Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing will change unless DC somehow elects a mayor who is more conservative than Bowser who is willing to challenge the status quo.

I think that you may have found yourself in the wrong city if you think that DC will ever become conservative. I certainly don't believe conservatism is required for a leader to create better schools. Fenty did more than any other mayor to push forward our schools and make change and he was far from conservative.

PP here. You've misread what I wrote. I said "more conservative than Bowser." Not "a conservative." Fenty is precisely the kind of person I was talking about. He was "more conservative than Bowser" (not to mention everyone on the city council). We need someone who will stand up to the status quo, and raise standards and introduce a measure of accountability. You don't get that when you vote for extremely liberal Democrats. That's like voting for extremely conservative Republicans and expecting them to raise taxes on the rich. It's simply not in the cards.

I disagree that Fenty was more conservative than Bowser. He went to Oberlin. Bowser is in the pockets of every developer she ever met.

What does that have to do with anything? If she is corrupt, please out her and tell the prosecutors. Or is she just pro-development, and that is the issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing will change unless DC somehow elects a mayor who is more conservative than Bowser who is willing to challenge the status quo.

I think that you may have found yourself in the wrong city if you think that DC will ever become conservative. I certainly don't believe conservatism is required for a leader to create better schools. Fenty did more than any other mayor to push forward our schools and make change and he was far from conservative.

PP here. You've misread what I wrote. I said "more conservative than Bowser." Not "a conservative." Fenty is precisely the kind of person I was talking about. He was "more conservative than Bowser" (not to mention everyone on the city council). We need someone who will stand up to the status quo, and raise standards and introduce a measure of accountability. You don't get that when you vote for extremely liberal Democrats. That's like voting for extremely conservative Republicans and expecting them to raise taxes on the rich. It's simply not in the cards.

I disagree that Fenty was more conservative than Bowser. He went to Oberlin. Bowser is in the pockets of every developer she ever met.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing will change unless DC somehow elects a mayor who is more conservative than Bowser who is willing to challenge the status quo.

I think that you may have found yourself in the wrong city if you think that DC will ever become conservative. I certainly don't believe conservatism is required for a leader to create better schools. Fenty did more than any other mayor to push forward our schools and make change and he was far from conservative.

PP here. You've misread what I wrote. I said "more conservative than Bowser." Not "a conservative." Fenty is precisely the kind of person I was talking about. He was "more conservative than Bowser" (not to mention everyone on the city council). We need someone who will stand up to the status quo, and raise standards and introduce a measure of accountability. You don't get that when you vote for extremely liberal Democrats. That's like voting for extremely conservative Republicans and expecting them to raise taxes on the rich. It's simply not in the cards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if people who post here and vote in DC want to have 'great' schools and get that from the next mayor, they are going to have to offer explanations that don't boil down to "great = demographics" like "you need a selective school that duplicates BASIS or attracts Asians."

I hope that folks can articulate that greatness as a list of plus and minuses, not a version of 'if Black children who are behind grade level are in this school I will not send my kids.'

The answer is streaming. And letting kids who don’t want to be in school after 8th grade do something else (far, far away from the kids that do)

Streaming? I'm assuming you're not talking about YouTube

Anonymous wrote:My kids are DCPS you probably wouldn't touch and doing well. So I want the people who want greatness to define it as something other than "not my inbound school because ewwww."

You sound like a real uniter.

My kids are DCPS you probably wouldn't touch and doing well. So I want the people who want greatness to define it as something other than "not my inbound school because ewwww."

Anonymous wrote:if people who post here and vote in DC want to have 'great' schools and get that from the next mayor, they are going to have to offer explanations that don't boil down to "great = demographics" like "you need a selective school that duplicates BASIS or attracts Asians."

I hope that folks can articulate that greatness as a list of plus and minuses, not a version of 'if Black children who are behind grade level are in this school I will not send my kids.'

You sound like someone who does not send their kids to DC schools. If you were, you'd know all of us are quite aware of the need for flexibility of expectations. And if you think that a love of BASIS is truly a defining characteristic of most people who post here, then I suspect you don't post here much either.

Anonymous wrote:if people who post here and vote in DC want to have 'great' schools and get that from the next mayor, they are going to have to offer explanations that don't boil down to "great = demographics" like "you need a selective school that duplicates BASIS or attracts Asians."

I hope that folks can articulate that greatness as a list of plus and minuses, not a version of 'if Black children who are behind grade level are in this school I will not send my kids.'

The answer is streaming. And letting kids who don’t want to be in school after 8th grade do something else (far, far away from the kids that do)

if people who post here and vote in DC want to have 'great' schools and get that from the next mayor, they are going to have to offer explanations that don't boil down to "great = demographics" like "you need a selective school that duplicates BASIS or attracts Asians."

I hope that folks can articulate that greatness as a list of plus and minuses, not a version of 'if Black children who are behind grade level are in this school I will not send my kids.'

Anonymous wrote:Nothing will change unless DC somehow elects a mayor who is more conservative than Bowser who is willing to challenge the status quo.

I think that you may have found yourself in the wrong city if you think that DC will ever become conservative. I certainly don't believe conservatism is required for a leader to create better schools. Fenty did more than any other mayor to push forward our schools and make change and he was far from conservative.

I think that if DC parents band together and speak up for what we ALL want, we will have our voices heard.

We all want orderly, excellent schools that give kids a chance to reach their potential.

We want, as a city, a curriculum that reflects our values and beliefs in democracy and fairness.

We want not just good but GREAT options for middle and high school.

We are proud of the fact that we offered universal Pre-K earlier than almost anyone else, and we are leaders in quality public Pre-K.

I like that Kenyan McDuffie has kids in DC schools. He also provided good constituent services when he served my neighborhood. I'm open to other candidates, though.

But I think that the most important thing is that parents go and speak up in candidate forums and ask about plans for schools.

Nothing will change because people want to vote for left wing Democrats and they all believe the same things about schools, which are:

1. The primary purpose of schools is not to educate all students, but to fight inequality
2. Any system, whether it's tracking or gifted schools, that results in white kids tending to go to one place and black kids tending to go to another place, is inherently racist and must be avoided at all costs
3. No real plan to reduce racial disparities in academic achievement except to reduce standards by so much that no one can fail
4. A belief that social promotion is necessary because the social consequences of flunking kids, regardless of how little they learn, is devastating
5. The teachers union is your ally, its opinion is important and must be on board with any decision made

We get the schools we vote for.

Nothing will change unless DC somehow elects a mayor who is more conservative than Bowser who is willing to challenge the status quo.

I believe we have had an incredibly corporate mayor. I think we are likely to have someone who is more constituent friendly less developer friendly. If one outcome is that we spend more on student outcomes rather than palaces without students in them, I would welcome it.

Any early thoughts on what the mayoral race could mean for DC schools? With Mayor Bowser announcing she won’t seek another term, I can’t help but feel that this upcoming race will be one of the most consequential moments for our city—and for our schools—in a long time.