Information about DC’s schools and related matters

Changes A-Plenty Coming in School Year 2018-2019: At D.C. Public Schools (Pages 1-4), Board of Education (Pages 4-5), and in this newsletter (Page 6) Very Important update on chancellor search (Page 4)

Some of the changes at D. C. Public Schools:

Central Office Personnel

A search for a permanent chancellor began on June 28. In an email letter of July 23, Interim Chancellor Amanda Alexander named Dr. Melissa Kim as deputy chancellor of Social, Emotional, and Academic Development; Dr. Amy Maisterra– interim deputy chancellor for Innovations and Systems, and Charon P.W. Hines—Senior Advisor to the chancellor.

Rules and regulations

During the spring and into early summer DCPS conducted a process to review and update its policies on Attendance and Truancy, Student Promotion, Secondary Grading and Reporting and Graduation Requirements. They were all signed by interim Chancellor Alexander with a note that says they take the place of any previous policies and are effective August 13, 2018. They are very detailed and run six to eight pages long.

An overview of the process and link to the documents can all be found at https://dcps.dc.gov/page/graduation-excellence-engagement. There are forty-three pages of public comments filled with observations and suggestions.

According to LIMS, the Mayor sent a resolution to the Council for its approval of the rule changes on June 25. On July 26, the Committees of the Whole and Education held a joint roundtable on PR22-0935, “Truancy, Reporting, and Graduation of Students Approval Resolution of 2018.” Dr. Maisterra testified for DCPS. Many other changes were mentioned in the discussion including a “toolkit” that brings them all together available on the dcps.dc.gov homepage. The resolution was “deemed approved on August 11, 2018 without Council action.”

Schools

Tables below and on next page show all 116 D.C. Public Schools by Ward, NOT by feeder pattern, with new principals (NP), extended year schedules (EY), modernization construction starting or ending 2018 (MC), and 2018 PARCC scores in ELA and Math with gains of 2% in Levels 4 and 5 (2G).

. . . → Read More: Citizen Reader August ’18-Changes Galore!