Anonymous wrote:So here's the thing that's killing me. The boundary redraw had nothing to do with improving school quality and everything to do with right-sizing schools. PERIOD.

Why does it take a boundary redraw for anyone to pay attention to school quality? These issues existed well-before the DME proposal. Where was Catania then?

I'll be curious to see if the proposal will be halted for a year. The whole thing is stupid and backwards - typical DC I guess.

Anonymous wrote:So here's the thing that's killing me. The boundary redraw had nothing to do with improving school quality and everything to do with right-sizing schools. PERIOD.

Why does it take a boundary redraw for anyone to pay attention to school quality? These issues existed well-before the DME proposal. Where was Catania then?

I'll be curious to see if the proposal will be halted for a year. The whole thing is stupid and backwards - typical DC I guess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

This. This. This. And, if Catania really cared about eduction, why isn't he busting his butt promising to make these new schools top-notch. Putting in a budget, securing the best teachers from a nationwide search, finding leaders to run it, etc. If he was dynamite, he could say let's make this happen and inspire confidence. Like pp said, Gray handed him the perfect set-up, and he's not taking it.

You understand that this is dcps, not a new charter school? He can't scour the nation for the best teachers. He must deal with a union. There are serious constraints at dcps that make change difficult. Just look at the rhee battles. If dcps were so agile and responsive to student needs, there wouldn't be so many charters.

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

This. This. This. And, if Catania really cared about eduction, why isn't he busting his butt promising to make these new schools top-notch. Putting in a budget, securing the best teachers from a nationwide search, finding leaders to run it, etc. If he was dynamite, he could say let's make this happen and inspire confidence. Like pp said, Gray handed him the perfect set-up, and he's not taking it.

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

Anonymous wrote:To the extent that the extra year is to put some more thought into the two? new middle schools, 10% set asides, guaranteed pk3 for title 1, I'm all for it. My biggest hang up with Catania's plan is the focus on no children being redistricted to a worse performing school. School quality is a problem that's much bigger than Hardy not being as "good" as Deal or Eastern not being as good as Wilson. Children who were in bounds for low performing schools who are now in bounds for low performing schools get no promises of quality improvement. The goal is to make Hardy as good as Deal, but if you were in bounds for Eliot Hine and still in bounds for Eliot Hine, you'll just have to wait.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

This. This. This. And, if Catania really cared about eduction, why isn't he busting his butt promising to make these new schools top-notch. Putting in a budget, securing the best teachers from a nationwide search, finding leaders to run it, etc. If he was dynamite, he could say let's make this happen and inspire confidence. Like pp said, Gray handed him the perfect set-up, and he's not taking it.

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

Anonymous wrote:I'm really no fan of Bowser and can't think of anything she can do at this point to sway my vote her way.

So I really, really want a reason to vote for Catania but this statement isn't doing it, either. The boundary/assignment changes could not possibly please everyone but it can be refined and amended. All can agree that school quality needs to be addressed, but that can't happen in a year so what's the point of delay - especially when there are grandfather clauses for those who want status quo?

For all the talk of Catania's intelligence and thorough understanding of the state of DCPS, he's been pretty whisper quiet on what he thinks needs to be done to raise school quality. What's his vision? More funding? Innovative programming? Just . . . "make the schools better"???

It doesn't take a lot to criticize what we've got. It seems to me that Catania is just more vociferous than most, but it doesn't mean he's got a plan for making it better. If he wants to be a drag on the painful boundary review process we just went through without at least talking about what direction he wants to go in, I have to keep giving him the side eye.

Anonymous wrote:People, please. Saying he "can't support a plan that moves students into a lower-performing school" is a safe statement for him since his support of the plan is now unnecessary. A statement that might have committed him to something would have been "I will undo any plan that moves students into lower performing schools."

Anonymous wrote:Well, based on this statement, I'm definitely voting for Bowser.