So Ward 3 candidates for council chair in DC are using school improvement as the best way to get to their predominately white voting district. A bunch of white people who send their kids to private school. Hmmm.
Yeah, it would be great if parents didn't have to contribute $1000 per kid to improve the salaries of the public school teachers and aides in this area, or pay almost $26,000 a year to send their kids to Sidwell Friends (also located in Ward 3). But they do.
What I don't understand is how the basic needs of the school seem so overlooked. Every school around here looks like a prison. I really want a camera, because I'd love to take some pictures and show you all just how decrepit the schools look around here. Basics, like decent facilities and enough teachers are a start. Then we can get fancy. But part of the reason 10,000 kids have fled to charter schools, which don't necessarily have that much stronger of an academic record, is because they're just plain nicer. They have a fresh coat of paint. They don't look so much like prisons. At DC Prep in Northeast, the walls are adorned with gallery-quality pictures of the teachers and students. It's a lovely effect.
People come up with these fancy plans, but really, if they could get back to basics, a little might go a long way.
"One Word Dwells on the Lips of Ward 3 Candidates: Schools." (Stewart, N. The Washington Post. Tuesday, Aug. 15th, 2006).
By the way, what's with that title? "Dwells"? Whatever, people. I can't stand journalists.
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