Monday, 5 November 2012

[WardFive] Fwd: School Closings - Testimony Support and Letter from SHAPPE

FYI. Below please find the sample letter that SHAPPE is recommending to send to our Councilmembers (CM McDuffie and our At-Large CMs) in regards to school closures.  Please consider contact our CM via email or by phone to let him know your concerns about school closures.

Best,
Faith
---
Faith Gibson Hubbard
President
Ward Five Council on Education (W5COE)
W5COE Phone: 202-505-4309

Begin forwarded message:

From: Cathy Reilly <dc.s.h.a.p.p.e@gmail.com>
Subject: School Closings - Testimony Support and Letter from SHAPPE
Date: November 5, 2012 7:11:54 PM EST
To: Cathy Reilly <dc.s.h.a.p.p.e@gmail.com>


Dear S.H.A.P.P.E. Members,

DCPS will announce the school closings this week.  There are two events coming up to support folks as they prepare testimony for the Council hearings on November 15th and the 19th.  You can contact To register to give testimony on either of these dates please contact Erika Wadlington of the City Council at 202-724-8124 or via email at ewadlington@dccouncil.us by close of business on Tuesday, November 13th.   DCPTA and the Ward 7 Education Council will be partnering to host a Writers Workshop at Neval Thomas Elementary (650 Anacostia Ave, NE at 5:30pm on Thursday , November 8th. Refreshments will be provided - contact Eboni-Rose Thompson 202.460.3498 ebonirose@gmail.com for information.  Come to get help or to give help.  

On  Saturday – November 10th (12:00 – 2:00pm) – School closure Testimony development meeting for upcoming council hearings:
  • We will be meeting here at the Empower DC office – 1419 V Street, NW (close to the U Street metro-green line).  The goal is to develop testimony for the upcoming hearings the City Council will have on DCPS school closures.  Please let me know if you are able to attend and if you will need child care.   Contact Daniel via email or at 202-234-9119 xt. 104
Below is the letter I would like to send from S.H.A.P.P.E. later this evening or tomorrow morning to each Council Member regarding the school closings. Let me know your thoughts.  Cathy

S.H.A.P.P.E.

Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators

1340 Ingraham St. NW; Washington, DC. 20011

dc.s.h.a.p.p.e@gmail.com; www.shappe.org

 

Council of the District of Columbia

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20004

                                                                                                                                                         November 5, 2012

Dear Council Member,

 

The Council has oversight and budget authority over DCPS.   We need you to exercise that authority. Public school closings are wrenching to families and to neighborhoods; it is up to you to make sure the due diligence has been done to justify each school that appears on the list or see that it is removed from the list. 

 

DCPS is the system charged with providing a home school to every child in the city regardless of the number of charter or private schools opened or the rise and fall of the population and of households with children.  The charter schools are not responsible for educating the children in the city. They serve those that choose them.  We want to live in a city that takes on the responsibility of public education for all the city's children now and in the future. The capital program has invested in a future for DCPS; the Council has supported the Chancellor and the charters even in tough economic times.  It is crucial that the Council hold DCPS responsible. 

 
  • Can DCPS defend its budget priorities to demonstrate the need to close schools?  School size alone is not a sufficient reason to close a school.  The charter sector is supporting about the same number of small schools as is DCPS.[1] DC families are choosing small schools.  The city is poised to add school age children in the coming decade.  School systems have to be able to shrink and grow.  What has DCPS done to support these neighborhood schools as they try to attract children in the competitive environment here in DC?  The following statements give a sense of the scope of issues that should be addressed. 
  •  
    • In 2006 DCPS closed 7 schools and in 2008 they closed an additional 23.  In those closings the loss of students to DCPS accelerated.[2] The 2008 closings cost DCPS $39.5 million.[3]  Since 2008 DCPS has closed Birney, Draper, Montgomery, Shaed, and River Terrace while opening Capitol Hill Montessori and a School Within a School at Logan. The Youth Engagement Academy at Eliot became Metropolitan High School in the KC Lewis Building. With these three moves DCPS re-opened two of its buildings.   
    • Analysis of the FY 2012 budget noted DCPS has 694 central office full time employees to support 45,000 students – in 2003 we had 535 to support 63,369 students.[4]
    • The current DCPS reform agenda has diagnosed the school reform problem as teacher quality and the solution as increased pay and incentive pay as well as "workforce replacement" or the termination of many employees and the hiring of new employees. [5]  The evaluation system IMPACT and more central office personnel have been put in place to hold employees accountable.  The cost and effectiveness of this strategy have not been reviewed.  The high level of employee turnover alone suggests adjustments are necessary.[6]
 
  • DCPS is first obligated to do no harm.   Can DCPS ensure that the children affected will be better off after the consolidations?  
    • Is there adequate room with appropriate class size at the consolidated school?  Directly consolidating two schools was the only incidence in 2008 where DCPS did not lose a majority of the students from the closed school in 2009 - - dispersing students from the closed school to several surrounding schools was much less successful
    • Are there sufficient cost savings such that DCPS will be able to offer increased programming at the consolidated school that will benefit both schools?  School closings may limit future expenditures, but not produce current savings especially with enrollment losses.
    • At almost all of the elementary schools closed in 2008 and later, DC-CAS scores have gone down, and while middle school scores have risen somewhat, in virtually all these schools the percentage of students proficient is lower than the DCPS average, which ranges from 42%-46%.  At least as to test scores, the students involved whose school experience was disrupted received no benefit, but apparent harm.  [7]
 
  • Is there equity?  Are the schools on this list concentrated in a few areas?  Are children in the less advantaged parts of the city more adversely affected by these closings?
    • The value of walk-able neighborhood schools that children have a right to attend was confirmed in the 5 community conversations hosted by the Deputy Mayor for Education's office.[8]  It is a precious legacy, not to be lightly sacrificed especially for the poorest neighborhoods.  We may not be able to close any more DCPS schools and maintain walk-ability ensuring that schools are accessible to our children without substantial transportation cost.[9]  Costs are to families who may have to use public or private transportation; they may also be to the city required to provide additional busing.
 

If we want a system of strong public schools across the city, owned, coordinated and operated by the city for current and future DC families, the Council will have to demand a plan with robust public input- - put it to a vote - -and provide a budget that ensures this vision.  If we continue to proceed passively, it is possible that only the DCPS magnet schools and the neighborhood schools west of Rock Creek Park and on Capitol Hill may survive in the long run; the remainder of the city will be served only by public charter schools accessed by lottery.   That is the current trajectory.

 

The DC City Council is holding hearings this month on the DCPS school closings as well as bill 19-734 requiring regular boundary and feeder pattern changes for DCPS.    A hearing on the closings without any responding action would be irresponsible.  The Council has the power to require a plan that justifies each closing as a better option for the children; a plan that is economically responsible.  The plan should also map out a vision for the future we can all embrace.  Prior to the due diligence, there should be a moratorium on school closings.  Use this power. 

 

                                                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                               

                                                                                                                                Cathy Reilly

                                                                                                                                Director of S.H.A.P.P.E.

 

Cc: Mayor Vincent Gray

Chancellor Kaya Henderson

Interim Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Leonard

                                                                                                                               
 

[1] 45 charters are in school buildings serving fewer than 300 students; not counting virtual schools or schools which share buildings with other schools, bringing the total building enrollment up over 300 47 DCPS schools are in buildings with enrollments below 300 - not counting schools that share a building with another school bringing the total building enrollment up over 300 or the DYRS and Dept. of Corrections schools. https://sites.google.com/site/shappesite/policy/facilities-1  Small Schools 2011-12NH 21CSF

[2]. Analysis of the Impact of DCPS School Closings for SY2008-2009 Memo-21CSF publication:  http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/publications/MemoImpactSchoolClosingsMarch2009.pdf

[4] 2012-5-3 Barry Memo to Chair re DCPS FY 13 https://sites.google.com/site/shappesite/policy/budget-2

[5] GAO Report of July 2009

[8] The DME is leaving 11-1-12, staff member in charge has resigned and the promised community input has not been published prior to the announcement of the closings.  Summary of several ward meetings provided here https://sites.google.com/site/shappesite/Home

 
 

S.H.A.P.P.E.
Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators
Cathy Reilly - Executive Director
202-722-4462  www.shappe.org

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