DC VOICE
To Inform and Mobilize....
Greetings!
 
   
Audit Results Reviewed by the Washington Post 
 
Congratulations on this morning's Washington Post reference to your work as one of the 191 community members who conducted this year's audit.  We thought you should know that today's limited, but improved, coverage of this year's audit was largely bought about by our letter to the editor, last week, about the lack of positive coverage for D.C. Public Schools.  As someone who personally visited schools this year, you can attest to the improvements that we found at many of them and the satisfaction with which many principals spoke of these additional investments.  We wanted those improvements to be conveyed more broadly so that principals, teachers and students could expect even more in the months and years to come.  Today's article, in part, helps with that.  If you agree that we, the public, should be exposed to more good news about D.C. Public Schools when it is available, here is something very brief, that you should do:  Visit this link so you will be counted as a registered reader of this article.  Than take 10 seconds to post a comment using the "post a comment link."  This helps editors determine what kind of articles people want to read about and what they should direct their reporters to cover more.  We promised them that people would want to read about community efforts like yours.  Now we need to provide some evidence.

Washington Post Letter to the Editor - November 27th

Dear Mr. Davidson:

 

I'm writing to you, the education editor for the Washington Post, and some of the reporters that cover education in your paper because the Post has seemed very interested in obtaining community input on education reform matters from people like myself and the community leaders I work with - at least when it comes to reporting something negative.

 

For those following education in this city for more than 10 days, it is pretty well known that my organization conducted the largest community action research project in the history of Washington this fall focusing its efforts on a community audit of DC Public Schools.  They would also know that this audit culminated in a findings release on November 10th at Brightwood Elementary.  It was little surprise to me and others that the Post sent no one to cover this event or published a story on its findings since much of the data revealed glowing reviews of the new administration's responsiveness and positive impact of new spending compared to our first three years of this study.  Only neighborhood papers were there to hear Rhee's spokesperson declare that the administration would be moving "quickly to implement ALL of our recommendations."

 

It was a surprise this morning, however, to read two stories on new resource allocations and requests for DC Public Schools and see no comment from or reference to any of the 191 community members who joined together to perform this audit which recommended precisely these new expenditures just 10 days ago.  My staff and organization have been cited 13 times in the Post over the last 6 months on matters affecting public education.  We have been a consistent source for information on stories which we are not cited in where there is a need from Washington Post reporters for a deeper understanding of educational budget and policy ramifications which few in this city can digest and articulate as well as the staff and allies of DC VOICE.  Why then would strides, improvements and positive conveyances be reported upon as if they occur in a vacuum - void of any community input or catalyst.  City activist like many of those copied here (Toyer, Filardo, Levy, Riley, Borberly, Newell, Landberg, Menkhart Huvendick, Caton, and others) have fought for years for additional expenditures like those reported upon today.  We have also been used as sounding boards to question appointments, policies, and press releases.  Our input (or at least that of just one of these individuals) should be just as valued and sought out where there is good news to report on DC Public Schools.

 

Our report which was released 10 days ago and compiled by at least a dozen community members from each ward of this city, not just makes recommendations for the expenditures reported today in the area of art, music, librarians, computers and professional development (this issue has been chronicled by DC VOICE more than any other during its near ten years in existence), but it grounds them in data collected from 137 principals, sound teaching and learning principles and well founded academic research.  This is increasingly relevant since the City Council (who requested and received a briefing on our findings through Vincent Grey along with the Chancellor and Deputy Mayor's office) has consistently expressed a disinterest in funding such areas typically dismissing them as "central bloat."

 

I can't help but wonder if our report had been entitled "Principals express state of disrepair in DCPS schools," would it not have joined the monotony of critical education stories which appear in the Post over and over again like late night re-runs.  I know the Post struggles to maintain readership amidst declining subscriptions and growing competition locally, but even a brief poll of your readers would reveal what we learned from our 200 volunteers who joined to study DC Public Schools in September - people really do want the school system to succeed and would love to read evidence of that possibility.  Additionally, the Mayor and his team should be able to have confidence that if they do a good job, or are successful in recreating this schools system for the better, someone will read about it.

 

DC VOICE will be releasing a Special Report on High Schools later this month with our partners, Parents United, SHAPPE, and the Youth Education Alliance which is based on the same 191 member survey of 137 schools.  I hope we can depend on you for more objective coverage and consultation on matters deeper than surface criticism during the critical months ahead.

 

We plan to provide an editorial to local papers on this matter, later this week.  In the meantime, I have cc'd the board and staff of DC VOICE, city educational leaders and blind copied members of the business community which I have spoken to recently on this matter.  I hope we will all take heed to this growing trend of educational negativity that threatens to overshadow the deeper discussions of reform which regular people ARE actually ready to read, hear and learn about.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jeff Smith

Executive Director

DC VOICE