7 Things You Should Know About...Blogging

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's (ELI's) "7 Things You Should Know About..." series provides concise information on emerging learning practices and technologies. Each brief focuses on a single practice or technology and describes what it is, how it works, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use ELI's "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview, either for yourself or for colleagues who are pressed for time.

Video Blogging

A videoblog, or vlog, is a Web log (blog) that primarily utilizes video rather than text or audio. Videoblogging offers a richer experience than text blogging by combining movies, sound, still images, and text. New technologies make images and video easy to produce, so anyone with a digital camera or camera-equipped cell phone and Internet access can create a vlog. Based on the popularity of blogs and podcasts, and growing access to video tools, videoblogging is likely to increase in popularity among faculty and students. The ability to easily create video segments and quickly post them online makes videoblogs a potential tool for recording lectures, special events, and so forth. Videoblogs can also be used for personal __expression and reflection. As a result, they are being incorporated into e-portfolios and presentations. The use of videoblogs for digital storytelling may be one way to encourage strong student participation in e-portfolio projects. More>>

Wikis

Wikis are Web pages that can be viewed and modified by anyone with a Web browser and Internet access. Described as a composition system, a discussion medium, and a repository, wikis support asynchronous communication and group collaboration online. Their inherent simplicity gives students direct access to their content, which is crucial in group editing or other collaborative activities. Their versioning capability allows them to illustrate the evolution of thought processes as students interact with a site and its contents. Wikis are also being used as e-portfolios, highlighting their utility as a tool for collection and reflection. They may be the easiest, most effective Web-based collaboration tool in any instructional portfolio. More>>

Podcasting

"Podcasting" refers to any software and hardware combination that permits automatic downloading of audio files to an MP3 player for listening at the user's convenience. Part of the appeal of podcasting is the ease with which audio content can be created, distributed, and downloaded from the Web. Barriers to adoption and costs are minimal, and the tools to implement podcasts are simple and affordable. Podcasting allows education to become more portable than ever before, giving educators another way to meet today's students where they live and learn—on the Internet and on audio players. More>>

Clickers

Interaction and engagement are often limited by class size and human dynamics (a few students may dominate the conversation while most avoid interaction). Interaction and engagement, both important learning principles, can be facilitated with clickers. Clickers can also facilitate discipline-specific discussions, small work-group cooperation, and student-student interactions. Clickers-plus well—designed questions-provide an easy-to-implement mechanism for enhancing interaction. Clicker technology enables more effective, more efficient, and more engaging education. More>>

Social Bookmarking

"7 Things You Should Know About... Social Bookmarking" addresses a community-or social-approach to identifying and organizing information on the Web. Social bookmarking involves saving bookmarks one would normally make in a Web browser to a public Web site and "tagging" them with keywords. The community-driven, keyword-based classifications, known as "folksonomies," may change how we store and find information online. More>>

Thanks to Danilo Baylen Ed.D (TL, Florida Writing Project) for disseminating this information though the National Writing Project Tech Liaisons listserve
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MARIA ANGALA, DCAWP Tech Liaison

COMPUTER FAULTED IN SCHOOL MIX-UP

Students Find Errors in Schedules

By V. Dion HaynesWashington
Post Staff WriterWednesday,
August 31, 2005; B01

A number of returning D.C. secondary school students have found mistakes in their class schedules, a situation that school officials attributed yesterday to the conversion to a new computer system.

Some students, for example, were assigned courses they already had taken or were not placed in courses they need to graduate. But officials said the problems are not as serious as last year, when hundreds of students at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast Washington were turned away on opening day because their schedules had not been completed. Eastern's principal and two other officials were fired immediately over that incident.
About 5 percent of the student schedules at the secondary level were affected by this year's glitches, said the school system's chief accountability officer, Meria J. Carstarphen.

Maria Tukeva, principal of Bell Multicultural Senior High School in Northwest Washington and assistant superintendent for senior high schools, said all the scheduling problems should be cleared up by today.
"Scheduling is real complicated at the high school level. It's the most complex jigsaw puzzle you'll encounter," Tukeva said, adding that the majority of scheduling problems involved student transfers.

Last year's class schedules at Eastern were not completed on time because administrators had trouble entering data into a computer. This year, administrators at Eastern and other high schools used a new computer system but again encountered data-entry problems.

"If you're someone who learned how to do schedules on the old system, it's a learning curve," Tukeva said. "Your speed in doing it might be affected."

At Woodson Senior High in Northeast, "some students had schedules that didn't include all the courses they wanted to take," Principal Aona Jefferson said yesterday. "Students that failed a class had to make sure they had the right class."

Nathan Saunders, vice president of the Washington Teachers' Union, said union leaders have been helping officials at a few schools try to work out the kinks.

School officials are "aggressively tackling the problem," Saunders said. "That's a difference from the past."
In correcting the problems, Carstarphen said, "We made people go back and check it not once, but twice and three times."

The new computer system, called D.C. STARS, is designed to handle a variety of data, including records on attendance and grades, which previously were compiled by hand. The system ultimately will be used to calculate graduation and dropout rates based on following a ninth-grade class over four years and determining how many of the students stayed and how many left, a method that experts say is best. Currently, the school system determines the rates based on the number of students who stay and leave during a one-year period.

Mark Roy, a community member of the school restructuring team at Eastern, said students and administrators at the school were frustrated by this year's scheduling problems.

"STARS was billed as a Lexus," Roy said. "You look at it -- this ain't nothing but a Hyundai."
Despite the glitches, school officials said they prefer the new system.

"It's easy to manipulate and it's Web-based," Jefferson said, adding that the problems can be attributed more to people's failure to enter information correctly rather than to a defect in the computer program.
"I really like STARS," Jefferson said. "We just need more practice on it."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

DC SAT Scores Lowest In Nation

http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20050830-103030-6569r.htm
By Tarron Lively
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published August 31, 2005

The Class of 2005 in the District had the lowest overall average SAT score in the country, while its counterparts in Maryland and Virginia remained steady in the verbal and math sections, test scores released yesterday by the College Board show.

D.C. high schools had the lowest overall average score -- 968, according to the College Board, which owns and administers the SAT. Maryland stayed steady at last year's total of 1026, while Virginia's cumulative score was 1030, up six points from last year. The national average was 1028, up two points from last year. The highest possible score is 1600.

Among the states nationally, Iowa had the highest cumulative score with 1204, followed by Illinois with 1200 and North Dakota with 1195. Georgia and South Carolina each had the lowest score of 993. The District's score of 968 was up from 965 last year. The average verbal score was 490 out of a possible 800 points, up a point from 489 last year. The average math score was 478, up from 476 the previous year.

The national average verbal score was 508, and the average math score was 520. D.C. school officials would not comment yesterday, saying they were analyzing the scores. Most local jurisdictions had not received their data from the College Board yesterday or received it too late for officials to properly review it and comment. Students in Virginia achieved the largest math increase in the country.

The average math score was 514, a five point increase from last year. The average verbal score was 516, up from 515 the previous year. "Virginia is producing students who are confident of their academic abilities and are better prepared for college," said state Superintendent Jo Lynne DeMary. "Students who 10 years ago might not have taken the SAT I or [Advanced Placement] courses are now reaching higher."

Students in Maryland held solid across the board, with its math and verbal averages unchanged from last year, at 511 in the verbal section and 515 in the math section, test scores showed. The averages for graduating black students are up since last year, officials said. The average verbal score increased four points to 434, while the math score increased three points to 426. Nearly 17 percent more black students took the SAT than last year, and black students accounted for 24 percent of students who took the test.

"We are seeing the results of our intense effort to close achievement gaps, particularly between our African-American and white students," said state Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. About 1.48 million students took the SAT. The Class of 2005 earned the highest-ever marks on the math section. Though the 2-point gain from last year was modest, the latest scores are part of a 25-year trend of gradual improvement. Nevertheless, significant gaps between racial groups remain.

"These results provide further evidence that we as a nation must do more to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and the workplace," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "While I'm encouraged that the SAT results show an improvement in math scores, the data shows that we still have achievement gaps to close and reading skills to improve."

The College Board also released its first glimpse of data on the new version of the SAT, which features a writing section with an essay, and which members of the Class of 2006 began taking last spring. Those students appeared to find the new section the hardest, with average scores of 516, compared with 519 in critical reading (the new name for verbal) and 537 in math.

Officials said those scores would likely decline when the final scores for the class are released next year. Students who take the test as juniors are generally more highly motivated and do better than average.

*George Archibald contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
Copyright © 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

School Security Pact Said In Error

A panel of judges, citing lapses in the way the District awarded its school security contract, is ordering city officials to rebid the contract or to re-evaluate the offers submitted by the two finalists.

The D.C. Contract Appeals Board has ruled that city officials failed to follow contracting rules and disregarded information in awarding the two-year, $30.1 million contract to D.C.-based Hawk One Security Inc. That contract took effect July 1.

Among other problems, the board said that there were questions about whether Hawk One had enough management experience.

Hawk One won the contract held by Watkins Security Agency of D.C. Inc. In turn, Watkins filed a protest with the appeals board, challenging the award and citing widespread bidding improprieties. "If the contracting officer determines that Watkins should have received the award, the contract with Hawk One should be terminated and award made to Watkins," the judges wrote.

The board's ruling was handed down late Monday as students headed back to school. The decision throws into doubt which private security company will ultimately protect tens of thousands of students this school year. D.C. Office of Contracting and Procurement spokeswoman Janis Bolt said yesterday the ruling would have "no immediate impact" on the current contract with Hawk One.

Miss Bolt said Hawk One will continue to provide security while contracting officials review the ruling and re-evaluate the best and final offers for the security contract. Attorneys representing Watkins were pleased with the ruling. "The board said in its ruling that the District just did not follow the rules," said Dirk Haire, an attorney for Watkins. Previously, Watkins officials have said the District steered the contract away from Watkins. The company said it was being used as a scapegoat for lapses in the city's contracting process.

Watkins held the security contract from 2003 until July. The company filed an earlier protest that criticized how the District handled the bidding process. It deposed several city officials in connection with the case. In one deposition, a Metropolitan Police Department official who oversaw the contract selection panel said she asked her superiors not to assign her the task because she lacked experience. The ruling is the latest in a string of setbacks in the District's handling of school security. The D.C. Office of the Inspector General recently found that the Metropolitan Police Department was licensing some security guards who had lied about their criminal backgrounds. Police officials have since said they are cracking down on that problem and have dismissed several security guards.

The Contract Appeals Board is currently made up of Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan D. Zischkau, Administrative Judge Warren J. Nash and Administrative Judge Matthew S. Watson, a former D.C. auditor. The board consists of a chairman and up to four members who are licensed to practice law in the District. The members must be D.C. residents who are experienced in procurement and contract law, and they are appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the D.C. Council.

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com <http://www.washingtontimes.com>

How DC Teachers Can Help the Victims of Hurricane Katrina

This week millions of Americans fled Hurricane Katrina. Across the South families abandoned their homes and businesses, not knowing what would be there when they returned.

Many stayed behind and suffered devastating loss and injuries -- nearly a hundred have died that we know of, and hundreds of thousands need our help.

America is at its best when we realize that we are one community -- that we're all in this together. That means that each one of us has the responsibility to do what we can to help the relief effort.
The Red Cross is a great place to start:
http://www.redcross.org

They are already moving people and resources into the region to help. Donations will provide clean water, food, and shelter for disaster victims. The Red Cross web site also has important information for victims and their relatives across the country.

Many local Red Cross chapters are organizing volunteers to travel to affected areas -- doctors and nurses to provide medical care, workers to build shelters, first responders to assist in rescue operations.
You can find your local chapter here to learn what you can do:
http://www.redcross.org/where/chapts.asp

We are still learning the full story of the devastation, but there is no time to wait. Please do something now.
Thank you.

This message is from Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Helping DC Teens to Go to College

Helping Teens Succeed in Washington, D.C.

What is Helping Teens Succeed? What do we do?

College Transitions

Helping Teens Succeed (HTS) is a nonprofit organization solely dedicated to increasing the number of low-income students enrolling in post-secondary education. We do this by offering our College Transitions course free of charge to public and charter high schools to incorporate into their senior year curriculum. This year-long class walks students through the many complicated tasks needed to select and get into any type of higher educational institution. The class is in the school, as part of the students’ regular class schedule. The class also boosts academic skills and provides information needed to be successful in freshman year.


How the class works

When a principal decides to adopt the College Transitions class for his or her school, HTS provides books and supplies for every student and agrees to train and support the teacher and the class for a full year. The books include the Fulfilling the Dream: Going to College textbook, workbook and teacher’s manual which were specially developed by HTS for this class of low-income students who will likely be the first in their families to go to college. The school agrees to commit a teacher (usually an English teacher) for one period of the day—part of the teacher’s regular class load—and to schedule 25-30 students into the class.

HTS and the College Transitions teachers work cooperatively with other college access personnel in each school, such as counselors and DC-CAP advisers.

In the class, which is one of the students’ regularly scheduled classes, students work on the following:
· Intensive SAT prep
· Career exploration and planning
· College selection and application
· Time management and college-level study skills
· College-level reading, research and writing
· Financial aid, FAFSA and scholarship applications

One H.D. Woodson High School student said, “The book and the workbook, (Fulfilling the Dream: Going to College) truly broke down for me in depth what I needed to do complete my applications and get ready for college. That really helped me focus and be organized to get the applications sent.”

Spingarn High School principal Reginald Burke expressed his view, “This class really gives our students the support they need to make the transition to college. Lots of programs come in and offer help, but it’s often cosmetic. That’s not the case with the support Helping Teens Succeed has given our students and the teachers who are teaching the class.”

“I’m really excited about this class. I love teaching it.”
~H.D. Woodson teacher P.G’Dora Chase

Contact us:

Like more information? Feel free to contact:

Brenda N. Harvey, Director,
Helping Teens Succeed of Washington, D.C.
Phone 202-246-7357
harvey150@aol.com

Teachers Beware of Harmful Email

VERY IMPORTANT WARNING!

Please Be Extremely Careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning from Microsoft and Norton. Please send it to everybody you know who accesses the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation "Life is beautiful. pps".

If you receive it, DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! Delete it
immediately. If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: "It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful", subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it
to you gain access to your name, e-mail and password.

This is a new virus which started to circulate onSaturday afternoon. WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING
POSSIBLE TO STOP THIS VIRUS. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and
the antivirus software's are not capable of destroying it. The virus has
been created by a hacker who calls himself "life owner". PLEASE MAKE A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS and PASS IT ON
IMMEDIATELY

Kweisi Mfume Announces His Rn for the Senate

Mfume Stressing Antiwar Stand
Senate Hopeful Seeks Contrast With Rival for Democratic Nomination
By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer

Maryland Democrat Kweisi Mfume is making a play for the antiwar vote in his bid for the U.S. Senate with a fundraising solicitation this week that calls for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and with a major speech on the issue planned for next month.

In an e-mail solicitation, Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP leader, called the fighting in Iraq "a war without justification and apparently without end" and compared it to the Vietnam War. "It's time to get out," Mfume wrote, urging a timeframe for withdrawal.

Kweisi Mfume wants to highlight differences between his and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin's positions on the Iraq war. (By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

"Maryland Democrat Kweisi Mfume is making a play for the antiwar vote in his bid for the U.S. Senate with a fundraising solicitation this week that calls for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and with a major speech on the issue planned for next month.','John Wagner') ;In an terview, he said that by highlighting his views on Iraq, he is trying to draw the first in a series of contrasts with Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, another candidate for the Democratic nomination. The Baltimore area lawmaker has raised far more money than Mfume and racked up more endorsements in the race to succeed Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D), who is not seeking reelection.
Cardin voted against the 2002 resolution authorizing the war but has since voted for its continued funding and has stopped short of calling for a pullout. He contends that advertising a timeline for withdrawal would put troops in danger.

"I can understand what Kweisi's doing, but I don't think there's much of a distinction here," Cardin said. "I voted against the war. . . . I have spoken out consistently that the president has mismanaged this war. We shouldn't have been there, and I've said that since day one."

Mfume argued that their differences are significant, however. Ben Cardin is a friend of mine, but on this central issue of the war in Iraq, we disagree," he said. "I think it's time to be talking about an exit strategy."
Joe Trippi, a political consultant advising Mfume, argued that there is also a contrast in emphasis.
Iraq is the featured issue on Mfume's campaign Web site. Cardin's Web site presents his views on eight issues, including homeland security. But it makes no mention of the Iraq war.

Mfume's push on Iraq comes at a time of growing criticism of the Bush administration from members of both major parties. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) recently called on President Bush to bring the troops home by the end of next year. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) is among those who have compared the situation to Vietnam.
Thomas F. Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, said Mfume appears to be trying to capitalize on the public mood to attract white liberal voters in particular. Mfume starts with a political base of black voters in Baltimore, the area he represented in Congress, a base he needs to broaden to win.
Mfume's emphasis on the war is also reminiscent of the 2004 presidential candidacy of Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who rode antiwar sentiment among primary voters to become the Democratic front-runner for a long stretch. Trippi was Dean's campaign manager for much of that period.

Mfume said that his opposition to the war is deep-rooted and that his views probably will be the centerpiece of a Sept. 12 speech reintroducing himself as a Senate candidate one year before the primary.
Cardin predicted that the war would be a much larger issue in the general election. Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who has formed an exploratory committee for the Senate race, is widely expected to be the Republican nominee.
A spokesman declined to comment on Steele's views on Iraq. "The lieutenant governor is focused on his official duties and making a decision about whether or not this race makes sense for him and his family," Dan Ronayne said.

Besides Mfume and Cardin, community activist A. Robert Kaufman of Baltimore is a candidate for the Democratic nomination. Several other Democrats are considering entering the race as early as next week.

DCPS Schools That Failed to Meet AYP

The federal 'No Child Left Behind Act' (NCLB) requires the D.C. Public School System (DCPS) identify schools that have failed to meet the school system's criteria for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years.

DCPS is required to provide studentsattending them with the opportunity to enroll in other schools that have met these academic goals, or, alternatively, provide affected students with tutorial services.

For information on why a particular school failed to meet NCLB criteria, contact its principal or visit the DCPS website at www.k12.dc.us. Here is an alphabetical list of all schools that have failed to meet under NCLB standards.

*Backus MS, 6-85171 S. Dakota Ave., NE 20017
*Brightwood ES, PK-61300 Nicholson St., NW 20011
*Bruce-Monroe ES, PK-63012 Georgia Ave., NW 20001
*Francis JHS, 7-92425 N St., NW 20037
*Gage-Eckington ES, PK-62025 3rd St., NW 20001
*Gibbs ES, PK-6500 19th St., NE 20002
*Hine JHS, 7-9335 8th St., SE 20003
*Jefferson JHS, 7-9801 7th St., SW 20024
*Ludlow-Taylor ES, PK-6659 G St., NE 20002
*MC Terrell, PK-63301 Wheeler Rd., SE 20032
*Plummer ES, PK-54601 Texas Ave., SE 20019
*Reed LC, HS-62200 Champlain St., NW 20009
*Savoy ES, PK-62400 Shannon Pl., SE 20020
*Stuart Hobson MS, 5-8410 E St., NE 20002
Aiton ES, PK-6533 48th Pl., NE 20019
Amidon ES, PK-6401 Eye St., SW 20024
Anacostia SHS, 9-121601 16th St., SE 20020
Ballou SHS, 9-123401 4th St., SE 20032
Bancroft ES, PK-51755 Newton St., NW 20010
Bell SHS, 9-123145 Hiatt Pl., NW 20010
Benning ES, PK-6100 41st St., NE 20019
Bowen ES, PK-6101 M St., SW 20024
Browne JHS, 7-9850 26th St., NE 20002
Cardozo SHS, 9-121200 Clifton St., NW 20009
Cook, JF ES, PK-630 P St., NW 20001
Cooke, HD ES, PK-6300 Bryant St., NW 20001
Coolidge SHS, 9-126315 5th St., NW 20011
Dunbar SHS, 9-121301 New Jersey Ave., NW 20001
Eastern SHS, 9-121700 East Capitol St., NE 20003
Eliot JHS, 7-91830 Constitution Ave., NE 20002
Emery ES, HS-61720 1st St., NE 20002
Ferebee-Hope ES, PK-63999 8th St., SE 20032
Fletcher-Johnson EC, PK-84650 Benning Rd., SE 20019
Fletcher-Johnson EC, PK-84650 Benning Rd., SE 20019
Garfield ES, HS-62435 Alabama Ave., SE 20020
Garnet-Patterson MS, 5-82001 10th St., NW 20001
Green ES, HS-61500 Mississippi Ave., SE 20032
Harris, PR EC, PK-84600 Livingston Rd., SE 20032
Hart MS, 6-8601 Mississippi Ave., SE 20032
Houston ES, PK-61100 50th Pl., NE 20019
Johnson JHS, 7-91400 Bruce Pl., SE 20020
Kenilworth ES, PK-61300 44th St., NE 20019
Kramer MS, 6-81700 Q St., SE 20020
Lincoln MS, 6-81800 Perry St., NE 20018
M.M. Washington SHS, 9-1227 O St., NW 20001
MacFarland MS, 6-84400 Iowa Ave., NW 20011
McGogney ES, PK-63400 Wheeler Rd., SE 20032
Meyer ES, PK-52501 11th St., NW 20010
Miner ES, PK-6601 15th St., NE 20002
Moten ES, 4-61565 Morris Rd., SE 20020
Noyes ES, HS-62725 10th St., NE 20018
Powell ES, PK-51350 Upshur St., NW 20011
PR Harris EC, PK-84600 Livingston Rd., SE 20032
Raymond ES, PK-5915 Spring Rd., NW 20010
Ron Brown MS, 6-84800 Meade, NE 20019
Roosevelt SHS, 9-124301 13th St., NW 20011
Shadd ES, PK-55601 East Capitol St., SE 20019
Shaw JHS, 7-9925 Rhode Island Ave., NW 20001
Slowe ES, HS-6 1404 Jackson St., NE 20017
Sousa MS, 6-83650 Ely Pl., SE 20019
Spingarn SHS, 9-122500 Benning Rd., NE 20002
Stanton ES, HS-62701 Naylor Rd., SE 20020
Terrell, R.H. JHS, 7-9100 Pierce St., NW 20001
Thomas, PK-6650 Anacostia Ave., NE 20019
Truesdell ES, PK-6800 Ingraham St., NW 20011
Tubman ES, PK-63101 13th St., NW 20010
Tyler ES, PK-61001 G St., SE 20003
Van Ness ES, PK-61150 5th St., SE 20003Walker Jones ES, PK-6100 L St., NW 20001
Webb ES, PK-61375 Mt. Olivet Rd., NE 20020
Wilkinson ES, PK-32330 Pomeroy Rd., SE 20020
Wilson SHS, 9-123950 Chesapeake St., NW 20016
Winston EC, PK-83100 Erie St., SE 20020
Winston EC, PK-83100 Erie St., SE 20020
Woodson SHS, 9-125500 Eads St., NE 20019

*The schools identified with anasterisk symbol made their AYP targets in school-year 2004-2005. However, they must meet thesetargets two years in a row before they can be removed from the list.
PK-# is Pre-Kindergarten to grade, ES is Elementary School, MS is Middle School, JHS is Junior High School HS is High School, SHS is Senior High School

"Field Tripping" Opportunities for DC Teachers

Washington, DC is rich with resources for teachers to expand the boundaries of their classrooms. The Smithsonian Museums offer DC teachers unlimited opportunities to create classrooms without walls. The following websites will allow teachers to see what activities ans resources are available to teachers who want to enhance standards-based lessons for their students. Allow your students to explore learning "outside of the box" (your classroom!)

WEBSITES FOR SMITHSONIAN’S AFFILIATE MUSEUMS


African American Culture Program (American History Museum)
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African American Heritage at the Smithsonian
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African American History and Culture, Anacostia Museum and Center for
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African Art Museum
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African Art Museum Conservation Department
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African Art Museum Library
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Air and Space Magazine (Air and Space Museum)
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Air and Space Museum
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Air and Space Museum Archives
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Air and Space Museum Library
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Albert Einstein Planetarium (Air and Space Museum)
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American Art Magazine (American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery)
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American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
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American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery Library
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American Art, Archives of
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American Gardens, Archives of
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American History Museum
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American History Museum Archives Center
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American History Museum Library
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American Indian Museum
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Amphibians & Reptiles (Natural History Museum)
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Anacostia Museum
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Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture Library
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AnthroNotes (Natural History Museum)
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Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film Archives
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Anthropology Department (Natural History Museum)
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Anthropology Library
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Architectural History and Historic Preservation Division
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Archives Center, American History Museum
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Archives of American Art
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Archives of American Gardens
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Archives, Air and Space Museum
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Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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Arctic Studies Center (Natural History Museum)
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Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art
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Arts and Industries Building (changing exhibitions)
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Asian art. See Freer and Sackler Galleries
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Asian Pacific American Program
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Associates, Smithsonian
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Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)

DC Teachers Can Become New Leaders for DC Schools

DC Teachers are Invited to Become New Leaders for New Schools

New Leaders for New Schools -- a national nonprofit that fosters high academic achievement for every child by attracting, preparing and supporting the next generation of outstanding school leaders for our nation's urban public schools -- will release its 2006-2007 online application in September at www.nlns.org.

Today, more than 200 New Leaders will be in schools serving over 100,000 students in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Memphis, New York City and California's Bay Area. You can join them by applying for our Principal Residency program. We are looking for candidates who have a record of success in leading adults, proven knowledge of teaching and learning, a relentless drive to lead an excellent urban school and, most importantly, an unyielding belief in the potential of all children to achieve academically at high levels.

To learn more and meet a current New Leader, join us for an information session this fall. Information session dates and locations will be posted online at www.nlns.org. This year's priority deadline to apply is November 15, 2005. If you have any questions, call or e-mail Hilary Darilek at 202.785.8894 or hdarilek@nlns.org.

Breakaway Union Leaders Outline Strategy

Unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO hope to rebuild the tattered labor movement by targeting workers in growing industries such as healthcare, waste management and security. "We want to identify jobs that can't be shipped overseas," Teamsters President James Hoffa said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

The targeted industries, which also include food service and businesses that cater to retirees, account for 30 million to 45 million workers, said Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. He said workers in these industries, which employ a large number of immigrants and minorities who do not have college degrees, aren't paid fairly for their work, Stern said."We are living through the most profound transformative economic revolution in world history as we go from a manufacturing to a service and information economy and from a local and national economy to an international economy," Stern said.

The AFL-CIO was not adapting to the new economy with its global reach, fast-growing industries in service, health care and security, the labor leaders said."The AFL-CIO is the United Nations and we're NATO," Stern said, reflecting the belief of the breakaway union leaders that the labor federation was not adapting quickly enough to the changes. It's critical for labor to organize whole sectors of the economy to avoid industries competing to see which one can pay the lowest wages, Stern said."We're talking about organizing wholesale, not retail," Stern said. "It requires a different thinking."The breakaway unions say they will have millions of dollars in annual fees they aren't paying to the AFL- CIO to use in organizing their own core industries. "The AFL-CIO was not working," Hoffa said. "We had less people in the labor movement. The numbers were going down, not up. We're more nimble and we don't have the big bloated bureaucracy."Stern said the Northwest Airlines strike was an example of what has gone wrong in the labor movement, with multiple unions not having sufficient clout to reach an agreement.

The labor leaders said the movement needs to do a better job of educating workers and consumers about the importance of boosting wages and keeping jobs in America. He also said a key to the new labor strategy is to do more organizing overseas.The labor movement is changing to a global effort because companies now have a global presence, Stern said.The Teamsters and SEIU broke away from the AFL-CIO in late July, saying the labor federation was spending too much time on politics and not enough on recruiting new members.

The United Food and Commercial Workers broke away soon after that, meaning three of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO representing more than 4 million workers were leaving the federation of more than 50 labor unions that had numbered 13 million workers.Several others, including the Laborers, Unite Here and the United Farm Workers have joined the breakaway unions in the Change to Win Coalition, but those three are still in the AFL-CIO. The Carpenters' Union, which left the AFL-CIO in 2001, has also joined the new labor coalition.Hoffa said the new labor group plans to hold a one-day convention in St. Louis on Sept. 27. The new group will focus more on organizing and less on party politics, which Hoffa and Stern say was too much at the center of the AFL-CIO operation. The new groups say they will support politicians who back labor, rather than backing one party's politicians."We are spending our money talking to workers and not Democratic politicians and hoping they'll save us," Stern said. "Workers can't wait for a magical transformation of our country." But Stern and Hoffa acknowledged they face a difficult task rebuilding labor's strength.

When the AFL-CIO formed 50 years ago, union membership was at its zenith, with one of every three private- sector workers belonging to a labor group. Now, less than 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized. "Corporate America is incredibly strong, people are out to bury us right now," Stern said. "We're trying to climb out of a hole that took an awful long time to dig, but we're going to climb out."

On the Net: Change to Win Coalition: http://www.changetowin.orgTeamsters: http://www.teamster.org Service Employees International Union:http://www.seiu.orgAFL-CIO: http://www.aflcio.org

DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE TO DC TEACHERS

DC TEACHERS CAN GET DISCOUNTS FOR SCHOOL SUPPLIES!

Just a reminder to some and a notice to new teachers, you can get discounts at the following locations for supplies you might need to buy on your own for school. Be sure to bring your DCPS Teacher ID with you to qualify.

Office Depot: 5% off supplies & 10% off printing/copying services (Ask to join the Star Teacher Program)...and a FREE ream of paper when you bring in an empty Hewlett-Packard ink cartridge (at Connecticut Ave/Van Ness location, at least) - one ream per visit.

Kinko's: 20% off copying (after you make the copies, show your teacher ID at the desk)

Borders Books & Music: 20% off classroom materials

Hope this helps ease the expenditures you make for extra classroom materials.

Carey Hartin

Sprucing Up the Schools

Spruced-Up Schools Brighten Outlook Ketcham Elementary Offers Showcase for $6 Million D.C. Maintenance Effort
By Lori Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 25, 2005; B05

Principal Joyce Grimes bubbled with grateful enthusiasm as she marched through the halls of Ketcham Elementary School in Southeast Washington yesterday, pointing out new lights, gleaming floors, and walls freshly painted in ivory and yellow.

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and a horde of news photographers trailed behind her, witnesses to the $157,500 makeover.

"It all looks like this: beautiful," Grimes gushed. "Makes you want to come here and learn."
When school opens Monday morning in Washington, students at more than 100 public schools will be greeted by similarly spruced-up classrooms, thanks in large part to an extra $6 million that the mayor and D.C. Council budgeted for long-neglected maintenance projects. Across the city, walls have been plastered, lights have been replaced, restrooms have been deep cleaned and leaks have been fixed -- in some cases for the first time in years.

"We have over 700 projects implemented over the summer, touching over 100 school facilities," Cornell S. Brown Jr., director of facilities management for D.C. schools, said during a news conference at Ketcham. Not every project will be finished by Monday, he said, but everything is on track to be completed by Oct. 1.
And, yes, he said to applause, "every school will open on time next week."

In a system long plagued by aging facilities and bureaucratic bungles on opening day, this summer's performance has been encouraging, said some parents and organizations that monitor the schools.
The superintendent, Clifford B. Janey, and his team seem to be producing "more action, getting things done with greater alacrity," said Nancy Huvendick, D.C. programs director at the 21st Century School Fund. And the mayor's decision to provide extra money for the schools from the city's budget surplus this year was "crucial," said Huvendick, who has a child at Woodrow Wilson Senior High.

Darlene Allen, president of the D.C. PTA, said it would have been "exhilarating" if all the work had been completed by Monday morning. "But it is on schedule, and that's a positive thing," Allen said. "There have been extraordinary efforts to make sure some problems that have plagued us in the past have been taken care of."
Brown said the extra $6 million more than doubled his annual maintenance budget and dwarfed the approximately $800,000 the school system had to get classrooms ready last summer.

Still, many of the city's 147 public schools need major renovations. Council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), who has introduced a bill aimed at raising $1 billion to modernize school facilities, called the $6 million "a drop in the bucket."

"I think even the mayor will admit that the schools have been so neglected that we're really talking about peanuts in terms of making them look like we want to educate children," said Fenty, a candidate for mayor who has held news conferences recently to call attention to conditions at some public schools.
Yesterday, Williams scoffed at Fenty's comments.

"Council members pointing out things that need to be improved? That's helpful," he said sarcastically. "It's easy to get stories about what's left to be done. This is a story about what good has happened. And I think it's worthy to note."

Williams added: "I can go around and show you some hole in the roof somewhere or some bathroom that still needs to be done. You know: Details at 11."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Renovating Old DC Schools

D.C. school renovated as it nears 100 years old
By Derrill HollyASSOCIATED PRESSPublished August 25, 2005

Some 96 years after its first students walked through the doors, a renovated John H. Ketcham Elementary School will reopen Monday to welcome 418 D.C. students for a new school year.

The D.C. Public Schools offered principal Joyce Goche-Grimes more than $160,000 for upgrades and improvements, but she chose to use the money for what she considers more than cosmetic improvements. "The building has always been clean, but it has never been as bright and well-lighted as it is today," Miss Goche-Grimes said yesterday before taking Mayor Anthony A. Williams and two members of the D.C. Council on a tour of the building and an addition built in 1971.

"This is a good, safe, bright, happy environment where children can learn," said Miss Goche-Grimes. Many of her 52 staff members have said upgrading the building's 19th-century design to 21st-century standards is expected to make a real difference. "These types of improvements have been made to many schools in the District," said Cornell Brown, a D.C. schools official.

Last year, the school system had only $850,000 for minor summer improvement projects. Work this year also included plastering, plumbing and floor repairs in more than 100 buildings. In March, the D.C. Council allocated $6 million under Mr. Williams' "Ready Schools" initiative to help cover maintenance costs not included under the school system's capital improvement budget.

"Ketcham has used its money for all the things we need to be doing on the short term while we're working on the long term," Mr. Williams said. "It's dollars well worth the spending," said D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson. The Ward 3 Democrat said the one-time allocation could be followed by a major school facilities bill later this year.


The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com <http://www.washingtontimes.com>
_____

Funding and Fixing Our schools

Schools Make Headway on Renovations Repair Work Favored Over Construction
By Lindsay RyanWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, August 25, 2005; DZ03

A year ago, pigeon dung was piled six inches deep on parts of the floors in the vacant Nichols Avenue Elementary School, which closed down in the early 1980s. Beneath a sagging, broken roof, vines covered a dilapidated facade adorned only with shattered or boarded-up windows and doors. A grand portico with columns, a skylight on the second level and wrought iron staircases betrayed the former beauty of the turn-of-the-century building.

As the first public school for black students in Hillsdale, the 104-year-old facility had been a neighborhood focal point during its heyday, according to Jane Levey, a historian with Cultural Tourism D.C. But a year ago, it "almost looked like a haunted house," said Jennifer Hill-Flowers, 40, who has lived in Southeast Washington her entire life.

The structure at 2427 Martin Luther King Ave. SE was not alone among school buildings that had fallen into disrepair. Many D.C. public schools were constructed in the World War II era or the 1970s and are in dire need of work, said school board member Jeff Smith (District 1). Some of those built three decades ago are actually in worse condition than those from the 1940s because of shoddy construction, said Smith. During the 1990s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in charge of D.C. public school facilities, lack of regular maintenance worsened the problem, Smith added.

Several school construction or renovation projects are either underway or in the pipeline for completion in fall 2006 or later. However, the broad focus of the D.C. Public Schools capital budget, which dropped to $147 million this year from $174.9 million last year, will shift from full-scale modernization to repair or replacement of aging electrical systems, leaky roofs, air conditioning and heating, and other building basics in the next couple of years, according to Cornell S. Brown, executive director of facilities management for the school system. "You can't build new schools in two buildings when 140 buildings are in need of renovation," Brown said.

Next month, the former Nichols Avenue Elementary building is reopening -- gutted, renovated, and outfitted with state-of-the-art classrooms -- as the new home of Thurgood Marshall Academy, a charter high school launched in 2001. Hill-Flowers, whose two daughters attend the school, watched the metamorphosis of the vacant building with pleasure as she drove by every morning on the way to work. And as she enters her senior year, Britnee Flowers, 16, is excited to move to a school she can call her own after several years in a church annex where the cafeteria flooded inches deep during hard rains, soaking her books.

"It was just a really grim-looking building," Hill-Flowers said. "It looks brighter over there already."
Thurgood Marshall is one of a handful of charter schools and traditional public schools reopening in new or revamped facilities during this school year.

None of the newly renovated traditional public school buildings will be completely ready this fall. An addition at Brightwood Elementary in Northwest will open even as the old part remains under renovation. A new building for Bell Multicultural Senior High and Lincoln Middle in Northwest and an enlarged, renovated facility for Thomson Elementary in Northwest are expected to open in the second half of the year, school system officials said.

Last March, the D.C. Board of Education approved Superintendent Clifford B. Janey's plan to scale back major renovations in favor of more modest repairs. Janey developed the new proposal in response to city officials' decision to cut funding by tens of millions of dollars over the next few years.

"Too much has been spent on too few projects for too long," and delays have led to high maintenance costs on old facilities even as their replacements are being built, said Jordan Spooner, deputy director of the 21st Century School Fund, an organization dedicated to improving urban public school facilities. Spooner expressed optimism about the current plan for public schools.

But others were not entirely pleased with the change. "We are disappointed that we can't go through with these wonderful plans that had a lot of community buy-in," said Amy Friend, a parent of two public school students, who worked for years on a proposal to modernize Alice Deal Junior High School. Friend said that she understood the choices D.C. Public Schools made, given the budget constraints, but that without more money from the city council, students and teachers who are "desperately in need of new facilities" are forced to make difficult choices about which parts of the modernization they can manage to salvage.

Under Janey's plan, full-scale renovation work will be confined to seven senior high schools: Anacostia, Cardozo, Coolidge, Roosevelt, School Without Walls, Wilson and H.D. Woodson.

"Our high schools are pretty spread throughout the [city], and they are what a lot of people relate to the school system through," Smith said. "Everyone knows their neighborhood high school," and the whole community sees any improvements that are made there, he said.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

DCPS Full Funding Campaign Continues

Council, Schools Explore Funding
By D'Vera Cohn Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 25, 2005; DZ03

Seeking to improve their often-contentious relationship, D.C. Council members and school officials are working together on efforts to find new funding sources, improve facilities and streamline the budgeting process. The council added more money to the school system's capital budget this spring, and members promise more is to come.

Approving a proposal that originated with Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), the council allocated $12.2 million in debt service to finance more than $100 million for school construction. The money, which is likely to be available next spring, will go for school construction projects that the school system deems high priority, including those related to special education and vocational education.

That is only a down payment on what the school system needs if it is to upgrade its aging buildings. D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi told the council last month that $2.8 billion is needed to modernize 130 schools but that the D.C. capital improvement plan assumes funding of $640 million through 2011.
Some of the city's 147 schools have not had a basic paint job in more than a decade, and others need more fundamental improvements. The council's Committee on Finance and Revenue approved a bill last month that would infuse $1 billion into the school system's capital construction budget beginning in fiscal 2007 by selling bonds backed by proceeds from the D.C. Lottery, even though some oppose using lottery revenues for that purpose.

The legislation was sponsored by D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4). But the council members who chair the finance and education committees, Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), respectively, say that lottery money already is set aside for other uses and that another source of funding must be found.

"My view is that the lottery funding is a good source of funding, but I'm certainly open to another one," said Fenty, who is running for mayor in 2006. "My ultimate goal is to fix the schools."

Patterson said she hopes to meld some features of Fenty's bill into a broader piece of legislation that she will introduce in the fall, which would include an as-yet-unnamed dedicated source of money and ensure that it be spent effectively. One option, according to an Education, Libraries and Recreation Committee staff analysis, would be to give the schools a larger share of the overall city capital budget.

"The idea is to have a dedicated funding source for at least 10 years so the school system knows what its capital funding from the city will be and can plan accordingly," Patterson said. In addition, "that would help strengthen the lobbying we do on Capitol Hill" for more federal money for school repairs, Patterson said.

Gandhi told the council that "the District cannot continue to address the needs for improved school facilities on its tax base alone" and "this funding is a federal responsibility." One of his arguments is that other big cities rely on substantial funding from their states, an option not available to the District.

Patterson said she has dropped her earlier proposal to create a trust fund to finance school construction because of opposition from the D.C. Board of Education, which wants to expand the school system's ability to manage construction rather than create a new entity to do it. Patterson said the school system has made several recent hires that show "they've made some headway" in that direction.

Patterson also has floated the idea of requiring the school system to present a three-year operating budget, so as to reduce the energy expended and friction produced by their having to propose and approve a budget each year. Some council members oppose the idea, and Patterson said it is still a "work in progress."
"We would welcome legislation designed to strengthen our work. We look forward to collaborating with our colleagues at the D.C. Council," said school Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, adding that he supports the proposals aimed at providing more construction money and establishing a three-year budget.
Janey said he'd like to see the council go further.

"There needs to be some discussion about this school district becoming a truly independent school district," he said. "It would be nice to have some bonding authority. That would require us having earned the respect of public officials [that the system is fiscally responsible]

"We're not there yet, but we're heading in that direction."

Staff writer V. Dion Haynes contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Lawsuit Against NCLB

Connecticut Files Long-Awaited Lawsuit Challenging No Child Left Behind Act
By Jeff Archer

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has made good on his nearly 5-month-old threat to sue the U.S. Department of Education over the No Child Left Behind Act, making his state the first to take its objections about the law to the federal courts.

Filed Aug. 22 in U.S. District Court in Hartford, the state’s complaint in Connecticut v. Spellings argues that federal funding to the state for the No Child Left Behind law falls far short of what is needed to meet the law’s testing and accountability requirements. The suit contends the failure to fully fund the law violates a provision in the nearly 4-year-old education statute itself that says states will not be required “to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this act.”

“Our message today is: Give up the unfunded mandates, or give us the money,” Mr. Blumenthal said at a press conference in his office after filing the lawsuit.

Although surrounded by key Connecticut education leaders and policymakers who expressed their support at the announcement, Mr. Blumenthal said no other state had joined the legal action. Since first threatening to sue over the law in April, he has said one of the reasons he has waited to do so was to give other states a chance to take part.

The 28-page complaint recounts how Connecticut’s attempts to get waivers of some of the student-assessment provisions in the No Child Left Behind law have been repeatedly denied in recent months by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

In particular, Connecticut education officials sought unsuccessfully to get out of the law’s requirement that they expand their testing system—which assesses students in mathematics and reading in grades 4, 6, and 8—to cover the entire span of grades 3-8. An estimate by the state department of education pegs the cost of putting in place those and other additional assessments called for in the law at $41.6 million by 2008, compared with $33.6 million that the state is slated to receive from the federal government by then for test implementation.
“The additional tests, as imposed by the requirements of NCLB, are of questionable merit,” state Commissioner of Education Betty J. Sternberg said at the Aug. 22 press conference. “There is no research base that tells us that additional testing of this type will yield better results.”

Connecticut also has unsuccessfully sought flexibility in the law’s requirements on the testing of special education students and students who are learning English.

The state’s legal case rests largely on the so-called unfunded-mandates provision in the No Child Left Behind law, which says that “nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize” the federal government to “mandate a state or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this chapter.” The complaint also cites the spending clause in Article I of the U.S. Constitution, which has been construed by the courts as requiring Congress to make unambiguous any conditions attached to states’ acceptance of federal money.

Susan Aspey, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Education Department, called the lawsuit “unfortunate” in a written statement. Arguing that Secretary Spellings has worked to meet states' concerns about the law, she added nonetheless that testing in each grade, from 3-8, is needed to catch problems in a timely manner.
“Today's action doesn't bring the state any closer to closing its achievement gap, which is among the largest in the nation,” Ms. Aspey said.

In June, the department asked a judge in U.S. District Court in Detroit to dismiss a similar lawsuit filed by the National Education Association, arguing that the No Child Left Behind Act is not an unfunded mandate because states are under no obligation to take the federal money allocated for it. The department’s motion is pending. ("U.S. Asks Court to Dismiss Lawsuit Over NCLB," July 13, 2005.)

Turning that argument around at his press conference, Attorney General Blumenthal said that by threatening to withhold money from the state if it doesn’t comply with the law’s requirements, the federal government is putting hundreds of millions of dollars for Connecticut’s schools at risk. That fear, he added, is partly why other states haven’t joined the suit, although he left open the possibility that some other states may yet do so.
“That’s money that goes to schools that serve our neediest children,” he said. “It goes to school lunch programs, after-school programs, reading-achievement programs, all of the kinds of programs that are necessary for meeting the objectives and goals of No Child Left Behind.”

The federal Education Department has 60 days to file a legal response, which could be a motion to dismiss the case.Meanwhile, the case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Kravitz.“We’re hoping he will expedite our case, and it won’t be years, but a matter of months,” Mr. Blumenthal said.

A New DC Teacher Reflects On the New Teacher Orientation

Maria Angala on the New Teacher Orientation

“Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I was one of the facilitators during the New Teachers' Orientation in our school district. And since I wasn't able to go to a New Teachers' Induction as big as this (I came in at Jefferson Junior High middle of the school year, remember?), I considered myself a participant too. There were more or less 700 incoming new teachers this school year to the District of Columbia Public Schools, and I saw close to 10 Pinoy new teachers. And guess what, my principal recommended me to be one of the presentors that Thursday to talk on the Survival Kit for almost 30 newbie teachers in my group. How did it go?

The presentation lasted more than 1 hour; I was nervous and freaking out of what other activities to give the participants to keep them inside my room. It was emotional for me because I imparted my own personal experiences as a new teacher. Not very long ago I was in the dark like them. During their first few weeks in school, they are going to feel how it is to be expected to perform like a veteran teacher when it is just their first year of teaching. Ah! I saw fresh faces, full of idealism, eager to go to their classrooms. I didn't want to burst their bubble but I wanted them also to expect the reality that would greet them in their respective schools. I based all my powerpoint presentations from Harry Wong's The First Days of School. I shared with them my personal experiences that I know would help them be educator leaders (not just workers). I wished them the best. I was given a facilitator during my presentation, Ms. Beverly, who gave me full support, assistance and motivation. She asked for my powerpoint presentation to be emailed to her because she said her students need to be "Einsteins" and need the push.

I got exceeds expectations and good comments for that presentation. I was priviledged to work with the hard working people from the DC Public Schools most especially from Logan Office of Workforce and Professional Development. I met teacher leaders who are very inspiring knowing their accomplishments as teachers (National Board Certified, National Teacher Awardees...). I've come to know a Filipina, Maria Cristina Kabiling (cover designer of Shining Stars), who just came in from the Philippines and works for DCPS for eight months now. But she remains humble, smart and who maintains a good interpersonal relationship, very admirable.

I came to know Celine Fejeran better than just seeing her name in the newspapers as the DC Public School's New Teacher of the Year. She is an Asian, from Guam; and she is very inspiring with how organized she does complicated tasks, and how aggressive but polite she deals with people. I was in tears when she gave her speech onstage during the last day of the orientation. I felt every word she said, I saw myself in her shoes, I went through all the situations she mentioned and experienced every emotions she felt.

“Our first day to report back to our respective schools for the School Year 2005-2006 is on Tuesday, August 23. I am very optimistic that this year is going to be a brighter year for me and for the whole Jefferson Junior HS community through the leadership of our new principal Mr. Mensa Maa.

This is going to be my third year of teaching here in the same school district, my last year as a newbie teacher. And I have accomplished a lot, and shared to many veteran and neophyte teachers my best and worst days, the pains and triumphs, all my experiences with my students as a DC Public school teacher. I gave lecture presentations to DC Area Writing Project Teacher Consultants and to teachers taking graduate courses, who gave me the push to go on because of their eagerness to learn integrating writing and technology inside their classrooms. They told me that I am the expert in the field where I am in, and more knowledgeable than they were in the topic that I was going to present. Thanks for their motivation. I feel I am getting better each time I face different groups of veteran teachers during my lecture-presentations.

To all the new teachers who are reading this, you must persist. Any new endeavor may be tough in the beginning. But tough times never last, but tough people do.”

Maria Angala is a third year DC teacher at Jefferson JHS, master blogger and a teacher consultant with the D. C. Area Writing Project. Her weblog, TEACHER SOL, is also a link on this site.

The Washington Times

Charter schools will get $15 million

By Derrill Holly
ASSOCIATED PRESS Published August 24, 2005
The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com <http://www.washingtontimes.com>

The Bush administration is providing D.C. public charter schools with more than $15 million over the next three years to help new charter schools lease, buy or renovate buildings.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams and other officials accepted a symbolic check yesterday from the Department of Education at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School.

"In terms of providing a structured environment and more discipline and character building for children, certainly the charter schools are doing that," said Mr. Williams.

Nearly two dozen public charter schools on 31 campuses will operate in the District this year. Under a 1996 law, traditional public schools and public charter schools receive equal funding based on enrollment.

"Over 15,000 students in D.C. are attending charter schools, and that's about 21 percent of the students in the District," said Nina Rees, a Department of Education official.

Since 2001, the Bush administration has provided $124 million for charter schools. The program allows the schools to seek loan guarantees for real estate purchases or to insure leasing fees. The money can also be leveraged through private-lending institutions. About 48,000 students attending 120 charter schools in the District and eight states have benefited from the grants.

The Stokes school now has 250 elementary school students, offers French and Spanish language immersion programs. The students come from 20 different countries and 90 percent are considered low income, making them eligible for the free and reduced-fee lunch program.

Two-thirds of the students who have completed sixth grade at the school have moved on to private or parochial schools including St. Albans, Washington Jesuit Academy and the Maret School.

Copyright © 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

DC School Funding Debate

Report Fans Flames in D.C. School Funding Debate Critics Challenge Claim That Charters Get Less Per Pupil

By V. Dion Haynes and Lori Montgomery,Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 24, 2005; B07

A newly released report by a Washington-based think tank added fuel yesterday to a running debate on whether the District's charter schools receive a fair share of public education dollars.

The study by the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an organization that supports school reform, says that charter schools in the District and states throughout the country receive less per-pupil funding than regular public schools in the same jurisdictions. It said the funding gap in the District was $3,552 per student, higher than the average disparity of $1,801.

But in releasing the report yesterday, the institute's researchers acknowledged that it was based on data from 2002-03 and that the funding of D.C. charter schools -- particularly their facilities allowance -- has increased significantly since then. In fact, the charter school movement here in some respects is a model for the nation, officials at the think tank said.

"D.C. has one of the most equitable funding mechanisms across the land," said Mike Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the Fordham Institute. "Local and federal officials should be congratulated for that."

Nevertheless, the report sparked renewed debate on whether the distribution of public dollars between D.C. charter and regular schools is fair, with some saying that the regular schools are getting shortchanged.

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said he has not seen the study, but he disputed the notion that charter schools in the District receive significantly less per-pupil funding than traditional public schools.

By coincidence, Williams and a U.S. Department of Education official appeared yesterday morning at the Elsie Whitlow Stokes public charter school in Northwest Washington to announce that the city will receive an annual federal grant of $5 million for the next three years to help fund salaries and programs at new charter schools. The District has received similar awards over the past decade.

Williams praised the performance of D.C. charter schools, which enroll more than 15,000 students, or about 21 percent of total public school enrollment.

The mayor also said he disagreed with some city leaders, including Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), who have argued that the growth of charter schools could cause further deterioration of the traditional public school system.

"I think the best prescription for the system is to get competitive. . . . I think just artificially saying that we're going to shut off access and options for parents limits choices because it doesn't motivate the existing system to get its act together and continue to improve," Williams said.

Williams said he will try to persuade Cropp, who is expected to announce her campaign for mayor next month, to change her view of charter schools. "I hope . . . if I decide not to run, as a private citizen, I could convince her to feel differently," he said.

Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), who chairs the education committee, has scheduled a hearing Oct. 6 to look into various aspects of the D.C. charter school law, including funding.
Charter schools are publicly funded but independently run and are exempt from many local and state education regulations.

The institute's 141-page report covers the District and the 16 states with the largest charter school enrollments. It concludes that in all but one of those jurisdictions, charter schools received less per-pupil funding than regular public schools, despite requirements for equal funding. Researchers attributed the disparity largely to the charter schools' inability to gain access to funding for capital expenses.

Brenda L. Belton, executive director of the D.C. Board of Education's charter school office, said the D.C. Council approved a $2,800-per-student allotment that charter schools can use to construct, purchase or lease a facility. The institute's researchers acknowledged that their data were from an earlier school year.
"No other state provides that," Belton said of the allotment. "The only problem is that you're in a hot real estate market, and the money doesn't buy you much."

Gina Arlotto, co-founder and president of Save Our Schools, a group that has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging that traditional public schools are losing money to charter schools, said the facilities allowance is too generous.

Arlotto noted that city officials calculated the charters' allowance based on the regular school system's capital budget. She said the calculations were flawed because the capital spending for that period included several construction projects that were wildly over budget.

"Charter schools see themselves as the poor stepchild of the D.C. education scene. It's simply not true," she said.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company

New DCPS Principals

Schools chief names 44 new D.C. principals
(August 23, 2005, online news update)

Students at about one third of the District's public schools will find a new principal in their building when classes resume Aug. 29.

Superintendent Clifford B. Janey yesterday announced appointment of 44 principals, citing the need for "strong, focused and effective campus leaders" to help implement new, more stringent academic standards this fall.
Some of the principals - including those at Eastern and Spingarn senior high schools, Kelly Miller Middle School and Johnson Junior High -- were re-appointed to positions they held last year on an interim basis.
Jacqueline Williams, who was named acting principal at Eastern Senior High School during the middle of the last school year, will remain in place on an interim basis as the search for a permanent principal at the troubled Capitol Hill school continues, officials said. Williams has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Howard University and a master's degree in computer education from Trinity College.
Listed below are the other new principals.
· Adams Elementary: Pedro A. Cartagena, who has served as assistant principal at Bell Multicultural Senior High, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree in history from the University of San Diego, a master's degree in educational administration from the University of Puerto Rico and a doctorate in educational administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
· Ballou Senior High: Karen D. Smith, who was an assistant principal at McKinley Technology Senior High School, was named principal at the Southeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from Hampton University and master's degrees from Trinity College and George Washington University.
· Banneker Senior High: Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Anita M. Berger was promoted to lead the Northwest Washington school's staff. Berger has a bachelor's degree in physical education/secondary education and a master's degree in administration/exercise physiology, both from Howard University.
· Beers Elementary: Sherry Eichorn, who has served as a principal and teacher in El Paso, Texas, was named principal of the Southeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in history and English from Alabertus Magnus College in New Haven, Conn., and a master's degree in mid-management supervision from the University of Texas.
· Benning Elementary: Darwin Bobbitt, who was a summer school principal in Ohio and an assistant principal in Alexandria, was named principal of the Northeast Washington school. He has a bachelor'' degree from Central State University and a master's degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
· Brent Elementary: Arienne M. Clark, who served as resident principal at the Capitol Hill Cluster Schools, was named principal at the Southeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in educational studies and public policy from Brown University and a master's degree in early childhood and elementary education from New York University.
· Browne Junior High: Acting Principal Keith T. Stephenson was named principal of the Northeast Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree from Lehigh University and a master's degree from Bowie State University.
· Bunker Hill Elementary: Amanda Alexander, who formerly taught at Walker-Jones Elementary and served as an assistant elementary school principal in New York City, was named principal at the Northeast Washington school. She has bachelor's and master's degrees from Howard University, a master's degree from Baruch College and is a doctoral candidate at American University.
· Capitol Hill Cluster Schools: Assistant Principal Brandon C. Eatman was promoted to principal of the Capitol Hill Cluster Schools. He has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Howard University and a master's degree in educational leadership from George Mason University.
· Deal Junior High: Melissa M. Kim, who has served as an assistant principal in Arlington County and as a resident principal at Capitol Hill Cluster Schools, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from Colby College and a master's degree from Trinity College.
· Fillmore Arts Center: Katherine B. Latterner, who formerly taught at Fillmore and most recently director of education at the Musical Theater Center in Rockville, was named principal of the Northwest Washington arts center. She has a bachelor's degree in English from Bucknell University and a master's degree in educational leadership from George Mason University.
· Francis Junior High: Stephanie Crutchfield, who has served as a principal and teacher in Indiana and Virginia, was named principal at the Northwest Washington school. She has bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia State University.
· Gage-Eckington Elementary: Richard E. Rogers Jr., who served as principal at Barbara Jordan Public Charter School, was named principal at the Northwest Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University and a master's degree from Trinity College.
· H.D. Cooke Elementary: Rosalyn L. Rice, who served as a resident principal at Lafayette and Oyster elementary schools, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a master's degree from the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore.
· Hine Junior High: Duane L. Ross, who has served as principal at Simon and Hendley elementary schools, was named principal at the Southeast Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of the District of Columbia, a master's degree from Trinity College and a doctorate from George Washington University.
· Jefferson Junior High: MenSa Ankh Maa, who served as a resident principal at Hardy Middle School and was an eighth grade administrator at Jefferson, was named principal of the Southwest Washington school. Maa has a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and a master's degree from Cornell University.
· Johnson Junior High: Acting Principal Sylvia S. Dark was named principal at the Southeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from Livingston College in Salisbery, N.C., and a master's degree from George Washington University.
· Kelly Miller Middle: Robert W. Gill Sr., who took the helm last year at the Northeast Washington school, was re-appointed principal. He has a bachelor's degree from Howard University and a master's degree in school administration from the University of the District of Columbia.
· Mann Elementary: Elizabeth C. Whisnant, who has served as a principal in Charlotte, was named principal at the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from Lesley College.
· Marie Reed Learning Center: Dayo Akinsheye, who has served as the Northwest Washington school's assistant principal, was promoted to principal. She has a bachelor's degree from Boston University, a master's degree in African studies from Howard University and a master's degree in education leadership from George Mason University.
· Marshall Educational Center: Valorie B. Powell, who has served as an assistant principal in Montgomery County, was named principal of the Northeast Washington school. She has bachelor's and master's degrees from Bowie State University.
· M.M. Washington Career Senior High: L. Nelson Burton, who has served as an assistant principal at Banneker Senior High and Kramer Middle schools, was appointed principal at the District's only public vocational school. Burton has a bachelor's degree from the University of the District of Columbia and a master's degree from Trinity College.
· M.M. Washington SPED: Wilma L. Gaines, most recently an assistant principal at Wilson Senior High, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in special education from D.C. Teacher's College, a master's degree from Howard University and is a doctoral candidate at Howard.
· Moten Center: David Mason, most recently a restructuring implementation specialist for the Baltimore public schools, was named principal at the Southeast Washington school. He has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and assistant superintendent for D.C. Public Schools. School officials did not provide information about his degrees.
· Murch Elementary: Carolyne E. Albert-Garvey, who served as a resident principal at Nalle Elementary, was named principal at the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from L'Universite de Moncton in Canada and master's degrees from George Washington University and Trinity College.
· Oak Hill Academy: Consuela W. Ellis, who served as acting principal at M.M. Washington Career Senior High, was named principal of the District's school for juvenile offenders in Laurel, Md. She has a bachelor's degree in English from D.C. Teacher's College and a master's degree in administration supervision from the University of the District of Columbia.
· Plummer Elementary: Christopher F. Gray, who served as assistant principal at Jefferson Junior High, was named principal of the Southeast Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree from Elizabeth City State University and master's degrees from Howard University and George Mason University.
· P.R. Harris Educational Center: Jeffrey F. Grant, who has served in numerous capacities in D.C. public and private schools and in Prince George's County schools, was named principal of the Southeast Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of the District of Columbia, a master's degree in education technology leadership from George Washington University and is a doctoral candidate at George Washington University.
· Roosevelt Senior High: Benjamin Hosch, who has served as a principal and teacher in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree in elementary education/mathematics and a master's degree in guidance and counseling supervision and administration from Winston-Salem State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Bowie State University.
· Roosevelt STAY: Linda Gray, who has served as an assistant principal of Roosevelt Senior High, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school's STAY program. She has a bachelor's degree from D.C. Teacher's College and a master's degree from the University of the District of Columbia.
· Rudolph Elementary: Carol F. Barbour, who has served as a principal in Prince George's County and Alexandria public schools, was named principal at the Northwest Washington school. She has bachelor's and master's degrees from Norfolk State University.
· Seaton Elementary: H. Douglas Rice II, who has served as a principal in Cleveland, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree from Central State University and a master's degree from Cleveland State University.
· Simon Elementary: Adelaide D. Flamer, most recently an assistant elementary school principal in Baltimore, was named principal of the Southeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree from Hampton University and master's and doctoral degrees from Morgan State University.
· Smothers Elementary: Angela N. Morton, who served as an assistant principal at Tubman Elementary, was named principal of the Northeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in family studies from the University of Maryland and master's degrees from George Washington University and Trinity College.
· Spingarn Educational Center: Interim Principal Lillian Y. Ingram was named principal of the Northeast Washington center. She has a bachelor's degree from Talladega College in Alabama and a master's degree from Howard University.
· Spingarn Senior High: Reginald Burke, who took the helm last year at the Northeast Washington school, was re-appointed principal. Burke, who was principal at now-closed Phelps Career Senior High, has bachelor's and master's degrees from Howard University.
· Taft Center: Gregory S. Matthews, who served as an interim elementary school principal in Baltimore, was named principal at the Northeast Washington school. He has a bachelor's degree from Coppin State College and a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.
· Thomas Elementary: Ruth N. Barnes, most recently an assistant principal at Green Elementary, was named principal at the Northeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in sociology from Virginia Union University and a master's degree in educational administration from George Mason University.
· Tubman Elementary: Assistant Principal Sharon L. Bovell was promoted to serve as principal of the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Cheyney State University and a master's degree in educational administration from the University of the District of Columbia.
· Walker-Jones Elementary: Janette Johns-Gibson, who has served as an assistant principal at three D.C. high schools, was named principal of the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of the West Indies, and a master's degree in education and a doctorate in organizational communication from Howard University.
· Webb Elementary: Donna M.N. Edwards, most recently principal at St. Augustine Catholic School, was named principal of the Northeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in sociology from the State University of New York, a master's degree in education administration and supervision from Trinity College and a law degree from Howard University.
· West Elementary: Sharron D. Stroman, who has served as a resident principal at Kimball Elementary, was named principal at the Northwest Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Howard University, a master's degree in educational administration from Trinity College and a master's degree in education, literacy and language education from Purdue University.
· Wilkinson Elementary: Margaret Stephens-Aliendre, who has served as an assistant principal and principal, was named principal at the Southeast Washington school. She has a bachelor's degree in radio and television from Brooklyn College, a master's degree in special education from Long Island University and a doctorate in administration and supervision from Berne University in Wolfeboro Falls, N.H.

Copyright 2005 The Common Denominator www.thecommondenominator.com

Native Intelligence

Native Intelligence
Why do charters get special rules?(Published August 22, 2005)By DIANA WINTHROP
I carefully read the news reports, and I must admit I giggled. I confess I feel guilty for laughing at failure and my possession of an "I told you so" attitude. It is a major character flaw.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that I am not a strong advocate of the public charter school movement. I find the focus and drain on quality public education terribly sad and very frustrating.
I shouldn't revel in the failure of such a grand experiment, but recent reports revealed some bad news: academic achievement for the public charter schools is no better than traditional public schools.
Good grief! Excuse me for having such a nasty attitude, but where are the supporters of public charter schools, rallying behind their institutions? The public charter movement promised D.C. residents the moon. It lied. It has given us just a little progress (as have traditional public schools), though the public hue and cry over the lack of public charter school progress barely exists.
Surprisingly, parents have been quiet. Is it an indication that they see progress in other ways and testing is not a real indication of improvement? School board members have not been available for comment and Superintendent Clifford Janey apparently doesn't believe he needs to respond to the press or to criticism from citizens. Education advocates have been strangely silent, as well, regarding the results of the academic benchmarks required by federal law.
In the next few weeks, approximately 16,000 D.C. public school students will begin classes at more than 40 public charter schools. Roughly 60,000 students (and, likely, even fewer) will begin classes at traditional public schools.
Recent reports on public charter schools show only eight of 31 charter school campuses have made "adequate yearly progress" required by the No Child Left Behind law. Ten schools failed and the rest were not obligated to report because they did not have a sufficient number of students who took the standardized tests.
Something is terribly wrong. It is indicative of a growing case of inequality and unfairness. Shouldn't we be demanding more of both public charters and traditional schools? This is a classic example of unfairness: we allow traditional public schools only three years to meet federal academic benchmarks, while charter schools have five years. Traditional public schools also are penalized by being required to allow students to transfer to better schools. Principals and teachers in regular public schools have three years until they can be fired; in charter schools, they have five years.
Am I the only person who sees something is not right?
Charter schools are designed to offer parents an alternative to failing traditional public schools. Charter school advocates tout the creativity and flexibility of charter schools. Why can't we offer the same in traditional public schools?
The current bad news has renewed interest in making sure that charter schools are under more scrutiny. Why is it that public charters are only revoked for financial mismanagement and not academic failures? Why is it that we continue to spend almost $2 million for a public charter school board and staff? Why do we have two chartering boards, though the D.C. Board of Education recently temporarily stopped issuing new charters?
D.C. Public Charter School Board spokeswoman Nona Richardson defended the charter school test results by indicating that the chartering board looks at the schools on an individual basis, and that they look to see progress over time -- not as a snapshot. If a traditional public school even once tried to defend its poor test results using the same approach, there would be calls for firings.
I can't restrain my growing feeling that special treatment for charter schools is part of the Bush administration's effort to destroy public education - or, rather, a far grander scheme by the Republican Party, which has shown its growing disdain for public education.
The academic benchmarks should be the same for all schools -- traditional public schools and public charter schools -- but changing the federal requirements won't likely happen anytime soon.
Welcome to the new world of inequality -- and fairness be damned.
***
Diana Winthrop is a native Washingtonian. Contact her at diana@thecommondenominator.com. Copyright 2005 The Common Denominator

Uniting for Peace and Justice

A.N.S.W.E.R. and United for Peace and Justice, the two major antiwar coalitions that have initiated and organized for a massive anti-war March on Washington for September 24th have agreed to organize a joint rally followed by a joint march. Both coalitions will organize under their own banners, slogans, and with their own literature for the September 24 demonstration.

The joint rally will begin at 11:30 am at the Ellipse in the front of the White House. We urge everyone around the country to unite and come out for the largest possible anti-war demonstration on September 24.Over the past several months, the overwhelming majority of antiwar activists and their organizations made unmistakably clear that they wanted a united demonstration in Washington D.C. on September 24, not two rival and inherently competitive ones. The Emergency Ad Hoc Committee for a United Demonstration in Washington D.C. on September 24, 2005 was formed for the purpose of providing a vehicle for transmitting this sentiment to both of the sponsoring coalitions.

The Ad Hoc Committee asked individuals and groups committed to making September 24 as massive as possible to sign a statement urging unity. The response was resounding. The 350 signers of the Unity Statement can take pride in the important contribution they made to bringing the full power of the peace movement together to challenge the warmakers. Independent of our efforts, local antiwar coalitions, national organizations and people from all walks of life who want to see an end to the slaughter in Iraq, an end to U.S. occupations of other countries, and a halt to aggressive U.S. wars for oil and empire also spoke out.

The leaders of the two principal coalitions heard the outcry for unity and responded positively to it. A cloud has been lifted for building the largest possible turnout on September 24. We urge all signers of the Unity Statement to multiply efforts to make this happen. Whether in Washington D.C., San Francisco or Los Angeles, let us together take to the streets to send a message heard around the world -- including by Bush and his big business supporters in both major political parties -- that we, the people, have had it with U.S. war policies and demand a fundamental change.

The growing sentiment against the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq is evidenced by the huge response to the protest launched by Cindy Sheehan in Texas. On Wednesday, August 18, thousands showed their solidarity by attending more than 1500 vigils against the war in cities large and small across the country. The united action now projected for Saturday, September 24th will be a tremendous opportunity for the antiwar sentiment to be mobilized in the most powerful way. End the Occupations! Bring the Troops Home Now!!

Alan Benjamin, Alan Dale,ChristineGauvreau, Jerry Gordon and Jeff Mackler on behalf of the Organizing Committee, Emergency Ad Hoc Committee for a United Demonstration in Washington D.C. on September 24, 2005

The Kids for King...Share Your Dream

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in the National Mall in Washington, D.C., scheduled to be completed by or before 2008, will be the first national memorial dedicated to a Black American in the USA, and the first national memorial to honor someone who was never a U.S. president.The project has been in the works since 1996 when the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity that Dr. King joined while a collegian, got members of the Congressional Black Caucus to push through congressional approval and initial funding to secure and survey the site.

After 10 years of outside fundraising to acquire enough to start building the memorial in earnest, groundbreaking ceremonies are now scheduled for fall, 2006. This national memorial is intended not only to remind the world of King's dedication to the idea of achieving human dignity through global relationships, it will also be a symbol of human possibilities and responsibilities. For those who want real freedom and democracy, the cost will be great but the rewards for future citizens are inestimable. Dr. King's warm visage looking out over the mall will remind us all that the price of freedom gained is eternal vigilance.

Additionally, to help bring this project into fruition, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Foundation just launched a brand new initiative ”The Kids for King Share your Dream ... Build the Dream" program. Through this initiative, students from first through twelfth grades are being asked to help build the memorial by submitting essays about their dream for a better America (that will be collected into a part of the memorial) and to assist in collecting donations for the memorial. Twelve student finalists will be selected to attend the memorial's ground breaking ceremony and to participate in the simultaneous celebration of the upcoming forty-second anniversary of Dr. King's March on Washington.

The memorial honoring Dr. King will be situated adjacent to the F.D.R. Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. The winning design for the King Memorial aimed at creating an interactive landscape which would be situated within the context of the existing mall scenarios rather than to place it in an isolated and solitary area. It will represent a little sanity amid the typical Washington bluster.

Wanted: Family-Treatment Project Coordinator

The Rebecca Project for Human Rights seeks one full-time Family-Treatment Project Coordinator (FTPC) or two part-time FTPCs to expand our coalition of family-based treatment providers across the country to advocate for the expansion of family-treatment as an alternative to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders, especially for those nonviolent offenders who are mothers.

This is a perfect part-time/job-share position for a mother or graduate student. Te Family-Treatment Project Coordinator must have;

• A good knowledge of treatment/addiction, criminal justice, or child welfare policy
  
• Experience working on Capitol Hill or State government (ot necessary but a plus)
  
• Must model exemplary inter-personal relationship skills
  
• Is expected to communicate and work directly with low-income communities and congressional offices on a regular basis.
  
• Is expected to communicate with donors, advocacy-coalition members and the general public
  
• Basic Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education
  
• Experience in an office environment.
  
• Advanced degree preferred, although not required.
  
• Experience working with policy makers in Congress or State government.
  
• Working familiarity with the Federal legislative process and governmental structures
  
• Working knowledge of the Internet, list-serve (yahoo groups), MS Word, and PowerPoint.
  
• Strong writing, research and verbal communication skills essential.
  
• Strong organizational skills essential.
  

How to Apply E-mail, fax cover letter, or mail resume & a brief writing sample to _kwame@rebeccaproject.org_ (mailto:kwame@rebeccaproject.org) /(202) 265-3909 /Rebecca Project for Human Rights 1752 Columbia Road, NW, FL 3, Washington, DC 20009. Attention: FTPC. Salary: $28,500 / Deadline for Applications: September 2, 2005

Wanted: An Administrative Professional

The Labor Heritage Foundation has an immediate opening for an administrative professional to provide support to the executive director. Responsibilities include general administrative support - maintaining databases, event planning, monitoring calls, Website management, and inventory management.

Requires strong word processing, database management, computer and writing skills; excellent organizational and communications skills; must be highly organized with attention to detail and deadlines and the ability to take the initiative and work without supervision. Knowledge of labor culture a plus.

LHF offers a competitive salary and benefits package. Interested candidates should fax, mail or e-mail cover letter, resume, and salary history to: Peter Jones, Labor Heritage Foundation, 888 16th St, NW, Suite 680, WDC 20006. Fax: 202-974-8043, E-mail: pjones@aflcio.org. No phone calls please. People of color, bilingual applicants, and women are encouraged to apply. EOE

LATINO SPEAKOUT!

Let Your Voices be Heard!!

You are Invited to Join a Latino Community SPEAK-OUT on the Prevention of Youth Violence Sunday, August 28, 2005 from 2:00 to 4:00pm at the Montgomery County Council Building100 Maryland Ave. , 3rd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850. Doors will open at 1:30pm. Admission is FREE and the event will be broadcast LIVE on Radio Latina. Latino youth, parents, community-based organizations, churches are invited to participate in a solution-oriented discussion about education and youth issues. Montgomery County elected officials are Invited to come and LISTEN! This is a CALL TO ACTION for our Latino youth, families, and community leaders to unify, educate, and empower themselves in preparation for a new school year.Forum Convened by Maryland State Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez and Council President Tom Perez in collaboration with Washington’s Voz, Radio America (1540AM), Mi Radio Latina (950 AM), and other Latino organizations. For more information, call 301-718-0707 or e-mail ana_gutierrez@state.house.md.us

SPANISH VERSION

¡SPEAK-OUT LATINO! ¡Deje Que SU VOZ Se Escuche! Se Le Invita a Participar en el Foro Comunitario Latino para Prevenir la Violencia Juveníl Domingo, 28 de Agosto, 2005 De 2:00 a 4:00 pm en el Edificio del Consejo de Montgomery County 100 Maryland Avenue, 3rd Piso, Rockville MD 20850 . Las puertas estarán abiertas a partir de la 1:30 pm. Un LLAMADO A LA ACCIóN a la juventud Latina, nuestras familias, y nuestros líderes comunitarios a principios del nuevo año escolar para unirnos, educarnos, y tomar control sobre nuestras vidas. Convocamos a toda la Comunidad Latina-- a los jovenes, padres y madres, organizaciones comunitarias, iglesias -- a participar en una discusión pública para juntos encontrar soluciones a los problemas que enfrentan nuestros jovenes. Venga a expresar sus ideas, preocupaciones y sugerencias, pero sobre todo venga a dar su opinión a las autoridades del condado. Los Oficiales Electos de Montgomery County estarán presentes para ESCUCHAR! Admisión GRATIS. Este evento será transmitido en vivo por la Radio Latina (950AM). Foro convocado por la Delegada Estatal Ana Sol Gutiérrez y elPresidente del Consejo Tom Pérez, en colaboración con Washington Voz, Radio America (1540AM), Radio Latina (950 AM), y otras organizaciones. Para mas información, llamar al 301-718-0707 o por correo electrónico ana_gutierrez@state.house.md.us

Learning "Down by the River"

On-the-Water Educational Activities in Ward 7

Attention all Ward 7 Residents, community organizations, and friends.

Saturday, August 27, 2005
10am-2pm
Earth Conservation Mathew Henson Center
2000 Half ST SW
Washington, DC 20032

The Earth Conservation Corps will have a “Safe Summer” outreach event in partnership with the East River Family Strengthening Collaborative. This event will provide Ward 7 residents and community with on the water educational activities such as;
·
Film and Documentary Screenings
· Employment/AmeriCorps Opportunities Information
· Sailing
· River Tours
· AWI Presentations
· Environmental Activities for Kids!

Come Join us “Down by the River” for a day of information, food, and fun!
Something for the whole family!
See attached flyer for additional details or contact me directly.
David W Smith
Development Associate
Earth conservation Corps
1st and Potomac St SW
Washington DC 20003
2025541960
www.ecc1.org
dsmith@ecc1.org

Another Fellowship Opportunity for Teachers

Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowships and Soros Justice Media Fellowships"

This program will fund outstanding lawyers, advocates, grassroots
organizers, activist academics, journalists and filmmakers to implement innovative projects that address one or more of the U.S. Justice Fund's criminal justice priorities including projects that empower communities most affected by mass incarceration to develop and advocate for alternative policies that address underlying social, racial and economic inequality.

Application deadline: deadline is October 14, 2005.
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus_areas/justice_fellows/

GREEKS ALL,

This is URGENT - The Intel Corporation is seeking diverse candidates for open jobs at Intel. Intel has determined that the best pipeline for obtaining a diverse talent pool are the Black Greek fraternities and sororities. Just to provide some background information: Intel Corporation is undergoing a major project to HIRE more women and minorities . Intel Corporation is searching for individuals with degrees in Finance, Sales and Marketing, Electrical Engineering, IT, Business, Public and Government Affairs, and Corporate/Patent attorneys.

The Intel Corporation is also looking for experienced individuals and recent college graduates (less than one year after graduation) , MBA's, and Ph.D.'s in any of the above fields.

The attached document details the Intel Corporation Diversity Recruiting process. Please follow the instructions. Intel is very much interested in building a diverse pipeline of talent using African American fraternities and sororities.

Again, please read through the information below. After reading the information and need to contact me. I am available at the following e-mail address: pamela.j.baird@intel.com.


Please contact me if you meet the qualifications and will be willing to relocate for any of the posted positions. There are also several positions open for individuals with degrees in Finance, Sales and Marketing, IT and Validation, Patent and Corporate Attorneys. We are looking for experienced, senior level, as well as recent college graduates. We are eager to hire women and all qualified people of color. ------------------------------------------------

Pamela J. Baird
Customer Business Solutions Desk:
916-377-3574 Fax:
916-377-3780 Cell:
916-201-2761 Admin to:
Lisa Culver & Tom Sanger
M/S FM4 198 Location:
FM4-1-D4
------------------------------------------------

Intel Corporation is undergoing a major project to bring in more women and minorities into the company. Intel Corporation is searching for individuals with degrees in Finance, Sales and Marketing, Electrical Engineering, IT, Business, Public Affairs, and Corporate/Patent attorneys. Intel is also looking for experienced individuals and recent college graduates (less than one year after graduation). Intel is also searching for MBA?s, and Ph.D.'s in any of the above fields.

Understand that relocation may be necessary and travel within the position. Intel Corporation will cover relocation. Intel's main offices are in Folsom and Santa Clara California; Colorado Springs, CO; Phoenix, Arizona, and Portland, OR.

I would like to direct you to the following website and enter your resume online. As you go through the process of entering your resume, please add my name on the section of referral source (Pamela Baird). I will then be notified as you move through the system and begin interviewing. I would also ask that you send me a clean resume directly so I can move it to certain individuals for tracking and review.

https://jobs.intel.com/jobs/signon.iccw

If you are an engineer, please fill out the attached form and forward to me with your resume.

All candidates, please fill out experienced pre-screen form and send with your resume.

__________________________________________
Intel Staffing Questionnaire

1) In an effort to coordinate with other Intel groups, we would like to know if you have been contacted by or are currently working with any Intel representatives. Please note that by providing this information you are not decreasing your chances of employment.

1 a) Have you ever been contacted by an Intel recruiting representative?
1 b) Have you ever interviewed with Intel before?
1 c) Are you currently scheduled for an interview?
1 d) Have you ever received an offer for employment from Intel?

If yes to any of the above, please indicate the group, site and date of interview and/or offer. Location: Intel contact name: Date of interview:

2) What is your anticipated availability date?

3) Tell us what Intel locations you would consider by placing an 'X' by those sites you are interested in; or if you are open to all sites, mark "All". If you are interested in several sites, please indicate your geographical preference with a numerical value of 1-5, with "1" being your strongest interest. Please be realistic as to your willingness and interest in pursuing employment at any of these sites.

___ Chandler, AZ
___ Rio Rancho, NM
___ Hillsboro, OR
___ Santa Clara, CA
___ Folsom, CA
___ Hudson, MA
___ Colorado Springs, CO
___ Dupont, WA
___ Riverton, UT
___ Austin, TX
___ ALL
___ Other:

4) Please designate your US worker status as 'A' or 'B'. All candidates fall into only one category; it is critical that you answer this question correctly.

___A) US Citizen or National; Permanent Resident; Refugee; Granted Asylum; or Temporary Resident.

___B) Other (includes nonimmigrant visa status such as B, L, H, TN, F, J, OPT, EAD).

If your answer to item 4 is 'B' (Other), what is your country of citizenship?

Please note that an offer of employment by Intel is conditioned upon approval by the Bureau of Export Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

5) Are you aware of any contract or agreement that you have with your current employer (or other company), such as a non-competition agreement, that might impact or interfere with your ability to work for Intel? ___ Yes___ No

6) Do you currently work or have you in the past twelve months worked for a supplier or direct customer of Intel? ___ Yes ___ No

If yes, please summarize your scope of work with this company and if your scope of work involved direct contact with Intel or involvement with Intel projects.

7) Please provide a brief description of the following:

7 a) your area of interest;

7 b) your degree or focus area(s) as applicable; and

7 c) your technical strengths.

8) Please state your expected base salary range.

9) What is the best way/time to contact you?

10) Please attach an updated copy of your resume, preferably in a MS Word document.

As a reminder, you must also post your resume in the Intel resume database at www.intel.com/jobs/submit. Please note that most of our hiring processes are automated, and we will not be able to move you forward in the hiring process if your resume is not in our database.

Thank you for considering Intel as an 'Employer of Choice!'

By responding to this staffing questionnaire, you agree that Intel may use this information in conjunction with your resume/C.V. information for recruitment purposes (including transferring the data to other countries, transferring your information to other companies authorized to perform specific services for Intel, and/or other processing relevant to recruitment purposes). It will not be shared with others for non-recruitment purposes. Intel will retain this information one year from the date of entry. After one year with no activity your resume and other related information will be purged from our database. For additional information regarding Intel's privacy principles please see our privacy policy.


For further infromation, please feel fee to send me an email: Pamela.J.Baird@intel.com I?m looking forward to hearing from you!

Nationwide Student Strike on Sept. 26th!

Nationwide STUDENT STRIKE!! Sept. 26

START SPREADING THE WORD!!!!!
Backed by Noam Chomsky and more than 100 other professors.

A Student Letter from:
Brian D. Bogart bbogart@darkwing.uoregon.edu Multicultural
Studies Certificate, US-Japan Relations, Lewis and Clark College,
Portland 1995 International Studies Certificate, Waseda University,
Tokyo 1996 B.A. Japanese History, University of Oregon 1997 M.A.
Candidate, Peace Studies, University of Oregon

To:

President George W. Bush, The White House
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Department of Defense, The Pentagon
President Nils Hasselmo, Association of American Universities
Governor Ted Kulongoski, State of Oregon
President Dave Frohnmayer, University of Oregon

Dear Public Servants,

As University of Oregon's first graduate student in the field of Peace Studies, it is my esponsibility to explore the role of the military in society and those conditions that most promote peace and human welfare. In so doing, I have come to understand the nature of America's war industry, and how that industry has flourished in the wake of the Cold War. I have come to find that more than 300 of our universities are developing weapons for the Department of Defense, and that these schools are increasingly reliant on the industry of war to sustain their education programs. Indeed, the Association of American Universities appears to be little more than a lobby for such funding.

As a person of good conscience, I have learned too much about the business of war to remain silent about its overwhelming encroachment in our schools, communities, and global life systems. In promoting this encroachment, I do not believe that you serve in the interest of prosperity and security for the common people. By your consistent actions, in fact, it is abundantly clear that you believe America's top priority is profit from the business of war, not the general welfare of its people.

When America was born a people-first country, the concept of freedom spread rapidly throughout the world without military force. The vision of our Founders was to advance the notion of people living in peace using the freedom that nature provides upon birth. You may feel at peace with yourselves, but I believe you are acting as businessmen instead of servants. And in honoring our Founding principles, I must proclaim that to exploit the fears and prejudices of the common people to maintain the flow of profits from conflict--to perpetuate a state of war for personal gain--is treasonous to our creed.

You say this is a peace-loving nation when you know it is not; America is by far history's greatest peddler of arms, and your business is making war everyone else's business. The people, under this set of priorities, are an expendable resource, and on behalf of those who founded this country and those whose lives stand in peril today--thus, on behalf of all Americans--I reject the notion of our servants serving only themselves and war profiteers.

Therefore, I feel compelled to strike in peaceful but vociferous opposition to your priorities until our national policies reflect our priorities and serve the rights and needs of the common people.

I am a dedicated scholar and University of Oregon alumnus. But I refuse to study inside the classroom of any school that sells itself to the war industry, and I will stand outside and speak my heart as strongly as possible to highlight the obvious hypocrisy that you promote. For I fear that if I do not, America and other countries are very likely to suffer and fall as a result of your cold determination to saturate with weapons a world that stands on the verge of resource depletion.

Developing weapons at our institutions of enlightenment contradicts the inherent purpose of learning. How will we ever learn peace while making war in our schools?

I hereby submit to you this petition for peaceful priorities.

Dutifully,
Sponsors of this action include:

Noam Chomsky
Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Franklin W. Stahl
Professor Emeritus of Biology
University of Oregon

Peter Phillips Ph.D.
Sociology Department/Project Censored
Sonoma State University

EmpowerDC: Saving Public Property for Public Use

EmpowerDC: Saving Public Property for Public Use
EmpowerDC, a grassroots advocacy group, has developed a People's Property Campaign to ensure that the city's public property, including schools and playgrounds, remains dedicated to public use and community needs. The Campaign is meeting regularly to prepare for a Council Hearing on September 29, which will consider the disposition of 5 "excessed" school buildings. I believe that this is an event that the Full Funding Campaign should support, especially with the Master Facilities Plan due out in January and with it the potential closure and sale of many more public school properties.

The Campaign has started a listserv, and is also holding meetings every other Wednesday meeting. The next meeting will be this Wednesday from 6:30-8:30 at the Reeves Center. To find out more about the Campaign, check out the group page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peoplespropertycampaign/ and consider joining the listserv.

D. C. Area Writing Project Welcomes New DC Teacher Consultants

A Hearty Welcome To Our Newest DCAWP Colleagues!

Asyncion Carzon (Ellington HS)
Michelle Ignacio (Thomas ES)
Marshan Jefferson (Ronald Brown MS)
Pleasance Lowengard (Randle Highlands ES)
Robina (Ruby) McCann (Ballou HS & Hart MS)
Bernice Seals (MM Washington CHS)
Angela Skinner (Dunbar HS)
Irene Taguian (Stoddard HS)
Cherie Ward (Hine JHS)
Deirdre Williams (Rudolph ES)

NWP Annual Convention

Please visit the National Writing Project's website for details. Remember, there is no cost to TCs. However, you must pre register for some of the workshops. Unless you are on a national team, you are responsible for your travel and accommodations. We highly recommend that you share a room with another TC. Since the NWP hotel fills quickly, it is important that you decide early (like now) and make your reservations. If you plan to request administrative leave, you must do so 45 days in advance. If you anticipate a problem, you might consider using your own leave (you just need that one day - Friday) Pittsburgh is close enough to us so that you can leave Thursday evening and be there in time for Friday events.

If you are an English/language arts teacher, ESL or reading teacher, you should also consider registering for NCTE. NCTE is not free, but well worth the registration. Visit the NCTE website for details.

More questions? Call Judith Kelly, DCAWP Director at (202) 806-7524. We will help in any way possible.

For DCPS Teachers, Constitution Day Made Easy!

For DCPS Teachers Must Save the Date 9/16/05 for Constitution Day!

FREE classroom-ready broadcasts and materials can help you participate in Constitution Day. Students hear from Supreme Court Justices and top scholars.

Sponsored by Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, NPR’s Justice Talking, New York Times, National Archives. Register today! www.justicelearning.org

Teachers Spend Big to Supply What Schools Don't

Teachers Spend Big to Supply What Schools Don't
By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff WriterSunday, August 14, 2005; Page C11

If six years in the classroom have taught Samantha Smith anything, it is how to be frugal.
Take the "homework log" that she created for her seventh-grade students at Hardy Middle School in Northwest Washington. It is little more than a few plastic dividers and some loose-leaf paper clipped inside a three-ring binder salvaged from the Environmental Protection Agency by a sympathetic parent. The word "pathology" is still visible on the side."I keep everything," she said.It is a habit born of necessity. When she began teaching, Smith said, she spent several hundred dollars at the beginning of each school year on supplies. Other teachers reported spending more than $1,000. From $2.09 for a spiral-bound notebook to $500 for a high-tech Jeopardy! game, teachers dig deep into their own pockets for props that might entice children to learn and basics that some of their students might not be able to afford.

"Teachers who spend the money, who really care enough about their classrooms to spend the money, are going to be more successful because they have more tools to use and resources to pull from," said Amy Mason, who teaches second grade at Running Brook Elementary School in Columbia.
According to a study by the National School Supply and Equipment Association last year, teachers nationwide spent an average of $458 of their own money on school supplies, said Adrienne Watts, vice president of marketing for the trade group. Local educational supply stores said August through early September is their busiest time. Jeff Faw, president of Learning How, said he doubles staffing at the company's seven locations for the back-to-school rush.

At Crown Educational in Centreville on a recent afternoon, Carolyn Frank roamed the aisles in search of flashcards, posters, name tags, pens, pencils, stickers and glue.
"I look for everything," said Frank, a third-grade teacher at Centreville Elementary. "Anything that will add to what the school already gives me."

Teachers said that although schools usually provide basic supplies, they often do not cover such extras as scratch-and-sniff stickers to give to students for a job well done. And teachers also often stock up on supplies for students whose families might not be able to afford to fill their backpacks. The report by the school supply association showed that about 60 percent of teachers' out-of-pocket expenses were for basic school supplies, and that the rest went toward instructional materials.

"Parents sometimes forget that the supplies that they send with [children] at the beginning of the year aren't necessarily going to last until May or June," Mason said.

For Frank, the biggest expense is books, she said. She stocks her classroom library with books on animals, mysteries and the "Arthur" and "Amelia Bedelia" series. Often, they don't last very long.
"As long as you were reading, that's fine with me," she said she tells her kids. "A used book is a good book."

Teachers union trial comes to a close

Teachers union trial comes to a close
By Arlo Wagner
THE WASHINGTON TIMES August 19, 2005

Attorneys began closing arguments yesterday in the trial of three former Washington Teachers' Union officials accused of stealing about $5 million from the union treasury between 1995 and 2002. "For seven long years, they stole, stole, stole," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannie Rhee said. "They lied, they lied, they lied. They covered it up. They covered it up."

But, defense attorney Michele Roberts argued, "We don't have to prove innocence. We are presumed to be innocent. The government has to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Ms. Roberts represents former union Treasurer James Odell Baxter II, 50, accused of conspiracy, fraud, theft and other charges with former union office manager Gwendolyn M. Hemphill, 64.Also on trial is former union accountant James A. Goosby, 56, who is charged with conspiracy and covering up the theft in the union's books. Five former union officials have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

Former union President Barbara A. Bullock, 66, pleaded guilty and is serving nine years in prison. Much of the testimony during the two-month trial referred to some of her purchases of fur coats, fashionable clothing, silverware and a champagne cooler with union money.

"This trial is not about Barbara Bullock," Mrs. Rhee said. "It is about the paper trail left by these three defendants." Little of the court testimony referred to Mr. Goosby. But Mrs. Rhee said, "James Goosby served as the getaway driver. He didn't resist. He stepped on the gas," referring to the way he filed the tax returns. "What was the state of the Washington Teachers' Union? It was grim. They couldn't pay the rent," Mrs. Rhee said, explaining that the defendants knew how the thefts were accomplished and participated in their own way, which constitutes a conspiracy.

"They knew. They all knew," Mrs. Rhee told jurors. "It was a massive seven-year conspiracy to defraud the union." During closing arguments, prosecutors showed jurors some pieces of evidence: a $50,000 fur coat for Bullock; four fur coats for Mrs. Hemphill; a $13,000 flat screen television from the Hemphill home; and a large painting from Mr. Baxter's home.

Mrs. Rhee emphasized that Bullock opened American Express credit card accounts, which were used for many purchases. Then, a company was created to hide the purchases. The company enabled the defendants to launder money for their personal purchases. Mr. Baxter, who took a second job with the D.C. government after the election of D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, couldn't "shop the way Barbara Bullock did," Mrs. Rhee said. But he charged $14,000 on the union's American Express account for Washington Wizards basketball tickets.

Ms. Roberts said that those tickets were not an illegal purchase. She told jurors that many sports ticket purchases are a means of lobbying for support. Mr. Baxter reported all of his income on his tax returns, Ms. Roberts said. "And you don't tell Uncle Sam about stolen money," she said. Attorneys for Mr. Goosby and Mrs. Hemphill will offer their closing arguments on Monday.

MEDICAL COVERAGE FOR DCPS TEACHERS

THE WASHINGTON TEACHERS’ UNION DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL COVERAGE FOR DCPS TEACHERS. YOU ARE COVERED BY DCPS. ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS REGARDING THESE BENEFITS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO A BENEFITS SPECIALIST AT:

The District of Columbia Public Schools
Office of Human Resources
Office of Benefits
825 North Capitol Street, NE, 6th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20002
Telephone: (202) 442-4080 or 442-5343

Optical Services for DC Teachers

DC teachers’ optical services are paid for by the DCPS Board of Education.Your Optical provider is SPECTERA-UNITED OPTICAL. Their number is 1-800-638-3120. If you use a United Optical center or participating provider, your eye exam is free. You are allowed ONE (1) EYE EXAM per year. You have a $70 -$100 allowance for frames and lenses each year.

DC teachers are not required to use United Optical for your vision care needs. You can use your own optometrist. You will be entitled to partial reimbursement once a year. You must contact SPECTERA/UNITED OPTICAL (not WTU) for reimbursement information.

The plan covers your spouse and dependent children for the same benefits levels. For complete details, please review your United Optical Brochure.If you are a new teacher, you are eligible to use the optical services effective October 1, 2005. No other offers, store specials, or coupons can be used with your plan.

REMEMBER, THERE’S NO DEDUCTION MADE FROM YOUR PAY FOR YOUR DENTAL AND/OR OPTICAL BENEFITS. YOUR NEGOTIATED CONTRIBUTIONS ARE PAID BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE ON LEAVE FOR MORE THAN 10 DAYS, FOR ANY REASON, YOUR PREMIUM PAYMENTS WILL STOP AND YOU WILL BE INELIGIBLE FOR THE DENTAL AND/OR OPTICAL BENEFITS UNTIL YOU ARE BACK IN ACTIVE PAY STATUS.

WANTED: A TEACHER'S AIDE

WANTED: TEACHER’S AIDE needed to work in fourth grade classroom of upper NW DC public elementary school. Experience working with children would be a plus.
Duties include, assisting teachers with grading and paperwork, working with students, and providing general support to three fourth grade teachers.

Hours M-F, 8:30-3:30, beginning immediately.
This position is ideal for someone who has recently retired or someone just starting out in their career. Must love working directly with children.

If interested or know of a teacher’s aide looking for work, please respond by email to thistlerex@starpower.net.

Helping Teens Succeed

Helping Teens Succeed is a non-profit dedicated to increasing the number of low-income teens going to and succeeding in college. The program is currently operating in several high schools in DC.

For further information, contact ;
Brenda N. Harvey,Director
Helping Teens Succeed of Washington D.C.
6108 Box Oak Ct., Lanham, MD 20706
phone: 202-246-7357
email: harvey150@aol.com
fax: 301-306-1715

"Fulfilling the Dream: Going to College

While DC Teachers Wait for Their Pay Raises...

Part-Time Employment Is Available at FedEx Field

It's that (football) time of year again and FedEx Field is still looking for customer service orientated individuals who can work all of the Redskins home games includingpre-season.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in hearing more about thisopportunity, call Durwood Burney, Transportation Manager, at 301-343-6110.to arrange for an interview at the stadium.

The D. C. Area Writing Project Is Looking for a Few Good Teachers

Teachers should apply now for DCAWP’s Invitational Summer Institute

The D. C. Area Writing Project (DCAWP) is one of the many sites of the National Writing Project (NWP). Over 150 DCPS teachers have completed DCAWP’s five-week summer institute. The basic writing project model is quite simple. Each summer at Howard University’s School of Education, the D. C. Area Writing site, exemplary DCPS teachers come together for a five-week long summer institutes where they demonstrate and examine their classroom practices, study the latest research about teaching writing, and develop their own writing skills.

As a result of these activities, teachers are better prepared for their own classrooms and for teaching other teachers. This teachers-teaching-teachers idea is the heart of the writing project.

To find out how you can participate in the 2005-06 DCAWP Summer Invitational Institute, please contact DCAWP's Director, Judith Kelly, at jukelly@aol.com or call the DCAWP office at (202) 806-7524. Only 15 DCPS teachers are accepted each summer into the Institute. Selected teachers will receive 6 graduate credits from Howard University and skills in the art of teaching writing for their efforts. These credits can be used for recertification or seat hours. To learn more about DCAWP, logon to their website or visit their weblog. Links to both are listed in the links section of THE DC TEACHER’s web site.

Up to the Minute Updates for DC Teachers

DCPS Superintendent Clifford Janey believes that DCPS schools will open with a minimum of problems. Dr. Janey attended the Washington Teachers' Union Building Representative's conference this this week and indicated to Building Reps that DCPS will open with minimum problems.

According to Superintendent Janey, teachers' schedules have been completed and text books are being delivered this week.

The school system is still short of almost 100 teachers and over a thousand students are still lacking immunization records, but Janey hopes to have these problems solved by the start of classes on the 29th.

If you know of teachers seeking positions in DCPS, or vacancies for any teaching positions, please send an email to lisday_1951@yahoo.com.

How to Remove Students from A Recruiter’s Radar

How to Remove Students from A Recruiter’s Radar
DCPS teachers, parents and counselors need to know this!

Families interested in keeping teenagers' names off of contact lists for military recruiters need to take several steps.

While public schools must supply contact information of students to military recruiters, parents (or students 18 and older) have the right to request that personal information not be released under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Public schools should make an opt-out form available, and many schools set an opt-out deadline in September or October.

Many schools also administer the ASVAB, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Students are not required to participate, but if they do, their information is usually passed along to the military. Parents concerned about this can talk to school administrators, who have various options for restricting recruiters' access to data gathered through this test.

On another front, the Department of Defense maintains a national student database for the purpose of creating marketing campaigns. It compiles information about high school juniors and seniors and some college students from a variety of sources. Students 18 and older in those categories can opt out of this database themselves. If they are minors, parents can do it for them. To do so, send a typewritten request to:
Joint Advertising, Market Research and Studies,"
Attention: Opt Out"
4040 North Fairfax Drive,
Suite #200
Arlington, VA 22203-1613

Provide the student's full name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone number, and date of birth. Do not send Social Security numbers.

Finally, keep in mind that information may also be gathered from young people who participate voluntarily in military-sponsored activities such as videogame contests.

Don't Want to Be Bothered with Telemarketing Calls?

Register for the National ‘Do Not Call’ List

By the end of August, cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls. You will be charged for these calls.

Call this number from your cell phone1-888-382-1222. It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your time. It blocks your number for 5 years.

Please pass this on to everyone you know who doesn't want to be hassled by telemarketing calls. You may also register online at. National Do Not Call Registry https://www.donotcall.gov/Register/Reg.aspx

How Much Should Teachers Make?

How Much Should Teachers Make?

A much discussed new book, Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Sacrifices of America's Teacher, argues that teacher pay is scandalously low considering importance and difficultly the work they do, and that low salaries jeopardize the stability of the profession and the education system.

What's your view? Are teachers' salaries unfair? How much should they make? Can school systems afford to pay them more? How?

Logon to www.edweek.org and talk back to America about teachers' salaries.

DCPS Parents Speak Out About Inequities in Charter School Funding

Last year, two DC public school parents, and founders of Save Our Schools, Lee Glazer and Gina Arlotto, filed a lawsuit regarding inadequate funding between charters and public schools. .’We based our lawsuit on several other cases that had been slogging their way through the courts for more than ten years. New York city was our main precedent, and they had an interestingargument. Adequacy cases had always failed when the plaintiffs tried to put a set dollar amount on what was an "adequate" education.

In New York, and then subsequently in North Carolina, Texas, Baltimore among others, they said that any time one group in the same system is getting more than another group, that higher number becomes what is needed for an adequate education, and the state has to make up for the difference. That's why New York state is now scrambling trying to make up for all the years of underfunding the inner city schools of New York.

"As part of our remedy, (and it's still not really worked out) we've asked for a special master to review the budgets of charter and public schools and determine what should be the adequate level of funding. Our attorney, Terry Collingsworth, is very confident that we can win the case, and he's no slouch. He was the attorney for the plaintiffs in the monumental UNOCAL case, which he fought (and won!) on the basis of a long-forgottenanti-piracy law on the books from the late 18th century!"

We're still in the pre-discovery mode, but I, for one can't wait to see some of thedocuments the charter groups have been stonewalling us on! At some point though, other community-based groups and organizations such as the DC PTA, Parents United, the Teamsters, the Washington Teachers’ Union and other locals representing school workers may have to take on additional aspects of the inadequacies in education funding and let the chips fall where they may.

We, saw the lawsuit as a last resort after all of our phone calls and protest letters to the city council, the mayor, the school board, about the decline of public schools in the city fell on deaf ears, while at the same time charters were sprouting up like weeds all over thecity.

As parents of children enrolled in DC public schools, we have a responsibility to preserve public education in the District. We hope that other supporters of DC public schools will join our efforts. We’ll keep you posted on our progress through THE DC TEACHER website."

Contact Gina Arlotto at citymom92@yahoo.com or Lee Glazer at leeandevan@verizon.net for further information.

Update on the Washington Teachers's Union Trials

4 COUNTS DROPPED FROM UNION THEFT
By Arlo Wagner—The Washington Times

A U.S. District Court judge yesterday dropped four of 27 counts against three former Washington Teachers Union officials as their two-month trial neared its end. The ex-officials -- former treasurer James O. Baxter II, former office manager Gwendolyn Hemphill and former accountant James A. Goosby -- are accused of participating in schemes that led to the theft of about $5 million from the union's treasury.

Five former union members have pleaded guilty, including former president, Barbara A. Bullock, who is serving nine years in prison. The dismissed counts stemmed from fax messages from 1998 to 2002 sent among the defendants. Three counts were against Mr. Baxter, 50, and Mrs. Hemphill, 64. The fourth count included Mr. Goosby, 56. "I'm very confident that closing arguments will begin Wednesday," said Judge Richard J. Leon after conferring with prosecutors and defense attorneys about the remaining witnesses.

The first defense witness Friday afternoon was Yung Lim, a clothier who testified about making and selling nearly $500,000 in fashionable attire to Bullock. Most of the attire was paid for with a union American Express credit card. Eventually, nearly $80,000 was not collected and Mrs. Lim, who had taken out a home equity loan to pay personal costs, finally received a $15,000 union check dated July 2, 2002, signed by Bullock and Mr. Baxter, Mrs. Lim testified.

Yesterday, defense attorneys called two prosecution witnesses, who further described financial papers found while searching the homes belonging to Mrs. Hemphill and her daughter and son-in-law, Cheryl and Michael Martin. The Martins have pleaded guilty to involvement and are awaiting sentencing. Michael Martin established Expressions Unlimited, which accepted and made payments for the union and American Express as a means of hiding expenditures and receipts of the defendants' personal expenditures.

Mark Wheeler, supervisor of investigations for the U.S. Department of Labor, said the defendants and other witnesses cooperated when interviewed. His testimony to Mrs. Hemphill's attorney, Deborah St. Jean, flip-flopped when he was cross-examined by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannie Rhee. Mr. Wheeler told Ms. St. Jean that Michael Martin made no reference in two paragraphs of the interview document to his mother-in-law. The first paragraph referred to establishing Expressions Unlimited for Bullock "because she had been so generous."

Ms. Rhee's questions revealed that in a previous paragraph, Michael Martin said Mrs. Hemphill suggested that he open an Expressions Unlimited account. In the second paragraph, Michael Martin said: "I never gave cash to Mrs. Hemphill." But Mr. Wheeler told Ms. Rhee that Michael Martin admitted giving Expressions Unlimited checks to her. Numerous documents were admitted as evidence yesterday. So far, 732 exhibits, including charts and about 300 pages of documents, have been accepted as evidence in the trial.

The DC Council Establishes a Committee on Vocational Education

The DC Council Establishes a Committee on Vocational Education

The DC City Council has established a Committee on Vocational Education and Jobs for DC Residents. The Committee will operate under Council member Kathy Patterson’s Committee on Education, Recreation and Libraries. Council member Marion Barry will chair the committee that also includes Council members Vincent Gray, Kwame Brown and Vincent Orange. There is still some uncertainty as to how this Committee will interact with DCPS’s Office of Career and Technical Education. Dr. Arthur Curry, the Director of DCPS Office of Career and Technical Education has announced his intentions to retire because of health problems.

Career and Technical Education teachers who are interested in attending or testifying at the 1st public hearing of the Committee on Vocational Education and Jobs for District Residents should save the date of September 17th. Further information will be provided on this site at a later date.

Field Tripping to the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture

Field Tripping to the Museums of DC

DC is a city rich in resources for students and teachers. DC Teachers are encouraged to take their students to the vast number of museums in the District. Visit the website of; The Anacostia Museum andCenter for African American History and Culture at http://anacostia.si.edu

The Anacostia Museum museum is located at:1901 Fort Place, S.E.Washington, D.C. 20020

For further information, contact Robert L. Hall
AMCAAHC Associate Director for Education
(202) 633-4868 ph
(202) 287-3183 fax

Remember, DC is a school without walls! Use is as a valuable teaching tool.
or hallr@am.si.edu Email

The Seven Deadly Absurdities of NCLB

The Seven Deadly Absurdities of No Child Left Behind

In her confirmation hearings, Secretary of Education,Margaret Spellings expressed her desire to fix the NoChild Left Behind law, but also stated, 'We must stay true to the sound principles of leaving no child behind.' This will be difficult because the 'sound principles' are nowhere to be found. Consider the following seven deadly absurdities of the law currently.

1. The No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) uses the phrase 'scientifically based research' 111 times and demands such research from educational researchers, but no scientifically based research-or any research—supports the law's mandates. There is no research that supports NCLB's contention that the way to improve schools is to test every child every year and to fail schools and districts that do no make the required Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In fact, research argues against the use of high-stakes testing as an instrument of school reform.

2. NCLB lacks research support because NCLB depends solely on punishment. As schools fail to make arbitrary AYP the law imposes punitive, increasingly harsh sanctions. The law is in the tradition of 'the beatings will continue until morale improves.'

3. Even those who think punishment can motivate people would never use it as NCLB does. It punishes the entire school for the failures of the few, often the very few. If a school's special education students fail to make AYP, the whole school fails. If a school's English language learners fail to make AYP the whole school fails. If 95% of any group fails to show up on test day, the whole school fails. NCLB requires schools to report test score data by various student categories---gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc. Most schools have 37 such categories (California has 46).Schools thus have 37 opportunities to fail, only one way to succeed.

4. All students must be proficient in reading, math,and science by 2014. In his 2003 presidential address to the American Educational Research Association, Robert Linn, projected it would take 61 years, 66 years, and 166 years, respectively, to get fourth-,eighth-and twelfth-graders to the proficient level in math. Alas, Linn's projections are wildly optimistic because he reported national data, not data disaggregated by ethnicity. In the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 5 percent of African-American eighth graders and 7 percent of Hispanics were proficient in math. Only 37 percent of whites, 43 percent of Asians, and 15 percent of Native Americans reached this plateau. At least one author has written that the 100% proficient requirement is so irrational that it might be unconstitutional.

5. As a consequence of #3 and #4 above, California projects that by the deadline year of 2014, NCLB will label 99 percent of its schools 'failing.' California students don't do all that well on tests, but Minnesota is one of the nation's highest scoring states. In the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, only 6 of the 41 participating countries outscored it in mathematics and only one of 41 attained a higher science score. Yet Minnesota projects that 2014 willfind 80 percent of its schools wanting. Most states have been afraid to see what their projections look like.

6. Any school that fails to make AYP for two consecutive years must offer all students the option to transfer to a 'successful' school. Thus, if a school's special education students fail to make AYP one year and its English language learners fail the next year, the school must offer all students the 'choice option' in spite of the fact that the school worked for the other 36 student categories. In cities, the choice option is a farce. This year, Chicago had 200,000 students eligible, but only 500 spaces for them. In 2003-2004, 8,000 New York City students chose to transfer. After taking flak from principals whose schools received these students, the city deliberately flouted the law, permitting only 1,000 transfers. Thus far, the Department of Education has not responded. Ithas also happened that children leaving a 'failing' school were actually enrolling in a lower scoring 'successful' school. If a school's special education students or English Language Learner students fail to make AYP, the school fails even if it is doing a wonderful job with all remaining categories.

7. Schools alone cannot accomplish what NCLB requires.This seventh absurdity is the big one. Many observers have noted that American schools are always failing because so much is expected of them. NCLB expects evenmore-it expects schools, all by themselves, to close the achievement gap between affluent and poor, majority and minority. This is ridiculous. The gap appears before school-one study found that the three-year-olds of professional mothers used more words when interacting with their mothers than mothers on welfare used in interacting with their three-year-olds. That's right, three year old kids in one group used more words than adults in another group. After all, if one assumes a six hour school day and a 180 day school years, then between birth and age 18 children spend only 9 percent of their lives in schools. Family and community factors such as poverty affect achievement. Poor children enter school well behind their middle class peers, and while research finds they learn the same amount during the school year, they lose that learning over the summer and they fall farther and farther behind. Critics, of course, blame the schools for what happens in the months the schools are closed.

There are other absurdities--for instance, the contention that students not 'proficient' are 'left behind' presents a false dichotomy. If the threshold for 'proficient' is, say, a test score of 80, then a child who scores 79 is 'left behind'-but the reader can no doubt get the picture, from just the seven sillinesses above.Some of us have always seen NCLB as yet another Bush administration Orwellian Double Speak program, right up there with Clear Skies, Clean Waters, and Healthy Forests. It aims to increase the use of vouchers, increase the privatization of public schools, transfer large sums of public funds to the private section, reduce the size of the public sector, and weaken or destroy the teachers unions (two Democratic power bases). It is certainly true that the primary beneficiaries of the law to date are the testing companies, the test preparation companies, and companies that provide tutoring. In Virginia where I live, supplemental educational services are being provided by 34 companies based not only in Virginia, but New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Louisiana, California, Massachusetts, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

No Child Left Behind is the educational equivalent of the Iraq war. Bush now wants to extend it into the high school grades, a process analogous to invading Iran.

Gerald W. Bracey is an associate professor at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia and an Associate ofthe High/Scope Educational Research Foundation,Ypsilanti, Michigan. His most recent book is Settingthe Record Straight: Responses to Misconceptions About Public Education in the U. S.: Second Edition (Heinemann, September 2004).

The Next Meeting of the DCPS Full Funding Campaign

The Next Meeting of the DCPS Full Funding Campaign

The next meeting of the DCPS Full Funding Campaign (FFC) will be held on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 6:30 pm, in Room 221 of the M.L. King Jr. Library, G St., NW, between 9th and 10th Sts. There is free underground parking. The library is across the street from the Gallery Place Metro stop on the Red Line.

Although some DCPS teachers are working with this group, more DCPS teachers are strongly encouraged to join the FFC. The mission of this organization is posted on this website. If you read it, you’ll understand the importance of DCPS teachers getting involved.

Please RSVP and make suggestions for the agenda by contacting Roger Newell at Rnewell@teamster.org

One Union Member, One Vote

One Union Member, One Vote

Members of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) received a letter from our leadership proclaiming that the petition on the opposite side of this letter contains “flawed and misleading information.” The letter suggests that a delegate ‘representative’ would give Union members more of a voice on union issues. Needless to say, inherent in the word “representative” is the understanding that someone else gets to speak and vote for you!

Need I remind you of the days of repressed information and fear tactics on the part of previous WTU leaders who spent more of their time exploring ways to silence members than to empower them? In the past, any member who questioned Union leadership was immediately labeled as someone with a” personal or political agenda.” Sometimes members were silenced even when it was obvious that the policies or practices they questioned were unethical and, or illegal. However, the WTU paid almost $5 million and two years under administratorship for their silence.

WTU members can no longer afford to be silent, or to give our votes or voice to another member designated to speak on our behalf when we can speak for ourselves. The delegate representative will only add another layer of bureaucracy between WTU members and Union leadership. This is the very last thing we need if we want more of our members to become actively engaged in the running of our Union.

The letter suggests that the majority of 4,800 members of the WTU voted to have a delegate representative as opposed to having their own vote on union issues. This is really the “flawed and misleading information” given to members because a little more than 1,300 of the 4,800 WTU members voted on the revisions to the WTU Constitution.
The 4,800 members of the WTU are guaranteed freedom of speech under the U. S. Constitution. Although the process by which the WTU Constitution was revised and allegedly voted upon by less than one third of its membership is currently under investigation, it nevertheless gives its members freedom of speech and the right to change any article in the Constitution with 800 signatures of members-in-good-standing.

WTU members, who believe that our Constitution should allow all members of the WTU to individually vote on all issues, please request a petition letter by sending your request to lizday_1951@yahoo.com

Elizabeth A. Davis, WTU Member

“Power conceded nothing without struggle.” Frederick Douglas

Unionizing the Charter Schools

Unionizing the Charter Schools

The law that established charters in D.C. forbade the teachers and other employees from being organized by making them independent contractors hired by the school's board of directors. However, in the June 23, 2005 issue of the Post's Anne Arundel County Weekly (page 3), there was a story about an agreement that was reached between the KIPP Academy and the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel, which I would think is an NEA affiliate.

Teachers in KIPP in Ann Arundel can join the "union" and will have arbitration rights. Employees at D.C. charters are "at will" employees that have no rights. The Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) should consider challenging the ban on unionizing charter employees. This issue will also be raised with the Teamsters since Local 639 and 730 members will be performing duties in co-location schools. Since DC is not a "Right to Work (for Less)" state, it seems that a law that bans the unionization in of charter school employees, while allowing it in private and religious schools, is tailor-made for a class action lawsuit. What do you think?

Submitted by Roger Newell : RNewell@teamster.org

Let's hope funding, and schools, don't crumble

Let's hope funding, and schools, don't crumble

When I last visited Elizabeth Davis' English class at Sousa Junior High School, the plaster from the classroom ceiling fell down on the paper exhibits her students had designed to commemorate the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Luckily, no one was injured. Yesterday, Ms. Davis was busily cleaning, preparing to move her materials to another section of the 50-plus-year-old school in Southeast, which is slated for long-overdue renovations.

Although the popular teacher is concerned about remaining in the building while the work is being done, she is pleased that Sousa made it off the long list of school buildings that must await another round of political wrangling before they get the funding for modernization, repair or renovation.

"It's not safe, it's not healthy and it's not practical," Ms. Davis said. "As a teacher, I am keenly concerned about the safety conditions under which students will be forced to learn over the next two years while Sousa is under renovations, especially with the high levels of asbestos."

Ms. Davis, a teachers union representative, was among the educators, parents, students, school personnel and community members who testified before the D.C. Council to get the School Modernization Financing Act of 2005 passed. The measure, which has nine co-sponsors on the council, would dedicate $60 million in revenue from the D.C. Lottery that currently goes into the general fund to pay for up to $1 billion in revenue bonds to finance the reconstruction, renovation and emergency maintenance of public school facilities.

"This bill would afford DCPS, for the first time, listing a designated stream of funds to modernize and repair dilapidated schools," she said. Yesterday, the bill was voted out of the Committee on Finance and Revenue, where it faced the strongest opposition, and now moves forward to the education committee, where four of the members are co-sponsors.

Roger Newell, a communications specialist with the Teamsters, which represents blue-collar workers in the D.C. schools, was relieved when the bill had "a victory in terms of the legislative process in getting over the first hurdle." Mr. Newell said the reason the bill moved forward was that the "community mobilized and demanded that money be spent on schools." Emboldened, his group will "build an even bigger and broader coalition to put additional pressure on folks." After all, as Mr. Newell said, six D.C. schools in daily use today were built in the 1800s. "Anybody who's been in a D.C. school knows they are in desperate need of a major infusion of cash," he said.

Critics -- including council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat and baseball's biggest build-it-at-any-cost booster -- say the measure is too expensive; the debt service alone on the bonds is estimated to be $130 million annually. Also, opponents contend that school system officials cannot properly manage the funds they already have. They think they city could close some neighborhood schools and sell the valuable real estate to pay for renovations or to build new facilities.

"The mayor and council did not have any problem identifying bond money to build a baseball stadium. They had no problem finding money, $250 million, to lend private schools," Ms. Davis said. "And, how can the mayor even consider issuing $400 million in publicly funded bonds for the Marriott Corporation to build a hotel?" Good questions. Watch the slippery answers. But where there's the political will, there's a pot of public gold.

"The consensus among the community," Ms. Davis said, "is that it shows District residents that [public] schools are clearly not a priority and [that] the mayor and council have decided that the children of the District, who are mainly African-American and poor, are castaways and not worth the same investment the mayor and the council are willing to put into baseball and hotels."

After sitting through several council hearings on school budgeting, Ms. Davis said, "It's annoying as an educator because we are speaking two different languages -- they're talking about warehousing students, and we're talking about educating students." For example, she said the idea to consolidate -- the nice word for close -- public schools comes with no guarantee that class size won't be increased. "Consolidation alone is not a solution because then you will have students in dilapidated buildings that are crowded," she said. "The council cares about generating money; they are not educators and don't know the research about the need to reduce class size especially in urban school districts to improve academic achievement."

Does nothing ever change? For decades, the D.C. school system has suffered tenfold from all that ails urban school districts, including a revolving door of headmasters. It's time D.C. residents, who really care about the children who are not being educated properly in public schools, take a vocal and visible stand to force their leaders to stop all the political grandstanding. Take no prisoners. Tell them to fix the problem now -- or else.
D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi has said, "It is not wise to borrow against revenue." Mr. Evans has said, "It is unfair to give people expectations that cannot be met." Obviously, these statements do not apply to their pet business projects. To the average taxpayer, parent and teacher, such as Liz Davis, if you can beg, borrow and finagle the figures to buy a fully loaded Mercedes-Benz, you can find the will and the way to rob Peter to pay Paul so you can replace the plaster tiles in the ceiling that are falling down on the children.

Article written by Adrienne Washington—The Washington Times

A Simple Recipe for Writing

A Simple Recipe for Writing
By Azalie Hightower, D. C. Area Writing Project Teacher, Coolidge SHS Email: azalie@comcast.net

1. Before you begin writing, decide on your answer to the question asked of you. This is your basic thesis.
2. Before you begin writing, decide on what three pieces of evidence/support you will use to prove your thesis. This will become your developmental paragraphs or the body of your essay.
3. Write your introductory paragraph. Place your thesis along with your three pieces of evidence in order
of strength (least to most) at the end of this paragraph.
4. Write the first paragraph of your body. You should begin by restating your thesis, focusing on the support of your first piece of evidence.
5. End your first paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to paragraph number two.
6. Write paragraph two of the body focusing on your second piece of evidence. Once again make the connection between your thesis and this piece of evidence.
7. End your second paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to paragraph number three.
8. Repeat step #6 using your third piece of evidence.
9. Begin your concluding paragraph by restating your thesis. Include the three points you've used to prove your thesis.
10. End your concluding paragraph with a statement of extension, which will (hopefully) cause the reader to look beyond what you have written. You do not include new evidence in your last paragraph.
Tips:
1. Never use ''I" or 'you' (unless specifically told that it is allowed.).
2. Do not use contractions in formal writing.
3. Organization is one of the most important parts of good writing. Make sure to organize from the first paragraph on.

SCHOOL ADVOCATES DEFEND BILL PROPOSAL COULD RAISE $1 BILLION

By Ruth Samuelson ---The Examiner

Faced with opposition from some D.C. officials, school advocates are bolstering their ranks and working with financial experts to defend a controversial bill that could raise up to $1 billion for construction. Under the proposal, the mayor could use lottery funds to service bonds sold to aid the modernization of all of D.C.'s public schools a cost of more than $3 billion.

Some council members and city administrators have said that "unstable" lottery funds would leave gaps in the city's budget and worsen its bond rating. But the bill is moving forward and activists are arming themselves with private and nonprofit lawyers and analysts to keep it moving. "There's a feeling that politicians are very good with coming up with bogus reasons to not support certain things," said Marc Borbely, who runs www.fixourschools.net, a Web site dedicated to the D.C. public school community. "We figured that if we knew enough, we could respond. Borbely collaborates with several lawyers from the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, the nonprofit 21st Century School Fund and several other community groups. Between now and October, Council Member Kathy Patterson, D-Ward 3, who chairs the education committee, plans to blend the bill with several older proposals. Advocates are open to changes, but believe the new package should still bring in roughly $1 billion in five to seven years, Borbely said.

Meanwhile, involved residents are watching council members, many of who are running for mayor or council chairman in 2006. When school starts, Youth Education Alliance, a student group, plans to campaign for the bill in the community. Fix Our Schools already sends e-mails to 500 people. Ward 6> Democrats may plan a forum on schools in September, and President Jan Eichhorn says group members are monitoring the bill's progress. "There's a lot of interest in education because of the number of children in the ward. It's a key issue," Eichhorn said.

Ruth Samuelson at rsamuelson@dcexaminer.com

Job Opportunities for DCPS Teachers

Job Opportunities for DC Teachers

Job openings:

1. DC Arts Collaborative - Executive Director
2. Job opening: Wolf Trap - Director, Media Relations
3. Job opening: Wolf Trap - Media Buyer
4. Doug Gould and Associates - National Poll Presentation (arts education)
1. DC Collaborative, Executive Directorhttp://www.cultural-alliance.org/cgi-bin/jbdetail.cgi?job_id=2489
2. Wolf Trap - Director, Media Relationshttp://www.cultural-alliance.org/cgi-bin/jbdetail.cgi?job_id=2545
3. Wolf Trap - Media Buyerhttp://www.cultural-alliance.org/cgi-bin/jbdetail.cgi?job_id=2533
4. Doug Gould and Associates (www.douglasgould.com) <>

DCPS Awards Outstanding 1st Year MS Teacher

DCPS Awards Outstanding First Year Middle School Teacher” 2005

Desiree Bryce, 6 th Grade Teacher, takes home honor and cash prizeby: Beth Dewhurst District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) named Desiree Bryce, a 6 thgrade teacher at Barbara Jordan Public Charter School (100 Peabody St.,NW), 2005 Outstanding First Year Middle School Teacher of the Year. Beyond recognizing Bryce’s success in the classroom, the award includes a $1000 cash prize and $500 towards professional development of her choice.

“I was floored. I was so excited and happy when I realized I had won,” said Bryce. “I had wanted to be a teacher for so long, so I decided to do the best job I can.” Other first year educators were also nominated and named outstanding first year elementary or secondary teachers at the June2005 awards ceremony at the DC Masonic Temple. Bryce was nominated by herprincipal, Richard Rogers, and then completed an essay and group interview process.

Bryce said making academic concepts relevant to students is a toppriority. “I use things students are interested in like Jill Scott’s song “Rahsoul” when teaching something like vocabulary or characterdevelopment. The song talks about a young man who was a good kid butdidn’t make the right choices and had to break away from the crowd. I used the lyrics and taught vocabulary words like ‘vicinity’ at the same time.”Bryce, a District Heights native, graduated from Suitland High School and began her college career as an elementary education major at Bowie State University. Along the way, she questioned if teaching should be her sole career, so she changed her major and graduated with a degree in sociology. She had planned to enroll in a Master’s program in Guidance andCounseling, but since her experiences at Barbara Jordan PCS and thisaward, she now plans to pursue a Master’s in Education instead.“Barbara Jordan PCS is special to me.

"It was my first teaching job; they gave me a chance to prove myself. They saw something in me,” explainsBryce. “Dr. Tobelmann (the school’s Executive Director) really cares About the kids and puts their education first. She has the best interest of The school and is very supportive of the staff and their needs.” Bryce also credits Rogers, her principal, as a good mentor.

According To Sherilyn Reed, Director of Academic and Student Support Services, the entire staff appreciates Bryce’s contributions, “Looking at many first year teachers, Ms. Bryce definitely has the skills and abilities to take her students beyond the classroom through different interactive Activities as well as field trips. She has blossomed this year into the creative butterfly that she is.”

Bryce is currently teaching summer school classes at Barbara Jordan, and said she is looking forward to returning there this fall. Barbara Jordan Public Charter School serves students in grades 5-8.

For more information, contact Dr. Barbara Tobelmann, Executive Director, 100 Peabody Street, NW. Phone: 202.545.0922 or e-mailbarbarajordanpcs@hotmail.com.

DCPS Teachers Making the Difference

Making the Difference: Serving the Residents of the District of Columbia

It is almost that time again! Hundreds of students will be returning to the school this year without the appropriate supplies they need to excel. They come from homeless or low income families and need the community’s assistance obtaining school supplies.

While school supplies are necessary, these families use their limited resources clothing, food and shelter.If you would like to assist a child with their education, please consider donating school supplies toMaking the Difference. If not, consider donating just $1. There are over 600,000 residents in the District of Columbia. Imagine what a difference your donation would make!

Please encourage, your church and families members, friends and families to support the youth of the District of Columbia. I appreciate your support last year, and hopefully this year will be even moresuccessful. Let’s everyone try to make this a successful year forour youth.

Consider being a volunteer to tutor, form a book group, assist your children with their homework, and become more involved with PTA groups. Also if there is an organization that supports low-income or homeless families and are in great need of school supplies, please be sure to forward thatinformation to me. Thank you for your support.

Stephanie FrancePresident3409 Robey Terrace, #303Silver Spring, MD 20904(301) 890-5925sefrance2003@yahoo.com

DC Council Notice of Public Hearing: Committee on Government Operations

Council of the District of Columbia
Committee on Government Operations
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

COUNCILMEMBER VINCENT B. ORANGE, SR., CHAIRPERSON

ANNOUNCES A PUBLIC HEARING ON

PR 16-352, the “Bruce School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”

PR 16-353, the “Crummell School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”

PR 16-354, the “Old Congress Heights School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”

PR 16-355, the “Langston and Slater School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”

PR 16-356, the “ Keene School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”

September 29, 2005
10:00 a.m.
John A. Wilson Building
5th Floor Council Chamber
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004

Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr., Chairperson of the Committee on Government Operations, announces a Public Hearing on Proposed Resolution 16-352, the “Bruce School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”; PR 16-353, the “Crummell School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”; PR 16-354, the “Old Congress Heights School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”; PR 16-355, the Langston and Slater School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”; and PR 16-356, the “Keene School Disposition Approval Resolution of 2005”. The Public Hearing will be held on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 10:00 a.m., in the 5th Floor Council Chamber, John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. These proposed resolutions would declare certain properties owned by the government as “surplus”, (i.e., no longer required for public purposes), and would authorize the sale of the properties as provided in the resolutions.

Proposed Resolution 16-352 would declare as no longer required for public purpose certain real property owned by the District of Columbia, which real property is commonly known as Bruce School, located at 770 Kenyon Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., and designated for assessment and taxation purposes as Lot 823 in Square 2891.

Proposed Resolution 16-353 would declare as no longer required for public purposes certain real property owned by the District of Columbia, which real property is commonly known as Crummell School, located at 1900 Gallaudet St., N.E., Washington, D.C., and designated for assessment and taxation purposes as Parcel 142/Lot 22.

Proposed Resolution 16-354 would declare as no longer required for public purposes certain real property owned by the District of Columbia, which real property is commonly known as Old Congress Heights School, located at 600 Alabama Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C., and designated for assessment and taxation purposes as Parcel 235/Lot 6.

Proposed Resolution 16-355 would declare as no longer required for public purposes certain real property owned by the District of Columbia, which real property is commonly known as Langston and Slater Schools, located at 33 and 45 P Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., and designated for assessment and taxation purposes as Lot 827 in Square 615.

Proposed Resolution 16-356 would declare as no longer required for public purposes certain real property owned by the District of Columbia, which real property is commonly known as Keene School, located at 33 Riggs Road, N.E., Washington, D.C., and designated for assessment and taxation purposes as Lots 802 and 806 in Square 3702.

Before the outlined properties can be offered for disposition, the Committee on Government Operations must determine whether or not the property is, still yet, required for public purposes.

Those who wish to testify should contact the Committee on Government Operations at (202) 724-8191, by the close of business on Wednesday, September 28, 2005. Witnesses should bring 20 copies of their written testimony to the Public Hearing. Public witnesses will be permitted a maximum of (3) minutes for oral presentation, and representatives of organizations will be permitted a maximum of (5) minutes for oral presentation.

If you are unable to testify at the Public Hearing, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted to the Committee on Government Operations, John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004, no later than Thursday, October 13, 2005.

The DC Teacher encourages all DCPS teachers to provide testimony at this hearing. "Power concedes nothing without struggle." Frederick Douglas

When Teachers'Grades Are Secretly Changed

Ryan Grim, a freelance writer for the DC City Paper is writing a story on the problem of teachers' grades being secretly changed by administrators or those with authorized data-entry access. He would like to speak with teachers who may have experienced that problem.
His email address is: ryangrim@gmail.com
Here is what he is looking for:

Part of his article will examine the new DC Stars student information system and the safeguards that it has. He understands that, even with the safeguards, those with authorized access can still alter records without teachers' knowledge.

Even if you have not had the experience of disovering that a grade had been changed without your approval, he would still like to know how teachers would even know if a grade had been changed.

He writes:
"I really only need teachers who can say, at a minimum, that they haveno way of knowing whether or not their grades are changed -- not evennecessarily that the grades have been changed."
If you haven't seen the review of the 16 high schools by the accounting firm Gardiner Kamya & ASsociates between December 2002 and March 2003, it can be found on
DCPS officials refused to post the report on the DCPS website. The full report is available at www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/030922b.htm

The “Independent Accountants’ Report on Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures Regarding Student Records at Sixteen High Schools/Sites” (September 22, 2003) by Gardiner Kamya & Associates, PC (GKA) revealed that if “Student records were incomplete at all 16 high school sites [and] were inconsistent, inaccurate and unreliable” ( p. 4);

ii “Internal controls with respect to student’s records were ineffective, and there was no assurance that student grades were accurately reflected in such records;

iii “Because of the disorganized state of the student records and the failure of most schools to implement the grade verification process mandated by the DCPS, tampering with respect to student grades may have occurred and not be detected and may in fact be undetectable” (p. 4).

Erich Martel, Teacher
Wilson S. H.S.

The Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture

Robert L. Hall, Associate Director for Education at the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture would like for all DCPS teachers to be aware of the resources and support by the CAAHC this fall. The museum is located at 1901 Fort Place, S.E, Washington, D.C. 20020/ The telepone number at the museum is (202) 633-4868 or (202) 287-3183.Mr. Hall's email address is: hallr@am.si.edu The website for the museum is : http://anacostia.si.edu.
DCPS educators are encouraged to contact Mr. Hall about the programs and valuable resources offered to them and their schools. Give him a call or an email blast! The museum is a valuable resource for DC teachers who are interested in connecting their student's lives to their curriculum.
Liz

DC City Council's Noticeof Public Hearing on Education, Libraries and Recreation

Council of the District of Columbia
Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation

Notice of Public Oversight Hearing
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004

COUNCILMEMBER KATHY PATTERSON, CHAIR, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, LIBRARIES AND RECREATION ANNOUNCES A PUBLIC OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL ACT OF 1996


October 6, 2005
10:00 a.m.

John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Council Chambers, Room 500
Washington, DC 20004


On Thursday, October 6, 2005 Councilmember Kathy Patterson, Chair of the Council Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, will hold a public oversight hearing on the Public Charter School Act of 1996. The hearing will focus on issues such as the diversity of educational programs provided by the public charter schools, the diversity of the student populations served, school and student performance, the effectiveness of the chartering authorities in fulfilling their responsibilities, and possible amendments to the charter authorizing law. The hearing will address how Federal ‘No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) Act provisions affect charter schools, and what level of success they are achieving in complying with the NCLB’s numerous mandates. The hearing will also consider and re-evaluate the various charter school funding mechanisms. The hearing will be held in the Council Chamber of the John Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

The Committee invites the public to testify or to submit written testimony, which will be made a part of the official record. Anyone wishing to testify at the hearing should contact Evelyn Bourne-Gould, Legislative Assistant to the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, 724-8195 or via email at egould@dccouncil.us. All public witnesses will be permitted a maximum of three (3) minutes for oral presentation.

If you are unable to testify at the hearing, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted either to the Committee on Education, Libraries and recreation, or to Ms. Phyllis Jones, Secretary to the Council, Room 5 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004. The record will close on October 20, 2005.

DC Teachers are encouraged to provide testimony at the hearing. "Power concedes nothing without struggle." Frederik Douglas

UDC Law School Wins Full ABA Accreditation

The Common Denominator

The University of the District of Columbia's law school has won full accreditation from the American Bar Association for the first time in the school's history.

The ABA's House of Delegates, meeting in Chicago on Aug. 8, unanimously approved the elevation of the David A. Clarke School of Law's programs from the provisional approval status they first achieved in 1991, before the former Antioch School of Law became part of the only public university in the nation's capital.

Dean K. Shelley Broderick called her school's achievement "a tribute to visionary leadership" by UDC administrators and D.C. elected officials. She also credited "the hard and effective work of staff, faculty and students in support of a law school uniquely dedicated to expanding legal educational opportunity to members of groups under-represented in the legal profession while providing high-quality legal service to low-income Washingtonians."

More than half of the law school's current 202 students are members of minority groups, according to the ABA's announcement of the vote. The announcement also said UDC has the second highest percentage among U.S. law schools of graduates who are employed in public interest or public service jobs.

In 1998, UDC's law school was named in memory of a former D.C. City Council chairman who championed the D.C. government's decision to take over the Antioch School of Law in 1986 after Antioch University announced plans to close it. The District of Columbia School of Law retained the mission of the Antioch school's founders, who were committed to training public interest lawyers and pioneered comprehensive clinical legal education programs that became a model for the nation's other law schools.

Financial problems led to the 1996 merger of the law school with UDC, which also was experiencing severe financial difficulties at the time. In 1998, the David A. Clarke School of Law again achieved provisional accreditation from the ABA.

Full accreditation will allow UDC officials to move forward with plans to request ABA approval to offer part-time and joint degree programs, which are expected to increase the school's enrollment and tuition revenue, making it less reliant on taxpayer funding.
Copyright 2005 The Common Denominator

Opportunity for DCPS Teachers

Aramco Educators to Saudi Arabia Program

Applications are now available to participate in a fully funded ten-day study tour of Saudi Arabia. Sponsored by Aramco Services Company, this professional development opportunity is open to full-time social studies teachers and library media specialists in grades 1-12, from California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Texas and Washington, D.C.

The Aramco Educators to Saudi Arabia Program aims to cultivate a greater awareness and understanding of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in U.S. primary and secondary schools and communities. The Aramco Educators to Saudi Arabia Program will examine Saudi education, culture, history and global relations through site visits, panel discussions and cultural activities in the cities of Dhahran, Riyadh and Jeddah from November 18 - December 3, 2005.

Social Studies teachers and Library Media Specialists in grades 1-12 in the six program states are encouraged to submit applications for the Aramco Educators to Saudi Arabia Program. Interested individuals can download an application at:_ www.iie.org/programs/aramco http://www.iie.org/programs/aramco.

For more information, visit our website or contact us at:_ atsap@iie.org mailto:atsap@iie.org. The application deadline is September 9, 2005.*_

Educators to Stop the War

Educators to Stop the War
Nancy Romer, Chair, PSC Peace and Justice Committee

On SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th, thousands of educators will come to Washington, DC for an historic March Against the War in Iraq. (Please save the date!) With over 60% of the American people against the war, with US soldier fatalities up past 1800, with Iraqi deaths (mostly women and children) somewhere around 100,000, we are demonstrating to tell the world that we want the US Out of Iraq Now--Bring the Troops Home Now. We join with Cindy Sheehan, Lance Armstrong, and hundreds of thousands of people from across the nation who are passionately against the war in Iraq.

The PSC will be marching as part of a huge labor contingent organized by US Labor Against the War. We will send you details on buses (probably at least three buses leaving from the PSC office (25 W. 43rd St, Manhattan), Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn and a location to be announced in the Bronx. Other buses will be organized as people sign up. Please wait to sign up for buses until you hear from us again. Please tell your colleagues, students, and friends to join us. We are looking forward to a terrific and effective March on Washington Against the War it Iraq. We are working to ensure that DC educators are well represented at the march.

For further information, contact Nancy Romer at ESW@pscmail.org.

Harsh Test-Score Truths

Harsh Test-Score Truths
Saturday, August 13, 2005; Page A20 Washington Post

To characterize the student achievement results recently released by the D.C. public schools as portraying a good news-bad news school system fails to capture the magnitude of the problem. Yes, the good news is fairly positive: The percentage of elementary school students scoring at the proficient level in reading increased from 46 percent in 2003-04 to 50 percent in the recently completed 2004-05 school year, and from 56 percent in mathematics in 2003-04 to 58 percent in 2004-05. The bad news, however, is very bad.

Secondary students -- the generation of youth that will soon make the transition to adulthood -- slipped in reading proficiency from 31 percent in 2003-04 to 30 percent in 2004-05. And the decline in proficiency was larger in mathematics, falling from 37 percent in 2003-04 to 33 percent in 2004-05. Viewed another way, most of the students who will graduate from D.C. high schools in the next few years are failing to read or do math at their grade levels. Unless drastic changes take place, D.C. public schools will soon send these young men and women unprepared into a world where the ability to read is essential to learning and where basic math skills are necessary for routine computations. Superintendent Clifford B. Janey may have time to develop programs that keep elementary school students moving in the right direction. But the situation confronting students at the secondary level is critical. They soon will be leaving school behind. How behind will they be?

We understand the need for the school system to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act by issuing report cards that include reading and mathematics achievement data broken down by racial and ethnic groups, economic status and gender. But there is more to the exercise than the simple release of report cards and closing achievement gaps between racial or economic groups. The overriding goal must be the improvement in math and reading proficiency levels of all students. As the test results suggest, the District's senior high schools need improvement most of all. And as the calendar suggests, the school system has no time to spare.

Live On-line Chats for Beginning Teachers

Advice for New DCPS Teachers

A Live Online Chat

Join us Wednesday, Aug. 24, 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time for a live online chat focusing on the needs of new teachers as we head into the new school year. Two recognized experts will take your questions on the challenges new teachers face and the resources and strategies they can use to overcome them. The chat seeks to benefit both new teachers and those who support them.

The chat will take place here:http://www.edweek-chat.org TRANSCRIPT of live Web chat:Read the transcript from our August 10 live chat on youth athleticsdone right. Guest Karen Brown, director of the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching and responsible for implementing Maine's Sports Done Right initiative, a program promoting healthy learning environments for Maine's young athletes, took questions on the topic.Read the complete transcript:http://www.edweek.org/chat/transcript_08_10_2005.html

School readiness

School readiness
August 14, 2005
Washington Times

The company hired to provide security guards for D.C. Public Schools ran afoul of some of its employees when their pay checks bounced. Earlier this summer, we learned that some school guards had criminal records. Both problems should give city officials -- whether elected or appointed -- considerable impetus to more closely scrutinize the management and effectiveness of the privatization program.

The Metropolitan Police Department began overseeing school security in July. Oversight was taken from the school system after parents and students decried the bloodshed recurring inside and outside schools. The police department drew substantial public criticism when an audit revealed that some school guards had been licensed despite the fact that they had criminal records. Clearly, in each of those licensing instances, police and school officials simply were not paying close enough attention. Because these guards interact with our children on a daily basis, the background of an applicant should be scoured before he even reaches the level of becoming a prospective hire.

Both the background checks and the bounced checks are wake-up calls as opening day of the 2005-06 school year nears. The police said they are looking more closely at applicants and prospects. (We certainly hope so.) For its part, Hawk One Security Inc., the firm hired to protect our school children, said it has fixed the problem. Patrick McRae, a senior executive with Hawk One, said a lack of cash was not the problem. "The money was there," he told reporter Jim McElhatton. "The checks were from one account, but the funds were in another."

Carolyn Graham, the vice president of the school board, said Hawk One "has to be looked at very closely." She also said, "There's no excuse. It gives me great concern. School is out right now. But when we start, one has to wonder about their readiness." Parents fully appreciate her "great concern" about the guards' readiness for the new school year. Her more pertinent concern, however, should be whether the schools will be ready to receive our children.

DCPS FULL FUNDING CAMPAIGN

Mission Statement:

The DCPS Full Funding Campaign (FFC) is a coalition of parents, students, teachers, school workers, and community activists organized to demand a high quality, well-funded, innovative public school system in the nation's capital. We are dedicated to building and ensuring a sustained public commitment to fully funded, clean, safe, fully modernized, and adequately staffed schools for all the city's children. We believe that these goals can be realized through grassroots organizing, popular education, legislative analysis and political activism.

The Full Funding Campaign believes:

Our elected officials must make a long-term commitment to fully fund traditional public school facilities, programs, and staff. Despite common misconceptions, per pupil spending in Washington is actually lower than most surrounding jurisdictions, with substantial portions of the local budget going to cover over-runs in state-level functions such as special education services and transportation.

The children of the nation's capital are entitled to attend clean, safe, modernized public schools. Current capital and operational spending on DCPS is inadequate to achieve this goal. It is estimated that it will take about $3 billion to repair and modernize our city's public school buildings. This is a necessary investment that needs to made now, not later. Such an investment would provide an incalculable and enduring pay-off -- an educated, valued citizenry, along with a workforce of city residents able to compete for tens of thousands of well-paying jobs that could expand the District's tax base.

Good things are happening at many traditional neighborhood schools. Traditional public schools still educate the vast majority of children in the District, and despite budgets and facilities that are sub-standard, teachers, administrators, and other school system workers are doing their best. They need more support and resources. FFC is working to foster further success system-wide through innovation, the renovation of school buildings, and increased autonomy at the local school level. This will revitalize public confidence in neighborhood schools and will also contribute to the retention of effective teachers and administrators.

A fully elected Board of Education in which all members, including students, have a vote, is essential to creating and maintaining traditional public schools that are accountable and to establishing a school system that is adequately and equitably funded. We also believe the Board and Superintendent should have authority and responsibility for the schools without interference from other elected bodies.

Racism and de facto segregation are at the very heart of DC's deplorable record on public education. The FFC is dedicated to fighting entrenched, euphemistically veiled racism and class inequities by demanding quality neighborhood public schools in every ward of the city as a necessary prerequisite to equal opportunity.

Traditional public school students deserve equal funding, the same quality of facilities, and the same level of political commitment as students attending charter schools and private schools. Privatization, in the form of charter schools and vouchers, is leading to a dual and unequally funded school system in DC. Privatization threatens to dismantle our traditional system of public education and destroy one of society's ladders of upward mobility. The funding formulas and government assistance for charter schools should not result in schools that get more public funds per pupil than the public schools, which are legally mandated to educate any child in the city that enrolls.

Quality traditional public education is a fundamental civil right and a cornerstone of a just, democratic society. It is an entitlement, not a choice. The FFC supports an amendment to the DC charter, which includes a right to education and high quality schools for every resident of the city.

DC teachers are encouraged to join the DCPS Full Funding Campaign by contacting Roger Newell at rnewell@teamsters.org .

Wanted: A DCPS High School Social Studies Teacher

The DC Lottery Board is looking for a DCPS high school Social Studies teacher to provide input in developing this year's black history month poster. Sally Schwartz of DCPS International Programs was asked to identify an elementary, a middle/junior, and a senior high teacher. They'll pay a $250 honorarium. I think they want help with appropriate content for the poster itself, and perhaps help/suggestions for ways to use the poster. This year's theme is the Homestead Grays. Please contact Elizabeth Davis ASAP at lizday_1951@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Hello Liz!

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