DC Public Education Candidate Forum starting now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

Like, do you disagree with the core point here? People have different priorities and goals. Some people just have different definitions of achievement, some have models that are absolutely bananas, but they get to vote. They are going to disagree that those are the best schools, and some of the reasons are at a minimum reasonable and in many cases good reasons.

[Anonymous]

I think all schools should have great facilities with access to daylight, outdoor space, and great human centered design. It should be the bare minimum for government provided childhood facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all schools should have great facilities with access to daylight, outdoor space, and great human centered design. It should be the bare minimum for government provided childhood facilities.

DC pays elementary school gym teachers six figure salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

Like, do you disagree with the core point here? People have different priorities and goals. Some people just have different definitions of achievement, some have models that are absolutely bananas, but they get to vote. They are going to disagree that those are the best schools, and some of the reasons are at a minimum reasonable and in many cases good reasons.

What we're doing isn't working. We spent more on schools than almost anywhere else, and we're getting passed by *multiple* states in the deep south. Per the New York Times:

"Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the country in recovery from pandemic losses in reading, while Alabama ranks No. 1 in math recovery.

The state with the lowest chronic absenteeism in schools is Alabama, according to a tracker with data from 40 states.

Once an educational laughingstock, Mississippi now ranks ninth in the country in fourth-grade reading levels — and after adjusting for demographics such as poverty and race, Mississippi ranks No. 1, while Louisiana ranks No. 2, according to calculations by the Urban Institute. Using the same demographic adjustment, Mississippi also ranks No. 1 in America in both fourth-grade and eighth-grade math.

Black fourth graders in Mississippi are on average better readers than those in Massachusetts, which is often thought to have the best public school system in the country (and one that spends twice as much per pupil)."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

Like, do you disagree with the core point here? People have different priorities and goals. Some people just have different definitions of achievement, some have models that are absolutely bananas, but they get to vote. They are going to disagree that those are the best schools, and some of the reasons are at a minimum reasonable and in many cases good reasons.

What we're doing isn't working. We spent more on schools than almost anywhere else, and we're getting passed by *multiple* states in the deep south. Per the New York Times:

"Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the country in recovery from pandemic losses in reading, while Alabama ranks No. 1 in math recovery.

The state with the lowest chronic absenteeism in schools is Alabama, according to a tracker with data from 40 states.

Once an educational laughingstock, Mississippi now ranks ninth in the country in fourth-grade reading levels — and after adjusting for demographics such as poverty and race, Mississippi ranks No. 1, while Louisiana ranks No. 2, according to calculations by the Urban Institute. Using the same demographic adjustment, Mississippi also ranks No. 1 in America in both fourth-grade and eighth-grade math.

Black fourth graders in Mississippi are on average better readers than those in Massachusetts, which is often thought to have the best public school system in the country (and one that spends twice as much per pupil)."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

You’re making an argument laden with assumptions that other people do not share, especially about things like the definition of “working” and assumptions about what schools can do for kids. That’s before we get into the selection problems at the heart of these improvements, and the consequences to the DCPS system if we did some of these policy implementations (accepting the selection issues, the improvements for the kids on the margin are stark).

For the sake of argument- honestly I agree with the policy- let’s say we hold back kids who score below a 3 on the ELA exams at every level. That would create massive pressure on a lot of DCPS schools where most kids don’t pass. That’s not cost free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

DP- overall? The debate was pretty short.
But universal childcare (little kids), more aftercare slots,actually addressing truancy and how kids get to school. As well as how we can address challenging behaviors.
Changing who is in charge not just the chancellor but possibly deputy of education, superintendents.
More listening to what teachers, parents, and students are saying.

I think no one is offering the huge changes teachers and parents would really want.

But I also agree that of all the candidates Janice and Gary are the best but Gary’s answers were way less polished and he admitted he has no expertise in running education. I know I will not be voting for McDuffie either, I do need the next mayor to not just care about businesses and crime (well I’d like them to actually care about crime more) but also education.

I'm always surprised when people here rip JLG on education because she has been incredibly engaged on education during her time on Council. People see DSA and lose their minds but she's from Ward 4, went to Deal and Wilson, and she and her staff have shown up and pushed for school improvements even outside of just her constituents. I'm sure there are things we disagree on but the blanket "she's DSA and hates standards" is so reductive.

I also believe she may be in favor of relinquishing mayoral control of DCPS which would be huge and one of Bowser's worst decisions. It makes everything at the school level, even small things, a political fight which is not how we should view education.

The national DSA stance in many policy areas is very concerning to me. JLG seems a lot more pragmatic; you can even see it in her carefully crafted responses to the DSA candidate questionnaire. But for some reason she continues to align herself with them and that gives me a LOT of pause.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

DP- overall? The debate was pretty short.
But universal childcare (little kids), more aftercare slots,actually addressing truancy and how kids get to school. As well as how we can address challenging behaviors.
Changing who is in charge not just the chancellor but possibly deputy of education, superintendents.
More listening to what teachers, parents, and students are saying.

I think no one is offering the huge changes teachers and parents would really want.

But I also agree that of all the candidates Janice and Gary are the best but Gary’s answers were way less polished and he admitted he has no expertise in running education. I know I will not be voting for McDuffie either, I do need the next mayor to not just care about businesses and crime (well I’d like them to actually care about crime more) but also education.

I'm always surprised when people here rip JLG on education because she has been incredibly engaged on education during her time on Council. People see DSA and lose their minds but she's from Ward 4, went to Deal and Wilson, and she and her staff have shown up and pushed for school improvements even outside of just her constituents. I'm sure there are things we disagree on but the blanket "she's DSA and hates standards" is so reductive.

I also believe she may be in favor of relinquishing mayoral control of DCPS which would be huge and one of Bowser's worst decisions. It makes everything at the school level, even small things, a political fight which is not how we should view education.

The national DSA stance in many policy areas is very concerning to me. JLG seems a lot more pragmatic; you can even see it in her carefully crafted responses to the DSA candidate questionnaire. But for some reason she continues to align herself with them and that gives me a LOT of pause.

DC DSA is particularly nutty in a way NYC and others aren’t. Possibly because they’ve actually had to run NYC in the past (Dinkins).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

Like, do you disagree with the core point here? People have different priorities and goals. Some people just have different definitions of achievement, some have models that are absolutely bananas, but they get to vote. They are going to disagree that those are the best schools, and some of the reasons are at a minimum reasonable and in many cases good reasons.

What we're doing isn't working. We spent more on schools than almost anywhere else, and we're getting passed by *multiple* states in the deep south. Per the New York Times:

"Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the country in recovery from pandemic losses in reading, while Alabama ranks No. 1 in math recovery.

The state with the lowest chronic absenteeism in schools is Alabama, according to a tracker with data from 40 states.

Once an educational laughingstock, Mississippi now ranks ninth in the country in fourth-grade reading levels — and after adjusting for demographics such as poverty and race, Mississippi ranks No. 1, while Louisiana ranks No. 2, according to calculations by the Urban Institute. Using the same demographic adjustment, Mississippi also ranks No. 1 in America in both fourth-grade and eighth-grade math.

Black fourth graders in Mississippi are on average better readers than those in Massachusetts, which is often thought to have the best public school system in the country (and one that spends twice as much per pupil)."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

I don't disagree with you, but people always make the mistake of comparing a state to Washington, DC (which is really a city).

I have no idea how New Orleans compares to DC, but that's a much more apt comparison than comparing DC to all of LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

Like, do you disagree with the core point here? People have different priorities and goals. Some people just have different definitions of achievement, some have models that are absolutely bananas, but they get to vote. They are going to disagree that those are the best schools, and some of the reasons are at a minimum reasonable and in many cases good reasons.

What we're doing isn't working. We spent more on schools than almost anywhere else, and we're getting passed by *multiple* states in the deep south. Per the New York Times:

"Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the country in recovery from pandemic losses in reading, while Alabama ranks No. 1 in math recovery.

The state with the lowest chronic absenteeism in schools is Alabama, according to a tracker with data from 40 states.

Once an educational laughingstock, Mississippi now ranks ninth in the country in fourth-grade reading levels — and after adjusting for demographics such as poverty and race, Mississippi ranks No. 1, while Louisiana ranks No. 2, according to calculations by the Urban Institute. Using the same demographic adjustment, Mississippi also ranks No. 1 in America in both fourth-grade and eighth-grade math.

Black fourth graders in Mississippi are on average better readers than those in Massachusetts, which is often thought to have the best public school system in the country (and one that spends twice as much per pupil)."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

You’re making an argument laden with assumptions that other people do not share, especially about things like the definition of “working” and assumptions about what schools can do for kids. That’s before we get into the selection problems at the heart of these improvements, and the consequences to the DCPS system if we did some of these policy implementations (accepting the selection issues, the improvements for the kids on the margin are stark).

For the sake of argument- honestly I agree with the policy- let’s say we hold back kids who score below a 3 on the ELA exams at every level. That would create massive pressure on a lot of DCPS schools where most kids don’t pass. That’s not cost free.

This is all very pedantic and very pointless. There's always people on every side of an issue. Some people think we should have no gun rules! The fundamental problem with DC schools is that we spend, by any conceivable measure, a massive amount on schools and have very little to show for it. Also, you should have more faith in children. They respond to the expectations we set for them. If you feed your kid candy bars every day for breakfast, they will think that's normal. It works the other way too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly Janice Lewis George is my pick -she is the only one who talked about actually structural changes.
My second is Gary Goodweather, who talks about classroom changes and training for teacher but to me it’s also a red flag. If you know Michelle Rhee, she did a number on DCPS and helped ruin it. Teachers don’t need MORE training, we need GOOD training and planning time.

I find it interesting McDuffie is ALWAYS declining debates involving education. I also recently discovered his plan is to get kids ‘AI ready.’ Just no, we don’t need more tech. The research clearly shows this is not the way and let’s be honest most dummies can utilize AI -to use it well should be an elective a kid in HS can take IF they are interested.

Thanks for this - what structural changes is JLG supporting?

Janeese is a vote for the status quo. She will slavishly do whatever the teacher's union wants (she was trying to re-close schools during the pandemic for months after they had finally opened for good). Her answer to every problem is throwing more money at it. Let's face it. These schools are extremely well funded. What they need are higher academic standards. She is the last person on Earth who will support making schools more rigorous.

I think schools need a lot of things and people can reasonable disagree on what the priorities should be. I say that probably agreeing with you on higher standards, and agreeing that DC spends more than enough on schools in a mostly equitable way (we SHOULD spend more money on students with tougher environments)

Have you ever noticed that the best schools in DC (BASIS, Latin, Walls, etc) have the worst facilities and the worst schools in the city have the best facilities?

https://perkinswill.com/project/ballou-senior-high-school/

Like, do you disagree with the core point here? People have different priorities and goals. Some people just have different definitions of achievement, some have models that are absolutely bananas, but they get to vote. They are going to disagree that those are the best schools, and some of the reasons are at a minimum reasonable and in many cases good reasons.

What we're doing isn't working. We spent more on schools than almost anywhere else, and we're getting passed by *multiple* states in the deep south. Per the New York Times:

"Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the country in recovery from pandemic losses in reading, while Alabama ranks No. 1 in math recovery.

The state with the lowest chronic absenteeism in schools is Alabama, according to a tracker with data from 40 states.

Once an educational laughingstock, Mississippi now ranks ninth in the country in fourth-grade reading levels — and after adjusting for demographics such as poverty and race, Mississippi ranks No. 1, while Louisiana ranks No. 2, according to calculations by the Urban Institute. Using the same demographic adjustment, Mississippi also ranks No. 1 in America in both fourth-grade and eighth-grade math.

Black fourth graders in Mississippi are on average better readers than those in Massachusetts, which is often thought to have the best public school system in the country (and one that spends twice as much per pupil)."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/opinion/red-states-good-schools.html

I don't disagree with you, but people always make the mistake of comparing a state to Washington, DC (which is really a city).

I have no idea how New Orleans compares to DC, but that's a much more apt comparison than comparing DC to all of LA.

Yeah, this is always the go-to excuse when people don't like a given statistic. We compare ourselves to states when it makes us look good, and say we have to be compared to cities when the numbers are embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I also believe she may be in favor of relinquishing mayoral control of DCPS which would be huge and one of Bowser's worst decisions. It makes everything at the school level, even small things, a political fight which is not how we should view education.

First, mayoral control was established by Fenty, many years before Boswer became mayor.

Ending it would NOT make edu decisions happen at the school level; it would put them at the level of an elected school board, as in the past, which would absolutely politicize them and make change/progress more difficult. It would also give the Council more power over schools.

People who are against mayoral control really don't remember what it was like before we had it, do they? You might not like the mayor, but mayors are easier to vote out or advocate to than an entire board of people each vying for power with their own agendas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I think anyone who thinks things were better before Rhee is on the really good drugs

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I also believe she may be in favor of relinquishing mayoral control of DCPS which would be huge and one of Bowser's worst decisions. It makes everything at the school level, even small things, a political fight which is not how we should view education.

First, mayoral control was established by Fenty, many years before Boswer became mayor.

Ending it would NOT make edu decisions happen at the school level; it would put them at the level of an elected school board, as in the past, which would absolutely politicize them and make change/progress more difficult. It would also give the Council more power over schools.

People who are against mayoral control really don't remember what it was like before we had it, do they? You might not like the mayor, but mayors are easier to vote out or advocate to than an entire board of people each vying for power with their own agendas.

Jeez. Moving boxes around on an organizational chart is what politicians do when they want to appear to be tackling a problem but they don't want to do anything substantive that would make some people very mad. If a candidate is talking about stupid shit like this, you know they don't plan to do anything real.