blog post on DC schools and mayoral race importance for the schools
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Anonymous
post focusing on schools and the mayoral race. I talk to a lot of parents in Ward 3 / EOTP public schools and in general it seems like people underrate how important the mayor is for DC schools. I still remember the Michelle Rhee and Fenty days. Those were not great. :/ https://dcpubedfacts.substack.com/p/the-dc-mayors-race-from-a-public |
Anonymous
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As is so often the case, I don't disagree with the criticism of Bowser's (and McDuffie's) approach to schools, but I do not find JLG to be a serious alternative. It sucks. I truly don't know who I'm going to vote for.
What is JLG proposing to improve schools? The only concrete proposal I agree with is to centralize truancy enforcement. The rest of it is status quo. More after school programming? I know exactly what that will look like -- some weak sauce additional programming and funds that already-good schools will make the most of and already-struggling schools will squander. The rest is just typical political pablum. Neither of these candidates are going to meaningful improve DCPS. |
Anonymous
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I think merely via the selection of a non-Broad chancellor who will meaningfully engage families, JLG will improve the schools.
Moreover, some problems at the schools are about DC agencies doing a poor job — DGS, DPR, DPW. Lewis George is going to work at managing the agencies, not let them decay like Bowser did and McD will. We’ve had a lot of years of a poor leader as mayor, and JLG is 10x better at that than McDuffie. This one is a clear choice. |
Anonymous
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McDuffie rolls out his Ed policy platform
https://kenyanmcduffie.com/platform/education Some of this sounds good (he’s backed by a bunch of centrist abundance policy people and money). If I had any faith he’d be able to do it, it might sound better. |
Anonymous
JLG is the high-risk high-reward candidate. Maybe she's the next Mamdani and pleasantly surprises everyone, or maybe she's the reason we get control board 2.0. McDuffie is the political equivalent of a punt. Just waste the next 4 years and hope someone better runs. I'm leaning towards JLG at the moment just because I think DC needs a bit of sharking up. |
Anonymous
| I liked Rhee and Fenty. |
Anonymous
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Janeese wants kids in class *less." She says teachers need more professional development time, and she is all in for "flexible scheduling". So what is flexible scheduling, you might ask? Get ready for more asynchronous days, 3-day weekends, 4-day weekends, tech days, packet days, enrichment days, independent learning days, camp days, early dismissal days, rotating drop-off days, and teacher office-hours-only days, with fewer actual normal days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENXFyCzepj8 |
Anonymous
| Do you think there's not enough screentime in class? Then JLG is the candidate for you. One of her signature initiatives is promoting computer use in the classroom. No thanks. |
Anonymous
they were ALL smoke and mirrors |
Anonymous
Teachers still mad Rhee had the audacity to fire teachers who were completely terrible at their jobs. |
Anonymous
| The single biggest problem with DC schools are the painfully low academic standards and low expectations. I don't hear anyone addressing that. The city's plan for eliminating racial disparities in academic achievement is making school so easy that no one can possibly fail. |
Anonymous
| Janeese wants to slash funding for charter schools to the tune of $9,000+ per student. Half the kids in this city go to charters. |
Anonymous
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I'm torn as well, and I was a fan of Michelle Rhee. I lived here in 2010 and when I told (educated, liberal) coworkers that I wanted to send my kids to DCPS schools one day they literally LAUGHED at me. The idea of people with options sending their kids to DCPS schools was literally laughable. Now - I'm in a similar job in the same industry, and not only do I send my kids to DCPS EOTP schools, so do tons of other people (and lots at public charters, too). I want mayoral control to continue - it worked.
I'm generally a fan of unions in that workers should have a voice, and should have rights and should have good working conditions and income. But the WTU is just that - a union supporting what's best for teachers. Important, yes, workers rights are important, but not the be all end all of what's best for STUDENTS, and I fear JLG doesn't see that distinction. And things like all those extra snow days they wanted to do made me so angry, and JLG supported them in that. Either kids being at school is important, or it's not. And I think for JLG, it's... not. She was also crazy about this around Covid, wanting to keep schools closed even longer! I do like what McDuffie is saying about screen time. No screen time before 3rd grade is so smart, no YouTube videos, no ads, go back to computer labs. He honestly might get my vote because of education, even though I prefer JLG on basically everything else. And I think the linked article about efficiency of the related departments is probably something she'd be better at. Have any of them said anything about the crappy ELA curriculum? Or the problem with middle schools? |
Anonymous
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The very best thing for DC schools and community in the DCUM neck of the woods has been free pre-K. This is a big government program, and it brings all kinds of parents into schools and teaches them about community - and they get to build from the inside.
Some leave, but more come. And they build strong schools. Free pre-K is an extraordinary program, it is not part of the ed 'reform' space, and it has been transformative |
Anonymous
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My kids go to a public school in DC and I can promise everyone that the Bowser administration has been absolutely terrible for school community and progress.
The problem is not the kids or standards, it's a district-wide effort backed by money (Rupert Murdoch is a DFER donor) to destroy public schools and community in the name of 'reform' - led by 'run the govt like a business' types. |