Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Obamas At Smith Center For G.W. Basketball Game
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
We've mentioned it before, but Mayor Adrian Fenty has long promised to enroll his twin sons, Matthew and Andrew, 8, in DCPS starting this fall. But where will they enroll? West Elementary is technically the neighborhood school for the boys, who live in Crestwood, but Harry Jaffe argues that the campus is "in turmoil," and reports this morning that Michelle Fenty has toured five other NW elementary schools: Janney, Murch, Key, Eaton and Lafayette. We agree with Jaffe that it's high time Fenty followed the example of his DCPS chancellor, Michelle Rhee, and sent his children to the public schools under his watch, but we question ruling out West. Turmoil or not, surely the presence of the Mayor's sons would draw some much-needed attention to improving the school, and by enrolling his sons elsewhere, Fenty is sending a sign, intentional or not, that what's good enough for some D.C. kids - his neighbors, in fact - won't cut it for his own.
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We went to the Macy's at 12th & G this morning for the Black Friday morning specials. There was a sh
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Won't the little guys just be sad/mad they have to switch schools in the first place? Kids ought not to be used as political footballs.
Exactly! You can't get away with kicking them, and you can't throw them too far.
Oh you can kick them, you just have to run quickly before anyone gets a good description of you. hehe
This blog really needs a "Like" button for comments.
The boys are currently in a school that only goes up to the 3rd grade so regardless they need to go to a new school this fall. Fenty always stated that he would transfer them to a DCPS once they reached this point. It is unfair that the kids are being treated like public footballs but their father put them out there as such. A smart politician would have kept his kids out of the limelight and evaded this line of questioning. I am not a big Jack Evans fan but he avoids all of this nonsense with his triplets.
So it's nonsense to say that the man can't walk the walk? Evans easily avoided this with his triplets because they live in Georgetown for crying out loud.
Hyde (the Georgetown school) is ok as far as things go, but it's nowhere near as good as the schools that Fenty is supposedly considering.
Has he considered Nobody Even Cares Elementary? Because that would be a fantastic fit.
If not, then he would be moronic to not enroll them in Oyster Bilingual in Woodley Park. Best public school, by leaps and bounds, in the District. There shouldn't even be a debate.
Just sayin'.
Oh this should be interesting... You know as much as I want that idiot to finally suffer through what every other parent with a kid in DCPS must suffer... I wouldn't wish DCPS on my worst enemy... no kid deserves that kind of punishment... not even Fenty's...
But yeah, let's see what he does and no matter what you know it'll be filled with arrogance and we'll all want to rip him a new asshole for it! That man is so fun to hate and easy to insult! :-)
Thanks for the continued DCPS coverage, Rachael. I think more focus should be shifted to why Jaffe considers those who think it's prudent for the family to chose the school that serves the children in Crestwood (West) as "the whining class". Are the other schools across the Park options at all because the kids probably won't be taking the bus? If that's the case, is the Mayor's buddy giving them daily lifts to and fro Tenleytown or Palisades?
It was hardly a given that the Fenty couple would option DCPS over private, considering that he's kept the kids in private until 3rd grade so far. But, when the news came out, we were relieved. I don't think it's enough to say, "My kids are goin' to DCPS, but probably one of the good ones on that side of town and probably not one of the dodgy ones that I could probably walk them to"
Those kids won't even get to see the inside of West unless Rhee has the Key faculty moved to West and sinks millions into overhauling its facilities.
He could also pick a charter school - they are public schools, you know. I bet you if he did pick the troubled school in his neighborhood it would turn around quickly.
If he put the kids in a charter school he'd lose the anti-charter-school crowd's vote. He should send the kids to study in Europe, or have one of his oil-soaked Middle Eastern pervert pals recommend a nice academy somewheres. This has the added advantage of keeping the mayor out of town so he can't screw things up any worse than they already are.
Why are we making this into a big hype anyway? I can understand the whole story with Obama's kids, but should we care about Fenty's choice? Send them to a public school that needs funding for improvement so the other public schools can request for an equal amount of funding for their improvements.
From a local perspective I care more about Fenty's choice than Obama's. Fenty has some direct responsibility for DCPS, Obama doesn't. Besides, there are far more security concerns for children of the prez than the mayor which had to be factored into the decision.
They should go to the Milford School.
http://the-op.com/cast/Earl+Milford
So is Fenty going to participate in the normal out-of-boundary lottery to get into Lafayette, or does he get to skip the line?
Frankly I think that's a huge abuse of power if he does skip the line. Plenty of families East of the Park would love to send their kids to schools like Lafayette or Key, but there are precious few out-of-boundary spots for them. Skipping over them should be considered an embarrassment for the mayor, but I fear that it won't be.
I don't think Fenty would make the political mistake of skipping to the head of the line. But if the parents standing between him and the front of the line suddenly start ending up stacked like cordwood inside Shiloh's abandoned properties, I wouldn't start asking any questions.
Actually my kid could go to Key if I so desired. It is the alternate school for the one in my neighborhood that has failed to make adequate yearly progress under NCLB for 6 years running and has been in restructuring for the past year. Key is the alternate school for most of the elementary schools in the District that are in re-structuring under NCLB. We luckily did the lottery and won a nice slot for my child at a closer top 10 school. Rhee didn't use a lottery slot nor were her kids part of the balance that Oyster supposedly strikes with 50% native Spanish speakers and 50% non-native speakers. There are perks that come with jobs in high places.
This is a no-win situation for Fenty. If he sends them to the best school, you get the whole why didn't he send them to the local school. If he sends them to a shit school and then infuses loads of funding, they'll say it's favoritism and why can't x-school get the same treatment.
Exactly. If it were me, I'd send them to the local school and then hire a private tutor as necessary.
Matthew went to West for Pre-K then left. Not because of the school, but to join his twin brother at the early childhood charter or private school he attended. What's wrong with West? True, it's not a west of the park school like Eaton, Key, Stoddert, Mann, Oyster, Murch or Lafayette. And what makes those schools so good are the families whose children attend. They are all highly educated, very few free and reduced lunch and quite involved with the school community. West has few if any dead weight teachers and has now expanded to early childhood and goes up to the 8th grade.
Why send them to a new school at all? Oh, sure, their current school only goes up to 3rd grade. But growing a year older didn't stop them from playing in the basketball league they aged out of. Why should therules apply here?
Oh, who am I kidding--they're heading to one of the lottery schools, no questions asked.
About Rhee and her kids at Oyster, when their neighborhood school would be Brightwood: Rhee's ex lives in the Oyster boundaries. So her 2 girls got into Oyster through their father and didn't have to go through the lottery.
They're going to Lafayette, he announced on Kojo's show. When asked if he pulled strings or won a lottery, Fenty weaseled out of answering, claiming his boys' "privacy" should be respected.
This guy is like all the rest.
Rhee's husband lives in the Oyster district...no strings necessary.
Who cares? In a year and a half, it's not going to matter anymore.