“WARD ONE AS A CLASSROOM”

BJ's EDUCATION PLAN

A good education must take place both within and outside of the school boundaries. This can take place through the delivery of basic services and resources to our educational institutions and through coherent programs involving health, social, recreational, and cultural activities. This is further outlined in my education plan:

(I) A good education means the delivery of basic services to our schools and educational institutions. As your future Ward One Councilmember, my first priority is to ensure that each school opens up on time. Also, by working in collaborative efforts with city officials, the Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools, and parent groups, I will seek to establish inspection and evaluation programs that monitor roof and ceiling conditions. as well as boiler conditions. Also I will sponsor anti-violence initiatives in conjunction with D.C. public schools in order to provide for public school safety.

(2) A good education develops good students, good citizens, and a good community. A good education should be an integrative and collaborative effort that should involve community-based organizations, public libraries, senior citizen centers, labor unions local universities and public schools. As your councilmember, I will work with these different organizations in order to establish community education programs throughout Ward One and the District of Columbia. These programs will include reading and computer literacy classes; adult education and GED preparation; bilingual education; classes in writing proficiency; parenting classes; and employment training. These programs will take place at designated locations that will be called community learning sites.

(3) Each classroom, public library, and community center in Ward One must be computer accessible by the year 2000. Although, many students have access to sega genesis, walkmans, and pagers, they don't have access to the latest developments in information technology. By drawing upon federal agencies and private and federal grant programs, I will push for the implementation of multi-media projects, computer learning, and internet-usage into our schools, community centers, and public libraries.

(4) I support various community-based initiatives for improving the educational standing of our children. During my first six months in office, I will personally make site visits to all of the public schools in Ward One to assess the educational infrastructure on a first hand basis. During these visits, I will meet with public school officials, representatives from the teachers' union, and PTA representatives in order to encourage their participation in the Ward One Summit Series. In addition to the school visits, [ will organize a local council that consists of Student Representatives (SRs) from the various high schools. The SRs will monitor the conditions of their schools, serve as links to their local elementary and junior high. schools and gather up-to-date information on the current changes in D.C. public schools. Finally. I support Charter Schools because they represent one of the more positive community-based efforts for educating our children.

(5) As your Ward One councilmember. I will push for a two-week summer retreat involving 100- 200 students, ages 12 to 17, who are seeking extensive training in various forms of cultural arts. This program will be called the Summer Cultural Arts Project (SCAP) and it will draw upon the talents and resources of local D.C. artists, poets, and writers who will serve as mentors, counselors, and teachers to these students. As part of the requirement for participating in SCAP, these students must return to Washington, DC and work with school and public officials in order to implement community-enhancement and beautification initiatives and projects in their local schools, neighborhoods, and communities.

In order to have an effective educational system and infrastructure, we must realize that a good education depends on the activities that occur within and outside the school boundaries. As residents of Ward One, we must begin to see our Ward as a Classroom and as a place where school education and community-based education go hand in hand. Ward One must be a place where school safety, the delivery of basic services to our schools, and literacy become top priorities for everyone. As your Ward One City Councilmember, I am committed to making these priorities become realities. Vote for Baruti “BJ” Jahi on September 15th for the Ward One City Council Seat.