RESPONSES TO QUESTIONNAIRE:

JOHN GLOSTER
CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR
DC STATEHOOD PARTY
7/24/98

1. First of all, taking charge of steering all our children down the road to successful, rewarding life choices is not something we can afford not to fund. The same is true of programs that save adults from falling into the black hole of non-productive lives. Whether people are 17 or 70, they need to feel they are important. We must be willing and able to aid people who are physically or mentally ailing, and those who need guidance and support. While I generally support the approach of the Fair Budget Coalition, I actually would fund much more, in terms of services to uplift and support people's ability to lead proud lives. Much of my plan to provide this support for our youth is expressed through programs I would introduce into the school budget. My total package to revamp the public school experience will cost a total of $200 million per year. Conservatively, half of this cost will be covered by canceling the proposed new convention center, and raising those tax dollars for our schools instead. I would cut class size in half, because our children need much more individualized attention from their teachers. Every significant study shows that urban children perform much better in class sizes of 15 and under. Additionally, I will hire a whole new class of counselors, called “parent involvement counselors”, who will help parents get and stay involved in their children's education and lives. Finally, after the child's last class, s/he will be able to go directly to an in-school, adult mentored arts and recreation program from 3-6 pm. This will go a long way towards alleviating child care pressures. This $200 million dollar investment in our youth would be in addition to restorations to the regular health and human services budget, as shown below.

Other Increased Funding.:

The biggest problem facing youth today is that our adult society is turning its back on them. We are sending them messages that they are not worth investing in, by not fully funding public education, and not preparing them for the job market. We are criminalizing and demonizing an entire generation of young people by acting afraid of them, and stressing new prisons and tougher sentencing of minor crimes, instead of finding out why drug pushers have more sway with them then we do. Young people are starved for more attention from responsible adults who can act as mentors and guides. By reducing class size, investing in parental involvement counselors and after-school arts and recreation, and by intervening with counseling and drug rehabilitation, we can reach out to this new generation, and show that we care, in a way in which they will respect us, and appreciate our concern and interest.

There should be a cabinet for the interests of children. It should be headed by an advocate for children, like Marion Wright Edelman, and include actual children on an advisory board. Since there are already organization in town that advocate for the rights of children, this department should support and assist these programs, and act as a watchdog in government for the interests of children, who do not have a vote, and often do not have much of a voice. Helping children thrive should result in the strengthening of families. However, we must realize that there are instances in which the child's true interests diverge from the goal of keeping the family unit together. The days of returning children to abusive parents must end. Children can not be treated as property any longer. For this reason, a separate cabinet should exist to encourage the strengthening of families. If we combine them, however, the family retention goal may crowd out the child advocacy aspect of the cabinet.