DCPS Chancellor Offers Bold Plan for Ward 5 Schools

Kaya Henderson proposes a standalone middle school, an IB program and a McKinley feeder

On November 16, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced a bold proposal to redesign public school education in Ward 5.

Led by the Ward 5 Council on Education, a rising chorus of criticism prompted DCPS to undertake a 6-month review of public school education in Ward 5. The review included a survey sent to all DCPS parents in Ward 5 requesting information about the academic and extracurricular programs they wanted for their children.

At a moderately attended presentation, at which DCPS central office staff equaled the number of parents, Ms. Henderson proposed a shakeup intended to entice Ward 5 parents back to DCPS.

“There will be a portfolio of middle grade options,” she announced, including a new standalone middle school, an international baccalaureate school for grades pre-school through 8, and an “early college high school program” that would feed directly into McKinley Tech.

If the community accepts the proposal, Ms. Henderson said the new configuration would be in place by the beginning of the 2013 school year.

Ms. Henderson described each of the proposed new programs. The standalone middle school for grades 6-8 will have 500 seats and will specialize in “arts and language integration.” A location has not yet been determined.

The “education campus” for grades pre-school through 8 will adhere to International Baccalaureate standards and will have 300 middle school seats. A location has not yet been determined.

The “early college high school program” will be located in the A-wing of McKinley Tech High School and will be a STEM program that emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math. It will have 380 middle school seats, 100 of which will be reserved for Ward 5 residents, “so they have a guaranteed path into McKinley.”

“What we tried to do is create something for everybody,” said Ms. Henderson. She said all three options would have “rigorous academics, multiple languages, and hard core science classes.”

Combined, the three schools will have 1180 middle grade seats, with at least 900 of them dedicated to Ward 5 students.

Currently, there are 790 students enrolled in grades 6-8 in Ward 5. DCPS is counting on filling the additional 400 seats with children currently sent outside the ward or who attend charter schools. Ms. Henderson spoke directly to charter school parents saying, “we’re going to bring you back.”

Ms. Henderson explained that the plan would require reducing the number of elementary schools in Ward 5 down to four because under the plan they would lose their middle grades. Currently, there are eight elementary schools in Ward 5.

Ms. Henderson said she had no plans to sell any school properties, however, because the level of economic development in Ward 5 meant “we need to be able to turn these schools back on when the population is there.”

Ms. Henderson acknowledged that PreK through 8th grade schools in Ward 5 had not been successful because relatively small enrollments in each school meant resources were stretched too thin to be able to provide quality programs.

Raenelle Zapata, president of the Ward 5 Council on Education, was cautiously optimistic about Ms. Henderson’s proposal. “I think it’s a good start,” she said. “I’m glad to see that they are listening, but we still have a long way to go.”

Ms. Zapata’s main criticism was that the plan would not be implemented quickly enough. “We’ve gone through one generation of kids that has gone without a quality middle school experience and now it will be two,” she said.

Mark Jones, State Board of Education Representative for Ward 5, expressed similar sentiments. “I’d like it to be sooner” he said. “It would be great if they could begin to implement it in the next school year.” He also expressed concern about the process that would be used to select the elementary schools for closure.

Mr. Jones said he was concerned that DCPS would use the proposal as an excuse to stop delivering resources to Ward 5’s existing schools and then fail to deliver on the plan. “I have seen initiatives before,” said Mr. Jones, alluding to DCPS’ unfulfilled promise to reopen Brookland Elementary.

DCPS staff said they would seek feedback from the community until the end of December. A meeting to discuss “implementation options,” such as which schools will be impacted, will be scheduled for January 2012.

“We’re not going to make these decisions ourselves,” said Ms. Henderson.