Experience Could Help or Hurt Graham

De Facto Leader's Term Has Included Accomplishments but Also Plenty of Problems

D.C. Board of Education Vice President Carolyn N. Graham's bid to become the board's president comes down to convincing voters that her experience on the board means she understands school system issues but is not part of the problem.

In addition to poor academic showings and decrepit facilities, the problems now include a bubbling scandal that almost led her to withdraw from the race.

Federal authorities are investigating whether there is a link between Brenda L. Belton, former executive director of the board's charter school office, and a contractor that billed the system for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some board members say privately that Graham was a key supporter of Belton's when the allegations about her first surfaced.

"If I can point to one failure since I've been on the board, it's that," said Graham, referring to the investigation of the charter school office.

"This was quite a teaching for me," she added. "The board really must tighten up administrative and management oversight. I'm really going to focus on that."

With school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz absent for much of the year because of a digestive disorder, Graham has been the de facto chairman. That leads school advocates to hold her responsible for much of what the board has or has not done.

Among the accomplishments Graham cites is her leadership in pushing the board to adopt a comprehensive HIV-AIDS policy that eventually will establish a range of programs and curricula aimed at preventing infection among students. She also chaired an ad hoc committee that issued a study on how the system could reduce its soaring special education costs.

And Graham led the board's four-month effort in the spring to close five under-enrolled schools, a process that previous boards avoided. "While Carolyn was the leader of the board, we were able to implement a decision without imploding like other boards of education around the country," said outgoing school board member Tommy Wells (District 3).

In a year when everyone from her opponents to Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian M. Fenty is calling for dramatic change, Graham is attempting to promote stability and continuity.

If elected, Graham wants to introduce the ideas outlined in the special education report, including bringing back 2,000 disabled public school students being taught in costly private schools. She also wants to spur systemwide innovation by converting 10 traditional public schools into charter schools, an idea that is controversial among board members.

"We have got to have some traction here," said Graham, who was appointed to the board by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) in 2004 and previously served as deputy mayor for children, youth, families and elders.

Graham almost ended her campaign last week after word surfaced that she had been linked to the scandal through a memo with her signature. The memo urged a city official to pay several vendors, including the contractor under investigation. The memo was written several months after the school board had been warned about possible problems with the contractor and Belton.