Post by Moses on Mar 27, 2004 15:30:44 GMT -5
D.C.'s Newest Adjective
TEST SCORES ARE AMONG the worst in the nation. Students are getting shot on school grounds. A school building is out of service because of a fire. The superintendent's post has been vacant since November, and the interim superintendent is heading for greener pastures in a few weeks. In the face of all that, the District's mayor, D.C. Council leaders and school board repaired behind closed doors and, after weeks of secret parleys, emerged yesterday afternoon to announce, with obvious deep satisfaction, that they had created -- drumroll, please -- the "Education Advisory Collaborative."
This "Collaborative" (never mind the class of words to which it belongs) is supposed to exist until Jan. 2, 2007, and then expire. While alive, the Collaborative will function as a mini-school board, if we correctly understand the memorandum of understanding signed yesterday by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) and school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz. How the D.C. Board of Education will occupy itself for the next 21/2 years depends upon who is answering the question. Some school board members think it will be business as usual. A close reading of the memorandum of understanding suggests the architects may have something else in mind.
Under terms of the agreement, the Collaborative must be consulted before the school board appoints or terminates a superintendent -- that is, if it ever finds one. The agreement also empowers the Collaborative to submit recommendations for school superintendent before the board makes a final decision. The agreement gives the Collaborative authority to "require the superintendent to meet with the collaborative for review of compliance with performance measures as set forth in the employment contract of the superintendent." Has the D.C. Board of Education -- with respect to the supervision of the superintendent -- been relegated to the status of potted plants? Architects of the Collaborative say no. But clearly another layer of management has been injected into an already-muddled school governance picture.
The current school board, as readers know, hardly strikes us as a paragon of stewardship. But we must leave it to board members -- especially Mrs. Cafritz -- to explain why they agreed to this incursion on their authority. We likewise wonder what the architects of the Collaborative hope to achieve besides interposing themselves between the school board and the superintendent, should there be one. It is difficult to see how this arrangement will "ensure the independence of the superintendent" as stated in the memo of understanding. If anything, it's more likely to scare off any chief school executive worth having. Perhaps if the Collaborative had collaborated out in the open, the viewing public might have saved the Collaborators from themselves
— Editorial
Washington Post
2004-03-27
Reprinted from Susan Ohanian Speaks Out:
susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=2106
TEST SCORES ARE AMONG the worst in the nation. Students are getting shot on school grounds. A school building is out of service because of a fire. The superintendent's post has been vacant since November, and the interim superintendent is heading for greener pastures in a few weeks. In the face of all that, the District's mayor, D.C. Council leaders and school board repaired behind closed doors and, after weeks of secret parleys, emerged yesterday afternoon to announce, with obvious deep satisfaction, that they had created -- drumroll, please -- the "Education Advisory Collaborative."
This "Collaborative" (never mind the class of words to which it belongs) is supposed to exist until Jan. 2, 2007, and then expire. While alive, the Collaborative will function as a mini-school board, if we correctly understand the memorandum of understanding signed yesterday by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) and school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz. How the D.C. Board of Education will occupy itself for the next 21/2 years depends upon who is answering the question. Some school board members think it will be business as usual. A close reading of the memorandum of understanding suggests the architects may have something else in mind.
Under terms of the agreement, the Collaborative must be consulted before the school board appoints or terminates a superintendent -- that is, if it ever finds one. The agreement also empowers the Collaborative to submit recommendations for school superintendent before the board makes a final decision. The agreement gives the Collaborative authority to "require the superintendent to meet with the collaborative for review of compliance with performance measures as set forth in the employment contract of the superintendent." Has the D.C. Board of Education -- with respect to the supervision of the superintendent -- been relegated to the status of potted plants? Architects of the Collaborative say no. But clearly another layer of management has been injected into an already-muddled school governance picture.
The current school board, as readers know, hardly strikes us as a paragon of stewardship. But we must leave it to board members -- especially Mrs. Cafritz -- to explain why they agreed to this incursion on their authority. We likewise wonder what the architects of the Collaborative hope to achieve besides interposing themselves between the school board and the superintendent, should there be one. It is difficult to see how this arrangement will "ensure the independence of the superintendent" as stated in the memo of understanding. If anything, it's more likely to scare off any chief school executive worth having. Perhaps if the Collaborative had collaborated out in the open, the viewing public might have saved the Collaborators from themselves
— Editorial
Washington Post
2004-03-27
Reprinted from Susan Ohanian Speaks Out:
susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=2106
