Results tagged “schools”

The Ballou Senior High School Majestic Knights marching band, under the direction of leader Darrell Watson, are the pride of D.C. today after their performance in the Macy's annual Thanksgiving Parade. Ballou's band is a D.C. institution that has even inspired a documentary, and they are the first school from the District ever to perform in the parade. The students have been preparing for this performance since their selection was first announced in April of last year, practicing and fundraising for their trip to New York. The band performed a tribute to Michael Jackson called, "It's a Thriller." Enjoy the clip below, courtesy of NBC, and congratulations on a job well done to Mr. Watson, the fantastic musicians and dancers, and their families!

In a blow to the Washington Teachers' Union, the D.C. Superior Court today rejected the union's bid to reinstate the 266 teachers who were fired by DCPS in October. The teachers were laid off as part of a large reduction in force (RIF) that DCPS has maintained was necessitated by a $4.4 million budget shortfall. According to the Post, Judge Judith Bartnoff argued that the WTU failed to prove any of their allegations against Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, specifically that, "the RIF was not a budget-driven layoff but an illegal mass firing, and that the shortfall cited by Rhee was a sham and a pretext for dumping older teachers."

A congressional report issued yesterday by two ranking Republicans suggests that schools chancellor Michelle Rhee performed "damage control" for her now-fiance Kevin Johnson during investigations into Johnson's alleged sexual misconduct and misuse of Americorps funds at the St. Hope charter school he founded in Sacramento.

Both President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have been known to stop by local D.C. schools to visit with area students over the last year, but today was the first day the President visited a school in Maryland, according to the Post. Obama made a surprise to the lunchroom at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring today. He reportedly spent about 30 to 45 minutes chatting with 3rd and 5th graders at the school about what books they were reading.

Surely even Michelle Rhee must feel like her profile is way overblown after this. The journal Education Next, as part of its entry in the virtual parade of profile articles that've already been done on the D.C. Schools chancellor, has created this ridiculous graphic depicting Rhee as a knight in shining armor (City Desk also takes note).

              

As promised, here are some images captured by DCist photographer Francis Chung during Thursday afternoon's Washington Teachers Union-organized protest outside the John A. Wilson Building.

News broke late last week that Hawk One, the company that was responsible for providing security guards at the District of Columbia's 127 public schools, had gone belly up. The timing couldn't have been worse, as D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee handed out 388 pink slips to teachers and staff on the very day that the Hawk One guards didn't show up to work. The combination may well have exacerbated a skirmish that broke out at McKinley High School on Friday in reaction to the layoffs, during which two people were arrested.

This afternoon, DCPS released final details of the budget reductions that have caused an uproar in the schools community since probable staff cuts were first announced last month.

As we mentioned in the Morning Roundup, the D.C. public schools announced yesterday that an unexpected $40 million budget shortfall will require spending cuts and personnel reductions by the end of October. In a letter to teachers, George Parker, president of the Washington Teachers' Union, expressed anger that the WTU was not notified of the cuts prior to yesterday's announcement, and suggested that the coming layoffs could jeopardize the ongoing contract negotiations. Contract talks were recently rumored to be nearing to a close after almost two years of stalemate.

In case you hadn't heard already, Southeastern University in Southwest D.C. lost its accreditation on Aug. 31, the Washington Post is just reporting now. A message on the school's web site simply states, "Southeastern will not be offering a Fall Session. We are not accepting students at this time."

Earlier this week, the D.C. Double the Numbers Collation launched a new website, doublethenumbersdc.org, featuring interactive tools and advice aimed at guiding D.C. students through the college application process. Many D.C. students are woefully uninformed about how to apply and pay for higher education, and a 2006 report found that only 9 percent of D.C. 9th graders graduate from college within five years of earning their diploma, less than half the national average. D.C.'s College Awareness Month runs from September 9th to October 9th.

D.C. Public Schools confirmed yesterday that student enrollment in its 127 schools was at 44,397, up from the roughly 37,000 who were registered when classes resumed on August 24. Enrollment counts typically fluctuate at the start of the year, as parents enroll children late, and transfers are finalized.

We frequently hear complaints during the school year about groups of kids on their way home from school misbehaving and causing problems on the city's public transit system. And now WMATA is encouraging you to lodge those complaints with Metro Transit Police. Metro has designated a specific phone number, 202-962-2118, to report disruptive behavior on the part of kids. The transit agency also says it will be deploying additional officers to trouble spots during the after-school hours, in an effort to break up trouble before it escalates. “We want to start off the new school year right, and let students and all of our riders know that their safety is our top priority. Everyone should feel secure while riding Metro,” said Metro Transit Police Chief Michael A. Taborn in a statement.

After collecting feedback ( i.e., complaints?) from staff, students, and parents for more than two years, DCPS has finally launched the redesign of its web site, and our first impression is that it looks pretty darn good.

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.

In an apparent effort to compete with the District's growing number of thematic charter schools, this morning DCPS announced the reorganization of 13 campuses into "theme-based catalyst schools," meaning that they will have an overall curricular emphasis in one of three areas: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), Arts Integration, or World Cultures. At a morning press conference, Mayor Adrian Fenty described the purpose of the project as "to provide compelling options for students and families at their neighborhood schools, so that in every Ward quality and choice becomes a reality."

A fire broke out in a second floor classroom at Anacostia Senior High School, located at 1601 16th Street SE, this morning.

A long-anticipated evaluation of the D.C. Public Schools from the U.S. Government Accountability Office was released yesterday. The top line finding? "Important steps taken to continue reform efforts, but enhanced planning could improve implementation and sustainability." No shockers there. The report praised initiatives that have been implemented by schools chancellor Michelle Rhee since 2007, such as increased accountability for central office employees, but also argued that the District should do more strategic planning to better execute their ideas, and make greater effort to engage "stake holders" like parents and teachers.

Bad news for D.C. charter school teachers: you may not be getting paid on Friday, according to a story just posted to the Post's website. D.C. missed a $103 million payment to its 60 public charter schools this morning, thanks to some kind of tax revenue shortfall or delay, Bill Turque reports. The District is facing at least a $190 million deficit in the current fiscal year, thanks to shrinking tax revenues due to the recession. The Post story says that charter board officials are negotiating with the city to make some kind of partial payment from contingency funds to help them meet immediate payroll needs.

The first results from the District Of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) tests are out, and the results are encouraging. Bill Turque summarizes the gains in the Post:

Nearly half the District's public elementary students (49 percent) scored at proficiency levels in reading and math. Reading scores last year were 46 percent; math scores rose from 40 percent proficiency. In 2007, fewer than a third of elementary students were proficient in either category. Gains at the middle and high school levels were more modest. Reading proficiency grew from 39 percent to 41 percent; math proficiency rose from 36 percent to 40 percent.

D.C. Public Schools will release its summer reading list for students Friday, and some local librarians have alleged that gay titles under early consideration were removed.

Yesterday evening, we received a tip from a DCPS high school teacher that nearly 20 teachers at their school received termination letters from their principal that afternoon, including the union building representative. This morning, Candi Peterson, a Washington Teachers' Union board member, has letters from two teachers on her blog, and while the exact number of teachers fired has not yet been announced, D.C. Wire reports that four types of school employees were terminated around the district:

Paraprofessionals who work with students, but did not attain the "highly qualified" standard required by federal law under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Continue reading "End of the School Year Brings Teacher Firings"

Now that it's June the inauguration may seem like old news, but these films are refreshingly candid, hilarious, and often-poignant records of what D.C. communities were thinking and feeling back in January. "Most of them have even started caring about their futures," a student at Luke C. Moore Academy says of his classmates. "You can no longer go off the same expectations." An older woman captured in one film explains, "I knew it was going to happen, I just didn't know it would happen in my time." A shy fifth-grader tells the camera that she felt "Excited. Happy. All kinds of words."

Today, graduating seniors at Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School will hear advice from First Lady Michelle Obama at their commencement at Howard University. Student Jasmine Williams first wrote to Obama asking her to speak, and has been chosen to introduce her to the students. "I am probably going to practice hundreds more before Wednesday," Williams told WJLA about her introduction. The charter school is D.C.'s only open enrollment public school to meet Adequate Yearly Progress targets under No Child Left Behind in both math and reading for the last two years.

City Desk is reporting that Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray have settled their argument over the $27 million that the Council voted last month to strip from the DCPS budget because of differences in enrollment projections. The Council is voting (any minute now?) to restore $24 million to DCPS in the FY2010 budget, with the remainder being placed in escrow until enrollment counts are finalized in October. Rhee and Gray will also collaborate going forward to create a "uniform method" for projecting enrollment. The Council initially withdrew the money because it felt the projections on which the budget had been based were inflated. DCPS enrollment has been steadily declining for years, but Rhee's budget assumed a growth of about 3,000 students. Rhee countered by threatening that schools would be forced to eliminate teaching positions in order to make up the deficit. She defended the projected enrollment growth, but yesterday conceded in a letter to Gray that, "I cannot guarantee that this will occur.” Strangely, that slight admission seemed to be all Gray needed to release the majority of the money.

It's good to be alive, he thinks."

Baltimore's well-loved trapeze school is moving to D.C. after failing to find a permanent home in Charm City. (Hat tip to Ryan Sharrow.) I'm typically opposed to joinerish sporting trends (bocce, kickball, Donkey Ball.) but I have to admit this looks pretty awesome. My friend Nora took some classes in Baltimore and was doing some sort of complicated catch maneuver after her first class. You can watch here. Apparently, they hook you by offering a "deal" in which you buy a second class that day and get the third one free. The nasty under-knee bruises are free. The Washington Trapeze School's classes begin June 6 at 9th and H streets NW near the old convention center.

We have to admit, when we first started watching this C-SPAN video of RNC Chairman and D.C. native Michael Steele talking to students at H.D. Woodson Senior High School, we were ready to scoff. Really Michael Steele, we wondered, do you actually want to tell students in DCPS, where only one out of ten students ever graduate from college, that while at Johns Hopkins, "I partied my behind off," and "I heard there were classes" and then mock the letter announcing that you had been kicked out?

D.C. Wire reports that this morning, the D.C. Council voted to strip $27 million from the DCPS budget for next year, on the grounds that that the original funding projected that school enrollment would grow by 3,000 students, an estimate that's obviously unrealistic. The Council says it will not spend the money now, and voted to place it in escrow, to be released in the fall only if an enrollment audit confirms growth. "Given the enormous budget challenges facing the District in 2010," Chairman Vincent Gray argued, "there needs to be a justification why this increase is warranted."

The swine flu scare is saying sayonara. The virus, while very infectious, proved not to be very deadly. With this new CDC directive, all closed Maryland schools will reopen Wednesday. As far as we know, Our Lady of Victory in the District has not yet decided to reopen.