W6PSPO Meets Tuesday March 16 @ 7pm

Dear Ward 6 Public Schools Parent Organization Members,

1. W6PSPO will meet on Tuesday, March 16, at 7 pm.  Paul Kihn, the Deputy Mayor of Education (DME), will join us to discuss the recovery planning being done by his office.  This will be an opportunity to share your experiences and ideas around school reopening, virtual learning, accelerating learning, mental health and wellness, and other issues of concern to you. After the discussion with the DME, we will have an open discussion about the priority areas we want to focus our attention on in the coming months.
   • If you registered for a previous W6PSPO meeting, the link you received for that meeting will work for this and future W6PSPO meetings.  Contact us at w6pspo@gmail.com for registration link.
2. Bike to School Day is May 5, and W6PSPO plans to host a covid-safe event at Lincoln Park.  Congratulations to Miner Elementary for being the first school to register in DC.  Please register your school for this year’s Bike to School Day!
3. The Committee of the Whole held a DCPS performance oversight hearing on March 9.  A number of W6PSPO members testified including Sandra Moscoso, Valerie Jablow and Grace Hu.  Special thanks to Sandra for posting their testimonies on the W6PSPO website.
4. The Cancel the PARCC petition received over 1,200 signatures!  As many of you know, OSSE announced they are planning to seek a one-year waiver from the Department of Education in order to suspend administering the PARCC.  OSSE needs to submit the waiver request, and it needs to be approved by the Department of Education before the PARCC can be suspended this year.
5. The Office of the DC Auditor released an audit, “Measuring What Matters: this week that points to deficiencies and noncompliance in OSSE data collection, governance, analysis, public engagement, and beyond. W6PSPO parents Dr. Betsy Wolf and Valerie Jablow have distilled some of the findings.
   • Read the full report HERE.
   • Join the DC Open Government Summit on Thursday, March 18 @ 1:00pm, where among other guests, DC Auditor Kathy Patterson will share findings and EmpowerEd’s Scott Goldstein will share the “Our Schools Our Voice” campaign to make education policy more accessible to school communities.

Suzanne Wells