D.C.’s move toward charter-centric school system

08-19-2011

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

Are we seeing the beginnings of the “New Orleanization” of the D.C. public school system? There is new evidence suggesting that D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is taking the initial steps in a move toward molding the system into one that has a small core of traditional public schools and a larger collection of independently run charter schools. For a lot of reasons, D.C. residents should be concerned. Remember when Michelle Rhee quit as D.C. schools chancellor last October, insisting that she had to leave because the soon-to-be-new-mayor, Gray, wasn’t committed to her brand of reform? Wrong again. Gray didn’t blink in staying on the path she plotted. And now, according to my colleague Bill Turque in this story, his administration has asked an Illinois firm with close ties to the charter school movement to figure out where schools are underenrolled and which communities are in need of schools. What could that mean? (more...)

Personal tools

Sections

D.C.’s move toward charter-centric school system

Document Actions