SCHOOLS
Biddle Chosen to Fill District 2 Board Seat
Charter Official Has 13 Years in Education
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Voters selected Sekou Biddle, a 35-year-old D.C. public school parent, to fill the open seat on the D.C. Board of Education, which could become a less influential body because of a planned mayoral takeover of schools.
Biddle captured 30.4 percent of the 12,883 votes cast, edging out former Fannie Mae executive Martin Levine, 60, a second-time board candidate who finished with 28.7 percent of the vote.
"I'm looking forward to playing an integral role in the growth and success of public education in the District of Columbia," Biddle said last night.
Biddle directs community outreach for the KIPP DC charter schools and is chairman of the Local School Restructuring Team at Shepherd Elementary School in Northwest Washington, where his son is in first grade. Biddle graduated from Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Tenleytown.
He ran on a platform that emphasized his local roots. He grew up in Columbia Heights, and he cited his 13-year career in public education.
Seven candidates vied for the District 2 seat, which represents Wards 3 and 4. The seat became vacant when Victor Reinoso resigned last year to become deputy mayor for education, a position created by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) as one of his first moves in a plan to assume control of the 55,000-student system.
Biddle will fill the remainder of Reinoso's four-year term, which expires in December 2008. The panel has five elected and four appointed members.
The mayoral takeover weighed on voters' minds as they headed to the polls. But they said they wanted a representative who could carry their concerns to whoever would be in charge, even with the power of the school board in question.
Brett Fyock, who works at a title company, voted for Biddle at Shepherd Elementary in Ward 4.
"He came to my door, and we started talking, and I really liked him," Fyock said. "His whole career has been about education. I'm impressed with his credentials."
Fyock said he supports the Fenty takeover. "With all that's happened, property taxes going up, you'd think we'd have a lot of money. Why are our schools so dilapidated?"
Sharon Bland, 39, a lawyer living in Ward 4 and a mother of three, said the race was relevant, even though the board's powers might be diminished under mayoral control.
