DISTRICT BRIEFING

NORTHWEST

Woman Dies After Being Hit by Car

An elderly woman died yesterday after she was hit by a sport-utility vehicle while using a crosswalk in Northwest Washington.

The driver, a man in his late 70s, did not realize he had hit the woman and left the scene, D.C. police said.

But when he returned to the area while running errands, he saw the emergency vehicles, stopped and told police that he might have had something to do with the accident, 2nd District Cmdr. Andy Solberg said.

The woman was crossing Connecticut Avenue along Nebraska Avenue when she was hit about 6:30 a.m. and dragged a short distance. She died about three hours later after being taken to a hospital, Solberg said.

Her age and name are not being released until her family is contacted. Investigators were reviewing the case and had not decided whether to pursue charges against the driver, police said.

-- Petula Dvorak

ARCHDIOCESE

Parents Back Schools Conversion

A plan to convert seven D.C. Catholic schools into charter schools has the overwhelming support of parents and teachers, the Washington Archdiocese said yesterday.

The archdiocese announced in November that it can no longer afford to run the schools, and a private group is now going through the process -- with the archdiocese's support -- of applying to the city to turn them into "value-based" charter schools.

Part of that process requires getting the support of two-thirds of parents and teachers. In the past two months, 98 percent of faculty members and 93 percent of parents have signed forms endorsing the plan, archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Gibbs said.

Center City Public Charter School, the nonprofit organization proposing to operate the schools, must submit its full application to the D.C. Public Charter School Board by March 31.

Only one existing school has successfully converted to a charter: Paul Junior High, a Ward 4 school, became Paul Public Charter School in 2000.

With the seven schools leaving the Catholic school system, Washington will have 21 Catholic schools in the fall.

-- Michelle Boorstein