CHPSPO Meeting Notes – December 17, 2013

Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization
Watkins Elementary (library, 2nd floor)

420 12th Street, SE, December 17, 2013, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

 

1- Candidates Forums

    • Report out on 12/9 Mayoral Candidates Forum –
    • Ward 6 City Council – co-sponsor with Eastern Market Metro Community Association (EMMCA) and others on February 18, 20 or 22. CHPSPO will co- Sponsor.
    • CHPSPO decided to sponsor an education focused Ward 6 City Council forum.  Joe Weedon volunteered to approach Eastern HS to see if they are willing to host the forum. Suggested the forum be in early March. Advertise in Hill Rag in Feb – Heather Schoell to follow up on advertising.
    • Mayor – co-sponsor with other education groups across the city, date TBD CHPSPO will participate. Suzanne Wells to serve as initial PoC until responsibilities are clear.

2 – Report on Catania discussion hosted by Greater Greater Education: http://storify.com/CHPSPO/gge-hosts-education-discussion-with-cm-catania

3 – Update on Middle School recommendations

    • Discussion of recommendations sent to Henderson and Catania
    • Middle school survey?
    • Per Catania, this is the Year of Middle School
    • Jan 28 – another boundary/feeder pattern hearing; encouraged CHPSPO to reach out to other ed groups across the city and find out recommendations.
    • DCPS budget survey now being framed as a middle school issue
    • ACTION: Append letter to middle school survey.
    • ACTION: Reps from each school look at MS Plan and where things are today vis-avis implementation, Rick Bardach for Jefferson, Joe Weedon for Eliot-Hine, Bill Horne for SH.

4. Update on school boundaries and feeder patterns (NOTE:  Ward 6 Advisory Committee members Denise Forte and Marty Welles could not attend the CHPSPO meeting on 12/17)

    • From 21st CSF, would be helpful to find out what is working and what is not working.
    • Like that there is a geographic boundary and a feeder school pattern.
    • Don’t like that there is little communication between middle schools and ES that feed into them or between MS and HS.
    • Don’t like that feeder patterns are not aligned from boundaries
    • On Feeder/Boundary process, need to leverage conversation to achieve bigger goals.
    • Can’t have dialogue w/out starting w/ shared understanding of the situation… no data
    • Misalignment between 5th grade at DCPS and DCPCS
    • Misalignment between feeder schools to Eastern and the Eastern boundaries

5. Data that needs to be available to community to inform boundary/feeder discussion:

    • Neighborhood residency info for students at school level (for ES, MS, HS), sorted by Ward
    • Charter and DCPS at school level, with percentage in-bounds, percentage in Ward, sorted by Ward
    • 4th and 5th grade attrition rates at every DCPS elementary school, by Ward
    • Percentage of students by DCPS and Charter middle schools at school level by grade and sorted by Ward
    • Number of kids in the current elementary school grade-level cohorts, at school level, sorted by Ward
    • How many of the past 3 or 4 years’ worth of 4th/5th graders were captured by DCPS middle schools at school level, sorted by Ward
    • School lottery results vis a vis enrollment, by school
    • DCPS and charter waiting lists for the past 5 years by school, sorted by Ward
    • Data that would help quantify students who enroll, but leave the school, either midyear when a slot opens elsewhere or through the lottery the next year, at school level, sorted by Ward
    • School level attrition by year, by grade
    • School level data around flow of students from feeder to destination schools, from perspective of students who have been through the feeder pattern from ES through HS, identifying in boundary and out of boundary.”

Next CHPSPO Meeting:  January 22, 2014 (NOTE:  This is a Wednesday)

Upcoming Events:

December 16   DCPS and DCPCS lottery opens. Visit school open houses throughout the Spring semester. See DCPS schedule here. Apply via http://www.myschooldc.org/.

December 19   Deputy Mayor for Education’s Focus Group on School Boundaries and Feeder Patterns, Logan

January 23       3rd Annual Maury Think Tank Night http://maurythinktank.blogspot.com/

2013 Fundraisers:

 

March 8           Tyler Alchemy of Great Taste http://www.tylerelementary.net/

March 14         Cluster Rocks! Auction & Gala http://www.capitolhillclusterschool.org

March 22         Maury at the Market http://mauryelementary.com/

March 29         Brent Taste of the Hill  http://brentelementary.org/

May 18            Capitol Hill Classic 10K/3K/Fun Run http://www.capitolhillclusterschool.org

CHPSPO Meeting December 17 at Watkins

The Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization will meet on Tuesday, December 17, at 6:30 p.m. at Watkins Elementary in the library. We will continue our discussions on middle schools and school boundaries/feeder patterns, and will discuss co-sponsoring candidates forums next year for the Ward 6 city council and mayoral races. If you have additional topics, please send them to me. Please note that the Ward 6 representatives to the school boundaries/feeder patterns Advisory Committee, Denise Forte and Marty Welles, will not be able to attend the December 17 CHPSPO meeting because they have an Advisory Committee meeting that same evening.

Attached are a series of recommendations for improving middle schools that came out of our November CHPSPO meeting. These recommendations were sent on 12/15/13 to Chancellor Henderson and Councilmember David Catania.

Finally, a recent request went out for dates for upcoming school auctions/fundraisers. If your school has identified the date for its auction/fundraiser, please let me know.

2013 Fundraisers
March 8 Tyler Alchemy of Great Taste
March 22 Maury at the Market
March 29 Brent Taste of the Hill

Hope to see you on Tuesday.

Suzanne Wells

121713 CHPSPO Agenda.docx

Recommendations for Improving Middle Schools 121313b.docx

Summer Cultural Exchange Program for High School Students – Travel around US!

IYLEPExciting opportunity for Washington, DC high school students with the US-Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP). IYLEP provides a fully-funded leadership building and cultural exchange experience to selected students from Iraq and the US.

This summer (2014), 10 American students will participate alongside 31 Iraqi high school students to travel around the US for four weeks in July/August 2014. Activities include leadership trainings, site visits, cultural dialogues with Iraqis, skills workshops. More information is included in the flyer US IYLEP one pager-DC.

The deadline to submit an application is December 15, 2013 and the application can be reached here: http://regonline.com/iylep-hsus.

worldleraning

CHPSPO Meeting Notes – November 19, 2013

Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization
Ludlow-Taylor Elementary

659 G Street, NE

November 19, 2013
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

1. School Boundaries and Feeder Patterns – Open discussion

–          Background: DME’s press release and materials: http://dme.dc.gov/DC/DME/Initiatives+and+Priorities/Statewide+Commission+on+Children+Youth+and+Their+Families/Student+Assignment+and+School+Boundaries+Review+Process

–          ACTION: Sign up for focus groups and working groups

–          ACTION: Volunteers will work on survey for feeder with the help of Mary Filardo, 21st Century Fund, using this as framework (see preliminary discussion below): http://dme.dc.gov/DC/DME/Publication%20Files/Defining%20Principles%20Worksheet.pdf

–          ACTION: To be more intentional to give Chancellor feedback on middle schools, group is forming. For reference, the Ward 6 Middle School Plan: http://www.dc.gov/DCPS/Parents+and+Community/Community+Initiatives/Building+on+Momentum:+Ward+6+Middle+Schools

    • In boundary % (on school profiles) should change to indicate that school is in feeder pattern

–          Feedback on November 15 Council Hearing

–          Preparing for Principles/Survey:

–          Q: What is working about your current in-boundary/in-feeder middle school?

  • Capitol Hill Cluster School:
    • Peabody feeding into Watkins feeding into Stuart (the cluster model is working)
    • Stuart Hobson students are enrolling following on feeder patterns based on their elementary schools (Ludlow-Taylor, JO Wilson, Watkins)
    • DCPS is setting enrollment numbers too high for Stuart Hobson
    • The communication to parents at Peabody and Watkins about activities at  Stuart Hobson helps families become familiar with their middle school and starts to set the expectation that Stuart Hobson is going to be their middle school.
    • Principal reaches out to all feeder schools to encourage participation with the middle school sports, events, etc.
  • JO Wilson:
    • Want to maintain current feeder pattern to Stuart Hobson.
    • Great local option supporting neighborhood schools and an established, reliable option for parents.
  • Ludlow Taylor:
    • Want to maintain current feeder pattern to Stuart Hobson.
  • Maury:
    • Want to maintain current feeder pattern to Eliot-Hine and to Eastern.
    • Seeing the progress around Eliot Hine and link w/ International Baccalaureate w/ Eastern and would like to see it continue.
  • Tyler:
    • Families like the choice of being able to attend the Spanish Immersion program.  Like that we live on Capitol Hill, and can still have choices in the neighborhood.
  • Amidon-Bowen:
    • Like Amidon-Bowen feeding into Jefferson.
  • SWS:
    • The school’s intention to keep cohorts together, beyond geographic boundary. Intent to keep neighborhoods together.

–          Q: What is NOT working about your current in-boundary/in-feeder middle school?

    • Cluster:
      • Boundaries for Watkins don’t match the size of the school.
      • Charters like Washington Latin are pulling most advanced students. If DCPS MS doesn’t offer advanced courses, it’s tough to keep the advanced students.
    • Ludlow Taylor:
      •  At Ludlow Taylor, students are not leaving at 5th grade, because parents see a clear path to Stuart. However, there is no connection with Eastern.
    • Maury:
      • Instructional Superintendents structure does not support vertical integration of programming or collaboration among schools within a feeder pattern.
    • CHM@L
      • The Ward 6 Middle school plan that DCPS approved has not been supported nor adequately funded.
    • Amidon-Bowen:
      • Jefferson is an important piece of puzzle – not successful in getting Brent or Thompson students
      • Capital/facility improvements have come about too slowly. It is a struggle by the school and community to get DC to fund renovations.
    • SWS:
      • Too much choice in the system. Choice came about because system was not servicing schools. There isn’t thought about the capacity of a school vs. cachment as a feeder – needs to take charters into account when thinking about decisions around boundary/feeder. Currently, there is no strategy.
    • General Comments
      • No strategic planning between Charter and DCPS.
      •  (former Ward 5 parent) Ward 5 has shut down DCPS schools and many neighborhoods are being serviced by charters.
      • Boundary discussion is an opportunity to ‘level playing field’ by introducing neighborhood preference and advocating for legislation that requires charters to take in-boundary students, regardless of time of year.
      • Catania’s refusing to outsource MS to charters creates an opportunity.
      • Boundary planning should happen w/ charters as part of discussion.
      • There is intentional misalignment of middle schools starting at 5th grade.
      • IB has been slow to get off the ground at Eliot-Hine, which hurt the implementation of the Ward 6 middle school plan.
      • DCPS’ competitive advantage on middle schools should be a predictable feeder pattern and path for students. Charters seem to be doing a better job of operating as a system than DCPS.
      • Charters seem to do a good job of showing the continuum of education among charter school feeder patterns.

–          Questions still to be answered:

    • What values do we hold that we believe should influence school boundaries and feeder patterns, e.g., proximity, diversity, choice, predictability?
    • What is our vision for school boundaries and successful feeder patterns, e.g., successful feeder patterns from elementary to middle to high schools?
    • How do middle schools influence school boundaries and successful feeder patterns?
    • How to ensure an open, collaborative and fair process for determining school boundaries and feeder patterns?  Ideas for getting broad input from Ward 6 parents – survey?

 

2.  “A Call to Action” event on December 9, organized by the Washington Teacher’s Union. Stay tuned via: http://www.wtulocal6.org/. Read Principles: https://w6pspo.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/principlesuniteus2013.pdf

 

3. School Information “Night” – December 8, 2-5PM @ Capitol Hill Day School
Next CHPSPO Meeting:  December 17, 2013

Upcoming Events:

December 8     School Information “Night,” 2 – 5 p.m., Capitol Hill Day School

December 9     A Call to Action (TBD)

December 10   Deputy Mayor for Education’s Focus Group on School Boundaries and Feeder Patterns, Logan

CHPSPO Meeting November 19 at Ludlow-Taylor

Dear Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization members,
We will have our November CHPSPO meeting on Tuesday, November 19 at Ludlow-Taylor (659 G Street, NE) starting at 6:30 p.m.
We will spend the bulk of the meeting discussing the effort underway to overhaul the city’s school boundaries and feeder patterns. Please share with your school communities the attached Focus Group Flyer announcing the focus groups the Deputy Mayor for Education’s office is holding to get parent and community input on school boundaries and feeder patterns. The focus groups are not ward specific, so you may attend any of the focus groups. However, the focus group that will be held in Ward 6 is on December 10 at the Logan building. You must register in order to attend a focus group.
We will also be discussing the attached Priciples that Unite Us. These principles were developed by the American Federation of Teachers, and are being endorsed by the Washington Teachers’ Union and Empower DC. Please take a look at the attachment to see if you believe these are principles CHPSPO can support.
Finally, the annual School Information Night will be held on Sunday, December 8, from 2 – 5 p.m. If your school is interested in participating, but has not yet registered, please contact E.V. Downey at dcmusicteacher@gmail.com.
Hope to see you on Tuesday.
Suzanne Wells

PrinciplesUniteUs2013.pdf
Focus Group Flyer 11-04-13.pdf
111713 CHPSPO Agenda.docx

For High School Students: 2014 Youth TechCamps with MyCOE

The Global Connections and Exchange Youth TechCamps : My Community, Our Earth Program (GCE MyCOE) is looking for current high school students in the United States, Bolivia, Panama and South Africa. High school students from each of these countries will be selected to form teams and will collaborate online and in person at one of three rounds of training events to be held in Bolivia, Panama and South Africa. The overarching theme for this program will be Geotechnologies for Climate Change and Environment.  For details, go to http://www.aag.org/techcamps

GCE Launch Flyer

CHPSPO Meeting Notes October 15, 2013

Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization
Maury Elementary, 1250 Constitution Ave., NE

October 14, 2013, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

1. Education Adequacy Study by Deputy Mayor of Education – Jennifer Comey – send questions/comments to jennifer.comey@dc.gov and dme.adequacystudy@dc.gov

  • Find presentation and annexes here: http://dc.gov/DC/DME/About+DME/News+Room/Deputy+Mayor+for+Education+Releases+Preliminary+Findings+and+Recommendations+of+the+DC+Education+Adequacy+Study
  • Preliminary comments from Cathy Reilly and Matthew Frumin:
    • While there are a number of concerns with the impact of implementing the recommendations of the study, I think the major concern is that the charter schools will see substantially more funding  while DCPS would see more funding, but substantially less than the charters.
    •  A significant point of contention seems to be around the issue of funding M&O costs (estimated at $43.3 million).  Jen said last night that DCPS wouldn’t have to bear these costs, and there was some discussion about more efficient use of DCPS buildings, e.g., co-locating social services agencies, sharing space with charter schools, etc., that would make up some of the $43.3 million.  The bottom line though is that if DCPS does have to bear the M&O costs, the recommendations in the Eduation Adequacy Study would give DCPS an additional $13 million, and the charters would see around a $79 million increase.
  • Other background reading:

2. DCPTA – Bryan Banks

  • Elections are happening soon. Any PTA member eligible to vote. Two votes per school.

3. Public Oversight Roundtable on School Boundaries and Feeder Patterns

4. Update on Education Bills before City Council – no update this month, but here’s a bit of background: http://greatergreatereducation.org/post/20359/group-critiques-catania-education-proposals/

5. Report Out/Lessons Learned Walk-to-School Day – George Blackmon

$350 mini-grant received from Capitol Hill Community Foundation

$120.00     Permit for Lincoln Park

$  34.90     Portable microphone rental from Fragers

$  40.45     Coffee cups and creamer from Safeway

$  83.54     Gogurt and granola bars from Costco

$  71.11     Proposed payment to Vigilante Coffee

$350.00

Donations

200 bags from Georgetown Athletics/MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

50 bags from Councilmember Wells’ office (Harris Teeters bags)

250 water bottles from DC Water

250 apples from Long Meadow Farms

Thousands of fruit ropes from Clif Bars

Walk-to-School Day banners and activity flyers from Clif Bars

Light bike maintenance by The Daily Rider DC

Banner by the Long/Short Walk (via T. Bella Dihn-Zarr)

Next CHPSPO Meeting:  November 19, 2013

Upcoming Events:

October 18      Comments due to Deputy Mayor for Education on Education Adequacy Study

October 26      Tyler Harvest Festival, 11 am – 3 pm – food and games, a costume contest, and other fun activities as we celebrate the harvest of Tyler’s outdoor garden.  Learn about our Outdoor Classroom and how our garden grows!

October 26      Maury Harvest Festival, 10 am – 3 pm – there will be games, a cake walk, a dunk tank and lots of other fun activities

October 26      Brent Fall Festival, 10 am – This annual event unites the Brent community and the neighborhood.  The day is full of fun for families and kids with a moon bounce, face painting, carnival games, live music, and a used book sale.

October 26      Capitol Hill Montessori @ Logan Haunted Harvest Festival, 6 – 9 pm – Mad scientist, haunted house, chili cookoff, arts & crafts, face painting and more!

November 15  Public Roundtable on School Boundaries and Feeder Patterns, 9 am

DC Health Link Information Session Informed Decisions …Smart Choices – Friday, Oct 18

Friday, October 18

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Sherwood Recreation Center

6410 10th Street NE,

Washington DC 20002

In partnership with DC Public Library and DC Department of Parks and Recreation, DC Health Link is hosting a series of free in person information sessions for individuals, families and small business owners. At the sessions, consumers will learn first-hand how to search for health plans, compare choices, and enroll in the new online health insurance marketplace. They will also learn about their new rights and responsibilities under the new health law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), DC Health Link, and the new Medicaid options. Trained and certified DC Health Link Assisters, brokers and staff will be on-site to answer questions and provide enrollment support. All sessions are open to the public, so feel free to invite others.

CHPSPO Meeting October 15, 2013 at Maury ES

Dear CHPSPO members,

Congrats to everyone for a very successful Walk-to-School Day last Wednesday. Check out some great photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/62085732@N08/sets/72157636366410736/.

Also, congrats to J.O. Wilson on a very successful auction on Sunday evening!!!

Attached is the agenda for our Tuesday, October 15 meeting (6:30 p.m. at Maury, 1250 Constitution Ave., NE, Library). Jen Comey with the Deputy Mayor for Education’s office will give a presentation on the recently completed “Education Adequacy Study” (see http://dme.dc.gov/DC/DME/About+DME/News+Room/Deputy+Mayor+for+Education+Releases+Preliminary+Findings+and+Recommendations+of+the+DC+Education+Adequacy+Study). This study assesses the adequacy of the District’s public education funding in light of:

  • The adoption of the Common Core State Standards in 2010, which established higher performance expectation for all District students;
  • The demographic profile of public education students in the District, which includes a high proportion of students living in poverty, as well as students with specific learning needs;
  • The persistent achievement gap between higher and lower income students in the city; and
  • The need to ensure equity of public education funding across the traditional public school and public charter school sectors.

I hope you’ll be able to join us on Tuesday evening.

Suzanne Wells

091513 CHPSPO Agenda.docx

CHPSPO Meeting Notes – September 17, 2013

Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization
J.O. Wilson Library, 660 K Street, NE

September 17, 2013, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

  1. Open Data (Where Kids at Your School Live) – Sandra Moscoso and Harlin Harris
  • Data requests:
    • o Waitlists for each school
    • o Teacher evaluation data
    • o Follow students as they transition from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school
    • o Teacher retention
    • o Student turnover; transitions; mid year
    • o Facilities amenities; modernization plans
  • Suggest socialize with other education groups: Washington Teachers Union, Cathy Reily/SHAPPE, PCNS

 2. Discussion of policy paper on education bills before the City Council

 3. Library advocacy update – Peter McPherson – GREAT NEWS! http://chpspo.org/2013/09/05/dcps-libraries-win-big-by-peter-macpherson/

4.  Walk to School Day – George Blackmon

  • Need: stretches (Lashone Wilson); coffee (Samantha Caruth); press release (Beth Bacon)
  • When: Weds, Oct 9, 7:30-8:15 AM @ Lincoln Park

 

Next CHPSPO Meeting:  October 15, 2013

Upcoming Events:

October 9        Walk to School Day

October 13      Taste of JO Wilson (http://www.tasteofh.org/)