LAWRENCE A."LARRY" GRAY
600 Fourteenth Street, NE - Washington, DC 20002
202. 399-6541
October 16, 2000
Dear Commissioner:
I want your support in my campaign to be elected President of the Board
of Education on November 7. You are a leader in our community: I know that your
recommendation carries great weight. Strong ties with the ANCs will strengthen our
neighborhood schools and community. Proper notification to ANCs of school system actions
and consideration of your input in school policy have both been neglected. I pledge to
work closely with each ANC and your designated Education Chairperson and Education
Committee. I also promise to be a full-time Board President. Together, we can make the new
school board work for all children by promoting neighborhood schools. Your support is
critical to an effective school board!
We can either turn around our public schools or abandon our kids' right
to a free appropriate education in the nation's capital city. Some improvements can
already be seen. Test scores are up slightly. Central administration costs have been
slashed. The school budget has been partially restored after five years of downsizing,
forced layoffs, and drastic program cuts. But this is not a good enough record if
education is truly our top priority. We must do better!
School procurement is still broken. Schools fail to receive funding at
the beginning of the school year. Special education costs skyrocket but their bus service
is a failure. Charter schools demand a larger share of the public school budget.
Experimental voucher programs encourage flight from D.C. schools. Resources for kids-taken
for granted elsewhere-are absent in D.C. We experience a "digital divide." Our
kids do not have access to modern technology. Teachers, not paid on time, are leaving the
system. Children are exposed to food-poisoning, asthma attacks, and Legionnaire's disease
in our schools. Privatized service contracts are not serving our kids well. Community
leaders must express their discontent!
We choose our school leaders differently this year. Due to the close
June referendum, the Mayor and Council will appoint four school board members. We only
elect five members of the Board of Education. The President of the Board is our only
elected city-wide representative!
This position is pivotal! We can either continue to hand off authority
over our schools to special interests and government bureaucrats, or we can elect a proven
advocate for children. We can accept halfway measures from downtown politicians who can't
seem to "get it together," or we can forge an effective consensus for kids based
on their needs.
Policy decisions from the new Board of Education and Superintendent
will provide the road-map for the future of our children. Our choice this year will make a
historic difference for kids! We must make a choice for better schools on November
7.
I would appreciate your support.
Paid for by Gray for Kids, Philip Blair, Jr., Treasurer, 1518
Kearney Street, NE, Brookland, DC 20017. Reports on file with the D.C. Office of Campaign
Finance. |
