testify to SAVE Mayoral control of DCPS

[Anonymous]

Like, god every decision is just going to be one big pissing match for soundbites and campaign pledges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks that more and better work will get done with power vested in the SBOE has never done extensive committee work with powerful individuals.

Lol. This is so accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks that more and better work will get done with power vested in the SBOE has never done extensive committee work with powerful individuals.

Lol. This is so accurate.

Good news. None of the current proposals vest power in the SBOE. So you're all set!

Do people not read what's going on? My god.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand things are better than 10 years ago but they still aren't good.

- How many damaged (ie fired/quit from other districts) have led DCPS under this one Mayor?
- Why can't the Council do effective oversight on basic things like how many nurses and librarians schools have?
- Why are school modernizations still being used as political tools?

Sometimes it is easier for a group of people to make "hard decisions." If the Mayor changes the school boundaries, it could cost her the election. If a board changes school boundaries, it might cost some of them their elections but they could share that risk. The other thing is public education should be a bit more steady and changes should be like steering a ship. Mayoral control leads to a lot of sharp turns and means that DCPS does not have to do long term planning well (because the Mayor doesn't care about DCPS in 2030).

I don't know what you are trying to ask with that first question.

Can you describe what "effective oversight" looks like -- perhaps provide an example? Is that cured by school board control?

I can't understand why improvement should NOT be something that a politician discusses as a win. So...what's the point of your third question?

I will give you that shared political risk might mean more steady changes.

Regarding long-term planning: no elected official with term limits cares about "the thing" beyond their term. So that complaint is also true with school board control.

An independent OSSE with oversight power over the Mayor's DCPS Chancellor.

OR, an independent School Investigator General office with subpoena power over DCPS, OSSE, and PCSB.

None of the people who started this thread actually will be in favor of those things, because they don't care about improving the schools -- too many in this DCUM thread are rightwingers whose real agenda is to damage DC public education.

[Anonymous]

Oh Christ, the “if you don’t agree with everything I say you are a Trumper” line.

You aren’t helping your cause. Some of us are trying to gather information and are listening.

[Anonymous]

The Wikipedia entry on the history of the SBOE is useful to understanding why mayoral control was granted in the first place.

Some of us were here during that time and therefore take all of that into account when thinking about new proposals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_State_Board_of_Education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I care an awful lot about traffic safety, which Bowser and her handpicked lackey DDOT director also do a complete trash job of. However, since my goal is "better traffic safety" and not "increase political power of the DDOT employees' union", I spend my energy engaging with the Mayor/DDOT/Council directly lobbying for safer streets, and if a viable challenger to Bowser emerges who I felt would do a better job on traffic safety, I would support that person's campaign. I am not wasting my time trying to argue that DDOT should be removed from the Mayor's control and report to a board of 12 people elected specifically for that purpose. Because that is a governance nightmare and doesn't actually help.

I actually think the changes last week at DDOT were a really good example of why a strong executive can be a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand things are better than 10 years ago but they still aren't good.

- How many damaged (ie fired/quit from other districts) have led DCPS under this one Mayor?
- Why can't the Council do effective oversight on basic things like how many nurses and librarians schools have?
- Why are school modernizations still being used as political tools?

Sometimes it is easier for a group of people to make "hard decisions." If the Mayor changes the school boundaries, it could cost her the election. If a board changes school boundaries, it might cost some of them their elections but they could share that risk. The other thing is public education should be a bit more steady and changes should be like steering a ship. Mayoral control leads to a lot of sharp turns and means that DCPS does not have to do long term planning well (because the Mayor doesn't care about DCPS in 2030).

I don't know what you are trying to ask with that first question.

Can you describe what "effective oversight" looks like -- perhaps provide an example? Is that cured by school board control?

I can't understand why improvement should NOT be something that a politician discusses as a win. So...what's the point of your third question?

I will give you that shared political risk might mean more steady changes.

Regarding long-term planning: no elected official with term limits cares about "the thing" beyond their term. So that complaint is also true with school board control.

An independent OSSE with oversight power over the Mayor's DCPS Chancellor.

OR, an independent School Investigator General office with subpoena power over DCPS, OSSE, and PCSB.

None of the people who started this thread actually will be in favor of those things, because they don't care about improving the schools -- too many in this DCUM thread are rightwingers whose real agenda is to damage DC public education.

I’m fine with an IG if it doesn’t already exist. An independent OSSE - why? The mayor opened the schools. Only people unhappy with that decision are going after her. Their last, sick attempt to exploit covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks that more and better work will get done with power vested in the SBOE has never done extensive committee work with powerful individuals.

Lol. This is so accurate.

Good news. None of the current proposals vest power in the SBOE. So you're all set!

Do people not read what's going on? My god.

why are you lying? the bills put OSSE under the control of the SBOE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks that more and better work will get done with power vested in the SBOE has never done extensive committee work with powerful individuals.

Lol. This is so accurate.

Good news. None of the current proposals vest power in the SBOE. So you're all set!

Do people not read what's going on? My god.

I don’t care which committee or council is clamoring for the power. I oppose it on the same basis n

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of bombastic comments in this thread and blatant misinformation.

I would encourage people to read this summary by WAMU reporter Martin Austermuhle of the two bills before council.

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1450159613131857920?s=20

"There are 2 bills before the D.C. Council addressing school governance. One would make OSSE, the city's state-level education agency, independent from the mayor. The other would give the State Board of Education more power over OSSE...

".....Both bills would seemingly add more checks than currently exist in the city's mixed school system, largely by empowering OSSE so it can function like other state-level education agencies. But they wouldn't return D.C. to pre-mayoral control that we had before 2007."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of bombastic comments in this thread and blatant misinformation.

I would encourage people to read this summary by WAMU reporter Martin Austermuhle of the two bills before council.

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1450159613131857920?s=20

"There are 2 bills before the D.C. Council addressing school governance. One would make OSSE, the city's state-level education agency, independent from the mayor. The other would give the State Board of Education more power over OSSE...

".....Both bills would seemingly add more checks than currently exist in the city's mixed school system, largely by empowering OSSE so it can function like other state-level education agencies. But they wouldn't return D.C. to pre-mayoral control that we had before 2007."

taking OSSE away from mayoral control and putting it under the control of an elected school board is as close to ending mayoral control completely that you can get without going all the way there.

[Anonymous]

Jeff directed this here, so I'll stick it here instead:

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1450150223771275264

I can't figure out how to link a screenshot, but Yglesias says ending mayoral control is a bad idea, and provides reasons.

I think this was to be expected, given the Weeds episode about school reopenings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff directed this here, so I'll stick it here instead:

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1450150223771275264

I can't figure out how to link a screenshot, but Yglesias says ending mayoral control is a bad idea, and provides reasons.

I think this was to be expected, given the Weeds episode about school reopenings.

+1

Lotta good points here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be a DC Council hearing on October 26 to discuss ending mayoral control of DCPS. Please sign up to testify against ending Mayoral control. There is no rational for ending Mayoral control other than giving more power to outside organizations over DCPS. Nobody has made the case for why the current management of DCPS needs to be change. Indeed - every single other public work is administered directly by the Mayor.

Mayoral control is DIRECTLY related to school reopening after covid. Without mayoral control, I do not believe DCPS would have opened at all last year, similar to SFUSD.

More information:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chicago-schools-lori-lightfoot-mayoral-control/2021/02/18/ff452110-7158-11eb-93be-c10813e358a2_story.html

This is old research, but it explains the issue of mayoral control of schools, and why it is beneficial:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/news/2013/03/22/57723/top-5-things-to-know-about-mayoral-control-of-schools/

Washington Post on the current efforts in DC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/undermining-mayoral-control-of-dc-schools-wont-make-things-better-for-students/2021/03/07/0fcb87d4-7bbf-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html

You can sign up to submit written or oral testimony here: Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUODdcp7a-VInaR5aSlR4_wEqL46YZ4bj65-LjKWTXMowpZQ/viewform?fbzx=-6710434939403137657

First of all - it's "RATIONALE" not "rational"

secondly -- Mayoral control has been an unmitigated failure. Public schools have become politically driven rather than focused on better student outcomes across the board. Thanks for the heads up so I can testify to end Mayoral control.

You'll need to go into a bit more detail about A) what exactly you mean by "politically driven" and B) why ending mayoral control -- and handing over control to an elected school board -- would make it less politically driven? Or do you just mean something like making the Chancellor only dismissable for cause?

I don't "need" to do anything

Educators should drive decision making on policy. Educators should run schools and school boards are far more accountable to citizens than a mayoral appointees. Political appointees cut out meaningful and necessary voices in the process with little real accountability to school communities. I guess there's accountability if you game the boundary system for your own kid, but there's no accountability for failing to deliver better outcomes for students, however desperate the effort to quantify any measurable "success" through questionable metrics (spoiler alert -- rich kids test better than poor kids).

no no nonono no no no. educators are not experts in education policy. sorry, no. i say this as a person who is a former teacher with a degree in education who now works with experts in ed policy and ed research.

Yeah, it's an odd article of faith among teachers -- most of whom have less experience with public policy or management than your average adult -- that "educators" are the only people qualified to make any decisions about schools, from budgeting to facilities planning to HR.

Of course, because they spend their lives among children, teachers are some of the least qualified folks to make these decisions. I'd way rather have decisions about policy made by someone who studied and works in the field of POLICY than someone who spends their day teaching multiplication tables. I'd rather have decisions about accounting and finance made by an accountant than someone who teaches about primary colors all day. Call me crazy.