Accountability
Dear Accountables:
I know I promised to get back to neighborhoods, but I can't help myself.
The events in DC politics over the past few days demand yet another rant. Valerie Holt,
the City's former Chief Financial Officer, lived up to all the predictions of incompetence
that were made when she was appointed, so she was belatedly fired or, as the cover story
goes, allowed to find another position in the Federal government. The postscript to the
story was revealed last week. While Holt will be working for the Feds, the city's
taxpayers will continue to pick up the bill for her salary and benefits. Holt was rewarded
for failure to perform with a golden parachute, and she became just the latest example of
how this administration mocks us when it pretends its mantra is
“accountability.”
Arlene Ackerman didn't want to be held accountable, and yesterday she was
defended with ugly racism from an unexpected quarter. Washington Post editorial
writer and columnist Colbert King, normally a voice of racial sanity, descended into
racist code words, slurs, and slanders to defend Ackerman's position that she shouldn't
have to be answerable to parents, citizens, or elected officials. Ackerman was openly
hostile to and attacked some of the best schools in the system. She wanted to achieve
equality by cutting down the top performers, and gave the back of her hand to programs
that fostered excellence or that were for gifted students. King calls this a “reform
agenda,” and “trying to bring greater equity to the entire school system.”
He revives the phony “east of the park, west of the park” racial rivalry in
order to discredit parents trying to defend their childrens' schools, and condemns
“the micromanagement of the school superintendent by a willful minority in the
city.” Take that, palefaces, you willful minority; get back in your place and keep
your mouths shut.
The irony is that King condemned the City Council for years for
irresponsibly rubber stamping the Mayor's actions. Now that we have some Councilmembers
who are informed, responsible, and active, King abuses the best of them — he singles
out Kathy Patterson, David Catania, and Sharon Ambrose — for doing their jobs too
conscientiously and for not rubber-stamping Ackerman. Police Chief Charles Ramsey picked
up Ackerman's tactics in the last few days, too. After Ramsey has spent two years doing
what he assures us is his best to get more police officers out on the streets, there are
fewer on the beat today than when he took office. When the City Council passed a
reasonable bill introduced by Catania that required Ramsey to work actively to increase
street patrols (http://www.dcwatch.com/council13/13-433.htm),
Ramsey condemned them for “micromanaging.” It looks as though
“micromanaging” will become the all-purpose battle cry of this administration
when anyone attempts public oversight or direction.
For next issue, let's help Sue Bell find all those neighborhood festivals.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Resigned to Their Fates
Charlie Wellander, jfa-cwr@CapAccess.org
Or, The Taxpayers' Lament, being a seriocomic opera in three actions.
The fire chief could substitute
Men for money — lives or loot.
So credit to Chief Thomas Tippett,
Safety first for his men did tip it.
Climb the ladder, then down the chute.
When audit deadlines kept straying,
Tony's patience soon was fraying.
Booted out Ms. Valerie Holt,
Then gave the Council quite a jolt —
For her keep we'd still be paying.
DCPS troubles mount.
Too many chefs to no account.
Say good-bye to Arlene Ackerman
San Francisco did attract her. Man,
Who can tell our kids they count?
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Special Education Parent
Patricia Chittams, Rider397@aol.com
As a parent of a Special Education child still in DCPS I can't say enough
about Ackerman's leaving. Don't let the back door hit 'ya. Fortunately, I don't have the
transportation issues that many others have, however, I have been through the wringer as a
result of requesting Special Education Services. The utter contempt that the
administrators have for special needs children is pervasive. It begins with the first
request for services and continues through the evaluations and provision of care. The
administrators don't have the best interests of the children at heart; it appears as if
they are only concerned about the bottom line.
I was told that my child needed to participate in the Summer Stars
Program. However, when I requested data proving that this course was effective in meeting
the needs of the children who participated, I was rebuffed. It is only common sense to
have the children pre- and post-tested as well as tracked after the program, to see if
Summer Stars is effective. It is my belief that the program's only purpose is to feed the
children. I find it ironic that the schools can be closed when the temperature is too
high; however, they require summer participation in these same schools.
Instead of helping to make our neighborhood schools a better place,
Principals are barring parents at the schoolhouse door. The sickness comes from the top
down. Hopefully, with a Superintendent that really cares for the children, the Palace of
Education will be swept clean and shine a light on the dysfunction that exists.
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Dig We Must
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
What pleasant surprises awaited my return from a week in the Big Apple. Ms
Ackerman is toast and the long awaited remodeling of the concrete jungle at the front of
the AU Law School building on Massachusetts Avenue at 48th Street is underway. The
excavation is a bit less pretentious than the giant hole for the convention center
downtown but it portends some significant rework of the front entrance, nonetheless. Along
with the re-landscaping of a couple of years ago around the front, side, and back of the
ugly building and this edifice might soon be an acceptable looking building in the 'hood.
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Score one for the activists and political grandstanders who think
Ackerman's number one job was to embrace cockamamie short-term panaceas from amateurs in
the gallery and the legislature, rather than to save DC's kids over the long haul. Mrs.
Ackerman may not have been the best superintendent in the subset eligible for senior jobs
in DC, but she may well have been the best professional academic willing to take it. The
chances of doing better next time are surely reduced. Some loss in reform momentum appears
inevitable, and a few thousand more kids could well slip down the drain. I would
appreciate help from readers of themail in two areas: can anyone provide me a) a copy of
Mrs. Patterson's recent 6-page list of oversight questions to Mrs. Ackerman; and b) a list
of specific DC Council legislation enacted to help salvage the school system that has
become increasingly dysfunctional under democratic home rule? You can fax me at
301-229-6077.
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I basically follow School Board events as an idle entertainment, having no
kids nor prospects of having any, but I think there are two words worth sharing with all
the people who think Superintendent Ackerman is just the worst thing. Those two words are
“General Becton.” Is it cynical to say that we actually traded up when we moved
from a dyed-in-the-wool bullet-head D.C.-hating butt-hole to someone who seems mostly to
have been ignorant about what a snake-pit the public education bureaucracy is here, and so
ran afoul of the hundred appointed and/or self-appointed bosses sprinkled through the
system and the populace. I was hopeful, in my idle way, when Becton finally left, that at
least it couldn't get too much worse. And even with gaffes a-plenty over the last two
years, Ackerman has never been able to touch Gen. Becton for arrogance, overconfidence,
and inability to deliver. It's hard to sustain any such hope with the departure of
Ackerman. It is perverse and ironic that the partisans in this debate all seem to thrive
on chaos and turnover, which of course is the last thing that students and teachers need.
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Golden Parachuting Gallery
Mark Eckenwiler, eck@panix.com
A few words on our dearly departed, the late Arlene Ackerman and Valerie
Holt. In the last issue of themail, Keith Jarrell suggested that Ackerman “is a
leader, and a fine one,” yet curiously fails to identify any specific accomplishments
to her credit. Instead, he criticizes the City Council for failing to spend its time and
attention on pressing matters other than educational oversight (read: vexing the poor
Superintendent). As a parent of two DCPS students, I'm willing to give Ackerman some
credit for improvements, most prominently the power given to parents via the LSRTs to
shape the future of their neighborhood schools. (At Stuart-Hobson Middle School on Capitol
Hill, a long entrenched, autocratic principal proved so inflexible in working with the
LSRT on teacher hiring and curriculum matters that a new principal succeeded her after the
dispute was brought downtown.) Otherwise, though, I'm not impressed by her leadership,
neither in her dealings with charter schools nor in her petulance in responding to the
City Council. As for the latter, I fully support the dogged efforts of councilmembers
Chavous and Patterson to extract straight answers from Ackerman about school budgets,
enrollment/residency, etc. I fail to see why Keith Jarrell argues that the Council's
dereliction with respect to other concededly important matters — street repair and
the like — is a basis for claiming that they should likewise neglect their
obligations of educational oversight.
Valerie Holt: what else can one say except, “it's like déjà vu
all over again”? For a soi-disant Control Board, D.C.'s bosses seem oddly
irresponsible with the public fisc. I don't for one nanosecond buy the claim (offered up
by the Mayor and Alice Rivlin in the 5/18 Post story) that Holt deserves a
paid-for, $130K detail to the Labor Department because she served DC government for
sixteen years. (Didn't she get paid for all that time already? And weren't there earlier
questions about the quality of her service before she became CFO?) Call me crazy, but I
have this utterly bizarre notion that public servants should be granted bonuses and other
special benefits only after they've performed especially well. Sticking DC taxpayers with
the cost of golden parachutes when public officials turn in embarrassingly bad
performances strikes me as, well, odd. (Alternative license plate slogan: “DC:
Putting the 'Dumb' in Officialdom.”)
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Don’t Cry for Arlene Ackerman
Anne Herr, herranne@aol.com
A week ago, the DC Politics Hour was an hour-long sympathy session for
Arlene Ackerman. It always amazes me that people like Mark Plotkin who are such unwavering
supporters of democracy do not seem to have an equal appreciation for the need for public
accountability. Of course elected councilmembers ask questions — that's their job.
It's the superintendent's job to answer them, so that the public can tell how its money is
being spent. If anything, I think she hasn't been asked nearly enough questions. (Here's
one — why did the school system on April 30 renew the contract with Laidlaw
transportation, which operates the buses for special ed students, despite chronic,
continuing, and well publicized problems with performance?) Whining about micromanagement
is the first resort of the bad manager. If the superintendent were doing her job she
wouldn't have to bristle at questions — she could simply answer them. Kudos to the
councilmembers who are asking tough questions -- and shame on all city leaders who are
not. Our children deserve better.
I'm also growing tired of the self-defeating talk about how dysfunctional
we are and how no one will ever want to work here. We have a convoluted and dysfunctional
school governance structure, to be sure, and city leaders and the public will have to work
together to fix it. But no city school system is a piece of cake to administer. And I've
yet to hear of a place where the job of superintendent wasn't political to some degree.
What job did Ackerman think she was taking? She should have been building coalitions and
contacts from the beginning — with parents, with teachers, with principals, with the
Council, with ANCs, with the CFO's office — and not just banking on the support of
the Emergency Trustees and the Washington Post.
I hope the outcome of all this isn't a superintendent who is even less
accountable to the public.
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The last few days has seen a lot of wringing of hands — “We'll
never find another good superintendent.” “Who would come here?” Are we
beginning to believe the same wrongheaded things the rest of the country does about us? We
have a school system that can be fixed. Some parts of it already work. We have very deep
pockets. We have universities, think tanks, and federal agencies filled with experts. We
have great kids. We are located near two very high performing school Districts —
Fairfax and Montgomery County — so we know there are good teachers and principals
around. What kind of a person should be the next superintendent? Someone with an
understanding of the unique strengths and weaknesses in this city. Someone who has arrived
professionally, not someone using us as a stepping stone. Someone informed enough to enter
into conversations with the people of this city and the overlords and persuade us to
follow her. This isn't an impossible order to fill, but we do need to look.
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DCPS, Special Education — The Real Con Game
Helen Hagerty, Helenmhag@aol.com
I think Gary Imhoff's commentary on the Special Ed con game is a little
off. The real victims of the Special Ed con are the District taxpayers and students in
DCPS who receive less than $5,000 per year. Special Ed students in private placement
receive an average of $30,000 per year. I certainly agree that DCPS has not been able to
meet the needs of many Special Ed students. I also agree that signing away their rights by
attending a summer compensatory program is wrong. Cutting payments to the lawyers that
represent families that sue is wrong, too.
When the Council was grappling with the huge school budget for next year,
I had some questions of my own. DCPS was asking for $60,000,000 to pay the tuitions for
private placements for about 2,000 students. They were also asking for $40,000,000 to pay
for the transportation of most of these students. I could not figure out what schools were
charging an average of $30,000 per year, so I called Mary Levy. Mary pulled out some
astonishing figures for me. She explained that some children were in residential programs
that had an average cost of $60,000, which sounds reasonable. She also told me that the
average cost of tuition at the McLean School of Maryland was $29,000 per child. There are
about 23 DC children attending McLean. The average cost at The Lab School was $34,000, and
the average cost at Kingsbury was $54,000! These are just a few schools and they are not
residential programs. My oldest child attends the McLean School. The tuition we pay is
half the amount quoted by Mary Levy. Keep in mind that the figures quoted are averages.
Some tuitions are even higher, and some are less. I asked Mary Levy why were these
tuitions being paid by DCPS so high? She did not know, and I suggested that I call
Councilmember Kevin Chavous' office.
I spoke to someone in Chavous' office and was told that Chavous' staff was
in fact investigating the very same issue. I also spoke to someone in Special Ed who had
these same concerns and was told that some Special Ed students that are in the private
system have very special needs, which is understandable. Some students need a designated
aide, or other services beyond the scope of the school's program. This is understandable,
too. The tuitions we are paying still seem exorbitant and questionable. DCPS should demand
itemized bills for every student and every service provided.
I also learned that there are students who attend non-Special Ed schools.
It is unbelievable that the taxpayers of this city are paying for someone's child to
attend St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School. There are other non-Special Ed schools, as
well. There is also a problem with DCPS Special Ed employees that leave to work for law
firms that sue DCPS for private placements. They know every loophole. Teachers and
principals also lack legal counsel during these suits. Even if a public school could meet
the needs of a student, they are not given the chance. There are schools in this city that
have good Special Ed programs. I don't pretend to know the answer to this mess. Every
Special Ed child has the right to sue for services he cannot receive from DCPS. There are,
however, people who are taking advantage of this system. Perhaps the private schools, as
well. DCPS will never be able to meet the needs of every Special Ed student in this city,
and they shouldn't try to. Some children will be better served through private placement.
We MUST provide solid Special Ed programs at our local schools. This means spending more
money in the classroom. My son is leaving The McLean school to attend our neighborhood
school next year. It has small classes, great teachers, an aide in every classroom, and an
excellent special ed teacher.
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Road Termites Take to the Sky
Ann Loikow, Cleveland Park, johnl@erols.com
The road termites, otherwise known as the various telecommunications
companies and utilities that have been making Swiss cheese of our streets, appear to have
become aerial vultures, at least in Cleveland Park in the area around the National
Cathedral. I'm not exactly sure what is going on, but a number of utility poles have
spawned giant neighbors. Instead of not breaking the tree cover as our utility poles
traditionally have done, these poles now greatly exceed it and are covered with cross
beams loaded with cables of various sorts so that the sky and streetscape of what is a
lovely historic neighborhood has more in common with a heavy industrial area. A giant
steam locomotive would look right at home on Woodley Road north of the Cathedral Close,
which is a particularly outrageous example of the blight caused by the giant pole and
cable disease. Street light poles in the area have also taken growth hormones and more
closely resemble interstate light standards rather than neighborhood street lights. These
new giants have sprung up along the newly repaved Woodley Road and are threatening to
break out along 34th Street. All us naive citizens thought we just had to fight this light
pollution at the remodeled gasoline service stations on our major arterials, not on
strictly residential streets in the heart of our neighborhood. What do we need to do to
prevent the contagion from spreading and to heal the areas already so badly scarred?
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Why We Pay WASA Bread
Mark Eckenwiler, eck@panix.com
WASA may be “a semi-autonomous regional entity” and not part of
DC government, but you'd never know it from their latest stunt. Suppose you had a serious
water emergency (like the water main break that hit several houses in NW recently,
twisting at least one off its foundation). You'd call the longstanding water
leak/emergency report number, 673-6600, right? Alas, all you hear is “this number is
not in service.” Okay, now you call directory assistance, which tells you that the
number is 673-6600. Waves lapping at your shins, you desperately check www.dcwasa.com, which (on those pages not under long-term
“construction”; maybe the web designers, like WASA work crews, are doing private
jobs on company time) has lots of corporate Happy Talk but no obvious phone numbers
anywhere. As you hear the celestial orchestra playing the strains of “Nearer My God
To Thee,” you muse upon the irony that this sort of phone camouflage is Standard
Operating Procedure for DC government agencies.
Thank God WASA managed to obtain a cumulative rate increase of 9.9% over
the next two years, in order to ensure continued quality service. I can't imagine where we
DC ratepayers would be without it.
P.S. The new emergency report number is 612-3400. (Has anyone seen
anything from WASA that provides this information?)
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Today, PSA 106 and other PSA's on Capital Hill will march in protest of
the police department's failure to close three murders in PSA106, including the
much-talked about Susan Svengros investigation. We are also protesting the dismal 20
percent closure rate for homicides, and the lack of accountability and proactivity at the
highest levels of the MPD. The date for the march marks the one-year anniversary of the
most recent PSA 106 homicide, the murder of Susan Svengros. You may recall that Svengros's
investigation was hampered by the Forensic Mobile Crime Units delay in sending part of the
evidence recovered from the crime scene to the FBI. That 5-6 month delay has never been
adequately explained.
When news of this delay received media attention in January of this year,
Chief Ramsey promised to investigate the matter and let the residents know what happened.
In April, after numerous requests for information by residents and our councilmember was
ignored, we finally got what amounted to a form letter response from Chief Gainer.
Gainer's explanation of the subsequent internal police investigation left this community
with more questions than answers. Throughout this past year, police leadership has ignored
pleas for action and information regarding these murders.
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D.C. Is Not Alone
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
Sometimes, it seems we are struggling with unique problems in D.C. I'm in
Portland, Oregon, for an annual pollsters conference, and had a day to explore the city.
The federal presence is quite pronounced with numerous federal buildings, including a
large postmodern skyscraper that is the U.S. Federal Courthouse. In a park across from
City Hall is a rock sculpture, a gift from Portland's sister city, Suzbou City in the
Republic of China. A sign explains that the “GSA accommodated the gift.” I have
been reading the Willamette Week — here's a rundown: Mayor Vera Katz is
being criticized for a police crackdown that turned ugly during a May Day protest. She
praised the police department after they used force to control "hooded
anarchists," but now appears to be softening her praise. The Police Chief told
citizens that “this is how it is going to be,” and “Portland will just have
to get used to it.” A flurry of letters and heavy turnout at forums shows citizens
are angered by what many describe as “violence incited by the police.” One
couple trying to get to their car after paying a parking ticket at the county courthouse
were so incensed by the rudeness of the police they joined the marchers and have become
activists. Citizens are calling for reforming the city's citizen police review panel.
Meanwhile, members of an Education Crisis Team, formed of minority and low income
activists, have vowed to disrupt the board's meetings. A state Senator blasted the
Superintendent and the Board for ignoring the Team's “specific remedies to lagging
minority achievement.” After the Board blamed parents for low test scores, the Crisis
Team responded angrily that “the system always blames the victim.” And, as
logging season approaches, the “Pod People” are setting up their nets in old
growth trees to block federal Forest Service chain saws. One woman featured in an article,
Julia Butterfly Hill, took a stand to defend “Luna,” a family of trees. She
lived in a pod 180 feet up for two years. Luna (an area 2.9 acres) is today protected by a
deal with Pacific Lumber. Activists accuse her of selling out for cutting a deal to
protect her beloved Luna family while other trees remain unprotected. In Chapman Park,
there is a bronze of a pioneer family with this inscription by President Thomas Jefferson
(1804): “It is so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water, that
we have lost memory of it, and seem to have grown out of the land, as you have done. We
are all now of one family, born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers. The Great
Spirit has given you strength, and has given us strength, not that we might hurt one
another, but to do each other all the good in our power.” I suspect there may be a
lot of empathy in the states for D.C.'s situation, if people learn about it.
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Voter turnout has been dismal for years, and yet the elected politicians
seem to think that they represent DC voters, no matter how few their votes. I think real
political empowerment for DC citizens is the capability to vote “No One” for
each political office. I'd really like to see it on the ballot in DC. Wonder how many city
councilmembers would be around next year.
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Board at Midnight
Linda Bumbalo, LBumbalo@aol.com
Keith Jarrell, keithndc@bellatlantic.net, has at least twice said in
themail that the Council met at midnight to vote on a special election for the school
board. It is my understanding that it was the Board of Elections and Ethics that held the
meeting he is referring to.
[Linda is right, only the hour wasn't exactly midnight — the meeting
was held from 9 to 10 p.m. on election day. — Gary Imhoff]
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Fire Trucks for Ambulances
Art Spitzer, artspitzer@aol.com
Randy Wells, Wells@ShawDC.com,
asked, “Why do we send fire trucks to medical emergencies?” If memory serves,
there is a historical answer to this question: one of Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly's closest
friends died because a DC ambulance didn't get to her in time; the policy of sending fire
trucks began shortly afterward because they can get there faster. Luckily there is a
historical answer, because there is no sensible answer.
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More tourists seem to be lost this spring than ever before — I find
them wandering around Cleveland Park looking for the cathedral — yesterday, they were
massed by the Cleveland Park metro looking for the zoo — I consider it an important
mission of living here to help tourists, especially so they don't go home and tell
everyone how awful and rude Washingtonians are. And they're really appreciative when you
ask them if they need directions or assistance.
For those who want to do some local sightseeing on their own, the
Washington Convention and Tourist Authority has published a great pamphlet, thanks to the
DC Heritage Tourism Coalition, about Washington off the mall, the hidden sights of DC
— a wonderful way for all of us to learn more about our city.
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Does anyone know the dates and contact information for the neighborhood
festivals in the District? For instance, Adams Morgan Day? And how about the outdoor
festivals sponsored by the radio stations? I called DC Parks and Rec and the Visitor's
Bureau and neither of them has a list of Spring/Summer festivals. I have a call into the Washington
Post Weekend section, but am hoping you readers can help.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Program on Police Brutality 5/25 at DCPL
Patricia Pasqual, changedc@yahoo.com
Thursday, May 25, 2000, Jill Nelson will introduce her new book an
anthology, Police Brutality. It is a collection of thoughtful essays on the
historical and sociological examination of this persistent domestic problem. The program
is part of the D.C. Center for the Book Spring Author series and will be held in the Main
Lobby of the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, 901G Street, NW, at 6:30 p.m. The
program is co-sponsored by Vertigo Books.
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Capital City Public Charter School — Learn
More on May 30
Andrea Carlson, BintaGay@aol.com
Learn more about Capital City Public Charter School, an exciting new
educational option for DC schoolchildren, opening in September for Pre-K through 4th
grade, and gradually expanding through 8th grade. Capital City offers a challenging
academic program with an emphasis on experiential learning in a small school environment
with low student-teacher ratios and thoughtful instruction from high caliber teachers.
Please come to an information session on Tuesday, May 30, 6:30 p.m., All Souls Unitarian
Church, 16th and Harvard Streets, NW. For more info, call 387-0309 or E-mail capitalcitypcs@aol.com.
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Our Very First Fashion Show, Thursday May 25
Alan Salgado, DCity Magazine, publisher@dcitymag.com
Next Week's event is to be held in Bethesda, MD, at the Shark Club, 4915
St. Elmo Avenue. We've arranged a great show for you with models from Millennium Model
Management, hair styling by Euphoria Hair Salon and swimwear provided by http://www.babybrazil.com. Check out the web site to
get a sneak preview! These suits are hot and just in time for Memorial day weekend. This
event will start a little later than usual, 9 pm and go on until midnight. The show starts
at 11 pm and we'll have Z Vodka as the complimentary drink there as well as some light
fare for you to enjoy. Z104 Radio station will be broadcasting live and we'll have
Brazilian music there as well. Dress is evening casual and there is a huge 6 story public
parking lot on the block. $5 at the door. RSVP or E-mail us at alsal@dcitymag.com with Brazil in the subject line.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Seeking a good experienced dressmaker at reasonable prices to design and
sew some simple designs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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