Greater Greater Washington story on school enrollment growth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why OSSE can’t get their sh*t together. Is it corruption, incompetence, staff churn, or lack of internal processes/responsibilities?

Everyone is afraid of the mayor and just doing her bidding from the DME on down

To actually fix education in DC you need real independence

This is a feature, not a bug of mayoral control.

But for those of us who have lived here 2+ decades, we've had independent control. We've had an elected school board. None really worked any better.

Here's the thing schools are actually much better than they used to be and frankly the majority of DCPS is low income. DCUM needs aren't relevant. Frankly DCPS doesn't care about overcrowding WOTP because the population is so small compared to the rest of DCPS.

And I hate to break it to you but in schools across the country class sizes are bigger in wealthy areas and smaller in low income areas. It's what is best for society. Otherwise you can copy what folks out in McLean VA are doing. Complaining about class sizes but nothing is changing again the population is too small compared to the rest of Fairfax County/DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't Nick Keenan and many others on the Save Old Hardy group send their own kids to private schools?

I don't get these parents imposing 'public school philosophies' on us "public school" people who are directly impacted...

yup kind of like the Joe Weedon guy demanding people go to Eastern and then his kid goes to WALLS lol

Not really, it's WAY worse, at least Weeden seems to have tried and still stayed in the sytem! Is this true? People without even the slightest skin in the game are leading public school efforts and writing long op-eds about it? What on god's green earth. This is more like the Chancellors sending their kids to private.

The DME sends his kids to WIS.

[Anonymous]

What is the DME?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't Nick Keenan and many others on the Save Old Hardy group send their own kids to private schools?

I don't get these parents imposing 'public school philosophies' on us "public school" people who are directly impacted...

yup kind of like the Joe Weedon guy demanding people go to Eastern and then his kid goes to WALLS lol

Not really, it's WAY worse, at least Weeden seems to have tried and still stayed in the sytem! Is this true? People without even the slightest skin in the game are leading public school efforts and writing long op-eds about it? What on god's green earth. This is more like the Chancellors sending their kids to private.

The DME sends his kids to WIS.

That's truly crappy. I'm not normally a moralist about these sorts of things, but I absolutely think it should be disqualifying to have an executive position in DCPS and not use DCPS schools for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the DME?

The Deputy Mayor of Education. Reports to the mayor. The Chancellor reports to the DME, as does DOES and DPR. https://mayor.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mayormb/publication/attachments/DCGovtOrgChart2019.pdf

The person in that job now is Paul Kihn. Around the time he was appointed he went on the Kojo show on WAMU and said they chose WIS because his wife is a native speaker of another language and they wanted immersion.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/bowser-taps-new-deputy-mayor-for-education-from-outside-dc-schools/2018/09/24/9a7dfa04-c03e-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html?utm_term=.f854741114e8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why OSSE can’t get their sh*t together. Is it corruption, incompetence, staff churn, or lack of internal processes/responsibilities?

Everyone is afraid of the mayor and just doing her bidding from the DME on down

To actually fix education in DC you need real independence

This is a feature, not a bug of mayoral control.

But for those of us who have lived here 2+ decades, we've had independent control. We've had an elected school board. None really worked any better.

Here's the thing schools are actually much better than they used to be and frankly the majority of DCPS is low income. DCUM needs aren't relevant. Frankly DCPS doesn't care about overcrowding WOTP because the population is so small compared to the rest of DCPS.

And I hate to break it to you but in schools across the country class sizes are bigger in wealthy areas and smaller in low income areas. It's what is best for society. Otherwise you can copy what folks out in McLean VA are doing. Complaining about class sizes but nothing is changing again the population is too small compared to the rest of Fairfax County/DC

This. DCPS is much better than it used to be, and schools are still improving. People forget.

Also, the problems with DC schools are, in large part, the problems of DC writ large--namely, poverty, childhood hunger, unemployment, lack of stability, crime, etc. The schools can only do so much to cope with the problems that the kids show up with. These are larger social problems that pretty much every city and state has a hard time grappling with. Schools full of kids who are hungry, who don't have stable living arrangements, whose parents are absent or working two or three jobs, who live in unsafe neighborhoods, etc., will struggle. Schools full of kids who show up fed and ready to learn will do better. There's no magic solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the DME?

The Deputy Mayor of Education. Reports to the mayor. The Chancellor reports to the DME, as does DOES and DPR. https://mayor.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mayormb/publication/attachments/DCGovtOrgChart2019.pdf

The person in that job now is Paul Kihn. Around the time he was appointed he went on the Kojo show on WAMU and said they chose WIS because his wife is a native speaker of another language and they wanted immersion.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/bowser-taps-new-deputy-mayor-for-education-from-outside-dc-schools/2018/09/24/9a7dfa04-c03e-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html?utm_term=.f854741114e8

Wow, this is complete bullsh#t. What brass balls on this man! Anyone who is an executive with DCPS, OSSE, DCPC, or Mayor's office should have their kids in the public or charter schools. How can anyone have faith in the system if the DME won't do it for his own kid?!?!

[Anonymous]

Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

Washington International School - See last sentence of WaPo story posted at 13:01.

We replaced someone who jumped the line to get his daughter into Wilson for someone with 2 kids who opts out of DC schools (charter or public) altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

I think his kids were finishing out this school year back in their home state. They will start in DC next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

Washington International School - See last sentence of WaPo story posted at 13:01.

We replaced someone who jumped the line to get his daughter into Wilson for someone with 2 kids who opts out of DC schools (charter or public) altogether.

The DME is different from the Chancellor. The DME reports to the Mayor and the Chancellor reports to the DME.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

Washington International School - See last sentence of WaPo story posted at 13:01.

We replaced someone who jumped the line to get his daughter into Wilson for someone with 2 kids who opts out of DC schools (charter or public) altogether.

The DME is different from the Chancellor. The DME reports to the Mayor and the Chancellor reports to the DME.

True - the DME (no kids) was ousted because she facilitated the chancellor's actions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

Washington International School - See last sentence of WaPo story posted at 13:01.

We replaced someone who jumped the line to get his daughter into Wilson for someone with 2 kids who opts out of DC schools (charter or public) altogether.

The DME is different from the Chancellor. The DME reports to the Mayor and the Chancellor reports to the DME.

IMHO, I think the Mayor should be able to pick the Chancellor. But then after that, the Chancellor should be completely independent and report only to the City Council. This is similar to how "independent agencies" in the Federal government are structured. I hate that the Mayor can lean on the Chancellor and threaten to fire them if they don't stick to her political goals.

A Chancellor needs to make difficult decisions independent of a Mayor who is just worried about re-election. I'd like to see more independence in the role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

Washington International School - See last sentence of WaPo story posted at 13:01.

We replaced someone who jumped the line to get his daughter into Wilson for someone with 2 kids who opts out of DC schools (charter or public) altogether.

The DME is different from the Chancellor. The DME reports to the Mayor and the Chancellor reports to the DME.

True - the DME (no kids) was ousted because she facilitated the chancellor's actions.

The DME is Paul Kihn. His kid(s) go to Washington International School, a private school that costs $40K per year. It's absurd that this man is the Deputy Mayor of Education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does the Chancellor send his kid(s)? Not sure I remember hearing.

Washington International School - See last sentence of WaPo story posted at 13:01.

We replaced someone who jumped the line to get his daughter into Wilson for someone with 2 kids who opts out of DC schools (charter or public) altogether.

The DME is different from the Chancellor. The DME reports to the Mayor and the Chancellor reports to the DME.

IMHO, I think the Mayor should be able to pick the Chancellor. But then after that, the Chancellor should be completely independent and report only to the City Council. This is similar to how "independent agencies" in the Federal government are structured. I hate that the Mayor can lean on the Chancellor and threaten to fire them if they don't stick to her political goals.

A Chancellor needs to make difficult decisions independent of a Mayor who is just worried about re-election. I'd like to see more independence in the role.

Except the Council doesn't really want that responsibility. They know it is a lose-lose