| | 
| | | Ward 6 public schools retain students | | November 23, 2009 | | | | Voice Correspondent | | For the first time in nearly 20 years, Ward 6 did not lose any public school students to the suburbs or to city charter schools when the school year began in the fall.
“I have to say that Ward 6 has had an extraordinary renaissance, particularly at the elementary [school] level,” Ward 6 D.C. Council member Tommy
Wells said at a town-hall meeting at Stuart-Hobson Middle School last week.
Ward 6’s patterns reflected a new Districtwide trend. Wells credited part of the achievement to the involvement of many parents in Capitol Hill elementary schools. He said the “resurgence” in elementary school popularity was “unparalleled in the country for an urban area.”
Last week’s town hall, hosted by local education nonprofit DC Voice, was part of a series of town halls taking place across the District this month. The organization is sharing the findings of its 2010 Ready Schools Data Project.
This fall about 200 volunteers interviewed 102 of the 109 D.C. principals to collect data for the survey, now in its sixth year. The Ready School interviews took place before Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee laid off more than 200 of the District’s public school teachers at the beginning of October.
In Ward 6, 92 percent of principals interviewed said they were fully staffed at the beginning of the school year. The same amount said they had music teachers and librarians. All the principals interviewed said they have art teachers. DC Voice would not say how many Ward 6 principals participated in the survey, citing privacy concerns.
According to the overall data, 89 percent of District schools finished hiring teachers by the start of the school year, up from 49 percent in 2004.
Additionally, 92 percent of principals reported the on-time arrival of textbooks. In 2004, the percentage was 51.
“Overall, I think we’re moving in the right direction, and I think this data shows that to be true,” said D.C. State Board of Education president Lisa Raymond, who is a Ward 6 resident.
Another Ward 6 resident, Sherry Trafford, seemed to agree. “I’m a strong advocate for public school education as opposed to charter school or private education,” said Trafford. She said she wants to see District schools improve so all students can feel comfortable attending their neighborhood school.
Trafford said her daughter Annelise is “becoming a citizen in ways that are really valuable” because of her public school education. She attended Watkins Elementary and Stuart-Hobson and is now a sophomore at School Without Walls in Northwest.
| | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
| |
|
| | | |
|
