DISTRICT BRIEFING

Thursday, June 8, 2006

CITY SCHOOLS

Teachers Approve Contract

Members of the Washington Teachers' Union have overwhelmingly approved a contract that would give them a 10 percent raise over two years, the union said yesterday.

The proposal also would establish pilot programs enabling teachers at 10 schools to earn bonuses tied to student performance and teachers at 10 schools to opt out of certain union and school system rules.

Teachers approved the contract on Tuesday by a vote of 2,573 to 523. The agreement will now go before the D.C. Board of Education.

-- V. Dion Haynes

2nd Commencement at Eastern

Officials at Eastern Senior High on Capitol Hill yesterday held a second graduation ceremony to accommodate more than 60 relatives of graduates who were unable to attend the first commencement because the school printed too many tickets, a D.C. schools spokeswoman said.

The first event was held at 10 a.m. in a 750-seat auditorium at Gallaudet University. But Eastern officials apparently printed 680 tickets, not taking into account that the 136 graduates also would need seats.

School officials hastily scheduled the second commencement for noon in the same auditorium for the 25 students whose relatives could not get into the first event, said spokeswoman Leonie Campbell. "We apologize for any disruption. We are conducting an investigation to find out what happened," she said.

Superintendent Clifford B. Janey said it was possible that some counterfeit tickets had been created.

-- V. Dion Haynes

Bus Driver, Attendant Fired

A D.C. special education bus driver and an attendant were fired for negligence after a 14-year-old boy was caught trying to force a 6-year-old boy to perform a sexual act in the back of a school bus, a school official said yesterday.

David Gilmore, the school system's transportation administrator, said the incident occurred Tuesday. He said the attendant allowed the two boys to sit together and left them alone while she went to the front of the bus to make a call on her cellphone.

When she went to check on the boys, Gilmore said, "she saw the 14-year-old had his pants down."

The older boy was referred to juvenile justice authorities.

-- V. Dion Haynes

COURT OF APPEALS

Case Arguments Now on Web

The D.C. Court of Appeals has started streaming oral arguments over the Web, allowing people to listen in on the workings of the District's highest court from an Internet-connected computer.

At least 21 states provide similar access.

Three hour-long oral arguments were aired yesterday, and three more are scheduled for today, starting at 9:30 a.m.

To hear arguments, go to http://www.dcappeals.gov and click on the link there. The Web site also includes a list of upcoming cases.

-- Henri E. Cauvin

CRIME

2-Year Sentence in Sex Case

A security guard who posed as a police officer to extort sex from prostitutes was sentenced yesterday in D.C. Superior Court to two years behind bars, the U.S. attorney's office said.

In 2004, Patrick Small of Gaithersburg was working as a security guard at a construction site in the 1200 block of L Street NW -- a high prostitution area at night. On Aug. 19, he approached a 16-year-old prostitute and claimed to be a D.C. police officer. He said that he was arresting her as part of a prostitution sting and that she could face up to six months in jail, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Small told the teenager that he would not arrest her if she had sex with him, and she did, prosecutors said. But the victim used mascara to write down Small's license plate number and alerted D.C. police. Investigators later identified several other victims, prosecutors said.

Small entered a guilty plea in March.

-- Henri E. Cauvin

Man Found Stabbed in NE

Neighbors getting ready for work found a dying man in a back yard in Northeast Washington yesterday morning.

Dion Butler, 39, was found in the rear of a building in the 1600 block of Isherwood Street NE about 7:30 a.m., police said.

Butler, who police said had no fixed address, was pronounced dead after being taken to Washington Hospital Center with multiple stab wounds.

-- Petula Dvorak