My kids go to a public school in DC and I can promise everyone that the Bowser administration has been absolutely terrible for school community and progress.

The problem is not the kids or standards, it's a district-wide effort backed by money (Rupert Murdoch is a DFER donor) to destroy public schools and community in the name of 'reform' - led by 'run the govt like a business' types.

The very best thing for DC schools and community in the DCUM neck of the woods has been free pre-K. This is a big government program, and it brings all kinds of parents into schools and teaches them about community - and they get to build from the inside.

Some leave, but more come. And they build strong schools.

Free pre-K is an extraordinary program, it is not part of the ed 'reform' space, and it has been transformative

I'm torn as well, and I was a fan of Michelle Rhee. I lived here in 2010 and when I told (educated, liberal) coworkers that I wanted to send my kids to DCPS schools one day they literally LAUGHED at me. The idea of people with options sending their kids to DCPS schools was literally laughable. Now - I'm in a similar job in the same industry, and not only do I send my kids to DCPS EOTP schools, so do tons of other people (and lots at public charters, too). I want mayoral control to continue - it worked.

I'm generally a fan of unions in that workers should have a voice, and should have rights and should have good working conditions and income. But the WTU is just that - a union supporting what's best for teachers. Important, yes, workers rights are important, but not the be all end all of what's best for STUDENTS, and I fear JLG doesn't see that distinction. And things like all those extra snow days they wanted to do made me so angry, and JLG supported them in that. Either kids being at school is important, or it's not. And I think for JLG, it's... not. She was also crazy about this around Covid, wanting to keep schools closed even longer!

I do like what McDuffie is saying about screen time. No screen time before 3rd grade is so smart, no YouTube videos, no ads, go back to computer labs.

He honestly might get my vote because of education, even though I prefer JLG on basically everything else. And I think the linked article about efficiency of the related departments is probably something she'd be better at.

Have any of them said anything about the crappy ELA curriculum? Or the problem with middle schools?

Janeese wants to slash funding for charter schools to the tune of $9,000+ per student. Half the kids in this city go to charters.

The single biggest problem with DC schools are the painfully low academic standards and low expectations. I don't hear anyone addressing that. The city's plan for eliminating racial disparities in academic achievement is making school so easy that no one can possibly fail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I liked Rhee and Fenty.

they were ALL smoke and mirrors

Teachers still mad Rhee had the audacity to fire teachers who were completely terrible at their jobs.

Anonymous wrote:I liked Rhee and Fenty.

they were ALL smoke and mirrors

Do you think there's not enough screentime in class? Then JLG is the candidate for you. One of her signature initiatives is promoting computer use in the classroom. No thanks.

Janeese wants kids in class *less." She says teachers need more professional development time, and she is all in for "flexible scheduling". So what is flexible scheduling, you might ask? Get ready for more asynchronous days, 3-day weekends, 4-day weekends, tech days, packet days, enrichment days, independent learning days, camp days, early dismissal days, rotating drop-off days, and teacher office-hours-only days, with fewer actual normal days.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENXFyCzepj8

I liked Rhee and Fenty.

Anonymous wrote:

The coming June elections in DC are perhaps the most important decision point for the city in decades.

Bottom line: the choice is between the status quo — keeping the same policies — and change to make the city better. Based on our experience, there’s no question that Janeese Lewis George is the candidate of change, the candidate for a better and stronger city and school community.

Meanwhile a vote for the other major mayoral candidate, Kenyan McDuffie, is a vote for the status quo, and the poor governance and weak vision of the Muriel Bowser era in DC.

Many problems in DC stem from poor vision and poor leadership by the outgoing mayor
In DC, the mayor has near-complete control of DC government, and specifically control of DC Public Schools (DCPS). The mayor is responsible for running all the DC agencies.

post focusing on schools and the mayoral race.

I talk to a lot of parents in Ward 3 / EOTP public schools and in general it seems like people underrate how important the mayor is for DC schools. I still remember the Michelle Rhee and Fenty days. Those were not great. :/

https://dcpubedfacts.substack.com/p/the-dc-mayors-race-from-a-public

JLG is the high-risk high-reward candidate. Maybe she's the next Mamdani and pleasantly surprises everyone, or maybe she's the reason we get control board 2.0. McDuffie is the political equivalent of a punt. Just waste the next 4 years and hope someone better runs.

I'm leaning towards JLG at the moment just because I think DC needs a bit of sharking up.

McDuffie rolls out his Ed policy platform

https://kenyanmcduffie.com/platform/education

Some of this sounds good (he’s backed by a bunch of centrist abundance policy people and money). If I had any faith he’d be able to do it, it might sound better.

I think merely via the selection of a non-Broad chancellor who will meaningfully engage families, JLG will improve the schools.

Moreover, some problems at the schools are about DC agencies doing a poor job — DGS, DPR, DPW. Lewis George is going to work at managing the agencies, not let them decay like Bowser did and McD will.

We’ve had a lot of years of a poor leader as mayor, and JLG is 10x better at that than McDuffie. This one is a clear choice.

As is so often the case, I don't disagree with the criticism of Bowser's (and McDuffie's) approach to schools, but I do not find JLG to be a serious alternative. It sucks. I truly don't know who I'm going to vote for.

What is JLG proposing to improve schools? The only concrete proposal I agree with is to centralize truancy enforcement. The rest of it is status quo. More after school programming? I know exactly what that will look like -- some weak sauce additional programming and funds that already-good schools will make the most of and already-struggling schools will squander. The rest is just typical political pablum.

Neither of these candidates are going to meaningful improve DCPS.

The coming June elections in DC are perhaps the most important decision point for the city in decades.

Bottom line: the choice is between the status quo — keeping the same policies — and change to make the city better. Based on our experience, there’s no question that Janeese Lewis George is the candidate of change, the candidate for a better and stronger city and school community.

Meanwhile a vote for the other major mayoral candidate, Kenyan McDuffie, is a vote for the status quo, and the poor governance and weak vision of the Muriel Bowser era in DC.

Many problems in DC stem from poor vision and poor leadership by the outgoing mayor
In DC, the mayor has near-complete control of DC government, and specifically control of DC Public Schools (DCPS). The mayor is responsible for running all the DC agencies.

post focusing on schools and the mayoral race.

I talk to a lot of parents in Ward 3 / EOTP public schools and in general it seems like people underrate how important the mayor is for DC schools. I still remember the Michelle Rhee and Fenty days. Those were not great. :/

https://dcpubedfacts.substack.com/p/the-dc-mayors-race-from-a-public