WEEK IN REVIEW
Dec. 9-15

Sunday, December 16, 2007

New Art, Music Classes DelayedRhee Cites Budget Gap of Over $100 Million

To help close a budget gap of more than $100 million, Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is delaying a planned expansion of art, music and foreign language classes. The programs, originally set to begin in the spring, will start in the fall.

Rhee also announced freezes on hiring and supply and equipment spending. Last month, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) asked the D.C. Council to provide an additional $81 million to cover some of the deficit and pay for Rhee's plans to restructure the central administration. The council is scheduled to vote on that proposal this week. The cost-cutting announced by Fenty and Rhee is to make up the rest of the shortfall.

Gray Wants to Expand Pre-K ClassesLow-Income Children Would Get Priority

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray wants 2,000 more children to be enrolled in pre-kindergarten classes over the next six years and wants their teachers to be more educated as part of a $50 million plan that follows a national trend to get students in school earlier.

Gray (D) is pushing legislation that would give priority for pre-kindergarten classes to 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income households and those who are disabled. The remaining 12 council members are co-sponsors.

Under the bill, about 125 classes would be created, with half run by the public school system and half by nonprofit groups. The bill also would require teachers to have bachelor's degrees in early childhood education, child development or family studies by 2014 if they are working in programs funded through the legislation.

4 Proposals Offered for Poplar PointAerial Tram, Theater, Hotel Among Plans

Officials from four development companies put forth their visions for Poplar Point, a 110-acre strip of parkland in Ward 8 that could become one of Washington's hottest neighborhoods.

The plans call for a vibrant new community featuring condominiums, offices, big-box retailers, a movie theater, a grocery store and a hotel. Other ideas include an aerial tram to carry people over the Anacostia River to the Washington Nationals' new baseball stadium, waterside amphitheaters and a museum.

The firms are competing for the right to partner with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration to develop the land. They offered alternatives to plans from D.C. United owner Victor B. MacFarlane, who has lobbied the city to build 8 million square feet of mixed-use development anchored by a 27,000-seat soccer stadium. Last summer, Fenty halted the negotiations, saying MacFarlane's plan, which required $350 million in public subsidies, was too expensive.

Pharmaceutical Sales Licensing NearPossibility of Misinformation Concerns Council

The D.C. Council voted 7 to 6 to give initial approval to legislation that would make the District the first jurisdiction in the country to license pharmaceutical sales representatives.

Lobbyists for the industry have doggedly pressed the council to reject the SafeRx Act of 2007 because federal laws and policies of the American Medical Association already monitor the salespeople.

Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large) said that those laws and policies fail to prevent salespeople from misinforming doctors and patients about drugs as they pursue commissions. The council must vote again Jan. 8 on final approval of the legislation.

HIV Facts Not Getting to StudentsReport Criticizes Delay in Setting Curriculum

Delays in approving comprehensive HIV-AIDS education in the city's schools are putting students at risk and impeding the city's promising efforts to combat the epidemic, a new report says.

The city's students "should be getting information in school that will help prevent infection for the rest of their lives," says the assessment by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, an independent advocacy group.

The District, which has the highest rates of HIV and AIDS in the country, is making progress in some areas, the report says, from resolving an embarrassing case backlog to working with community groups, laboratories and doctors for better data collection.