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May 13, 2007

Reinoso Morality

Dear Moralists:

There’s an episode of the Flash Gordon television series in which Flash and Dale Arden battle Akim the Terrible, a dictator who rules the planet of Karon under a topsy-turvy system of law in which violence and theft are encouraged, and helping the weak resist stronger predators is a crime (http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=248&format=tv&theme=guide). The Flash Gordon series was filmed in West Berlin in the early 1950’s, not long after World War II, so it’s not hard to understand where the idea for this dystopia came from. Distorted moral systems haven’t gone away since then. One only has to think of the moral code advocated by our contemporary gangster rappers, to whom committing crimes is something to brag about, but helping the police solve crimes or locate criminals is shameful. Or one only has to contemplate the reaction — or lack of it — to the wholesale plagiarism committed by our city’s Deputy Mayor of Education, Victor Reinoso, in “writing” Mayor’s Fenty’s academic plan for DC public schools (http://www.dcpswatch.com/mayor/070223.htm).

Honesty and character don’t seem to count with our politicians or political pundits. Plagiarism is theft and cheating; it is dishonest. But of all of our elected officials, only Councilmember Carol Schwartz has unequivocally condemned Reinoso’s dishonesty. The reaction of all other councilmembers and of all of the commentators seems to be that it’s no big deal, nothing to be concerned about. Our own Akim the Terrible, Adrian Fenty, seems to be concerned only that Reinoso got caught and that it may reflect badly on him, not that Reinoso passed off other people’s work and words as his own. Fenty certainly doesn’t feel that Reinoso’s dishonesty requires any reprimand, much less the firing that would come from an honorable administration. No daily newspaper, not the Post, the Times, nor the Examiner, has taken any editorial notice. And even the great majority of our own fellow contributors to themail write in this issue that they condone plagiarism and don’t see anything wrong with it.

There are three possible explanations for this blase and corrupt acceptance of corruption. First is the tendency to contrarianism, to be provocative and take whatever reaction may be opposite to that expected by society. Second is that it is defensiveness as a purely political tactic, to excuse one’s political allies when they are caught doing the inexcusable. Advocates of Fenty’s takeover of the schools don’t want it to be damaged at its very inception by acknowledging the seriousness of this offense. The wrongdoing is so obvious that it can’t be denied, so the defense is to try to increase the public’s cynicism about all politicians, to claim that “everybody does it,” “it happens all the time, whoever’s in charge,” “it’s the way of the world.” Third, and most worrisome, is the possibility that we really do live in a malignant planet of Karon. If plagiarism and theft is the cheapest and most efficient way to get an academic plan written, then what’s the problem with plagiarism? If honesty gets in the way of the taking over the public schools, then what’s the virtue in honesty?

I can’t wait until school contractors are caught double-billing for their repair work, or substituting cheaper materials in their construction projects, or paying under the table (or above it) to get contracts. I can’t wait until school administrators are caught inflating students’ course grades, or leaking questions on standardized tests, or altering records to make it look like the schools’ performance is improving. I can’t wait to hear the excuses of the administration’s apologists and the silence of those who can’t bring themselves to criticize the administration’s wrongdoing. We’ll call it Reinoso morality in this topsy-turvy world.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Norton Misled Colleagues on School Takeover
Marc Borbely, borbely@FixOurSchools.net

Adrian Fenty’s team plagiarized. Eleanor Holmes Norton lied. Here’s what Norton told members of the House on May 8, minutes before they voted to strip the DC Board of Education of its control of the public schools: “I rise to request passage of H.R. 2080. . . . H.R. 2080 is before the Congress only because the current Home Rule Act now in the process of being revised requires that certain changes to the District’s charter be made by Federal legislation. . . . The necessity for a Member of Congress to introduce a bill for a self-governing city is an anachronism neither the Congress nor the District deserves or can afford today. I promise the Congress I will try to make this the last time the House or the Senate is requested to pass a charter bill of no concern and of little interest to the Congress of the United States.” She said the same thing in press releases on May 1 and May 8 (http://tinyurl.com/32zr55 and http://tinyurl.com/2wy3ly).

The truth is that when Congress passed the Home Rule Act in 1973, it allowed the District to amend its own charter. Norton, a Constitutional law professor at Georgetown who knows what our charter says, didn’t tell her colleagues that the charter’s “Charter amending procedure” says the District can amend its charter itself, without any federal legislation — but it has to submit proposed amendments to the voters for ratification (see http://tinyurl.com/26v7b3). Mayor Williams used this procedure to turn the Board of Education into an almost-half-appointed board in 2000.

Tuesday morning, Senator Lieberman will hold a hearing on the DC “Voting Rights” bill. Fenty and Norton are scheduled to testify. Hopefully some democracy-respecting Senator will ask them, “Why are you asking Congress to change your charter — your version of a state constitution — instead of putting this before your own constituents? Citizens in 49 states must approve changes to their state constitutions. Why are you asking us to bypass District residents on this?” Maybe some Senators will respect the people of the District of Columbia more than do Ms. Norton or Mr. Fenty, or the eight Councilmembers who specifically voted against putting this to a referendum (Wells, Gray, Catania, Barry, Evans, Cheh, Thomas, and Graham).

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Budget Deliberations
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

On Tuesday the city council, meeting as the Committee of the Whole, will consider and vote on the District’s FY2008 budget (the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Request Act of 2007, Bill 17-147) and budget support act (Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Support Act of 2007, Bill 17-148). At Tuesday’s meeting, however, the council will, with few exceptions, simply publicly approve decisions that it has already made at a series of private meetings it held last week. During recent council committee meetings that were held on May 2 through 4 to mark up the FY2008 budget, several councilmembers suggested that it really didn’t matter what the individual committees decided, since the discussions that "really counted" would occur during the council’s private deliberations on the budget. Council Chairman Vincent Gray had already scheduled a week of private meetings for the entire council to discuss unresolved and unfunded spending issues that came up during the committee budget markups. During these meetings last week, councilmembers discussed the shortfall in the budget of the Department of Human Resources, funding for repairs to Georgetown Library and Eastern Market, the rent supplement program, additional funding for the University of the District of Columbia and the Department of Employment Services, cuts to early childhood education and youth violence prevention initiatives, tax relief proposals, the Chief Financial Officer’s revised revenue estimate, and the budget support act.

So, which I learned that Chairman Gray had scheduled three private meetings to be held in Room 502 of the Wilson Building, I decided that I would attend them. DC Code 1-305 specifically states that, “All meetings of the Council at which official action is taken shall be open to the public. No resolution, rule, act, or other official action shall be effective unless taken, made, or enacted at an open meeting.” Councilmembers have routinely evaded the open meeting requirement by holding their detailed deliberations and discussions at private meetings during which they reach agreement and consensus, but by reserving the formality of taking votes for public meetings. When I crashed the first day’s meeting, Cynthia Brock-Smith, the Secretary to the Council, tried to bar me, but I insisted that it seemed to be a meeting of the council because all of the councilmembers were attending, and decisions appeared to be being made. I took a seat, and I wasn’t evicted from that meeting or from the subsequent two days’ meetings.

Councilmembers arrived at these decisions, among others: 1) passing tax relief legislation for individuals, property owners, and small businesses (including up to a 5 percent property tax cap, $4,000 increase in the homestead deduction, $1,500 increase in the standard income tax deduction, estate and inheritance tax relief, and small business commercial property tax relief). 2) Establishing a five-member Economic Development Authority to replace the National Capital Revitalization Corporation and the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation. 3) Striking from the Budget Support Act the $57 million sole source contract that EdBuild (formerly headed by Neil Albert, the current Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development) had negotiated with DC Public Schools to modernize MacFarland Middle School, Rudolph Elementary School, and Backus Middle School. 4) Funding the rebuilding of Eastern Market and the Georgetown Library ($33.5 million in FY2007 and $6.5 million in FY2008 for both). 5) Restoring full funding for the Office of Contracts and Procurement and the Department of Human Services (Personnel), which had been virtually eliminated by Mayor Fenty. 6) Transferring certain housing programs from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to the Department of Housing and Community Development. 7) Making a series of grants, in excess of $15 million, to politically connected groups such as the Greater Washington Sports Alliance, the Friends of Kennedy Playground, the Ward 7 Business and Professional Association, and the African American Civil War Memorial Foundation. 8) Eliminating Mayor Fenty's proposed increase in 911 fees. 9) Eliminating $850,000 in funding for the baseball stadium art project, arguing that it would take the stadium project over the cap on construction costs.

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Public Art for the New Baseball Stadium
Mike Licht, mikelicht@yahoo.com

Submission for DC Creates, public art for the new baseball stadium, a suspended installation, are due on Monday, June 18, at 5:00 p.m. The total budget is $200,000. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, in collaboration with the Washington Nationals, the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, and Hellmuth Obata and Kassabaum, PC, seeks an artist or artist team to design and create a suspended public art installation along the main concourse of the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium. The goal of this public art project is to provide an exciting arts enhancement to the interior of the ballpark while celebrating the spirit of our national pastime. The work will be visible along the main concourse, across the field from Baseball Plaza, and from street level on the south side of the ballpark. The total budget for the project is $200,000.

Download the new baseball stadium suspended installation call for artists from http://dcarts.dc.gov/dcarts/frames.asp?doc=/dcarts/lib/dcarts/baseball_suspended_installation5.8.07_newlogo.pdf. For more information, contact Emily Blumenfeld or Meridith McKinley at art@viapartnership.com or call 314-664-5902.

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WTU Election Ballots Mailed Today
Erich Martel, ehmartel at starpower dot net

Washington Teachers’ Union members are reminded to mail their ballots early this week. They must be received by the Department of Labor by May 19 at 8:45 a.m. Be sure to put 41 cents postage on the envelope -- that’s the new postage rate, effective May 14.

If you are a member and did not receive a ballot, you can request a duplicate ballot by calling, faxing, E-mailing or mailing the Department of Labor Election Supervisors: Jennifer Pallotta, 513-7314, 513-7301 fax, pallotta.jennifer@dol.gov; Erneka Gray, 513-7308, 513-7301 fax, gray.erneka@dol.gov; mail 800 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 120, 20002-4244.

The deadline for duplicate ballot requests is May 18, which may be a bit too late, since the ballots must be received by May 19 at 8:45 a.m.

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DC Voting Rights: Wait Until 2009?
Ed Davis, edavis@commoncause.org

Ed Barron’s post calling the current fight for DC voting representation a waste of time and energy [themail, May 9] was way off the mark. He says wait until Dems control Congress and the White House. Wait? That’s what DC’s been doing for over two hundred years. Wait for Dems to win the presidency? That’s not a strategy, that’s giving up and expecting someone else to help us win the fight. The current effort will succeed, but even if it does not the history of all civil rights legislation is that you have to be in the fight for the long haul. You build on the success and momentum from the previous Congress. That’s what’s happening with the DC Voting Rights Act, which started in the 108th Congress. No way advocates are going to sit down now and wait. We’ve waited long enough.

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Plagiarism in DC Schools
Cecilio Morales, cecilio.morales@gmail.com

[Re: themail’s comment May 9 that “If [Deputy Mayor for Education Victor] Reinoso were a student in DC public schools and turned in this work product in a course, he would get an F on the assignment, an F for the course, and he would be subject to suspension.”] Don’t be so sure. About a decade or so ago, I was twice asked by one of my sons’ history teachers, Ms. Mostoller, to serve as a volunteer judge of papers for the History Fair at Alice Deal Junior High, right off Nebraska Avenue, NW. Both times I was assigned to judge papers from classes other than those of my son, of course. The first time I was surprised just how much Web plagiarism there was, and I gave zero ratings to a number of them, telling them to ask their teacher to explain plagiarism.

The second time, however, there was an egregious case of parent-as-author. A boy submitted as his a paper whose style in its body was that of a university graduate, but whose bibliography notes suddenly reverted to the more clumsy language of junior highschoolers, similar to the other papers. I reported my grave doubts about authorship to Ms. Mostoller, who said other judges had expressed similar doubts. When I went to the awards ceremony (my son won in another category, in an altogether different grade) I discovered that the plagiarist won a prize and had been chosen to represent his grade for DC in a national contest. I protested loudly to Ms. Mostoller right then and there, and she expressed only worry that the mother would hear. Later I wrote a letter to the principal, Mr. Moss, for the record. To my knowledge nothing whatsoever was done.

This is one of the dirty little secrets of the DC Public Schools. The desperation to look good in the face of an abysmal reputation is so great that neither teachers nor administrators can face up to plagiarism even when it is pointed out. The DC Public Schools do get a bad rap, insofar as I am concerned. Both my sons got into college and were able to keep up with the work at Fordham and Harvard universities. Yet, zero tolerance on plagiarism? Not my experience.

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Hooray for Plagiarism
Henry Townsend, henrytow@gmail.com

We all know that one of the inefficiencies of the DC school system has been the hugely too large overhead staff, the masses of people who neither teach nor maintain the physical plant nor supervise those who do. People who more or less reinvent the wheel, such as developing curricula for inner-city schools — or plans for the future.

Therefore, we should all be glad that for once we adopted plans from other school systems rather than pretending that hundreds of DC staff were needed to do the job ab initio. Admittedly, the sources of the academic plan should have been more carefully credited rather than plagiarized, if only as a matter of example to the students.

Two cheers, then, for “plagiarist Victor Reinoso,” who not only adopted best practices from other school systems for the new school plan but also did not ask the expensive, incompetent DC overhead staff to do so.

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DC School Plan Plagiarism?
Paul Miller, Ward 3, crestview306@hotmail.com

If the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school plan worked, what’s the big deal with modeling the DC school plan after it? Plagiarism? It’s not like this is an academic paper that’s being submitted for credit. The important issue is whether or not the Charlotte-Mecklenburg plan was a good one, whether it worked for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and whether it can be applied effectively to the situation with DC schools such that it would likely lead to improvements. Why is no one asking these important questions? If the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system plan works, why not use it for DC’s schools? Who cares if it’s been copied? I don’t get what all the fuss about so-called "plagiarism" is about. At the very least, references to locations, personal names, and titles much have been changed to reflect that fact the plan would be applied to DC’s school system. If not, then that’s called stupidity, not plagiarism.

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Stupid?, Yes. Smart?, Yes
Ed T Barron, edtb1@macdotcom

Ah, those holier-than-thou folks decrying plagiarism when Fenty’s minions copy a successful educational process. Wake up folks. It’s not necessary, nor good business practice, to reinvent the wheel. In my team building practice with businesses and universities I have always encouraged teams to do their homework to find other organizations that are successfully employing processes that work. These successful practices are written up in business and educational journals for all the world to see. Teams make contact with the organization that is using a successful process and, with their blessing, you see that process being implemented. This is not called plagiarism, it is called benchmarking. It is an accepted practice in business and in the world of academia. To copy the words exactly from someone else’s tome is stupid. To use a proven process and not try to reinvent the wheel is smart benchmarking.

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Plagiarism
Harold Foster, Petworth, incanato@earthlink.net

Okay, let’s address this issue and get on with it, shall we. As I see it there are three options on the table, mostly for the mayor and Mr. Reinoso, but more broadly for the citizens of this city. 1) Fenty can withdraw his takeover proposal. An anonymous senator [since identified as Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)] has placed a hold on Senate action to approve the takeover anyway. So, theoretically, the city leadership could use this opportunity to withdraw the takeover proposal, submit it to referendum and see if the citizens of this City still think this somewhat radical solution is worth pursuing.

2) Fenty can try to mend fences with those in the city who think that this incident alone, for the most part, so damages his credibility that the entire concept of mayoral control of DC Public Schools is now either problematic or invalid. Just how he’d do that, short of doing another one of his door-to-door tours of this town, escapes me at the moment. But, in this era of YouTube and MySpace and Internet TV, he and his senior staff surely can come up with a PR campaign that balances embarrassment and apologies for this inexcusable gaffe with a reminder of why a radical restructuring of school governance here is needed in the first place. 3) Reinoso can fall on his sword. This is probably the cleanest and quickest, although least dispositive, way to resolve the current controversy. And, again, it wouldn’t necessarily quiet the anxieties of those who were always unsure whether this approach to reforming DCPS was the way to go in the first place.

One thing is clear: Fenty has effectively two academic years, AY 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, to make significant — and I mean significant — progress toward the goals that he says only this restructuring can accomplish. After that he is vulnerable to an I-told-you-so candidate in the 2010 elections. Two school years isn’t a lot of time to turn around a school system as troubled as DCPS is. The bottom line here, though, should be the children. When the Book says "suffer the children," subjecting them to a school system like we have here is not what the Original Reformer meant.

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May 2007 InTowner
Peter Wolff, newsroom@intowner.com

This is to advise that the May 2007 on-line edition has been uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com. Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports, editorials (including prior months’ archived), restaurant reviews (prior months’ also archived), and the text from the ever-popular “Scenes from the Past” feature (the accompanying images can be seen in the archived PDF version). Also included are all current classified ads. The complete issue (along with prior issues back to August 2003) also is available in PDF file format directly from our home page at no charge simply by clicking the link in the Current & Back Issues Archive. Here you will be able to view the entire issue as it appears in print, including all photos and advertisements. The next issue will publish on June 8 (the second Friday of the month, as always). The complete PDF version will be posted by the preceding night or early that Friday morning at the latest, following which the text of the lead stories, community news, and selected features will be uploaded shortly thereafter.

To read this month’s lead stories, simply click the link on the home page to the following headlines: 1) “Proposed ‘Dog Park’ Regs Announced by DPR Upset Dog and Non-Dog Owning Neighbors — Ward 1 Councilmember Graham Weighs In”; 2) “Long-Delayed H.D. Cooke School Rehab Project Finally Underway — Pressure By Many Credited”; 3) “Former Danzansky Funeral Home Designated Historic Landmark Over Strong Objections?”

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events, May 15-17
Randi Blank, randi.blank@dc.gov

Tuesday, May 15, 12:00 p.m., West End Neighborhood Library, 1101 24th Street, NW. Book club discussion, Their Eyes Were Watching God. For more information, call 724-8707.

Tuesday, May 15, 7:00 p.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V Street, NW. Palisades Stamp Club. For more information, call 282-3139.

Wednesday, May 16, 6:00 p.m., Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library, 5625 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Rosemary E. Reed-Miller, author and owner of Toast and Strawberries, will discuss her book, The Threads of Time, The Fabric of History: Profiles of African American Dressmakers and Designers, 1850 to the Present. For more information, call 282-0021.

Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 p.m., Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library, 3660 Alabama Avenue, SE. American Red Cross CPR. Certified instructor Officer Arthur Lawson will teach beginners to administer CPR. This program is supported by the Elizabeth Holden Bequest. For more information, call 645-4297.

Thursday, May 17, 6:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Great Hall. Ladino songs collector Elena Tscherny presents an evening of Sephardic music, including sing-a longs, in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month. For more information, call 727-1183.

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Pas-de-Dirt Dance Performance, May 20
Lauren Searl, lsearl@nbm.org

Sunday, May 20, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 p.m., at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. “Pas-de-Dirt” is a site-specific dance performance that examines the relationship between movement, architecture, and the tools we use to build our environment. Choreographed by Takoma Park-based Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and set to music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, the performance involves a cast including propane-powered back hoes and their licensed operators, professional dance artists, and ballet students. Families can enjoy the performances that are the fourth event in Street Scenes: Projects for DC, a series of citywide public art events that aim to bring contemporary art into the public domain and insert art experiences into unexpected places. The project has been made possible through the support of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Montgomery County Public Art Trust, and additional individual and corporate donors. Free. Registration not required.

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Ward 4 Democrats Notice of Elections, July 10
Erwin C. Miller, ecm.jazz@comcast.net

In keeping with our bylaws, at our July 10 meeting the Ward 4 Democrats will elect the following officers for two-year terms: president, first vice president, second vice president, recording secretary, corresponding secretary, treasurer, financial secretary. The meeting will be held at the Fourth District Police Precinct, 6001 Georgia Avenue, NW.

Anyone who is interested in running for any of these positions may request a declaration of candidacy form by contacting Erwin C. Miller, the Ward 4 Democrats chair of the nominating committee. You can reach him by phone on 829-0274 or by E-mail at ecm.jazz@comcast.net. Application deadline is Friday, June 8, at 7:00 p.m.

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