Reply to testify to SAVE Mayoral control of DCPS

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Reply to "testify to SAVE Mayoral control of DCPS"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problems in DCPS are not caused by mayoral control. Schools were not better before mayoral control. There was not greater equity. I don’t understand why “end mayoral control” has become a rallying cry for people who are invested in greater equity, treating teachers well, ensuring schools get the funding and support they need. Schools in DC haven’t had any of that for decades, well before mayoral control was established.

But the problem is that mayoral control also doesn’t fix problems in the system unless you have a mayor willing to do things like strip out the dead weight in central office, get tough with redrawing boundaries to address overcrowding, make greater demands on charters, and explore possibly unpopular policies that might actually address equity issues in DC.

DC schools need a revolution. I know lots of people on these boards who have quietly bought their way into tolerable situations in DCPS will cry foul because they don’t want to jeopardize what they’ve won. And I’m sympathetic because to someone extent that describes my family too. But the pandemic has laid bare for me how broken this school district is in terms of being able problem solve, meet kids needs, negotiate compromises between stakeholders. I want a mayor and chancellor to come in and turn it on its head. I’m not done Rhee acolyte but I appreciate that she viewed DCPS as having solveable problems. Everyone since has just pretended it fine. It’s not! We need to fix it.[/quote]

I agree with a lot of what you wrote. However the "revolution" cannot come at the expense of all the UMC families exiting the system (like SF - not coincidentally, not under mayoral control.)  We need HS and MS boundary changes, but parents also reasonably need assurances that the new schools will have appropriate instruction.  We can't dismiss these concerns as racist.  And it wouldn't be hard to do - we just need leadership that will say "Hey, 250 Deal students are going to Wells and 250 are going to McFarland. Here are the teachers we are hiring for math and science; here is the transportation plan across the park; here is the PTA structure ready to go ... " Until a leader is willing to admit that academic quality is a legitimate concern, it's not going to work. [/quote]

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