Who Is Going to Run District Schools?
Mayoral Candidates Offer Alternatives

By Yolanda Woodlee and Robert Samuels
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 24, 2006

The persistent question on District voters' minds during the mayoral campaign this year is what the five major candidates for the Democratic nomination plan to do to mend the city's troubled school system.

At least three of the candidates -- all members of the D.C. Council -- have plans to take control of the schools, while the other two want to play a pivotal role in running them.

In a recent Washington Post poll, 24 percent of D.C. voters responding identified education as "the biggest problem facing the District today." Only crime and violence ranked above education, a showing that reflected residents' fear after a rash of homicides and the declaration of a "crime emergency" in early July.

Former school board member Emily Y. Washington, who teaches at Luke C. Moore Academy, an alternative high school for dropouts, said that the candidates for mayor must recognize that the "carnage in the streets" is directly related to the quality of public education in the city.

"Education should be the number one issue because it portends to cure many of the ills that we currently face, including crime, affordable housing, health care and even parenting," she said. "I fear that all the candidates are missing the point. I don't want to hear that somebody's taking over a . . . thing when they've been sitting on the legislature for years."

Throughout this year-long campaign, there have been mounting problems with the school system, and the city's elected officials have taken some steps to counter them.

The D.C. Council recently passed legislation to pour $1 billion into the school system over the next 10 years for modernization, bringing to $2.5 billion the amount being earmarked for school improvements. The D.C. Board of Education approved a controversial plan in June to reduce the number of buildings it operates by closing five schools and leasing space in others to charter schools.

But while the school board is trying to save money on operations, a report released last month showed a substantial number of elementary schools may fail to reach federal reading and math standards.

While the major mayoral candidates vary in their proposals to improve the school system, all agree that Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, who began two years ago, should remain in the job. And they all plan to keep the elected school board.

Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) and council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), the front-runners, said that if elected mayor each would include Janey in cabinet meetings. Fenty said the superintendent would be a member of his cabinet, while Cropp said Janey would be required to attend cabinet meetings so he could exchange ideas with other agency heads.

Council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), who said that as mayor he would seek to take control of the school system, also would require the superintendent to be a member of his cabinet. Under his plan, the school board would advise, not govern. Orange said it would take a charter amendment approved by voters to make any changes in the law on how the school system is governed.

"There needs to be one person in charge of the schools," Orange said. "The responsibility lies with the mayor. It would be like the mayor running an agency."

Marie C. Johns (D), a former Verizon Washington president, said the problem is not Janey but that the "superintendent's office has been a revolving door." Lobbyist Michael A. Brown (D), who was a member of the search committee that recruited Janey, said he believes the superintendent can manage the 65,000-student system.

In recent interviews, the candidates sounded similar themes as they cited their goals to upgrade the schools and raise student achievement.

Cropp said she would create a form of "receivership" in her administration where low-performing schools would come directly under the mayor's control until they were able to meet the system's highest standards.

"We need stability in our school system," Cropp said. "If we have schools that are failing, we can't continue to do the same thing."

In Cropp's plan, principals would attend educational and business academies, because, she said, most principals run schools that are comparable in size to small companies and therefore need to be both educational and business managers.

Fenty said that he would appoint a deputy mayor of education to oversee the school system. After meeting with the mayors of New York and Miami, where school systems are being overhauled, Fenty said he plans to use the two cities as models for the District if he is elected.

After installing a deputy mayor for education, similar to the deputy mayors for economic development and public safety under Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Fenty would close troubled schools and restructure them, if the D.C. Council granted the mayor the expanded legal authority to make such changes.

"Low-performing schools would be restarted right away, and everybody would have to reapply for their position -- from the principals and teachers to guidance counselors," Fenty said. "If a principal has been there for five years and the school's not working, then you need to get a new principal."

Orange said that under his administration, the school board would play an advisory role and the superintendent's powers would be reined in because "he's on an island of his own."

In his campaign speeches, Orange says that students would have books on "day one" and that laptops would be placed on every desk. And he promises that more District schools would provide special education programs, allowing the city to save on the private school tuition payments it now makes.

A Johns administration would implement resource centers to teach parents to advocate for their children; open a career and technical branch of the University of the District of Columbia in Southeast; and have the mayor's office provide operational support for contracting and building maintenance.

"There are pockets of excellence," Johns said of the school system. "But as a whole, we have to do a whole lot better for all the children. We have a lot of work to do."

Brown also said he would not control the school system but concentrate on repairing the buildings, retraining personnel and changing the curriculum to include civics and home economics courses. He would also use some schools as community hubs to house 24-hour libraries, recreation centers and other resources.

"My focus is changing the value of education and making education a priority and not baseball," Brown said. "The mayor sets the tone on priorities. At the top of my list will be housing and education."

In addition to the five people who have drawn the most attention during the campaign, there are four other hopefuls. Each considers education a top priority, but they differ about what direction is best for the school system. Here's what they think:

Nestor Djonkam (D), a Democrat, said he believes the public school system fails structurally. In a statement to The Washington Post, he wrote that the mayor's office should at least handle school maintenance so that educators can focus on education. He also calls for the appointment of a chancellor for education to the mayor's cabinet, giving the mayor ultimate oversight of the school system.

Djonkam said he would attract high-quality teachers by assisting with their housing costs and offering other employment incentives.

David W. Kranich (R), a residential real estate agent, wants to be able to appoint all nine school board members to end "non-productive politicking, infighting, and stalled progress," according to his Web site.

He aims to make the school system more efficient by consolidating schools and using the money saved to increase teacher salaries. Education is the key to quelling the city's crime and unemployment problems, Kranich said.

Artee Milligan (D), who serves as executive director of the Metropolitan Adult Literacy program, said he thinks strengthening adult education is the first step in helping children to succeed.

He said he would pump more money into G.E.D. high school equivalency and literacy programs so that more parents would be able to help their children with homework. He believes the mayor should work more closely with the school board, which he called "ineffective."

"In a corporate world, they'd all be fired," Milligan said.

Chris Otten, of the D.C. Statehood Green Party, wants a more homegrown approach to public education. Otten, operations director with Community Empowerment Operations, advocates an all-elected school board and wants the superintendent to live in the District.

He said he would create more vocational and special education schools in the city, while halting the creation of more charter schools until they can be evaluated for effectiveness as alternatives to public education.