By Alan Goldenbach and Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Antwan Lowry expects to feel a little uncomfortable tonight sitting in the stands at Verizon Center. Three days ago, he clutched a trophy that said he and his teammates from Booker T. Washington Public Charter School in Northwest Washington were city champions.
How is Lowry going to reconcile watching tonight's City Title Game between the top-ranked Gonzaga boys' team of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, and No. 20 Theodore Roosevelt, the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association champion, knowing the District's top public school team might not be represented on the court?
"It's going to be real, real hard," Lowry said Saturday, moments after he led Booker T. Washington to a 68-62 victory over C¿sar Ch¿vez in the championship game of the Washington Charter School Athletic Association tournament. "We've gotten to be like back-seat riders. We can't get the same treatment as the DCIAA. Maybe we'll be equal one day. I hope so. We're the same. We're a public school."
Tonight's City Title games juxtapose the event's tradition, which dates from 1957, with the rapidly changing face of public education in the District. Charter schools continue to see their enrollments rise as those of public schools decline, yet charters remain ineligible to compete for a berth in the City Title or a DCIAA championships. The situation has raised concerns that the best public school basketball team might not be represented on the city's biggest stage.
"The long and short of it is, [charter schools are] part of the city's children," D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) said. "We need to find a way to include the charter schools. It disenfranchises the children in the public charter system."
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee wrote in an e-mail: "I support charter schools having a full complement of extra-curricular activities for their students. I certainly also think that they should be included in postseason play amongst leagues."
Charter schools receive public funding but operate without DCPS supervision. Many coaches and administrators in DCPS believe the act of enrolling in a charter school, however, is a forfeiture of some of the benefits unique to DCPS, such as membership in the DCIAA.
"You can't have it both ways," said outgoing DCIAA executive director Allen Chin, who noted there is no way to include charter schools in the DCIAA's $3.188 million budget from DCPS, which funds competitive sports for students beginning in fourth grade.
But the numbers are changing. According to a report by the D.C. Council's Office of Policy Analysis, enrollment in the 146 D.C. public schools as of Oct. 5 was 50,270, while the city's 56 public charter schools housed 22,200 students. If the charter schools' enrollment grows at their current average rate of 13 percent annually, they will have more students than DCPS by 2014.
Don Cole, a residential real estate agent, recognized the need for charter athletes to have representation five years ago, when he formed the Washington Charter School Athletic Association before the 2002-03 basketball season. As the league's commissioner, Cole said each school pays him $3,600 each year to cover operating costs, such as facilities, insurance and referees.
The league is sanctioned by the National Federation of State High School Associations, but Cole acknowledges that self-regulation continues to be a concern.
"That's one of the biggest issues we have -- governance," Cole said. "We don't want a 15-year-old playing against grown men."
Cole said he has instituted eligibility rules comparable to the DCIAA's -- players cannot turn 19 before July 1 of the subsequent school year, and they have eight consecutive semesters to complete their eligibility.
But even as the WCSAA works to improve its standing, perceptions remain that the league has a ways to go. This season, one of the best boys' charter school teams in the city, Friendship Collegiate, played as an independent for the second consecutive season after opting out of WCSAA; last year, Friendship's JV team played a varsity charter league schedule.
"When I had the opportunity to get the head job, one of the things I wanted to do was get out of the charter league because of the lack of competition," said second-year Friendship boys' coach Clinton Crouch, whose team had gone 29-6 entering last night. "A lot of it was a respect factor, as well. For some reason, not enough respect is given to charter school athletic programs. I want the Friendship name to be respected in the area. . . .
"There was a stigma that the charter schools were a notch or two below what everybody else was doing."
Cole said he does not like charter schools breaking away from the league, but maintains that the future of the league is "to remain its own entity" and not merge with the DCIAA. "We're not happy that they're independent," Cole said, "but we're not going to stop them from pursuing their own opportunities."
Charter schools also lack the facilities of DCPS, and Cole said teams had to play the majority of their home games this season at the Capital Sports Complex in District Heights, to which the league paid $87 an hour to rent court space. He wondered why charter schools couldn't share DCPS facilities. "All we're asking is that we receive some form of assistance," Cole said, "like if Wilson is playing an away game that we can use their gym."
Rhee wrote in her e-mail: "In terms of hosting charter school athletic teams on our campuses, we are open to hosting external organizations on our campuses as long as it does not limit the schools' ability to implement their own program."
Another step in the evolution of charter school athletics will come Saturday, the day Cole and Chin have agreed to match up their respective boys' and girls' champions. Friendship's girls, which did not opt out of the WCSAA, will play H.D. Woodson at 4 p.m., with Booker T. Washington and Theodore Roosevelt in the boys' game to follow. Both games will be held at Model School, the site Cole rented last weekend for the WCSAA championship games.
"We want to be legitimized," said Donald L. Hense, chairman of the board of Friendship Public Charter School. "If a school has to pay to be a part of [the DCIAA], we'll pay. I could deliver a check by this afternoon. We're not asking for anything for free.
"If this were a true city championship, then a true city championship would include all capable teams."
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