October 7 Quality Schools, Healthy Neighborhoods, and the Future of DC Event

Panel moderator Alice Rivlin called his comments provocative and audience members protested their implications, yet Institute for Education Science commissioner Mark Schneider asserted his academic prerogative to question assumptions and recommendations of the newly released report, Quality Schools, Healthy Neighborhoods, and the Future of DC. Challenging the report’s central premise that more families are inherently good for DC, Schneider suggested that the District could be healthy without more school children, or for that matter, more children.  Furthermore, the report, he said, attributed unrealistic powers to government to ensure people settled in specific neighborhoods and possibly one recommendation – to link communities and schools — would slow down school improvement.  More . . .

WHO: The Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization
The Office of the Chancellor, DC Public Schools

WHEN and WHERE:
10/06/08- 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Phelps Senior High School – Auditorium
704 26th St., NE
Washington, DC 20002

10/08/08- 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Hardy Middle School – Auditorium
1819 35th St., NW 20007

WHY: The road map the Office of Public Education Facilities
Modernization will use to deliver world-class public school
facilities faster and more cost effectively – the Master Facilities
Plan – will be explained.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), for better or worse, is the measure by which schools receiving federal monies are judged.  Ward 6 schools — both DCPS and charter schools — make up a portfolio of high performing, adequate and struggling schools on the AYP scale.  Take a look, you may be surprised. aypward6

Meetings Canceled. DCPS Chancellor Rhee announced September 19, 2008 the formation of a commission to recommend changes to the current DCPS student enrollment policy to “improve every DC public school student’s access to high-quality neighborhood and citywide schools. Updating the enrollment policy will make it easier for parents to understand their options and simpler for parents to enroll their children in the most appropriate school available.”

Composed of staff of The Brookings Institution, The Urban Institute and the 21st Century School Fund, the commission’s recommendations are to be based on the standards of 1) excellence and equity, 2) choice and diversity, 3) clarity and predictability, and 4) safety and accessibility.

Principal Cobbs greets future student.

Ludlow-Taylor ES principal Carolyn Cobbs enthusiastically welcomed parents, many with young children in arms, to a get-together in the school’s modernized library. Cobbs, recently a principal in Montgomery County, listened as parents talked about their desires for their children’s education. Then, she explained what Ludlow-Taylor offers and new projects underway, particularly in early childhood development.

Councilmember Tommy Wells, as he welcomed parents, called attention to the newly renovated library, its reading areas and bright colors. He praised the Capitol Hill Community Foundation for its role in making the modernization happen.

Ludlow-Taylor Friends, a neighbor booster organization, reminded parents of upcoming volunteer opportunities:

Library Cataloging: This needs to occur before students can check out books.

Wednesday, 9/24, 5:30 – 7:00

Sunday, 10/5, 10:00 – 12:00

Sunday, 10/26, 10:00 – 12:00

Safeway e-Scrip Program: Safeway donates a portion of receipts to schools via eScrip (http://www.escrip.com) Ludlow-Taylor’s ID is 11873319.