Letter from Cancellor re moving schools - opps - I got caught moving my kid?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even Ashley carter saying he should resign!

You may want to confirm that it wasn't her intern saying that.

Well, D.C. Auditor says it:
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/article/20992986/dc-auditor-says-schools-chancellor-antwan-wilson-should-be-fired

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember a public meeting with him last year. We we talking about the lack of desirable HS options in our neighborhood. We are IB for Cardozo. His response: send your kids their and work with me to build the school you want. Guess that doesn’t apply to Dunbar.

No one in DCPS Central believes that for their own kids. But yes, they'll preach it to you. Also, most of them live in the 'burbs coz they're not stupid.

So true, I used to work in DCPS central office most people live in VA or MD burbs. They see and know first hand of DCPS's foolery. For those that don't live in the burbs they go to private school.

Disagree. There are some Central Office staff who legitimately believe in the system and choose to send their children to DCPS schools. They may be few and far between... but they exist. And they are fighting hard every day to help the system. But when the situation is so corrupt it is a constant uphill battle.

This is so not true. Many central office folk are very young and don't even have kids yet. Others only have ES age kids so they are doing DCPS elementary but let's see what they decide to do when kid hits MS age. Others who do DCPS all the way usually live in the Deal and Wilson boundary or do School without Walls. Most live in the suburbs or do private school. A handful maybe use other schools but very very few people in DCPS central use the other "more troubled" schools. Many do charter schools as well.

Why should central office folks have to be sacrificial lambs for DCPS? I want good people who are working hard to improve schools; I don't really care where their kids go to school.

Most central office folks couldn't afford schools that people on this site would be willing to send their kids to. Why should they have to send their kids to crap schools to prove their commitment? What exactly are you doing to improve the system? Just by working for dcps, they are doing a lot more than the sanctimonious armchair quarterbacks here.

Hello DCPS employee. You should practice what you preach and understand what the public is experiencing. You do that by partaking in the very system that employs you, as a true civil servant and not a self servant. Only when you experience what's happening to others will you know and fix what's wrong - because you actually have a vested self interest! Otherwise you're just here collecting a paycheck.

PS - Don't tell us you can't afford to live in the city; there's a neighborhood here for every salary.

I am not a DCPS employee. I am just annoyed at self-righteous hypocrites like yourself.

You would never send your kids to the schools were it is true that "there is a neighborhood for every salary." In order to be a "true civil servant," they have to subject themselves to schools that you would never consider? They are collecting a paycheck for doing their jobs trying to improve the system; their paycheck doesn't require them to sacrifice their kids to prove to you that they are sufficiently devoted to the cause. They know what is happening in the schools which is why it is not unreasonable for them to choose to live in MD/VA if they can't afford the type of DC neighborhood where schools are usable.

More importantly, what the hell are you doing to improve DCPS? DCPS employees devote their professional careers to this (well, to that and 2-hour coffee breaks, but that is a separate issue); I bet you aren't doing much more than agitating on DCUM.

If you were to say that all DCPS employees had to send their kids to DCPS, you would likely drive out most of the better DCPS employees who could readily find other employment and who were most concerned about the quality of their kids education. That wouldn't actually do anything to help your kids.

Any DCPS employee grade 15 or higher doesn't have an excuse to not live in the city. Employees with management duties make things better for all partly because they see first hand what's going on. If you want bureaucrats detached from your reality, that's what you got now. That's not hypocritical; that's common sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He keeps talking about all students need to feel loved in schools. Really?
I don't particularly care if my kids are loved. Just make schools a friendly environment and make sure my kids actually learn something.
Is that too much too ask Chancellor Wilson? My kids have a mix of teachers right now and some are pretty darn incompetent.
Why is he always defending IMPACT when I have never heard a good teacher say they like it and it does not seem to get rid of the bad ones?

I don't care if the new Chancellor is black, white, asian or mixed race. Just hire someone competent who actually knows what they are doing.
Academic standards need to be raised all over the city. That will help all kids, poor and well-off, white and AA.

I think the main problem for DC high schools is that many of the kids they serve are not equipped to meet the academic standards currently in place, let alone higher ones. The intervention needs to start much earlier.

Why do you think DC has universal Pre School? The investment is the "intervention that needs to start much earlier"

DC does not have universal preschool. DC has lottery PS3 and lottery PK4. Our elementary does not have the facilities to accommodate all of its K-5 and has had to cut back its PK4 to just one class; forget preschool. And you cannot get into PK4 without an older sibling to bump you up a few notches in the lottery.

DC does offer universal preschool. It doesn't offer universal local preschool. If you're willing to travel there is preschool available.

Sure, but the demographics that need it most often don't have the capability to travel.

And they can go to PK3 and PK4 in their neighborhood school where there is early action (guaranteed seats) and also free aftercare.

That's true if all the schools in poorer neighborhoods now offer early action. But obviously (as I've said in an earlier post - I'm not the one above who said DC preschool wasn't universal) attending PK isn't sufficient to compensate for challenges these kids face. The PP above who detailed the intense (and pretty much impossible) interventions needed at all levels is probably right.

[Anonymous]

Some of Wilson's accomplishments in Oakland (Washington Post 11/21/17) http://wapo.st/2HsGBCK

Wilson hired dozens of new executive staff, created new positions and departments that were not budgeted, and paid these individuals more than usual salary offered by the Oakland school district.

In his last year in office in Oakland, Wilson overspent his budget for classified supervisors and administrators by $11.8 million (more than double what was budgeted), and his budget for professional and consulting services by $6.8 million (almost a third more than what was budgeted).

During the two-and-a-half years Wilson was employed as Oakland superintendent, the Oakland school district chronically underspent the budget for books and classroom supplies. In the 2015-2016 school year, only $12.3 million was spent (about a third less than budgeted), and the spending dropped to just $6.8 million in the 2016-2017 school year (two-thirds less than budgeted).

In a potential conflict of interest, Wilson hired the head of a consulting firm which was already doing business for the Oakland school district. This individual was paid $30,000 a month.

This is the textbook definition of insanity: Taking the same action and expecting a different result. Forgoing books and classroom supplies for consultants? Six-fold increase in the number of superintendent staff earning over $200K? Weren't the "leaders" caught up in the Balloou scandal just reassigned to (presumably well-paid) jobs within the central office?

And how could no one have known that his daughter was at Wilson HS since September? WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THIS SHOW?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He keeps talking about all students need to feel loved in schools. Really?
I don't particularly care if my kids are loved. Just make schools a friendly environment and make sure my kids actually learn something.
Is that too much too ask Chancellor Wilson? My kids have a mix of teachers right now and some are pretty darn incompetent.
Why is he always defending IMPACT when I have never heard a good teacher say they like it and it does not seem to get rid of the bad ones?

I don't care if the new Chancellor is black, white, asian or mixed race. Just hire someone competent who actually knows what they are doing.
Academic standards need to be raised all over the city. That will help all kids, poor and well-off, white and AA.

I think the main problem for DC high schools is that many of the kids they serve are not equipped to meet the academic standards currently in place, let alone higher ones. The intervention needs to start much earlier.

We can't fix the problem, if we don't actually admit we have one. Use all current data that follows the child, and meet students were they are within a few grade levels. If you are reading at 4th grade level in high school, then you have to start there. More flexible schedules and literacy programs, they are only in elementary schools and clearly not sufficient otherwise wouldn't be transferring to middle and high with such low skills. Parents have to be involved. And no more bullsh## administrators and chancellors without years of experience as a teacher and leading school districts.

I think the biggest strides are in work via the universal preschool and early childhood education intervention. The studies show that the soft skills acquired at ages 2 to 4 are the most significant in impacting attention-span, eye contact, negotiating, word gap building, etc. The fruit of this (I am hopeful) will show in a decade.

[Anonymous]

Mayor Bowser needs to be voted out next election. If she doesn't have a no tolerance attitude towards something this sensitive- then she just doesn't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He keeps talking about all students need to feel loved in schools. Really?
I don't particularly care if my kids are loved. Just make schools a friendly environment and make sure my kids actually learn something.
Is that too much too ask Chancellor Wilson? My kids have a mix of teachers right now and some are pretty darn incompetent.
Why is he always defending IMPACT when I have never heard a good teacher say they like it and it does not seem to get rid of the bad ones?

I don't care if the new Chancellor is black, white, asian or mixed race. Just hire someone competent who actually knows what they are doing.
Academic standards need to be raised all over the city. That will help all kids, poor and well-off, white and AA.

I think the main problem for DC high schools is that many of the kids they serve are not equipped to meet the academic standards currently in place, let alone higher ones. The intervention needs to start much earlier.

Why do you think DC has universal Pre School? The investment is the "intervention that needs to start much earlier"

I remember this article graphic (2013) https://ggwash.org/view/30319/school-lottery-demand-shows-sharp-east-west-divide, and there were many vacancies on the other side of the Anacostia River. I have not seen a more recent graphic when I tried a quick look. Having one's precious darlings intermingle with Head Start children can be an eye-opener.

DC does not have universal preschool. DC has lottery PS3 and lottery PK4. Our elementary does not have the facilities to accommodate all of its K-5 and has had to cut back its PK4 to just one class; forget preschool. And you cannot get into PK4 without an older sibling to bump you up a few notches in the lottery.

DC does offer universal preschool. It doesn't offer universal local preschool. If you're willing to travel there is preschool available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty arrogant to think I'm going to live where I want and my kids will go to school where ever I want.
How did his daughter even get to Duke Ellington or Wilson from Langley neighborhood? It is not easy.
I know he has a DC issued driver and SUV. I wonder if that is how she went to school and back.

Maybe the same way Charter parents or EOTR parents do it everyday.

This. 2/3 or Brookland’s residents send their kids OoB or
charter. He was simply following his neighbors

His neighbors played by the lottery rules. How can someone be so dense to not grasp this?

+1

I’ll never be able to grasp that he thought he could get away with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember a public meeting with him last year. We we talking about the lack of desirable HS options in our neighborhood. We are IB for Cardozo. His response: send your kids their and work with me to build the school you want. Guess that doesn’t apply to Dunbar.

No one in DCPS Central believes that for their own kids. But yes, they'll preach it to you. Also, most of them live in the 'burbs coz they're not stupid.

So true, I used to work in DCPS central office most people live in VA or MD burbs. They see and know first hand of DCPS's foolery. For those that don't live in the burbs they go to private school.

Disagree. There are some Central Office staff who legitimately believe in the system and choose to send their children to DCPS schools. They may be few and far between... but they exist. And they are fighting hard every day to help the system. But when the situation is so corrupt it is a constant uphill battle.

This is so not true. Many central office folk are very young and don't even have kids yet. Others only have ES age kids so they are doing DCPS elementary but let's see what they decide to do when kid hits MS age. Others who do DCPS all the way usually live in the Deal and Wilson boundary or do School without Walls. Most live in the suburbs or do private school. A handful maybe use other schools but very very few people in DCPS central use the other "more troubled" schools. Many do charter schools as well.

Why should central office folks have to be sacrificial lambs for DCPS? I want good people who are working hard to improve schools; I don't really care where their kids go to school.

Most central office folks couldn't afford schools that people on this site would be willing to send their kids to. Why should they have to send their kids to crap schools to prove their commitment? What exactly are you doing to improve the system? Just by working for dcps, they are doing a lot more than the sanctimonious armchair quarterbacks here.

Hello DCPS employee. You should practice what you preach and understand what the public is experiencing. You do that by partaking in the very system that employs you, as a true civil servant and not a self servant. Only when you experience what's happening to others will you know and fix what's wrong - because you actually have a vested self interest! Otherwise you're just here collecting a paycheck.

PS - Don't tell us you can't afford to live in the city; there's a neighborhood here for every salary.

I am not a DCPS employee. I am just annoyed at self-righteous hypocrites like yourself.

You would never send your kids to the schools were it is true that "there is a neighborhood for every salary." In order to be a "true civil servant," they have to subject themselves to schools that you would never consider? They are collecting a paycheck for doing their jobs trying to improve the system; their paycheck doesn't require them to sacrifice their kids to prove to you that they are sufficiently devoted to the cause. They know what is happening in the schools which is why it is not unreasonable for them to choose to live in MD/VA if they can't afford the type of DC neighborhood where schools are usable.

More importantly, what the hell are you doing to improve DCPS? DCPS employees devote their professional careers to this (well, to that and 2-hour coffee breaks, but that is a separate issue); I bet you aren't doing much more than agitating on DCUM.

If you were to say that all DCPS employees had to send their kids to DCPS, you would likely drive out most of the better DCPS employees who could readily find other employment and who were most concerned about the quality of their kids education. That wouldn't actually do anything to help your kids.

Any DCPS employee grade 15 or higher doesn't have an excuse to not live in the city. Employees with management duties make things better for all partly because they see first hand what's going on. If you want bureaucrats detached from your reality, that's what you got now. That's not hypocritical; that's common sense.

I don't know what a 15+ DCPS makes. I'm not even sure how senior that is. But I assume there can't be many people making more than Feds.

So, let's assume you have someone making about $160k. If you are the sole, or even primary, bread winner of a family with a couple of kids, it is tough to afford a half-decent house in a solid school district. Most Feds (or private sector employees) at that income choose to live outside the city. How much sacrifice do we expect DCPS employees to endure just for the "privilege" of working for the school system?

Given how expensive the city has become -- particularly in areas with even half-decent schools -- it isn't particularly feasible to force people to stay in the city. Plenty of folks who work for other DC agencies face the same issue. I don't think working for DCPS v. any other government agency comes with a special obligation to use the schools.

One doesn't have to use the schools to avoid being a "detached bureaucrats." Would you say that someone who doesn't have kids can't work for DCPS or can't fully get up to speed on the problems of DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He keeps talking about all students need to feel loved in schools. Really?
I don't particularly care if my kids are loved. Just make schools a friendly environment and make sure my kids actually learn something.
Is that too much too ask Chancellor Wilson? My kids have a mix of teachers right now and some are pretty darn incompetent.
Why is he always defending IMPACT when I have never heard a good teacher say they like it and it does not seem to get rid of the bad ones?

I don't care if the new Chancellor is black, white, asian or mixed race. Just hire someone competent who actually knows what they are doing.
Academic standards need to be raised all over the city. That will help all kids, poor and well-off, white and AA.

I think the main problem for DC high schools is that many of the kids they serve are not equipped to meet the academic standards currently in place, let alone higher ones. The intervention needs to start much earlier.

Why do you think DC has universal Pre School? The investment is the "intervention that needs to start much earlier"

DC does not have universal preschool. DC has lottery PS3 and lottery PK4. Our elementary does not have the facilities to accommodate all of its K-5 and has had to cut back its PK4 to just one class; forget preschool. And you cannot get into PK4 without an older sibling to bump you up a few notches in the lottery.

Don’t get mixed up. I understand you may be frustrated not to get a pk space, but space isn’t a problem at the schools where the achievement gaps needs most to be addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He keeps talking about all students need to feel loved in schools. Really?
I don't particularly care if my kids are loved. Just make schools a friendly environment and make sure my kids actually learn something.
Is that too much too ask Chancellor Wilson? My kids have a mix of teachers right now and some are pretty darn incompetent.
Why is he always defending IMPACT when I have never heard a good teacher say they like it and it does not seem to get rid of the bad ones?

I don't care if the new Chancellor is black, white, asian or mixed race. Just hire someone competent who actually knows what they are doing.
Academic standards need to be raised all over the city. That will help all kids, poor and well-off, white and AA.

I think the main problem for DC high schools is that many of the kids they serve are not equipped to meet the academic standards currently in place, let alone higher ones. The intervention needs to start much earlier.

Why do you think DC has universal Pre School? The investment is the "intervention that needs to start much earlier"

DC does not have universal preschool. DC has lottery PS3 and lottery PK4. Our elementary does not have the facilities to accommodate all of its K-5 and has had to cut back its PK4 to just one class; forget preschool. And you cannot get into PK4 without an older sibling to bump you up a few notches in the lottery.

DC does offer universal preschool. It doesn't offer universal local preschool. If you're willing to travel there is preschool available.

Sure, but the demographics that need it most often don't have the capability to travel.

According to the old 2013 map, the vacancies were where some would assume had the most at-risk populations: https://ggwash.org/view/30319/school-lottery-demand-shows-sharp-east-west-divide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
He keeps talking about all students need to feel loved in schools. Really?
I don't particularly care if my kids are loved. Just make schools a friendly environment and make sure my kids actually learn something.
Is that too much too ask Chancellor Wilson? My kids have a mix of teachers right now and some are pretty darn incompetent.
Why is he always defending IMPACT when I have never heard a good teacher say they like it and it does not seem to get rid of the bad ones?

I don't care if the new Chancellor is black, white, asian or mixed race. Just hire someone competent who actually knows what they are doing.
Academic standards need to be raised all over the city. That will help all kids, poor and well-off, white and AA.

I think the main problem for DC high schools is that many of the kids they serve are not equipped to meet the academic standards currently in place, let alone higher ones. The intervention needs to start much earlier.

Why do you think DC has universal Pre School? The investment is the "intervention that needs to start much earlier"

DC does not have universal preschool. DC has lottery PS3 and lottery PK4. Our elementary does not have the facilities to accommodate all of its K-5 and has had to cut back its PK4 to just one class; forget preschool. And you cannot get into PK4 without an older sibling to bump you up a few notches in the lottery.

Don’t get mixed up. I understand you may be frustrated not to get a pk space, but space isn’t a problem at the schools where the achievement gaps needs most to be addressed.

+1 - if you take Maryland as a comparison, there are a few schools that offer PK4 to low income families. DC started there, then explanded down to PK3 and has PK4 in almost every Elementary. If you can’t get a Pk4 spot that means you live in a very high income area with low need for extra instructional years and the in-boundary demand packs your K-5 classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Elissa Silverman just issued a statement calling for his resignation. That's 5 councilmembers and an auditor. I'm wondering what Bower's move is tomorrow... you know, because today is a holiday.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even Ashley carter saying he should resign!

You may want to confirm that it wasn't her intern saying that.

Did she say Antwan has a turkey neck too?

I mean her intern, of course.

[Anonymous]

Embattled DCPS Chancellor, Last Fall: Families Shouldn't 'Obsess' Over School Placement - When your words come back to haunt you ...

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/loose-lips/blog/20993025/embattled-dcps-chancellor-last-fall-families-shouldnt-obsess-over-school-placement

"Last fall, Wilson suggested in an interview with City Paper that parents should calm down—but be more proactive, too. "Sometimes I see families obsessing over ‘My kid has to be in this school or that school or they won’t make it.’" he observed. "And what I say to a parent is, ‘You make the difference, you send your child to this DCPS school, you spend time meeting with school leaders and getting involved with the PTA or the local school government council, you and your neighbors come to our parent cabinet meetings together, and your child will be successful.’”