Duke Ellington note to families- 75 families already cleared by OSSE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So good to hear the school is weathering the storm which they created.

Between this post and the LAMB parents it is truly amazing how parents are completely unable to see when their school is at fault. Blame everyone else but not our precious school!

The executive director, principal, school psychologist, and board chair have been fired or pushed out.

Some lower tier staff have left and hopefully more will follow. This is largely due to parent complaints. What you read here isn’t always accurate and you may get a skewed perception. Lamb parents absolutely blamed the school.

[Anonymous]

Um no. The worst offenders at LAMB were not fired or pushed out immediately. Even after the arrest. This is for another thread though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um no. The worst offenders at LAMB were not fired or pushed out immediately. Even after the arrest. This is for another thread though.

Agree. But I did not say they were pushed out immediately. Diane was the target of many emails by parents demanding that she leave or be pushed out.

The point I’m trying to make is that parents were absolutely able to say that they felt it was their fault and some had the courage to demand they leave. That is all.

A point for another thread, but I think would do another round of firings if I was executive director instead of promoting the worst people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a clarification - the above note didn’t come from the school itself which can’t comment on what is happening, but from an ad hoc group of parents. And good for those families.

OSSE sucks.

And yet Grosso, Mendelsohn and Chen all want to give them more power and autonomy. Why would we do that?

Because autonomy is the only way to ensure that OSSE would actually hold the schools accountable for enrollment. I've seen lots of bad paperwork over the years in DCPS. I assumed DE had the same thing. There's no incentive for DCPS to turn away students or charge tuition. High enrollment, high scores, high graduation - by any means necessary.

OSSE - remember, same boss as DCPS - only rocked the DE boat because they had to after the Antwan Wilson transfer fiasco.

It's easy to bash OSSE, but a State Superintendent office is a critical function. DC must have one, like all states, for federal funding and legal compliance reasons. Things that should not be tied directly to the vagaries of political whims.

A more autonomous OSSE would have gone after DE's messy records long before Wilson was even hired.

There are talented and dedicated people working in OSSE despite the political shenanigans. They can never fully do their jobs if there's always a political override.

Oh come on OSSE is dead wood from top to bottom

It's not like lower level OSSE employees are doing a good job and then being overturned by their bosses

The whole organization is dysfunctional

and if there really are good people at OSSE that are being overruled please contact the ed reporters at WAMU/NPR, WAPO, City Paper, and Examiner immediately

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a clarification - the above note didn’t come from the school itself which can’t comment on what is happening, but from an ad hoc group of parents. And good for those families.

OSSE sucks.

And yet Grosso, Mendelsohn and Chen all want to give them more power and autonomy. Why would we do that?

Because autonomy is the only way to ensure that OSSE would actually hold the schools accountable for enrollment. I've seen lots of bad paperwork over the years in DCPS. I assumed DE had the same thing. There's no incentive for DCPS to turn away students or charge tuition. High enrollment, high scores, high graduation - by any means necessary.

OSSE - remember, same boss as DCPS - only rocked the DE boat because they had to after the Antwan Wilson transfer fiasco.

It's easy to bash OSSE, but a State Superintendent office is a critical function. DC must have one, like all states, for federal funding and legal compliance reasons. Things that should not be tied directly to the vagaries of political whims.

A more autonomous OSSE would have gone after DE's messy records long before Wilson was even hired.

There are talented and dedicated people working in OSSE despite the political shenanigans. They can never fully do their jobs if there's always a political override.

Oh come on OSSE is dead wood from top to bottom

It's not like lower level OSSE employees are doing a good job and then being overturned by their bosses

The whole organization is dysfunctional

and if there really are good people at OSSE that are being overruled please contact the ed reporters at WAMU/NPR, WAPO, City Paper, and Examiner immediately

I could not agree more. All of OSSE is dead wood.

[Anonymous]

What a mess. At best this was a case of shoot first, ask questions later by OSSE.

New article: Washington Post has reviewed documents from OSSE officially clearing at least 90 Ellington families who had been accused of residency fraud. [164 were originally found by OSSE to be non-residents].

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/many-families-at-acclaimed-dc-arts-school-cleared-of-enrollment-fraud-school-leaders-and-parents-say/2018/10/13/e2539e4a-ce3c-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html?utm_term=.18f1ec3db1ee

[Anonymous]

because it is so, so hard to prove where you live.

[Anonymous]

They are looking the other way at fraud, particularly because it an election year. It’s the DC, er PG, way of doin’ things.

[Anonymous]

And all the other families...? Seems like the news story represents worse news than the PP expects...

[Anonymous]

OSSE is a total disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a mess. At best this was a case of shoot first, ask questions later by OSSE.

New article: Washington Post has reviewed documents from OSSE officially clearing at least 90 Ellington families who had been accused of residency fraud. [164 were originally found by OSSE to be non-residents].

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/many-families-at-acclaimed-dc-arts-school-cleared-of-enrollment-fraud-school-leaders-and-parents-say/2018/10/13/e2539e4a-ce3c-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html?utm_term=.18f1ec3db1ee

That still leaves 74 with problems. And the troubling accusation that Ellington staff was in on the fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a mess. At best this was a case of shoot first, ask questions later by OSSE.

New article: Washington Post has reviewed documents from OSSE officially clearing at least 90 Ellington families who had been accused of residency fraud. [164 were originally found by OSSE to be non-residents].

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/many-families-at-acclaimed-dc-arts-school-cleared-of-enrollment-fraud-school-leaders-and-parents-say/2018/10/13/e2539e4a-ce3c-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html?utm_term=.18f1ec3db1ee

That still leaves 74 with problems. And the troubling accusation that Ellington staff was in on the fraud.

This! If the first article said 74 families were accused we would all still think that is a lot.

[Anonymous]

If DC is serious about residency fraud, it should hire professional bounty hunter firms and pay them for each fraudster case they find and substantiate. That’s the aggressive but legitimate way to ferret out rot and fraud at Ellington, inthe rest of DCPS and in charters. Once a fraudulent enrollment is substantiated, expel the kids right away, prosecute the parents and fire anyone who works for the DC government who found to be engaging in or abetting the fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If DC is serious about residency fraud, it should hire professional bounty hunter firms and pay them for each fraudster case they find and substantiate. That’s the aggressive but legitimate way to ferret out rot and fraud at Ellington, inthe rest of DCPS and in charters. Once a fraudulent enrollment is substantiated, expel the kids right away, prosecute the parents and fire anyone who works for the DC government who found to be engaging in or abetting the fraud.

This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read on DCUM, and that’s really saying a lot.

[Anonymous]

curious.. was the Ellington renovation really 200 MILLION dollars? If that is true, where did the money come from? taxpayers?