Photo by Rich Renomeron
Good morning, Washington. Nothing says the second day of winter like another day in the mid-50s, but enjoy it now—the weekend will be appropriately chilly.
2011, As They Saw It: This week’s City Paper is heftier than usual thanks to a year-end package the alt-weekly is calling “The Annotated Guide to 2011.” It’s a sweeping encyclopedia of just about everything that happened to D.C. this year, from the good to the so, so, terrible. (Disclosure: I contributed three entries.) Choice entries include editor Michael Schaffer’s take on “One City” (wait for the T-shirt) and Alan Suderman on the day @dcfireems died; the whole package is worthwhile.
Still Waiting: D.C.’s network of charter schools got a bunch of publicity last year ago with the documentary Waiting for “Superman”, but back in the real world, how are they really doing? Depends where you look, the Post reports. D.C. Prep Edgewood Middle School comes off like a Swiss watch factory, with excellent academic marks and disciplinary measures like half-hour detentions for one minute of tardiness. But the Maya Angelou Evans Middle School, among the bottom of charter rankings, is a bit messier. Much of the schools’ results have to do with the amount of assistance their students need, the story notes, but the choice statistic is at the top:
D.C. public schools, the city-run system, has shown more progress overall than charter schools on citywide tests over five years. But in 2011, the charter sector posted greater annual gains on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System. Charter schools also topped DCPS in reading and math scores of African American students — with a margin especially wide in eighth grade — on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Still Shook Up: The Washington Monument was more damaged by an Aug. 23 earthquake than originally assessed, the Associated Press reports. A report yesterday from the National Park Service says the temblor caused “extensive cracking and chipped stones near its peak that left it highly vulnerable to rainfall, and inspectors found cracks and loose stones along the entire length of the 555-foot structure.” Congress just appropriated $7.5 million for repairs, and it seems that the monument, which has been closed since the quake, isn’t reopening any time soon.
Briefly Noted: Typos abound at Arlington National Cemetery; maybe they should add a Disqus system … All those salads land Team Sweetgreen on a Forbes list … Hispanics make up a near-majority of pedestrians killed in Montgomery County crashes … Takoma Education Center back from the ashes … Brunches worth bitching about.
This Day in DCist: In 2010, Capital Bikeshare grows some more, and a robbery victim goes Ronin on some bandits who stuck up his store. In 2009, continued fallout from Snowmageddon meant bad times on Amtrak, worse times on small business’ balance sheets.
