Educationdc.files.wordpress.com



Testimony, November 15, 2018DC Council Committee on Education RoundtableDCPS’s Plans for Shaw Jr. High School Campusand Banneker Academic High SchoolThe District Must Invest in Its Neighborhood Schools as a Matter of EquityA municipal system of schools that aims to equitably serve students in all sections of the city requires major investments in its by-right schools as a system. It must simultaneously coordinate: growing and walkable elementary schools; nearby middle schools; comprehensive high schools large enough to support rich, deep and broad programming in academics, the arts, career and technical training, world languages and athletics; a great city education system also requires terrific specialty schools such as Banneker.Specialty schools provide great programs, but they are by definition programs for a special few. DC is proud of the history of Banneker as a school and the achievements of Banneker students - - who are truly remarkable. Banneker is the last of the high schools to be modernized. It deserves a top-notch modernization of its historic building - - where it does have room to grow. Washington is a big and wealthy city which should fully support a flourishing Banneker Academic High School. But the backbone of education in this big and wealthy city has to be its neighborhood schools. The achievement gap will not be closed with a new and expanded Banneker or by further expanding school choice. Closing DC’s achievement gap requires constant attention to and support for a strong system of neighborhood schools so our communities can thrive and grow. Otherwise the city cannot properly manage the work of educating all of our students - - and educating them well. We can’t do that where feeder patterns are insufficient, where elementary schools thrive but middle schools are inadequate links to high schools. Insufficient feeder links means a loss of students, with a spiraling down of the resources necessary for great programs - - including extra support for those students who may be struggling and need tutoring, smaller class sizes and enrichment as well as resources for our gifted students.By usurping the promised Shaw Middle School site for a city-wide specialty program, the center city neighborhood and its schools suffer at the expense of the city-wide specialty school. Please see the attached map of the Shaw site that was part of communications to families during the boundary re-alignment process.The problem of middle school missing links was acknowledged with the recommendations of the DME’s Student Assignment Initiative in 2014 which included re-opening MacFarland Middle School, building Ward 4 North Middle School, re-opening Ron Brown in Ward 7 as a specialty middle school and opening a middle school on the Shaw site. DCPS fulfilled the first two promises but has ignored the last two. When Ron Brown was designated a specialty high school for boys, DCPS lost the last, best middle school location in Ward 7. The city should not make that same mistake again with the Banneker modernization. Transparency in Planning and Decision-MakingAs the municipal school system, DCPS has the responsibility for publicly planning its schools. It must diligently follow a full public process with each of its school modernizations including broad communication including outreach and notification. This is particularly important with city-wide schools that serve the entire city but have to be coordinated with neighborhood schools. The SIT process with Banneker has been problematic from its beginning last October. The broader community beyond Banneker was not invited to participate until June. There have been only five SIT meetings since the kick-off last October; representation from parents and the public has been minimal - - but clearly judging from the sign-up sheet for this hearing, this project impacts not just Banneker but the Shaw community and the entire city. People are extremely invested in the success of Banneker and the Shaw area schools.Our elected officials and our public agencies have to work in good faith to be trusted and secure support for public education. Decision-making about huge neighborhood investments cannot be announced suddenly with minimal reasoned justification. I am attaching to my testimony “Community Recommendations for SIT Teams in DC Public Schools”, the result of meetings held with veteran SIT team members in 2015. While DCPS has greatly improved its SIT team staff and the accessibility of documents on its modernization website, most of these recommendations remain valid today. We would welcome further discussion of how school modernization planning and decision-making can be more transparent for future projects and those currently in the pipe-line.Nancy Huvendick21st Century School Fund, DC Programs Director1816 12th St., NW, 3rd Floor202-745-3745x15nhuvendick@ ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download