DISTRICT BRIEFING
DISTRICT BRIEFING
|
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  |
SCHOOLS
Funds Shift Proposed for New Programs
District officials yesterday proposed shifting $6.7 million from the school system's central offices to pay for new programs and staff.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said that $4 million will help schools that are in federally mandated restructuring under the No Child Left Behind law. The funds will be used to add staff such as social workers and math specialists. About $2.4 million will be used to create an Office of Youth Engagement that will focus on improving attendance, behavior and the health of students.
About $1 million will support a ninth-grade academy at Eliot-Hine Middle School operated by Big Picture Schools, a nonprofit organization that emphasizes individualized instruction. The money will also fund a "twilight" program at Ballou High School, an effort to reengage struggling 10th- and 11th-graders with a modified schedule that starts at 3 p.m.
Rhee said the central office funds were allocated but unused and will not come from existing programs or departments. The announcement was part of a $100 million transfer of funds, that has been sent to the D.C. Council for approval. Rhee is scheduled to testify at a council hearing Thursday. The bulk of the package, an estimated $88 million, involves the redistribution of existing money in individual school budgets so that those with enrollment that exceeded projections can have adequate funds.
-- Bill Turque
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Ford's Theatre Weighs New Ticketing
The National Park Service and the Ford's Theatre Society will hold the first of two public meetings tonight to discuss a proposed timed ticketing system to reduce visitor crowding at the site of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
Tonight's meeting, from 7 to 9, will be at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW. A second public meeting will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library, in Room A-9.
The proposal would let visitors reserve timed tickets by phone or online for a $1.50 convenience fee or get them free at Ford's. Lines at the theater are often long during peak tourist season. The theater is now closed for a $50 million renovation and will reopen in February for the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. The new system will not affect ticketing for theater performances, officials said.
