Top Issue For D.C. Schools? Parents.

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A Year of Achievements, Challenges for New Mayor

During D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's first year he established the building blocks for his administration, while simultaneously responding to many unexpected challenges.

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Amy Kauffman, 44, a poll respondent who works in public policy and lives in Georgetown, said her three children, ages 5, 8 and 10, attend parochial school. But she will consider switching them to public high schools if things improve. "That's why I have to have faith in Adrian," Kauffman said.

But Jacqueline Yates, 37, whose 13-year-old daughter attends Hine Junior High, which is scheduled to close, is less optimistic.

"Since he's taken over, nothing has still been done about the school system," Yates, who lives in Congress Heights, said of Fenty. "By them closing these other schools, the [remaining] schools are going to get more packed."

Such frustration was on display at the hearings and protest meeting last week.

Chris Allen, who has two children at John Burroughs Elementary in Northeast Washington, said Thursday night that she joined the protest at the "People's Meeting" at the John A. Wilson Building because she felt "disrespected" that Fenty and Rhee were not including enough parent input in their decisions on the closings. "They can't be listening to us, they're not there," she said.

The racial and class division on the schools echoes similar divides reflected in Fenty's overall approval ratings and the outlook on the future of the city. White and more-affluent residents were generally more optimistic about the city and approving of the mayor than were black and poorer residents.

Whites more frequently mentioned schools as the city's top problem, while blacks called crime a bigger concern. Thirty percent of blacks gave the schools decent marks, more than twice the 14 percent of whites who did so.

At the same time, half of black residents and half of residents in wards 7 and 8, the poorest in the city, approved of Rhee's job performance; 71 percent of whites and 64 percent of those living in more affluent Northwest approved.

Rhee did not include a school from affluent Ward 3 on her closings list, saying that ward has the fewest schools and is not experiencing enrollment drops.

"Someone said to me that we have to close a school in Ward 3 as a symbolic gesture. I thought it was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard," Rhee said.

Asked whether she takes race and social class into consideration, she responded: "You have to be sensitive. It's a valid question people should ask. But I cannot allow it to dictate decisions. It should be what's best for kids first and foremost."

Many residents polled said part of what would be best for District students and schools is addressing parent apathy. Twenty percent of those surveyed called the lack of parental involvement the top problem.