Come See the Edu-Action...DC style

Forget scheduling happy hours with your fellow edupeeps for the next two weeks and instead, attend the DCPS community forums on school reconstruction....because it's edu-action drama...and it's awesome!

Backstory: The forums are for community members to provide feedback to the draft master facilities plan for reconstructing DC schools. Since DC City Council allocated approx $3 billion for reconstruction, DCPS will be able to begin reconstruction shortly. In a nutshell, the plan will modernize buildings that do not need to be completely reconstructed and also create several organizational school models including; a Hilltop Campus (combining Phelps and Springarn, Young and Browne), Comprehensive Theme High Schools (specializing in law and public safety, business admin, engineering, and arts & media), and creating several prek-8 demonstration schools.

The Meeting: The kick-off meeting occurred last night at Kramer MS. Members from DCPS and the architecture firm who designed the plan were present to answer questions. You could definitely say that there were a lot of tension in the room. Some of the main issues addressed:

*Why certain schools were first on the list as opposed to other schools. Anacostia High School was a big contention point. Apparently, construction for Anacostia was put on hold about a year or two ago due to funding issues and now it is back, but not slated as one of the first schools to be reconstructed. There was actually two seniors from Anacostia High School there who argued that since Superintedent Janey has high school's as a priority, Anacostia should be one of the first to be reconstructed...not middle or elementary schools.

*"Swing Schools" (schools that will house kids while their original school will be under construction). In addition to logistical questions about this process, there was a lot of concern about safety. Parents and community youth workers brought up that combining two groups of kids from rival neighborhoods together in one school, or bringing kids to a school near a rival housing project, could lead to an increase in youth violence.

*Interim facilities support for schools. Principals were concerned that there are currently items that need to be fixed now and can't wait for their scheduled slot. To the credit of the DCPS, the deputy director of facilities was there and personally gave his email and phone number out to people so that they can contact him if work is not getting done.

*Lack of trust from community for the DCPS staff. This was the most interesting part of the meeting to me. It was fascinating hearing the dialogue between the DCPS and community members because of the history of DCPS. You are talking about a school system who has had 5 superintendents in 10 years. That's a lot of turnover. So when community members vent their frustrations about things that have happened, the response from DCPS is, "I wasn't here a year ago, I just got here." Which then spurred the reply, "We hear this from everyone...the 'I just got here yesterday' excuse. How long are you going to be here? Everyone for the past 20 years has said that they just got here. "

Superintendent Janey and his crew have to fight an uphill battle in order to regain back the trust and support of a majority of the District. And even though the issues run deep...at least the dialogue is beginning. But seriously, it's edupolicy in action, and I highly recommend your attendence.
full disc: I am a volunteer recorder for a couple of the forums

Here's this week's schedule:
Tuesday: Savoy ES
Thursday: W. Wilson HS
Friday: Clark ES
meetings run from 6pm-8pm

***Just as an afterthought, I realized that I didn't see or hear about anyone from the charter community. Since DCPS is discussing consolidating schools, there will be space available for charters....so it would maybe be a good idea for them to be in on this, no?