Thanks for all your insights into loot boxes and “pay to play” video games. I’d like to chat with some of you offline for the story I’m doing. If you have any personal experience or concerns about this growing form of gaming, please email me atndbaca@sbgtv.com

I’m a reporter for ABC7 News, WJLA-TV in Washington. I’ve been following Senators Markey and Hassan’s hearing with the Federal Trade Commission regarding their call to investigate video game loot boxes and micro transactions. For those who don't know "loot boxes" are typically when video game players pay real money to buy virtual goods to enhance their characters in some way. There's an element of chance, similar to buying packs of baseball cards back in the day. There is some concern this will create an unregulated gambling industry, worth billions to large gaming companies. Do any families here have any experience with this form of video game addiction, or is this congressional push for oversight overblown for a problem that isn't there? If you have any questions for me and this story, I’ll try to answer them, but remember, I’m still looking for answers myself. Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having been on a charter board, I can bear witness that the pressure to use all of these consultants and pay their outrageous fees is insidious and intense. Without paying for FOCUS, your application is unlikely to get approved. If you try to secure a building without Building Hope, Building Hope may actually try to interfere with your lease, so that you have to go through them - and pay their high fees. As a new school, the PCSB pressures you to use FOCUS/TenSquare as consultants - and pay their outrageous fees, even though you are not a failing school, just a new school. All of these fees do not result in better outcomes for students, bleed schools dry, and ultimately line the pockets of Tom Porter et al - whose children are all in private schools, not within DC public schools.

Let's meet for coffee and talk. You can reach me at 703-328-1276. You can remain anonymous if you prefer. I'm very interested in airing more stories on how charter schools operate.

Building Hope helped my school. As a new school we didn't have the financial history to take on a lease or buy a building by ourselves. Plus we were growing a grade at a time and didn't have full enrollment to pay for a full lease. That was a few years ago so I don't know what their deals are like now. Of course, my school's interaction with Building Hope doesn't make a good news story.

Let's do coffee too -- same number.

Anonymous wrote:Having been on a charter board, I can bear witness that the pressure to use all of these consultants and pay their outrageous fees is insidious and intense. Without paying for FOCUS, your application is unlikely to get approved. If you try to secure a building without Building Hope, Building Hope may actually try to interfere with your lease, so that you have to go through them - and pay their high fees. As a new school, the PCSB pressures you to use FOCUS/TenSquare as consultants - and pay their outrageous fees, even though you are not a failing school, just a new school. All of these fees do not result in better outcomes for students, bleed schools dry, and ultimately line the pockets of Tom Porter et al - whose children are all in private schools, not within DC public schools.

Let's meet for coffee and talk. You can reach me at 703-328-1276. You can remain anonymous if you prefer. I'm very interested in airing more stories on how charter schools operate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:https://wjla.com/features/faking-the-grade/charter-employees-claim-grade-and-attendance-fixing

I'm the ABC7 reporter who aired this story Monday and talked to these former charter school employees about their accusations. These are not the only charter schools we heard allegations against. However, these two were the ones we had access to records or employees willing to speak at length about what they say happened there. If there are more employees who believe systemic grade and attendance fixing is happening at their charter school, the public charter school board says they want to hear from those employees - and of course, so do I.

If there are any questions DCUM folks have about this story, I can try to answer them here.

this was a solid piece of investigative journalism. The bigger story is the charter sector's lack of transparency, the same transparency which has exposed DCPS scandals and left the public largely in the dark about charter malfeasance.

I'm all for transparency but unfortunately, it's just not true that transparency exposed the DCPS scandals. Wasn't there a DCPS employee who shared private documents and records with NPR that prompted the investigation?

Indeed, it was a Ballou HS employee who shared documents with WAMU and myself last fall that prompted the investigation. Those documents included the entire attendance and grade reports for all high school students that one year. Thousands of pages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering why these schools are making news now. When many of us sent how BASIS was fixing grades, no one seemed interested back then.

As the reporter said, they need hard evidence or folks willing to go on the record!

I cannot speak about BASIS since that was likely before my time at ABC7, but I can say the entire DCPS scrutiny came because of the whistleblower decision of one former Ballou teacher who decided to bring with her thousands of documents. Those documents could not be ignored. Since then, two other teachers have come forward to me. One was from Columbia Heights (CHEC). She showed that Ballou was not the only one. The second teacher was from Howard Charter, showing how that sector had similar problems. The Somerset interviews did not have documents, but had told us repeatedly the documentary problems from other schools were mirrored at their own.

Anonymous wrote:

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:https://wjla.com/features/faking-the-grade/charter-employees-claim-grade-and-attendance-fixing

I'm the ABC7 reporter who aired this story Monday and talked to these former charter school employees about their accusations. These are not the only charter schools we heard allegations against. However, these two were the ones we had access to records or employees willing to speak at length about what they say happened there. If there are more employees who believe systemic grade and attendance fixing is happening at their charter school, the public charter school board says they want to hear from those employees - and of course, so do I.

If there are any questions DCUM folks have about this story, I can try to answer them here.

You cited the evidence/records you reviewed for Howard in the article. Did you have similar records for Somerset?

I do not have records for Somerset. For that school, we relied on an interview with a teacher (portions of which we aired) and a counselor (which we did not air - but made identical claims). Attendance and grading records are the gold standard for these type of stories - and its what started the Ballou HS / DCPS chain of events.

https://wjla.com/features/faking-the-grade/charter-employees-claim-grade-and-attendance-fixing

I'm the ABC7 reporter who aired this story Monday and talked to these former charter school employees about their accusations. These are not the only charter schools we heard allegations against. However, these two were the ones we had access to records or employees willing to speak at length about what they say happened there. If there are more employees who believe systemic grade and attendance fixing is happening at their charter school, the public charter school board says they want to hear from those employees - and of course, so do I.

If there are any questions DCUM folks have about this story, I can try to answer them here.

The training is a graduation requirement for high school seniors. The training for 5th graders was more for exposure and was set up by one of the children's parents. After talking to both DCPS and PCSB, the CPR requirement appears to be an unfunded mandate of sorts.

CM Mary Cheh tried and failed to find out just how many DCPS students are getting CPR/AED training as mandated by a 2016 law. Charter schools have the same requirement - but it's been challenging to get any numbers or clear answers. Here's a story we aired Monday: https://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/dc-law-mandating-cpr-training-followed

I had heard about the Dunbar principal - as well as former Ballou HS principal Dr. Yetunde Reeves now leading Cesar Chavez Middle School: http://www.chavezschools.org/school-leadership/

I'm currently looking into grade inflation allegations and complaints at Public Charter Schools - different than the ones mentioned here.

https://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/one-question-exam-allows-student-to-graduate

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Answering one question, “Who is most responsible for the current relationship between Washington, DC and Congress” was all it took for one DC public school student, enrolled in the 2017-2018 summer school program, to pass a required course to graduate 12th grade. (PDF of exam embedded in above linked article)

The student, whose identity 7 On Your Side is withholding, gave an answer marked by the test examiner for lacking evidence and multiple grammar errors.
It netted the student a B Minus, just enough credit to allow him to graduate Anacostia High School without attending the summer school class.
Exam documents are part of a federal lawsuit filed by former Anacostia High School teacher and Washington Teachers Union President Nathan Saunders.
The lawsuit alleges years of grade tampering forced by DC Public School administrators.

Saunders is suing Mayor Muriel Bower, Interim Chancellor Amanda Alexander, and DCPS central leadership.
Saunders claims wrongful termination, allegedly because he refused to hand in inflated scores for failing or absent students.

Saunders declined to talk on camera, saying the lawsuit spoke for itself.

Emails included in the lawsuit show after an Anacostia school counselor warned the student did not attend summer school classes despite being enrolled and taking a final exam, principal William Haith wrote back he didn’t “want anything hanging over their heads” as summer school clearance approached.
An email obtained by 7 On Your Side claims Saunders failed to properly give the student a final exam in DC Government in time before the end of the school year and faults Saunders for the student’s family appealing a poor final exam grade.

7 On Your Side reached out to the DC Mayor’s office and DCPS for comment.

A spokesperson responded, “DCPS takes any allegations of grade inflation very seriously.
We are committed to ensuring students have rigorous instruction and challenging course content every day by maintaining a standard of excellence for all our students and teachers through a Common Core aligned curriculum and standardized grading policies.
In this circumstance, the student was granted an opportunity to demonstrate course knowledge following a successful grade appeal process. DCPS will continue to focus on equipping our students with the skills they need to succeed."

Neither DCPS nor the Mayor’s office elaborated on how many students were given one question final exams, nor whether those exams showed mastery of the subject.

Regarding the relationship between the parents and Andrea Brown, the woman who assaulted teacher Page Garbee, the two are friends - according to attorneys in the court hearing. The parent was heard telling Brown "you can't do that at school," when she assaulted Garbee, but the video tape has no audio to confirm. Documents from the charter school state there was a challenge in identifying Brown due to a identification issue during the sign in process at the school, but the document does not elaborate nor have my questions to the school been answered on that matter.

If she was a DCPS employee, she would have been eligible under DC law for paid medical leave. As a charter school employee, this teacher is not.

The teacher is not suing at this time. Shantelle Wright was still executive director as of the time I was calling the school a few weeks ago. I had not reached out to Andrean for this story.