. The movie that receives the most votes will be
shown.
Friday, September 26, Trinidad Recreation Center, 1310 Childress
Street, NE
Saturday, September 27, Florida Park, 1st Street and Florida Avenue, NW
Sunday, September 28, Carver/ Langston Terrace, 21st and Maryland
Avenue, NE
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Cleveland Park Library Book Sale, September
27-28
Jill Bogard, Jill_Bogard at ace.nche.edu
The Friends of the Cleveland Park Library invite you to its Annual
Fall Book Sale on Saturday and Sunday, September 27-28, from noon to
4:00 p.m. both days. Choose from thousands of books in all subjects,
including brand-new review copies and beautiful art books. You can even
take home some books for free (battered, but still readable). Yes, we
also have kids’ books, videos, CDs, DVDs, and vinyl records. Proceeds
benefit the Cleveland Park Library. Take Metro Red Line to Cleveland
Park and walk one long block south to 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW, at
Macomb Street. Questions? Call Nathalie Black at 362-3599.
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Historical Society of Washington Events,
September 27-28
Ed Bruske, euclidarms@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 27, 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Urban Gardening:
Beautiful Lawns Grown Organically, Historical Society of Washington, DC,
801 K Street, NW, at Mt. Vernon Square. Free admission. Paul Tukey is on
a mission to reduce pesticide usage across the country, one lawn, and
garden at a time. During his talk at the Historical Society of
Washington, DC, in collaboration with DC Urban Gardeners, Paul will
present alternative solutions to chemically dependent lawns. “Americans
are spreading millions of tons of toxic materials on their lawns, all in
the name of having a beautiful lawn. Our mission is to show people that
you can have that nice lawn without the toxic and wasteful side effects,”
says, Tukey. Tukey is a former professional landscaper who switched from
synthetic to organic methods after becoming ill. Paul continues, “A
report by the National Academy of Sciences shows that the health of one
in seven people is negatively impacted in some form by lawn pesticides.
We want to do something about that.” Popular host of his own HGTV
program, Paul is also the publisher of People, Places & Plants
magazine, the author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual and the
founder of the not-for-profit organization, SafeLawns.org. RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
Saturday, September 27, 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Create a Negro Baseball
League card at the Historical Society of Washington, DC, 801 K Street,
NW, at Mt. Vernon Square. Free admission. Baseball lovers will not want
to miss this home run event! To begin, participants will take a guided
tour of the Negro Baseball League Exhibitions. Following the tour,
visual artist, Camilla Younger will show participants how to create a
personal baseball card. After reading some of the biographies of the
various players, each participant will choose a player to make a
baseball card of. It’s easy. Each card includes a brief biography and
image of the player. Don’t forget to include the player’s statistics
on the backside. (A program collaboration of the Smithsonian’s
Anacostia Community Museum and The Historical Society of Washington,
DC.) For the entire family. RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
Sunday, September 28, 2:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m. HSW author series: an
anecdotal look at Washington, DC, history, Historical Society of
Washington, DC, 801 K Street, NW, at Mt. Vernon Square. Free admission.
Author Anthony Pitch will deliver a lecture entitled, “an anecdotal
look at Washington, DC, history.” Mr. Pitch will be showing maps and
telling tales of what might have been and what was actually accomplished
in terms of DC’s architectural sites and proposed layout. The Washington
Post says of Pitch, “You’ll follow him dreamily, mesmerized by
his tales.” RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
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DC Public Library Events, September 28-29
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Sunday, September 28, 2:00 p.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park
Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW. Sunday Afternoon Jazz.
Monday, September 29, 7:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, Social Sciences Division, Room 221. All the World’s a Stage
Book Club. Different countries, times and lives. Each book is an
adventure. Discuss the book Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.
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Michelle Rhee at the Q&A Cafe, September
29
David Dragnich, david.dragnich at thewinslowgroup dot com
From today’s Georgetown Current, I notice that the DC Public
Schools Chancellor will be featured at the Q&A Cafe (Nathan’s in
Georgetown) at 12:30 p.m. next Monday. The notice doesn’t provide
anything regarding what Ms. Rhee will talk about, but it does clearly
state that reservations are required along with a $35.00 fee.
Or from the same source, I can go the Washington National Cathedral
that evening for a Discussion led by Garrison Keillor on his latest tale
from Lake Wobegon for a cost of $16.00. Let me see now, do I go see a
public servant being handsomely paid from the DC coffers talk about who
knows what, or spend half as much to see a national treasure entertain
me? Hmmm? And how does Ms. Rhee get away with going out on company time
for such an event? And who has time or money to pay for something and
someone who is already being paid by the DC tax base during the middle
of a business day?
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John Parascandola will discuss his new book, Sex, Sin, and
Science: A History of Syphilis in America, Thursday, October 2, 7:30
p.m. Did syphilis travel from the New World to Europe on Columbus’
ships? What remedies did Lewis and Clark use to treat the disease on
their expedition? What impact did the introduction of penicillin have on
the spread of venereal disease? These are some of the many questions
explored in a new book just released by Praeger Publishing entitled Sex,
Sin, and Science: A History of Syphilis in America by noted medical
historian John Parascandola of Rockville, MD. Dr. Parascandola will
discuss his book, emphasizing in his remarks how and why the brunt of
the blame for the transmission of syphilis was unfairly placed on women
over the centuries. For example, he will discuss the forced quarantine
of women with venereal disease in America during both world wars.
John Parascandola received his Ph.D. in the history of science from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968. During his career, he has
served on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as Chief
of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine,
and as Public Health Service Historian. He has received numerous awards
and professional honors, and is the author of the award-winning book The
Development of American Pharmacology: John J. Abel and the Shaping of a
Discipline (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992). He
currently works as an historical consultant and is an adjunct lecturer
in the Department of History at the University of Maryland College Park.
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October Is Focus on Fundraising for the Arts
Month
Patricia Pasqual, changedc@yahoo.com
Throughout October the Foundation Center will offer special events,
classes, and web resources aimed at helping artists and nonprofit arts
organizations become better grant seekers and increase their funding.
Network with fellow artists and colleagues, discover fundraising
strategies, and gain insight into what’s happening in the local arts
funding community. Visit our calendar at http://www.foundationcenter.org/washingtondc_calendar.html
to learn more and register for October programs. 331-1400. Arts month is
cosponsored by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington.
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