- State Superintendent’s Office Hit for Bungling NCLB Town Halls
- Poverty Soars for Students in D.C., Montgomery County
- Academies at Anacostia Students to be Mentored by President Obama [Friendship PCS is mentioned]
State Superintendent’s Office Hit for Bungling NCLB Town Halls
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
November 29, 2011
One important piece of the District’s application for relief from some requirements of No Child Left Behind, due in mid-February, is evidence that it consulted the public on its proposal.
Like other state education agencies, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education “must engage diverse stakeholders and communities in the development of its request,” according to the U.S. Dept. of Education. By that standard, D.C.’s bid for a waiver is off to a wobbly start. A series of six “town halls” set up for mid-November fell apart because of little to no advance notice and dates that competed with a set of DCPS community meetings.
The Nov. 10 town hall for Ward 3 at Oyster-Adams Bilingual drew exactly one person, excluding OSSE staffers and a D.C. State Board of Education member. Notice for the Nov. 15 meeting in Ward 5, canceled with just a few hours notice, according to board member Mark Jones, included the wrong address for the site, Luke C. Moore Academy. Two meetings scheduled for Nov. 21, one at the MLK Central Library (Ward 2) and State Board chambers were also canceled.
Board members said they received only a couple of days notice and that word of the sessions was difficult to find on the OSSE site.
“If you want to have an important meeting, the standard in this town is about two weeks notice,” said board president Ted Trabue. “I believe that we have fallen short of that standard.”
State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley, who just married, has been out of town on her honeymoon. Board member Mary Lord (Ward 2) said she admires Mahaley but adds: “You can’t find who’s in charge of anything. It’s been a disaster.” She said Mahaley has “been getting colossally bad advice.”
Communications director Marc Caposino acknowledged the problems with the meetings and said a rebooted outreach effort is in the works. He said the agency plans to publish some material about the application in December and then hold new town halls in January.
You can find a copy of OSSE’s “early engagement” plan here.
Poverty Soars for Students in D.C., Montgomery County
The Washington Times
By Lisa Gartner
Novemer 29, 2011
The number of school-age children living in poverty jumped in Montgomery County and the District during the recession, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures released Tuesday.
The poverty rate for children between 5 and 17 nearly doubled in Montgomery, from 8,610 children, or 5.4 percent, to 15,298 children, or 9.0 percent.
Meanwhile, the District's rate soared from 25.4 percent in 2007 to 30.5 percent in 2010, making D.C. one of just 73 jurisdictions nationwide to surpass the 30-percent poverty mark for the age group.
Loudoun County, Manassas and Manassas Park were also among the 653 jurisdictions nationwide -- about 20 percent of counties -- that saw statistically significant increases since 2007 in the number of school-age children living below the federal poverty line of an income of $22,350 for a family of four.
At 11.4 percent, Prince George's County's poverty rate was higher than neighboring Montgomery's, but inched up from the pre-recession's 9.6 percent. And across-the-Potomac rival Fairfax County saw 6.7 percent of its children living below the poverty line in 2010, a small uptick from 5.6 percent in 2007.
But no local jurisdiction served more underprivileged children than D.C., where 21,000 children lived in 2010.
"When they walk into the classroom, many didn't get sleep the night before, and they might be doing during the day. They might not be able to focus because they're too hungry," said HyeSook Chung, executive director of D.C. Action for Children, a nonprofit focused on awareness of D.C. youth issues.
Experts say the District and Montgomery were hit hard by the recession for different, but related, reasons. "The District's resident base is disproportionately tied to the industries that have been most vulnerable during the downturn, like retail, construction and real estate," causing more unemployment for mothers and fathers, said economist Anirban Basu, chief executive officer of Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore economic and policy consulting firm.
Meanwhile, much of Montgomery's recent population growth has been fueled by young families with high birth rates, often immigrating to the United States and taking these recession-hit jobs. Particularly in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, "Montgomery County is the immigrant's gateway into Maryland," Basu said.
Although less stark, child poverty wasn't absent from the rest of the Washington area. One in five Fairfax County students said they had gone hungry at least once in the past month due to a lack of food in the home, according to a county survey of sixth-, eighth-, and 12th-graders. A slim 2.3 percent of Fairfax students reported that they went hungry most of the time for this reason.
While schools can only do so much, suburban school districts new to poverty spikes can and do hold events that hook families up with warm coats, food and even medical and dental services. Montgomery County Public Schools holds a backpack and school-supplies drive each August, as do many other local districts.
"Beyond that, it's a matter of looking at the staff, matching the best teachers with kids who need them, to make sure learning progresses as much as it can," said Christina Theokas, director of research for Education Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to low-income students
Academies at Anacostia Students to be Mentored by President Obama [Friendship PCS is mentioned]
The Washington Informer
By Staff
November 29, 2011
The Academies at Anacostia is proud to announce two that two of its students, Alonzo Tabron and Malcolm Ware, will be part of a mentoring program with President Barack Obama.
"We are honored that along with the business of running the country, President Obama is demonstrating that mentoring our young men can positively impact their lives and the future of our community," said Donald L. Hense, chairman of Friendship Public Charter School, which runs the Academies at Anacostia.
In September 2009, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee invited Friendship Public Charter School to partner with DCPS to turn around the school, now renamed the Academies at Anacostia. Since the partnership began the graduation rate has increased from 57 percent to 79 percent, with 90 percent of graduates being accepted to college. In addition, last year the attendance rate increased to 72 percent from 56 percent prior to the partnership.
As part of the school's turn around, Friendship has offered academically rigorous Advanced Placement courses. In the past year 150 more students took these courses than in the partnership's first year. So far 40 students have earned Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded D.C. Achievers
Scholarships, paying a full-ride through college, and one has been awarded a Gates Millennium Scholarship, which fully funds an undergraduate and post-graduate degree.
Currently 95 percent of Anacostia's students are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch due to their families' low income. Nearly one in 10 students currently is homeless and almost one third of students are classified as having special education needs.
The school's success in the face of such adverse circumstances has drawn praise from First Lady Michelle Obama, who gave the commencement address to students at the Academies at Anacostia last year. In addition the first lady also mentors Gabrielle Dukes, a junior at the Academies at Anacostia.