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Better Schools Email Update

August, 2002 - Issue #3

The Better Schools Email Update is provided by the 21st Century School Fund, an education nonprofit in Washington, DC, and is designed to provide our community with information about the efforts of 21CSF and other local education advocates to improve the District of Columbia Public Schools. It is sent out the last week of each month. If you know of someone who would like to be added to our mailing list, or if you would like your email address removed from this list, then please email us at newsletter@21csf.org.

21st Century School Fund and Washington Teachers Union Survey Teachers on School Facilities

In May and June, the 21st Century School Fund and Mark Schneider (State University of New York at Stony Brook), in cooperation with the Washington Teachers Union, conducted a survey of school-based teachers in the District on the effect of school facilities on teaching. The survey was conducted as part of the new 21CSF-led Building Educational Success Together initiative, a constituency-building, research, and communications collaborative aimed at improving urban public school facilities. The purpose of the survey was two-fold: (1) to understand the affect effect of school facilities on teaching performance, morale, recruitment, and retention; and (2) to understand how facilities ranked against other factors that affect teaching quality. The survey response was good, with approximately 1,270 teachers responding out of a total of over 5,000. Analysis of the survey results is almost complete, and there are some very interesting and important conclusions which will soon be shared with the public. A press conference to announce these results is being planned for the end of September.

21st Century School Fund Launches Building Educational Success Together Initiative (BEST)

On July 31st, the 21st Century School Fund held a press conference at the Sumner School and Archives building in Washington, DC to launch the Building Educational Success Together initiative, a constituency building, research, and communications collaboration that will focus on improving urban public school facilities. This initiative is being supported by a $1 million grant from the Ford Foundation, and is a collaboration of the 21st Century School Fund, Education Law Center (Newark, NJ); KnowledgeWorks Foundation (Cincinnati, OH); National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (Washington, DC); National Trust for Historic Preservation (Washington, DC); Neighborhood Capital Budget Group (Chicago, IL); and Mark Schneider at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The goal of the initiative is to make school buildings assets for, instead of barriers to, educational success and community development and preservation. Members will work to: involve local communities in facility planning; make schools useable by their surrounding neighborhoods; ensure honest and effective management of facility construction, renovation and maintenance; secure stable and sufficient funding for new construction and modernization; and preserve and modernize historic schools, which are often important civic landmarks and neighborhood anchors. For more information and documents on this initiative, please visit our website at www.21csf.org.

D.C. Board of Education Holds Roundtable Discussion on Public-Private Development Partnership Policy

On August 13th, the District’s Board of Education held a roundtable discussion to solicit stakeholder input on a public-private development partnership (PPDP) policy that the Board is developing. The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines and a process by which DCPS will enter into public-private partnerships to develop DCPS-controlled real estate assets, such as school buildings. Earlier this year, DCPS issued a proposed and temporary PPDP policy, and the purpose of the roundtable was to solicit comments on that proposal.
Representatives of the public and private sectors attended, and the main themes of the comments were:

(1) Early community notification and involvement, expressed by the public sector participants and
(2) A clearly outlined and transparent process and DCPS points of contact, expressed by the private sector participants. The Board of Education is continuing to solicit comments on the policy, and a public hearing is planned for the fall. For a copy of the proposed policy, contact Paula Perelman at the D.C. Board of Education at 442-4289.

Update on DCPS Capital Improvement Program

The following is a school-by-school update on the DCPS program to modernize/replace all of its public schools.
Source: DCPS/Office of Facilities Management Monthly Report (July 23, 2002).

School...............Current Status......................Est. Completion
Barnard ES...........Construction (65% complete).............Dec-02
Bell/Lincoln HS/MS...Design (95% complete)...................Jan-05
.....................Construction scheduled for Sep-02.
Birney ES............Design (2% complete)....................Dec-04
.....................Construction scheduled for Jul-03....  
Brightwood ES........Design (5% complete)....................Jan-05
.....................Construction scheduled for Sep-03....  
Cleveland ES.........Construction (2% complete)..............Aug-03
Cooke ES.............Design (?% complete)....................Jan-05
.....................Construction scheduled for Sep-03.......  
Hardy MS.............Feasibility study (95% complete)........Jan-05
.....................Construction scheduled for Sep-03.......  
Kelly Miller MS......Construction (15% complete).............Sep-03
Key ES...............Construction (90% complete).............Aug-02
Luke C. Moore HS.....Design (95% complete)...................Jul-04
.....................Construction scheduled for Nov-02.......  
McKinley Tech HS.....Construction (?% complete)..........Jul-03 (partial)
Miner ES.............Construction (60% complete).............Dec-02
Noyes ES.............Construction (1% complete)..............Oct-03
Patterson ES.........Construction (1% complete)..............Dec-03
Phelps HS............Education specification (99% complete)....?
Randle Highland ES...Construction (95% complete).............Aug-02
Sousa MS.............Design (?% complete)....................Jan-05
.....................Construction scheduled for Oct-03.......  
Thomas ES............Design (65% complete)...................Aug-04
.....................Construction scheduled for Feb-03.......  
Thomson ES...........Design (99% complete)...................Mar-04
.....................Construction scheduled for Aug-02.......  
Walker Jones ES......Design (15% complete)...................Jul-04
.....................Construction scheduled for Jul-03.......  
Wheatley ES..........Design (40% complete)...................Jul-04
.....................Construction scheduled for Jan-03.......  
Woodson HS...........Design (1% complete)....................Dec-05 
.....................Construction scheduled for Mar-03.......  

Parents United Releases Report on D.C. High School Athletic Programs and Announces New Foundation

On July 16th, Parents United held a press conference to release an updated report on the enormous deficiencies in D.C. high school athletic programs, facilities, and funding. The report, titled “Unlevel Playing Fields II,” is a sequel to an earlier report issued last year. The original report compared high school athletic programs in DCPS and neighboring counties; concluded that the DCPS programs “fail to meet the most basic standards of adequacy” and recommended three reforms: additional operating funding for programs; additional capital funding for facilities; and creation of a private foundation to provide supplemental funds. The sequel report announces that only the third action has been implemented: the establishment of the Level Playing Fields Foundation, a new grant-making body created to make supplemental grant funding available to athletic departments at participating D.C. high schools.

Parents United Analyzing DCPS FY2003 Budget

Parents United, with support and assistance from in collaboration with the DCPS, is currently conducting making a detailed analysis of the FY2003 operating budget, for the school year now beginning. The purpose of this analysis is to explain to the public where the money comes from and how it is spentthe school system proposes to spend it. The budget allocation is not considered final, and a public hearing to discuss this budget may be held by the Board of Education in, but not before, October.

For more information on the DCPS budget or the athletic programs report and foundation, please contact Mary Levy of Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools at 202-319-1000, or by email at mary_levy@washlaw.org.

For more information, contact:

Jordan Spooner: (202) 745-3745 x 16 jspooner@21csf.org