| |  | March 31, 2005 - 4:52 pm
I have relocated to DC in the last six months and I am shocked and disappointed at the condition of DC public school facilities. As I tune into the local newscasts, I see endless posturing and self-congratulations in the DC government over baseball, and silence and inaction regarding the atrocious conditions under which we expect our children to learn.
I urge you to take a hard look at your priorities. Excuses about mismanagement, prior administrations, or funding turf wars are unacceptable. You have a duty to serve this community's children, and you must raise the standards against which you are measuring your job performance. The status quo is unacceptable.
Repairs are desperately needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
The mayor has proposed a 44% cut in funding for facilities (over two years). Please fight to preserve the capital budget and do whatever else you can, to improve school facilities.
Our children deserve decent schools, and they deserve better from our elected representatives. You are in the position to make a change; I challenge you to hold yourselves accountable.
Sincerely,
Tamara Killion
[sent by e-mail to all public officials listed on the lobbying page.]
| March 31, 2005 - 10:34 pm
As Executive Director and Founder of The Center for School Mold Help, I would like to direct you to our free resources found at www.schoolmoldhelp.org. We are teachers disabled by school mold who have established this corporation to help others to avoid the illnesses that we have experienced. We believe children and school staffs deserve healthy school environments and should not be subjected to Sick Schools. We offer the best links and information we can find about mold and health, mold and learning, damp buildings and more... We hope it is of use to you and we salute your efforts.
—Susan Brinchman (Disabled 25 Year Veteran CA Teacher)
| April 1, 2005 - 10:50 am
I am aware that the government does not have an endless pool of funds at its disposal for all the needs of its constituency; however there are certain needs that must be met in order for our communities and city to thrive. The situation at the DC Public Schools is deplorable. There are many basic structural needs that must be met so that the children of DC can learn. As I looked at the pictures I could not imagine trying to concentrate and learn in an atmosphere such as the one that children in this District are forced to be in everyday. We should be ashamed at the way that we are treating our children. I urge that you advocate and fight for full funding of the capital improvement plan so that the District's children can spend their days in buildings that will make them proud and provide an environment where they can learn without fearing illness, embarrassment or harm.
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
The mayor has proposed a 44% cut in funding for facilities (over two years). Please fight to preserve the capital budget and do whatever else you can, to improve school facilities.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
Meredith Thomas
Ward 4 Resident
[sent by e-mail to all public officials listed on the lobbying page.]
| May 6, 2005 - 11:06 pm
TO: Those who lead in DC....
WE SHOULD HAVE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN....
At a time when there is a surplus in the city coffers AND the needs of our schools are so great...please make the education of our city's children the MOST important priority in the District of Columbia....thank you!!!
Sincerely,
Linda Jackson
[sent by e-mail to all public officials listed on the lobbying page.]
| May 6, 2005 - 11:07 pm
From: Michael David Garbus [mailto:michaeldavid@erols.com]
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 11:03 PM
To: lcropp@dccouncil.us; vgray@dccouncil.us; mbarry@dccouncil.us; pmendelson@dccouncil.us
Cc: lobbying@fixourschools.net
Subject: DC Public Schools
I am a DCPS teacher and a long time resident of the District of Columbia. Our schools need funds for repairs of schools and to keep even more teachers from being laid off, hastening the decline of DCPS as students flee to charter schools, private schools or the suburbs.
The mayor has proposed a 44% cut in funding for facilities (over two years). Please fight to preserve the capital budget and do whatever else you can, to improve school facilities.
Support additional capital funding (at least $10 million, to fund a $100 million bond), rather than tax cuts.
Also, provide adequate funding ($20 million) to pay for teacher raises so that 300 teachers won't be laid off this summer.
I will be watching Councilmembers closely on Tuesday, during the final budget vote.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
Michael David Garbus
| May 7, 2005 - 10:11 am
From: David Bosserman [mailto:orilla@comcast.net]
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 8:14 AM
To: clifford.janey@k12.dc.us; thomas.brady@k12.dc.us; cornell.brown@k12.dc.us; Peggy.Cafritz@k12.dc.us; Jeff.Smith@k12.dc.us; mayor@dc.gov; lcropp@dccouncil.us; vgray@dccouncil.us; mbarry@dccouncil.us; pmendelson@dccouncil.us
The primary duty of all DC officials is to manage the present with a focus on the future of DC. Nurturing our children before, during, and after school is more important than building stadiums or luxury condos and offices. Our DC Public School children need healthier and safer school; schools they could be proud to attend; schools that tell them they are worthy of our care. Long neglected infrastructure needs urgent maintenance and thoughtful upgrading.
Let’s join together to make this a child-friendly city. Deep infrastructure funding cuts are proposed. Follow your instincts and work for our children, not some abstract and arbitrary budgetary goal. Support our city’s future – our children, not tax cuts or meaningless and excessive “rainy day” savings accounts.
You are one of the important voices of DC and will be remembered for what you say and do now.
Sincerely,
Dave Bosserman and Olivia Cadaval
DC Statehood Green Party
La Orilla
1739 Irving St NW
Washington, DC 20010
483-4165
orilla@comcast.net
| May 10, 2005 - 4:59 pm
From: Ayoka Blandford [mailto:ncp211@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 10:20 AM
To: lcropp@dccouncil.us; afenty@dccouncil.us; kpatterson@dccouncil.us; vorange@dccouncil.us; vgray@dccouncil.us; mbarry@dccouncil.us; schwartzc@dccouncil.us; kbrown@dccouncil.us; clifford.janey@k12.dc.us; cornell.brown@k12.dc.us; Peggy.Cafritz@k12.dc.us; cthornhill@mhcdo.org; Reginald.Williams@k12.dc.us; diamondinc05@aol.com; mayor@dc.gov
Cc: lobbying@fixourschools.net
Subject: DC Public Schools
Our children deserve decent schools.
I am a DC native, resident (Ward 7) and proprety owner. My daughter attends a DC Public School. We need to support our children who will eventually be the leaders of our community and the nation- let's see that they are prepared to do so.
Funding is needed for facilities, programming, salaries and sufficient staffing. Please show our children that they are worth the dollars that should actually get to their schools and not caught up in bureaucracy. All this money that is supposedly allocated to DC public schools- I'd like to know why it doesn't seem to 'trickle down' to where it is supposed to be!
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. The mayor has proposed a 44% cut in funding for facilities (over two years). Please fight to preserve the capital budget and do whatever else you can, to improve school facilities.
Support additional capital funding (at least $100 million, financed by a bond backed by $10 million), rather than tax cuts. Also, provide adequate funding ($20 million) to pay for teachers, so that 300 teachers won't be laid off this summer, and programs like music, art and foreign languages won't have to be cut further.
I will be watching Councilmembers closely on Tuesday, during the final budget vote.
Sincerely,
Ayoka Blandford
| May 10, 2005 - 6:43 pm
From: PAMELA GASKINS [mailto:brownshugar99@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:39 PM
To: lcropp@dccouncil.us; vgray@dccouncil.us; mbarry@dccouncil.us; mayor@dc.gov
Cc: lobbying@fixourschools.net
Subject: DC Public Schools
THIS LETTER IS BEING WRITTEN TO ASK THAT EACH OF YOU SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THE CONSEQUENCES THAT WOULD RESULT IF YOU LAY OFF MORE TEACHERS AND OTHER SUPPORT STAFF. HERE WE ARE IN THE NATIONS CAPITAL AND HAVE ONE OF THE WORSE SCHOOLS SYSTEMS IN THE COUNTRY. DON'T YOU FIND THAT PROFOUND. YOU ALL ARE DESTROYING OUR YOUTH WHO REPRESENTS OUR FUTURE. YOU HAVE PUT BASEBALL BEFORE EDUCATION, PRISONS BEFORE EDUCATION, TOP HEAVY GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, BEFORE EDUCATION. PLEASE GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. OUR STUDENTS WILL CONTINUE TO FALL TO THE WAYSIDE IF YOU, OUR LEADERS DON'T PUT AN END TO THE MADNESS. AS LEADERS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE BY OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN FOR THE HAVOC CAUSED BY POOR GOVERNMENT DECISIONS PROMOTED DUE TO GREED AND PERSONAL GAIN. PLEASE SAVE OUR CHILDREN AND OUR SCHOOLS. WE CAN'T AFFORD TO CUT MORE STAFF.
Sincerely,
PAMELA GASKINS
| May 26, 2005 - 9:08 am
The recent reports of the horrific condition of DC public schools is an embarassment to this city. This whole mess sickens me and today I am shameful of my residency.
I challenge each and every one of you to spend just one week conducting your important business from inside one of these neglected schools. I know I couldn't do it.
Money is not the answer. Excuses are meaningless. Accountability is the key to success. Our children deserve better.
What are you going to do?
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Karch
[sent by e-mail to all public officials listed on the Jefferson JHS lobbying page.]
| July 14, 2005 - 10:12 am
Councilmembers Barry, Brown, Catania, Fenty, Graham, Gray, Mendelson and Schwartz have signed on to a bill (B16-250) that would raise $1 billion for school facilities, starting in October 2006, to adequately fund a school modernization program. Please support these Councilmembers' efforts and do whatever else you can to improve school facilities.
Please vote for the bill today at the finance committee meeting. We are expecting you not only to do whatever it takes to get this bill through, but also to make it passable at the council level. The CFO said that it would be certifiable if a small change was made. Please be seen as an inovator and leader and make that change.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
Steve Aupperle
[sent by e-mail to Vincent Orange]
| September 27, 2005 - 10:21 am
Regarding the $1billion School Modernization Bill:
While getting the money is the first step and we should all work towards that goal, unless there is a plan for how to spend it, (where, who, how monitored, etc.) the bill might not pass. All testimony in support of the funding should also include ideas on that administrative front as well. For the where, so as to minimize political bickering, one should propose just moving up in time the lists that presently exist (I believe 9 high schools are on it); for the how, unless OFM has more capacity, they cannot handle it--so it goes back to a PROP 100% proposal or similar suggestions to quickly set up an independent school construction trust (minimal overhead, but designed mostly to monitor and have oversight) that is charged with hiring private sector contractors to get the schools built quickly in a competitive market. One only has to look at how slow the DCPS system is with new buildings vs. what is getting built privately for charters and regular private schools in DC. Even Dr. Gandhi's office has a similar proposal in mind as part of an effort to get more federal funding for public school construction in DC.
--Jack Koczela
Co-Founder, PROP 100%
—Jack Koczela (PROP 100% Co-founder and LSRT member)
| September 30, 2005 - 6:44 am
THE CITY IS GETTING RICHER, BUT THE SCHOOLS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE. I AM A DCPS PARENT AND TEACHER. THE WAY THE CHILDREN OF DC HAVE BEEN IGNORED, BECAUSE MOSTOF THEM ARE POOR, IS SHAMELESS. PLEASE DO THE RIGHT THING.
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
Councilmembers Barry, Brown, Catania, Fenty, Graham, Gray, Mendelson and Schwartz have signed on to the School Modernization Financing Act of 2005 (B16-250), which would authorize the mayor to issue up to $1 billion in bonds for school facilities, starting in October 2006, to adequately fund a school modernization program.
Please support these Councilmembers' efforts and do whatever else you can to improve school facilities.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
—Tina DeAnna (parent and teacher)
[sent by e-mail to all D.C. Council and DCPS officials]
| September 30, 2005 - 6:50 am
To those who control the destiny of our children's education:
My children attended DC public schools and, in spite their deplorable conditons, they managed to do pretty well, but we CANNOT let this go on any longer - there are no excuses. Good teachers and teaching materials are critical, but quality facilities to teach and learn in are equally important.
My wife and I worked hard for many years along with MANY other volunteers - both as a parent and a practicing architect experienced in educational projects - and unfortunately was unable to make or see any significant, tangible progress for the many reasons that have been made so public for so long. NOW is the time to capture this critical opprotunity, to step up, do the right thing and sieze the moment.
There will always be some compromise for all parties, but let's get this done!
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://
www.FixOurSchools.net.)
Councilmembers Barry, Brown, Catania, Fenty, Graham, Gray, Mendelson and Schwartz have signed on to the School Modernization Financing Act of 2005 (B16-250), which would authorize the mayor to issue up to $1 billion in bonds for school facilities, starting in October 2006, to adequately fund a school modernization program.
Please support these Councilmembers' efforts and do whatever else you can to improve school facilities.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
Christoffer A. Graae, AIA
[sent by e-mail to all DC Councilmembers and top DCPS officials]
| September 30, 2005 - 11:26 am
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
Councilmembers Barry, Brown, Catania, Fenty, Graham, Gray, Mendelson and Schwartz have signed on to the School Modernization Financing Act of 2005 (B16-250), which would authorize the mayor to issue up to $1 billion in bonds for school facilities, starting in October 2006, to adequately fund a school modernization program.
Please support these Councilmembers' efforts and do whatever else you can to improve school facilities.
Our children deserve decent schools.
I've been a DCPS parent for 21 frustrating years - this is my last year and I cannot wait to be done with it. I'd like the coming generations to have decent schools even though my children will not benefit from it - it's truly pathetic that the most important city in the most important country in the world allows their children to spend their days in, at best, a depressing environment and, more often, a genuinely toxic one. Are we truly surprised at the test scores? Our children know how little valued they are and, as a parent, that is heartbreaking.
Sincerely,
Susan Calloway
[sent by e-mail to all DC Councilmembers, to the mayor, and to top DCPS officials]
| October 1, 2005 - 12:06 pm
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
Of course we need to improve the physical facilities along with the pedagogy -- good teaching can't "take" in awful facilities.
We have visited schools in Central Europe, after 50 years of Communism, that are in much better shape than those in the District. And you don't have to go that far to find better learning conditions -- just across the District line.
Sincerely,
Gerald Sroufe
[sent by e-mail to all DC Councilmembers, to the mayor, and to top DCPS officials]
| October 3, 2005 - 9:23 am
I am amazed at the poor conditions of most DC public schools. To allow children to enter and to learn in these buildings is embarrassing to me as a DC citizen as it should be to it's elected officials. If we can build a new stadium that will cost billions of dollars, then surely we can take the time to make a plan to update, rebuild and renovate our public schools. The amount of money allotted to each school per child is comparable to that of private schools. Why can't this money be managed properly?? My son is one of 22 children in his Kindergarten classroom at SWS Peabody on Capitol Hill. If $16,000 is allotted to the school for each if these children, then the school would have about $352,000 for his classroom only. There are an additional 11 (I believe) classrooms in his school building with 22 children in each (again, this is not a definite confirmation). If that were the case, Peabody would have $3,872,000 each to pay for expenses (i.e., salaries, supplies, utilities, etc.) Let's say each teacher makes $60,000 (this is probably GROSSLY overstated). Multiply that by 12 teachers to get $720,000. In my son's classroom at SWS there is a teaching assistant as well. I'm not entirely sure what they make a year but I bet it's not more than $25,000. But because I feel they should make a lot more than they do, let's say they get paid $35,000. Multiply that by 12 and you get $420,000. So the salaries at his school (and I'm sure I'm grossly overstating this as well) is a little over $1 million. So that leaves roughly over $2 million dollars for other expenses. Do see where I'm going here???? Where does the remainder of this money go????
I can see why public charter schools are becoming so popular with parents -- at least the public school administrators will not be able to abuse and mismanage those school funds.
Let's step up to the plate and give our children the environment they need to becoming productive and enthusiastic students and citizens.
Please, please vote for these additional funds to update our schools. It is so important to keep young families in this City for obvious reasons. I know some now who are considering moving out of the City because they feel they have been let down by their neighborhood public schools.
Sincerely,
Katherine Mailloux (Ward 6)
[sent by e-mail to Mr. Janey, Mr. Brady, Mr. Brown, Mr. Wells, Mr. Williams, Ms. Cropp, Mr. Fenty, Ms. Ambrose, and Ms. Patterson]
| October 3, 2005 - 1:05 pm
I am a teacher at Cardozo Senior High School. I invite you to come to my school and see the conditions that my students and I have to face each and every day.
In a city that is booming, it is criminal to allow our students to go to schools in such disrepair. I, along witht the other citizens of DC, will be watching your actions closely regarding the $1 Billion for School Renovations & Modernizations.
Please support our public schools on October 12 by voting to invest an additional $1 billion in our school facilities over the next seven years.
Our children deserve decent schools. You should be embarrassed to have the luxury of working in the newly renovated and beautiful Wilson Building, while our students languish in crumbling schools.
Sincerely,
Kerry Sylvia
[sent by e-mail to Councilmembers Barry, Schwartz, Patterson, Gray and Mendelson]
| October 3, 2005 - 10:53 pm
The architects who built most of the city's public schools 80 or more years ago, and the society that hired them, saw the enterprise of public education as a lofty and inviolable responsibility. But the underfunding of capital needs over decades since desegregation and the relentless elimination of maintenance staff in recent years, combined with the natural tendancy of buildingsto deteriorate, have produced educational environments that are dispiriting, dysfunctional, and hazardous.
Even as our society exhorts children to stay in school, and elected leaders promise to put children first and leave no child behind, every day of the school year 60,000 DCPS students (as well as their tenacious teachers and administrators) enter schools that put the lie to these slogans.
And DCPS students have have been left behind, far behind their counterparts elsewhere in the metropolitan area, who attend schools that benefit from ongoing, well-funded rebuilding and modernization programs. And I’m not just talking about Fairfax and Montgomery counties. The D.C. government has since 1998 lent tuition-charging private schools in D.C. more than $260 million for various capital projects—even though many of the students who attend those private schools come from wealthy families outside the District. (Have you seen the canyon in front of Sidwell Friends school? It appears they are doubling the size of their campus. Our tax dollars at work.)
Many parents who can afford to move to the suburbs or send their children to private schools turn away from the D.C. public schools because for them, the virtues of those schools are overwhelmed by the rough conditions of the facilities themselves--which could explain why essentially none of the members of the school board or the City Council send their children to public school here.
Nonetheless, you have a moral obligation to raise D.C. public schools to the level that suburban kids and their parents take for granted. Even city residents who do not have children in the schools are appalled and embarrassed by their condition. All DCPS schools lack are the flood waters to replicate the stark racially based impoverishment of New Orleans communities.
With 60 percent of D.C. nontaxable, the city cannot raise the funds needed to rebuild schools and roads through its tax base alone. And current allocations are far to feeble to make a dent in the deterioration. YOUR VOTE TO INVEST AN ADDITIONAL $1 BILLION IN OUR SCHOOL FACILITES OVER THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS over the next seven years will provide at least one guaranteed, reliable source of revenue--not subject to annual budgetary battles—that can be used to actually bring capital improvement plans to fruition.
The era of blame-shifting is over. Schools are now a priority, and citizens of this city will see it as a failure on the City Council’s part if they do not compel the Mayor to fund school reconstruction, renovation, and modernization.
Sincerely,
Andrea Rosen
| October 6, 2005 - 11:16 pm
Repairs are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
Councilmembers Barry, Brown, Catania, Fenty, Graham, Gray, Mendelson and Schwartz have signed on to the School Modernization Financing Act of 2005 (B16-250), which would authorize the mayor to issue up to $1 billion in bonds for school facilities, starting in October 2006, to adequately fund a school modernization program.
Please support these Councilmembers' efforts and do whatever else you can to improve school facilities.
We need to let our children feel that they are loved, appreciated and that they are an asset to the community in which they live. It's time to act; they have heard our opinions on this issue for many years.
Our children deserve decent schools. I know that as a team you are all going to let this happen. God bless you all!
Sincerely,
Nona Grant
[sent by e-mail to all top DCPS officials, the mayor and DC Councilmembers]
| October 11, 2005 - 11:50 pm
Repairs and modernizations are needed in DC Public Schools. (See the photos at http://www.FixOurSchools.net.)
Councilmembers Barry, Brown, Catania, Fenty, Graham, Gray, Mendelson and Schwartz have signed on to the School Modernization Financing Act of 2005 (B16-250), which would authorize the mayor to issue up to $1 billion in bonds for school facilities, starting in October 2006, to continue funding the school modernization program.
Please support these Councilmembers' efforts. Let's invest what it takes to rebuild our schools within the next 10 years.
Our children deserve decent school building to go with a decent education. It is hard to learn in an environment that is too hot or too cold, where you can't see out the windows and where the halls are dark and dingy.
Now that the District has more money to spend, let us undo the sins of the past and make the school buildings and the schools as nice as all those condos on Mass Ave.
Sincerely,
Andrea Ryan
[sent by e-mail to Mr. Janey, Mr. Brady, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cafritz, Mr. Wells, Ms. Cropp, Ms. Ambrose and Ms. Patterson]
| October 14, 2005 - 10:52 pm
Thank you for having insight to introduce and support this bill. It is rewarding to see that there are Council members who have in mind the real needs of our Citizens durinag a time when so many of the human services needs seemed to be obsolete to District Government leaders.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
Synthia Johnson, LICSW
[sent by e-mail to Councilmembers Graham, Fenty, Gray, Barry, Schwartz, Brown and Mendelson]
| October 14, 2005 - 11:03 pm
It is imperative that w/ all the growth DC has experienced in the last 12 years that we fix our schools.I know families that leave the district all the time because they can't afford to both live here and pay for private schools.We have a beautiful city that represents our nation and our schools do not reflect this. Please fix our schools.
—Lisa Bergman
| October 16, 2005 - 4:11 pm
Dear Council Member:
I am a native Washingtonian and homeowner in this city. I and my four siblings attended public school here in the District from kindergarten and are graduates of its high schools. I am embarrassed at the diplorable lot that we have allowed our schools to sink both physically and academically. How can the adults of this city continue to pay lip service to wanting the best for its children and all the while cut the requisite funding from programs and services which are badly needed.
Please support our public schools on October 18 by voting to invest an additional $1 billion in our school facilities over the next five years, keeping spending at the current level of $300 million per year.
Our children deserve decent schools.
Sincerely,
LaVerne Butler
[sent by e-mail to Councilmembers Patterson, Schwartz and Mendelson]
| November 9, 2005 - 1:55 pm
A real commitment to school modernization is way, WAY, WAAAAAY past due.
Resistance and obstruction by business groups is unconscionable, short-sighted, and counter-productive (based on what would be a boon for business from a strengthened workforce and a bettered local economy).
Business questions the need? Come on. The glaring need has been obvious for decades -- to anyone with eyeballs!! And long ago quantified by the Federal City Council's Committee on Public Education (COPE)(with an ever increasing price tag due to additional years of deferred maintenance and years of insufficient...not even a single penny in some years...capital budget appropriations).
Business wants assurances against cost overruns? You mean like those affecting the Convention Center and the Baseball Stadium and the Wilson Bridge? Again, come on!
For every day of delay, costs are guaranteed to go up.
Get on with it. Please. Finally. Pass the damn bill. It will cover barely half of what's needed. Then, keep your thinking caps on, and figure out how to do the other half.
Sincerely,
Jay Silberman
Former member, Board of Education.
Former Chair, Parents United.
Former member, Committee on Public Education.
[sent to all top DC and DCPS officials]
| April 5, 2006 - 10:14 am
Parents, teachers, students go to Home Depot pick up supplies and do a quick fix on a Saturday and get it done! Your dirty little secret is out. You have 3 world conditions in schools in our nation's capitol! Take controll of your situation, please for the sake of the children.
—Dorothy Armstrong (none)
| July 6, 2006 - 11:20 am
As a Chairperson of the LSRT and an officer of the PTA, we have testified, complained, marched, and met until we are blue in the face. This is an election year, VOTE for people who care and will take action. Get rid of all current leaders, who listen and do nothing about the DCPS situation. Closing schools is not a solution, freeing up money from the top heavy DCPS Administration would make a difference. Moving out of 825 NCapitol into a school building that DCPS owns could free up money for students. Tired of begging, make your demands by going to the polls and VOTING them out! VOTE FOR STATEHOOD GREEN CANDIDATES.
—Joyce Robinson-Paul (LSRT, PTSA , parent )
| February 8, 2007 - 7:14 am
(sent by e-mail to all elected officials)...
HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELVES LEADERS WHEN YOUR SCHOOLS LOOK THE WAY THEY DO?!?! RIGHT NOW I AM VERY ASHAMED TO EVEN CALL MYSELF AN AMERICAN. HOW DARE BUSH, AND THE REST OF YOU PASS THE "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT", WHILE ALL THE CHILDREN IN WASHINGTON, D.C. ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND, WITH TECHNOLOGY, ADEQUATE BUILDINGS, ADUQUATE FUNDING, AND ADEQUATE TEACHERS. IGNORING THIS PROBLEM WILL NOT HELP IT GO AWAY. YOU ALL NEED TO STOP WORRYING ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY WILL BE IN YOUR NEXT PAYCHECK, AND FOCUS ON THESE KID'S EDUCATION. HOW DO YOU EXPECT A CHILD TO LEARN ANYTHING IN THESE TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTS??
I DID NOT ATTEND A DCPS (THANK GOD!) BUT I AM A NATIVE OF THE DC/MD/VA AREA, AND I HAD NO CLUE THINGS WERE THIS BAD....IN 2007 IN D.C. IT MAKES MY HEART ACHE THAT YOUNG MINDS, CHILDREN WHO ACTUALLY WANT TO SUCCEED-ARE BASICALLY BEING TOLD TO GIVE UP, BECAUSE WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU. THIS IS SICKENING, IT REALLY IS. I HAVE SEEN/BEEN IN SOME BAD SCHOOLS-BUT D.C. IS BY FAR THE WORSE. TRUST AND BELIEVE IF YOU ALL WHO ARE IN LEADERSHIP NOW, KEEP IGNORING THESE CHILDREN-YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR IT IN THE LONG RUN.AND THE MAYOR, NEEDS TO BE OUT OF OFFICE FOR HIS LACK OF LEADERSHIP. YOU ALL KNOW MONEY IS BEING MIS-MANAGED-SO WHY NOT DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?!?!? WHY IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL, IS ONE OF THE WORST PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN THE NATION. WHAT AN IRONY. I AM A FUTURE TEACHER-AND D.C. WAS ON ONE OF MY LISTS OF PLACES TO TEACH, BUT I KNOW I CAN NOT EFFECTIVELY TEACH IN BUILDINGS LIKE THOSE. YOU WONDER WHY YOU LOSE SO MANY TEACHERS EACH YEAR, EACH SEMESTER? TAKE A LOOK AROUND.
THIS UPSET ME SO MUCH, THAT I AM NOT GOING TO E-MAIL YOU, I AM GOING TO CALL YOU, I AM GOING TO E-MAIL MY LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IN VA), I AM GOING TO INFORM THE SOUROUNDING COMMUNITIES, I AM GOING TO INFORM MY CHURCH, I AM GOING TO INFORM MY SCHOOL, THE NEWS CHANNELS, LOCAL OFFICIALS IN VA'S CAPITOL, NON-PROFIT ORGINAZATIONS, MY FRIENDS, MY COLLEAGUES ABOUT WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN YOUR SO CALLED "PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM". YOU MADE THE WRONG PERSON UPSET.
—Dionna
| March 15, 2007 - 12:46 pm
[sent by email to all DC Councilmembers and top DCPS officials]
Repairs and modernizations are needed in DC Public Schools.
We nee to take pride in our schools so that our children will have pride attending them. I know that there are budget issues and we need to address things such as child care and homelessness,but our children are our future. We must invest in our schools and teachers. Our schools are in bad shape to be so new and we need to clean them and the sourounding area. Please do whatever it takes to give our children the high-quality schools they deserve. And please let me know what I can do to help.
Sincerely,
—Anthony Ross
| April 4, 2008 - 7:24 pm
The problems with the District school system.
The Blaming is the Gaming, fess up to your mistakes. DC Mayor, and Administration.
The problem with the District of Columbia school system are not on the 5th , 6th , 7th , or 8th floor of the Central office, because that is not where the LEARNING is taking place, but started first AGAIN already to deteriorate, degenerate, collapse, or get worse on the 9th floor in August of 2007. Then the second part of the problems are on most occasions, only most the District schools systems District residents that have kids in the DC school system are not continuing education, or learning at home. Asking questions to their child for example, how was your day at school, do you have any homework. How was basket ball, track, football, swimming practice. Let’s me say this too, most parents can not do this because they are facing issues in their realm as well some are in fear of loosing their jobs so they can provide the things they need to for their children to perform well in class. Again let’s face this too, some of the Families are allowing the school system to raise their kids, but the majority are not allowing this to happen.
Most areas are more challenged than others, we know this, which also means some kids main objectives for coming to school are to have two fully cooked meals, breakfast, and lunch and then the rest of the day is spent being disruptive to other kids trying to learn, and being very disrespectful to the Teacher Faculty members, and supporting Staff such as Custodians, and Security Officers. What I am mentioning above I have witness FIRST HAND for myself! Again nothing to do with Central office. With all of these things going on this means less time for teaching and education, and more time for discipline, and corrective actions towards the students. The main question is, how can, or how does a kid that wants to learn, learn?
The kids are more in FEAR for their life, and having personal belongings taken from them than receiving a good education. Most of the kids are not respecting the educational system, and the Faculty within the school system. Maybe the kids want to go to another school, or does not like the school colors, or Mascot, who really knows. But what I do know is that the DC Schools systems does work, how do I know this, because I am a product of the school system. We all know things changes, but it seems to appear that change is always SOUR instead of SWEET at least for the District Gov. When I was in school years ago the worst you had to face was the (HP) the HOOKY Police because you were cutting class, skipping school, hanging out on the corner of the school, or on the play ground of the school.
Families need to continue to instill education at home as well as at school too, because the Teachers can not do it all, not on the salaries they are being paid! Mayor are you paying attention to this. Also learning is a 24/7 process. Contrary to what you hear from the Mayor’s office, School Board, and certain members of the D.C. Council, who voted to change the employees work status to AT WILL, this mismatch and can't be resolved by over hiring your friends, and over paying them to work, and to do less along with you on the 9th floor, or imposing stressful do or die work conditions to good hard working employees on the lower floors, it just not fair!
Which brings us to the touchy subject of more bad decisions against the District of Columbia Schools system? Which will continue to be a poorly run institution that is driven more by political imperatives than economical ones and spends too much money doing the wrong things badly over, and over again? Education or Entertainment should this question needed to be asked but you have your stadium and look at the school system still suffering from bad decisions over, and over again. Any one with half of a brain knows that Education brings entertainment.
I know for a FACT that there are a lot of good, knowledgeable, capable, and well experienced educational talent hidden there within the schools system all over the district that have not been heard, or are being prevented to be heard. In other words, what the District needs is those type of good people to be heard, instead of letting those with political gains, and financial kick backs that are driving the school down bad paths.
This is not a new debate, or issue every Mayor has wanted to take over the Public Schools system since the 1970 this has been an on going problem. Now that the wrong Mayor has finally gain control of the School system nothing has change, but all have continued too go wrong. In part, incase you were not aware of this, a lot of jobs are being contracted out, it’s called out sourcing for all of the older DC Residents, yes out source. Let’s call it what it is, but the Mayor’s Administration don’t want to think. They rather dump all that responsibility on someone else, so when things do go wrong the Mayor’s administration again can place the blame on someone else and that is how, and why nothing is getting done in the District of Columbia. The Mayor and the faculty, however, continues to cling on to each other in a tight nit organization.
In part like any, and all other Administrations they are very reluctant to listen to the people that count the most, which are the people that have been there working before the
new Mayor Administration arrived on this great planet we called the District of Columbia. New ideas will never be embraced because of out sourcing. What a way to obliterate, and devastate the Government. 2 questions? Where is all the money going? Can we start fixing the problems AGAIN with the people on the 9th floor like always?
—Reuben Bass (Let go Worker 03/07/2008)
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