By Guest Contributor, on December 20th, 2012 
Cross-Posted from The Washington Informer Written by Dorothy Rowley
A cadre of parents, teachers and community leaders recently gathered on the grounds of a Southeast elementary school to protest a controversial proposal by D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to shutter several neighborhood schools.
During a Dec. 13 rally at Malcolm X Elementary School in Anacostia, the fired-up group of more than 100 Ward 8 residents who vehemently oppose the 20 school closings – the majority of which are located in their neighborhoods – loudly proclaimed along with newly-elected D.C. Ward 8 School Board representative Trayon White, that “enough is enough.”
Cynthia McFarland, 48, said that Henderson has lost touch with the needs of her community. “My grandchildren live in Ward 8,” the Alabama Avenue resident said. “They go to school at Hart [Middle] and Malcolm X. I was raised in the public school system and walked to school. So did my children. Ms. Henderson needs to stop playing games and do what’s not only right but necessary.”
McFarland also stressed that given the large number of children who live in Ward 8, it’s essential that all of the area’s neighborhood school doors remain open.
According to a statement issued prior to the rally by organizers, many of those in opposition represent Ferebee Hope and M.C. Terrell/McGogney Elementary and Johnson Middle schools. “Parental, school and student choice are no longer a part of the equation in accordance with decisions regarding neighborhood school closings,” a portion of the statement read.
Four years ago, at the behest of Henderson’s predecessor, two dozen schools were closed throughout the District in an attempt at school reform. But Henderson, 42, admitted recently that those closings only proved costly and ineffective: while student test scores remained stagnant, DCPS enrollment figures dipped from 47,000 students to less than 45,000, and paved the way for public charter schools to gain leverage as the preferred education model.
White, who helped organize the Malcolm X rally, said it doesn’t make sense to close any of the community’s schools.
“We don’t need less educational resources, but more educational resources,” the outspoken 28-year-old protégé of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, said. “A lot of factors have to weigh in on the closings, and so far, the chancellor hasn’t [stepped up to the plate] with an adequate explanation. Dropout and truancy rates are already high in the area, and if she closes our schools, those rates will only increase.”
White added that a major concern of parents has been plans to merge low-performing DCPS buildings with high-performing charter schools.
White said that in talks with Barry, he expressed that there’s no guarantee DCPS will be more successful in its attempt at school reform.
“History has proven, especially since 2008, that if we continue to go down this road, we will be right back here again discussing another round of school closures,” White said.
Henderson’s plan – currently being studied by members of her administration – calls largely for the closings of under-enrolled and under-performing schools.
After her staff makes adjustments to the proposal, Henderson will confer with Mayor Vincent Gray, 70, and together in January, they will announce their final decision about which of the 20 schools will be closed.
Kim Harrison, 49, who works with Concerned Parents for Action Coalition, a citywide organization that advocates on behalf of public schools, drummed up support for the for the rally.
She said word of the closings have been exacerbated in the aftermath of a series of public meetings where Henderson shared reasons behind her proposal.
“We can’t be quiet, as this is a bigger issue than we think,” said Harrison, who lives in Southeast. “It’s just awful, all this talk about closing our schools. Our children need a school that’s in walkable distance – and they clearly need to be D.C. schools, and not charter schools,” she said.
“In order for reforms to work, they’re supposed to engage community stakeholders, parents, teachers and students, and Henderson’s proposal has failed to include [that kind of input].”
By Guest Contributor, on December 14th, 2012 
Cross-Posted from DC’s Independent Media Center By Luke
On the 13th of December, a “Save Our Schools” rally was held at Malcolm X Elementary School in Anacostia, targeted by Mayor Gray to be closed along with 19 other schools in DC. The event was organized by Ward 8 State Board of Education Representative Trayon White.
Originally the parents, teachers, students and others were going to march on Mayor Gray’s home a couple miles away-but he agreed to meet with them when he got word that he was in for an evening of “pitchforks and torches” protesting outside his home. We shall see if the Mayor follows through on his commitment to meet with these folks.
Parents and students of Malcolm X Elementary School at Save Our Schools Rally.
The Mayor has been ducking a meeting with homeless advocates for months, with his schedulers saying it would be three months before he can get around to meeting with SHARC. Perhaps the only way to get a meeting with Mayor Gray is to plan a march on his home in a middle class section of Anacostia and make sure he knows you’re coming?
Background on the issue:
The school closings are one of the “suggestions” from the Walton Foundation, the Wal-Mart funded outfit Mayor Gray’s government is accepting funds and school “reform” advice from. The Walton Family Foundation page on the “DC Public Education Fund” gives glowing reviews among other things to the IMPACT testing program used to fire so many DC teachers.
The DC Public Education fund homepage lists in their “what’s new” section “Proposed Consolidations and Reorganization of Schools,” meaning closing schools like Malcolm X Elementary. Since they receive funding from the Walton Foundation, in effect we have Wal-Mart paying DC to close down public schools in favor of charter schools like the notorious and fascistic KIPP, or even a charter school that is designed to teach people specifically to work at Wal-Mart.
By Liane Scott, on December 11th, 2012 
As DC public school advocates predicted, the school closings of 2008 didn’t improve test scores or student achievement and have negatively impacted community after community throughout the city. So here we are at the end of 2012, poised to take another dive off the school closings precipice, this time at the behest of Mayor Gray and Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. I’m betting that you have had enough. I know I have. No one who cares about children wants to hear any more stories like the one Empower DC member Marybeth Tinker recorded in the video below. In it two young students from Thurgood Marshall Elementary tell us why the proposal to close their school is just plain WRONG!
No one who cares about DC’s children and DC’s communities wants to hear any more stories like the one you’ll hear in the podcast below produced by La Palabra. Break It Down: School Closures in Washington DC
Michelle Powell walks her granddaughter to Ferebee-Hope Elementary every day. Her family has already dealt with 3 school closures in Ward 8 and is now faced with a fourth school being closed (Ferebee-Hope). Listen to Mrs. Powell’s story and understand why school closures hurt our communities and our children.
To hear her story, follow this link – http://lapalabradc.tumblr.com/post/37667510236/break-it-down-school-closures-in-washington
Which is why you’ve decided to join the fight to stop school closings in the District of Columbia. You’ve been looking for a chance to take a stand. Here it is:
JOIN DC PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FROM WARD 8 @ THE SAVE OUR SCHOOLS RALLY & MARCH Thursday, December 13, 2012 – 4:30 PM RALLY at Malcolm X Elementary School 1351 Alabama Avenue SE (Near Congress Heights Metro on the Green Line) then MARCH to the home of MAYOR VINCENT GRAY Branch Avenue SE
Ward 8’s Malcolm X Elementary, Ferebee Hope Elementary, MC Terrell Elementary and Johnson Middle School are all on the list of schools to be closed. Your school may not be on the list this year, but it might be next. It’s time to take a STAND! For more information, contact Trayon White, Ward 8 Representative to the State Board of Education at 202-316-7593.
By Guest Contributor, on December 9th, 2012 
Cross-Posted From The Washington Teacher
Written By Candi Peterson
Plans to consolidate twenty DC Public Schools were announced on November 13, 2012 followed by a rush of public hearings and neighborhood stakeholder discussions that gave precious little time for parents, teachers and administrators to respond. The edict sounded all too familiar to those of us who were around for the first round of closures in 2008.
In a nutshell, DC’s Chancellor Kaya Henderson proposes to close twenty public schools because they are under enrolled and in DCPS’s opinion are too costly to operate. The list of school closures includes 8 elementary schools, 3 special education schools, 4 middle schools, 2 education campuses, the Choice program, 1 High School STAY program (School To Aid Youth) and 1 high school.
Two days of City Council hearings that lasted until nearly midnight with over 50 witnesses followed the school closure announcement to allow for testimony from education stakeholders. Community stakeholder meetings were subsequently scheduled to get feedback at four ward-based meetings commencing November 27 at Savoy elementary school in Ward 8, a second meeting at Sousa middle school in Ward 7 on November 28 and a third meeting at McKinley senior high on November 29 in Ward 5. The last meeting will be held at Brightwood education campus on December 5. This meeting will represent multiple wards of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.
Unlike the meetings of 2008 when stakeholders were escorted off to individual classrooms for private discussion, this year’s format for ward based meetings included small table group discussions in an open meeting space like the school gymnasium. The discussions were facilitated by a DCPS staffer leading the dialogue around three main questions: [1] What has DCPS not thought about; [2] What can be done to strengthen the proposal; and [3] What could make the transition smoother. Participants reported back to the larger audience sharing their tables’ response.
We need a moratorium on public school closings and charter school openings was a common recommendation expressed at the Ward 5 and 8 stakeholder meetings. When I attended the community meeting at McKinley, I couldn’t help but feel the participants frustration and distrust that DCPS has already made its mind made up about going forward with the school closures .Robert Vinson Brannum, VP of Ward 5 Council on Education questioned the school districts intentions. “The root question is are we working on the premise that the proposal is going forward. If at the end of everything, we say don’t do it (close schools), are you going to go forward anyway”, Brannum said.
Comments from the McKinley audience ended with an obtrusive presence- none other than Ward 5 ANC commissioner Bob King. King who lives in the Fort Lincoln neighborhood has been a long time commissioner for 30 plus years and a community advocate as well as supporter of Thurgood Marshall elementary school. Commissioner King left a memorable impression when he spoke directly to Chancellor Henderson about Marshall’s rich history, community support and the corporate sponsorships he garnered from Costco on behalf of the school.”I have a written contract for $10,000 yearly from Costco, backpacks for all the students in Ward 5 and I personally delivered 68 computers, 10 smart boards and 1 projector to Marshall. You might be gone and the mayor might be gone, so please right your proposal to keep Marshall open,” King said.
The ward 7 meeting at Sousa was markedly different than either of those in Wards 5 or 8. The Ward 7 education council took ownership of their meeting, decided not to entertain DCPS’ questions and presented a proposal of their own to keep schools open. Daniel del Pielago, education organizer of Empower DC said of the plan, “it reflected the concerns of parents and community and ultimately the plan said let’s work to save and make our schools better instead of let’s close more schools and see what happens as DCPS is saying.”
Through two weeks of excruciating meetings the majority of community voices clearly oppose the closures, with only a promise from Chancellor Kaya Henderson to take the community’s recommendations into consideration before she makes a final verdict in January of 2013. A visceral lack of trust in the process exists at the community level, as DCPS and local council representatives appear to be hell bent on closing 20 schools regardless of community input, while ignoring loud persistent cries from the community to stop the madness and consider a moratorium.
. . . → Read More: Deja Vu All over Again-DC Public School Closures
By Liane Scott, on November 13th, 2012 
DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson is announcing the list of schools on the chopping block today. This despite the growing demand for a moratorium on school closings which haven’t resulted in any improvement in test scores or student achievement. In acknowledgment of today’s announcement, I’d like to remind Chancellor Henderson, the entire administration of Mayor Vincent Gray and public school stakeholders across the city of just a few reasons why this is such a contentious issue.
The epidemic of school closings is not limited to the District of Columbia. Education Week has published an article on school closings as a national issue. Part of that article is reproduced below.
School Shutdowns Trigger Growing Backlash In five cities, groups wage war on school shutdowns Crossposted from Education Week Written By Jaclyn Zubrzycki
As school closures are increasingly used as a remedy to budget woes and a solution to failing schools in many cities, debates are intensifying about their effect on student performance and well-being, on district finances, and on communities and the processes districts use to choose which schools will be shuttered.
Student and parent groups in Chicago, the District of Columbia, New York, Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia gathered in Washington late last month to call for a moratorium on school closings and filed separate complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights. In those complaints, the groups allege that in previous rounds of school closings, their districts have not been transparent and have been influenced by outside interests, such as charter school operators. They also argue that the closings have had a harmful and disparate impact on minority students and communities. Each of the districts has predicted new closures for the coming school year.
“This has become the strategy of first instance, not of last resort,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, which has affiliates in the cities…
The rest of this article can be found at the EdWeek.org.
The backlash described in the Education Week article made its way to Washington, DC and took the form of a march called the Journey for Educational Justice, which Grassroots Media Project Producers Ben King and Stephan Scarborough report on below. This is a longer version of a video that we posted on the blog a couple of weeks ago.
Finally, from the DC-based education blog Truth From the Trenches I’m cross-posting this article which I think is particularly relevant to today’s announcement. It should be noted that the creators of Truth From the Trenches are two DCPS teachers who go by pen names so as to avoid retribution for reporting their observations and opinions about DC Public School “reform.” What does that tell us?!
On the Chopping Block
Crossposted from Truth From the Trenches Written by Florence
While everyone is anticipating the proposed DCPS closure list set to be announced tomorrow, those of us who are working at schools that are at risk for closure have endured months of anxiety and turmoil. When a school is on the short list of closures, the academic year begins not with excitement but steeped in a cloud uncertainty that pervades every aspect of the learning environment. It is not an exaggeration to describe the feeling of working at a school that may be shut down at the end of the academic year similar to someone with their head in a guillotine waiting for the blade to drop.
It is important to note that many of the schools on the list have been on the chopping block for years. Not surprisingly, these schools usually have the least resources with the highest concentrations of academically and behaviorally challenged students. In most of these schools parent participation is minimal to non-existent and, therefore, unlike other schools with more involved and more well off parents who can raise tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) a year, these schools at risk for closure are not able to raise outside funds to supplement the schools’ budgets. Plus with low enrollments and DCPS recent per pupil spending cuts many of these schools do not have the adequate staffing and support needed for their high needs populations. With such uncertainty there are increased numbers parents jumping the sinking ship. Why stay in a school that is dying a slow death?
Instead of seriously trying to support these schools, most of the time it appears as if the chancellor makes a half hearted effort for show because in reality she wants . . . → Read More: Stay Tuned: DC Public School Closings Imminent
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