Parental Uninvolvement

Dear Parental Figures:

City officials speak the rhetoric of parental involvement in our children's educations, but they don't really mean it. Instead, the city does everything it can to discourage parents from concerning themselves with their children'' schools and from having any say in their children's education. School officials, the people in charge, know that they are better equipped than parents to make decisions about their children's schooling, because they formulate their decisions based on academic studies and the latest and most fashionable and faddish of experts' theories. Parents need to be given an opportunity to spout off their emotional nonsense and vent their anger, so school and city officials go through the motions of giving them an empty opportunity to, essentially, spit into the wind. But of course whatever the parents say will not have any influence over the wise and objective decisions that the school officials have made. They're the officials; they know best. 

The press sides with the officials and the experts, of course, but does chide them for not making a better pretense of taking seriously the irrational and unreasonable opinions of parents before going ahead and doing what they always intended to do. After all, fathers and mothers don't know anything about what's best for their kids, but even the stupid parents and citizens of the District of Columbia can understand that when the administration schedules twenty-three separate meetings about school closings on the same night, their "input" won't be listened to, will count for nothing, and will have no effect. Administration officials need to placate these foolish parents and citizens better, and then proceed full speed ahead to ignore what the parents and citizens want. 

This is what passes for reform in the District of Columbia. 

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com 

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What You Do for the Least of These
Tim Siegel, timsiegel@earthlink.net

On January 9, The Washington Post ran a story by Paul Duggan [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/08/AR2008010803948.html] about the report issued by University Legal Services [http://www.uls-dc.org/Patients_in_Peril_2008_final.pdf] on the dismal and deadly health care provided to patients at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. While Peter Nickles noted that each of the many deaths there was an unfortunate tragedy, he defensively defended the record of St. E's by stating it was comparable to other such hospitals in the US! Ignoring the evidence, and there is a lot of it, that there were glaring tragic lapses, if not systemic failure, in patient care, Nickles' view suggests the District will use and aim for the lowest possible measure: other public mental hospitals. I though the Fenty administration was all about setting higher (and responsible) expectations. 

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The Department of Parks and Recreation: More of the Same
Jonetta Rose Barras, rosebook1@aol.com

Kara Sholas had been the permit officer at the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) for less than six months and already she had sized up one of the agency's major problems. “DPR is struggling to maintain fields, park sites, recreation and aquatic centers. Each year there are less staff and more needs to be met,” she wrote on September 6, in an E-mail to then-Acting Director Clark Ray, according to documents I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Sholas didn't mention that has been a revolving door to the DPR director's office. In the past five years, there have been five interim, acting, or permanent directors. Ray is number five; he was confirmed by the DC council last week. The department's workforce, largely composed by design of temporary and term appointees, has exacerbated instability at the senior level.

The agency's bill of ills is extensive. As Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration enters its second year, the DPR, a $51 million operation with over seven hundred full-time equivalent positions, remains what it was under former Mayor Anthony A. Williams: one of the worst agencies in the government. The Barras Report begins a four part series on DPR. Read Pat 1 at http://www.jrbarras.com.

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The Fiscal and Educational Consequences of Closing DC Schools
Dennis Moore, dennis@DCIndependents.org

Education Week rated DC public schools near the bottom with a D+ as one of the nation's worst performing school systems in its detailed 2008 annual fifty-state report. This eye-opening analysis of District schools can be read in its entirety at http://www.EdWeek.org/media/ew/qc/2008/18shr.dc.h27.pdf. Despite the devastating details, Mayor Fenty's takeover team (Michelle Rhee, Victor Reinoso, Allen Lew, and de facto mayor Dan Tangherlini) uses the logic that fewer public schools and educators will raise the educational status of the District of Columbia. After one year, we have clearly elected and appointed officials that are running a major national and world capital like a small rural county.

There's a lot to be said about DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's meetings on school closings. Having attended a few, it's abundantly clear that the takeover team also has no clue about communicating with District communities or the DC council. Justified suspicion comes from their secrecy and clear lack of transparency. If fact, the more Rhee and associates talk (or don't talk), the more you realize they don't have an actual comprehensive plan of their own. It's amateur hour in the nation's capital, and there are truly weak checks and balances from our councilmembers. The heavy hostility and fearful questions from a variety of parents, across all eight wards, has been hard to bear even for one evening's meeting. There's a definite sense of betrayal, disgust, and dictatorship behind the feelings of parents and educators who expected a partnership with Fenty's takeover team. You don't hear much about "parent involvement" from officials anymore. Parents' questions are usually answered with scripted responses that provide no indication about real intentions. Now the takeover team seeks to create more purposeful chaos, a classic divide and conquer tactic, by having twenty-three separate meetings for hundreds of disgusted parents from twenty-three schools on January 17.

However, through all of the takeover team's rhetoric, dodging, and purposeful manipulation, has anyone thought about what's really going on? Have we thought outside this box, or even about the box itself? Closing public schools is not a minor matter. The price for implementing desperate and undisclosed solutions has unintended major educational and fiscal consequences. We've been here before. Therefore, here are five critically important questions to consider in 2008, and before our next DC election: 1) What happens if the District's family population rises and there are not enough nearby schools, operating revenue, school personnel, and property space to build schools? 2) Beyond a fiscally expensive new baseball stadium, pricey stores, dwindling affordable housing, and crime emergencies, what will be the attraction for revenue-generating families to move into the District if there are not enough good and conveniently located schools for their children? 3) Are Mayor Adrian Fenty, the takeover team, some councilmembers and condo developers speculating that mostly or only high income childless couples and singles will gentrify and finance the District? 4) Is the real deal behind the selling of school properties and other taxpayer-owned assets actually due to the DC fiscal crisis that Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi knows is coming? And 5), are we actually witnessing, but not talking about, America's biggest yard sale of schools and other taxpayer owned properties to raise money for DC's coming fiscal crisis? What happened to the billions in revenue mayor Fenty and others said was budgeted for school improvements, based on dissed and dismissed Superintendent Clifford Janey's plan? Let's not forget about the millions of stolen dollars to be revealed in the ongoing federal investigations and indictments. All of this sounds like a shell game behind a crap game.

“The Perp Walk” may become the title of Chuck Brown's newest DC dance song. The chickens of systemic District government corruption, deception, incompetence and waste are quickly coming home to roost. So, stay tuned, make a fail-safe plan, and hold on to your wallet. In the meantime, anyone interested in the dirty details of effectively educating and thoroughly preparing our children for a globalized twenty-first century, read about the ESP (Excellent Schools Plan) Public Academy concept at http://www.DCIndependents.org/#CitizenControlOfDCSchools .

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Federal Grant Money at DC Historic Preservation Office Used for Staff Salary? 
Paul Williams, DCHouseHistory@aol.com

In the past seven years or so, I've watched the amount of (federal) grant money provided by the DC Historic Preservation Office for community preservation projects go down from $250,000 to less than $50,000 offered this year for grants. Why? Its not a decrease in federal funds, as they have actually increased. Apparently the office is using the money to hire contract staff to circumnavigate city hiring practices. These temporary contractors, funded yearly, have direct access to policy meetings, notes, and other inside information without anyone knowing that they are not city employees. Some of them even have dual roles, working on projects funded by the Historic Preservation Office grants to private contractors. 

They should and could be replaced with genuine city positions to avoid this blatant conflict, and to free up funds intended for a wide variety of community preservation projects and products. I certainly don't see personnel or staff emphasized in the NPS Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) manual or in the annual appropriations bills: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/hpf/.

For example, in 2004, the DC HPO received a whopping $447,041 in HPF grants from the National Park Service (P.L. 108-108). HPF grants are funded on a 60 percent matching share basis by DC. In 2004, therefore, DC added funds (40 percent or $78,816) for a total of about $625,857 that should have been available for community preservation grants of all kinds. How much did the HPO actually offer for grants with products that year? Less than $70,000. The HPF funds are to be used on grants being only for "architectural, historical, archeological surveys; nominations to the National Register of Historic Places; staff work for historic preservation commissions [volunteers in most States]; design guidelines and preservation plans; public outreach materials such as publications, videos, exhibits, and brochures; training for commission members and staff; and rehabilitation or restoration of National Register-listed properties." Would anyone interpret this as spending 90 percent of the federal funds on staff salary?

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The Jacks Family
Leo Alexander, leo_alexander1@yahoo.com

It's become painfully obvious that the schools aren't solely the problem. It's the failure of the social services safety net in our state and the absence of compassion for each other in our community. And nothing demonstrates this more than the grisly discovery of the bodies of those four young girls in southeast Washington, DC. The coroner says they may have been dead since May of 2007. DC Public Schools, DC Child and Family Services, neighborhood churches, next door neighbors, and their extended family all are culpable in their deaths. Someone had to know that their mother had severe mental problems, and no one did anything.

It is my hope that their deaths has the same effect on our collective moral consciousness in this state as the deaths of the four little girls in the Birmingham church bombing had on the Movement.

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GAO Reports on DC School Voucher Program
Bonnie J. Cain, bjcain@earthlink.net

The GAO reports that the DC voucher program, titled the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program and operated by the contractor, the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF), was poorly administered: “. . . [A]ccountability was further weakened by high staff turnover, a lack of detailed fiscal policies, and nonintegrated accounting functions.” The participating private schools “. . . varied widely in the number of openings available to scholarship students, and few openings were available at the secondary level. The characteristics of participating schools varied, and some schools did not meet basic requirements to operate in the District, but the information WSF provided to parents to help them choose schools for children was not always complete and correct.” Finally, because of factors out of the control of the evaluator, there still is little evidence that DC students did or did not benefit from participation in the program. See full GAO report at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d089.pdf.

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DPW Schedule for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
Nancee Lorn, nanceelorn@yahoo.com

On Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, Monday, January 21, Department of Public Works offices will be closed to observe the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Most DPW services will be suspended, including trash and recycling collections, street and alley cleaning, and parking enforcement (meters, residential and rush hour lane restrictions, and booting, towing or abandoned vehicle removal). All services will resume Tuesday, January 22. Trash and recycling collections in once-a-week collection neighborhoods will “slide” to the next day for the remainder of the week. In neighborhoods with twice-weekly trash collections, Monday and Thursday collections will be made Tuesday and Friday, and Tuesday and Friday collections will be made Wednesday and Saturday. DPW will, however, collect leaves and holiday trees on the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday. 

We are extending our leaf and holiday tree collections through the end of January to make up for time lost due to actual and predicted snow events. Our leaf collection team is the backbone of our snow response team, which means they discontinue collecting leaves when snow or other winter storms are predicted. In December, we had one actual snow event and predictions of three others. For public safety reasons, we switch our leaf collection equipment to snow fighting equipment to be ready when snow falls. DPW reminds residents that leaves should be raked into tree box spaces or bagged and placed at curbside for collection. Residents disposing of holiday trees and other greenery should strip them of all ornaments and tinsel, and place these items at the curb. Trees and greenery collected from curbside by during January will be mulched. 

After January, residents who want their trees to be mulched may bring them to the Ft. Totten Trash Transfer Station at 4900 Bates Road, NE, where a special container will hold the trees for pick up by a contractor. This service will be available until it is determined that there is no further need for this service and the season has ended. Ft. Totten is open to residents weekdays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., except on holidays, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Residents also may place their trees with their trash and the collection crews will pick them up as space permits in their trucks. These trees will be taken to the landfill. For questions about these collections, please call 727-1000.

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Like, Who Cares?
Bill Coe, bceedeec@gmail.com

To Mr. Goldberg, re Rhee [themail, January 9]: My reaction to Michelle Rhee' s style of language was in line with yours. Initially I too was a bit surprised and disappointed. Then I reflected that there are suitable ways of communicating (as she did) in spontaneous conversation that differ from what's acceptable in unscripted public speaking (as she does at community meetings) or in formal speechmaking (as she does in testimony before the city council). In this case, she was caught in an informal exchange with a reporter and spoke like the relatively young person she is. 

Your hunch is correct: it's a generational thing. We're the fogeys here, dude, and we need to, like, get a life. 

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DC Republican Primary Update
Paul D. Craney, pcraney@dcgop.com

The DC Republican primary is fast approaching. On February 12, DC has a winner-take-all primary with sixteen delegates up for grabs, for a total of nineteen delegates. For the first time ever, DC Republicans will have five candidates to choose from: Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul. The last day to register to vote as a Republican in the District of Columbia to be able to vote in the February primary is this Monday, January 14. With five candidates on the DC ballot, Maryland and Virginia both holding primaries on the same day as DC, and no clear front runner, this primary is shaping up to be very exciting.

If you haven't done so already, please register to vote as a Republican in the District of Columbia. The DC Republican Committee will be holding a straw poll on January 31, less then two weeks before the primary. Go to http://www.dcgop.com/events.html to learn more. The local Log Cabin Republicans are sponsoring a candidate forum, with local surrogates speaking on behalf of their candidates. To find out more, contact Chris Scalise at cmscalise@comcast.net. If you have any questions about the DC primary, please feel free to contact us at 289-8005 or E-mail us at: info@dcgop.com.

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January 2008 InTowner
Peter Wolff, intowner@intowner.com

This is to advise that the January 2008 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). The complete issue (along with prior issues back to January 2002) 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 February 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) “Homeowners Score Major Win in Federal Court Against DC with Decision Ruling on Violation of Fourth Amendment Civil Rights Protections”; 2) “Vandalism to Landmark Tree Shocks Neighbors; Police Seek Information;” 3) “Jubilee Housing Celebrates First of Its Renovated Adams Morgan Apartment Buildings.”

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

National Building Museum Events, January 14, 16-17
Jasmine Zick, jzick@nbm.org

Monday, January 14, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Spotlight on Design: Jacques Ferrier. French architect and researcher Jacques Ferrier presents his work and concepts for Hypergreen — an environmentally-friendly, mixed-use tower that uses a “grid skin” built of concrete, and wind turbines that generate on-site electricity. $12 members; $12 students; $20 public. Prepaid registration required. Walk-in registration based on availability.

Wednesday, January 16, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Building for the 21st Century: Sustainable Buildings Industry Council 2007 Awards. Find out how the top three winners of the 2007 Sustainable Buildings Industry Council Awards incorporate a holistic approach to their design and construction projects. Free; no registration required.

Thursday, January 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture. Barry Bergdoll, curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, explores the significance of Marcel Breuer, one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. This lecture is held in conjunction with Marcel Breuer: Design and Architecture, which will be open for viewing. $12 members; $12 students; $20 public. Prepaid registration required. Walk-in registration based on availability. All events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square stop, Metro Red Line. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.

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Save Our Neighborhood Schools Coalition Protest Rally, January 14
Candi Peterson, kepmclp@msn.com

I am an elected Washington Teachers' Union representative for DCPS teachers and related service providers. I am also a member of the Save our Neighborhood Schools Coalition. I was one of the organizers of the first teacher-initiated protest rally on December 7. Many of the newspapers have not been covering that DCPS teachers and related service providers are a part of the save our neighborhood schools coalition. I wanted to make you aware that the save our neighborhood schools coalition is a group of DCPS teachers and related service providers, parents, community members, and activists who will hold a third protest rally on Monday, January 14, from 9-10 a.m. at the John Wilson Building just before the council hearings on school closures. We are currently reaching out to the community to get teachers/service providers, parents, and community members to participate in our unity rally from all around the city . We have the support of Councilmember Harry Thomas and Councilmember Marion Barry. We also plan to boycott the twenty-three simultaneous meetings that Chancellor Rhee's and Mayor Fenty will hold on the same night and request that all will attend The Peoples Meeting instead on January 17, at 6:30 p.m at the John Wilson District Building. We hope that you can be there.

I believe that the current proposals to close twenty-three public schools exclude public input, lack transparency, and disrespect the city's educational stakeholders -- the very people who have held this system together. Arbitrary and capricious proposals absent the fiscal, material and human resources for successful implementation do not support the educational best interests of students. Our coalition believes that the mayor has a hidden agenda and, given that our school buildings are viewed as valuable assets to private developers, there may be a more sinister reason behind the closing all of the proposed twenty-three schools. We do not support using public property for profit, yet we support sound educational reform with the input of all critical stakeholders.

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Presidential Candidates Forum, January 16
Katie Coon, kcoon@democraticwoman.org

Representatives for the presidential contenders will participate in a presidential candidates forum on January 16, 5:30-8:30 p.m., at the Woman's National Democratic Club, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. The event is open to the public. Cost is $15, and includes light fare; there will be a cash bar. RSVP to Patricia Fitzgerald, 232-7363, pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org.

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Ward Three Democratic Committee Community Meeting, January 17
Thomas M. Smith, tmfsmith@starpower.net 

The Ward Three Democratic Committee will sponsor a community meeting featuring DC Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi. In addition to updating the committee on the current status of DC's finances, Dr. Gandhi will respond to questions from the community. Thursday, January 17, 7:15 p.m.-9:00 p.m., at St. Columba's Episcopal Church, 4201 Albemarle Street, NW. Anita Bonds, Chair, DC Democratic State Committee, will also speak, and the Ward Three Democratic Committee will vote to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate at the meeting.

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Friends of the Cleveland Park Library Annual Meeting, January 19
Jill Bogard, jill_bogard at ace.nche.edu

The Friends of the Cleveland Park Library cordially invite you to our annual meeting on Saturday, January 19, at 10:00 a.m. at the Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW, at Macomb Street, second floor meeting room. (Take red line to Cleveland Park; walk south one long block to Macomb Street; you'll pass the Uptown Theater.) Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper will be the guest speaker. Ginnie will speak at the beginning of the meeting. Our business meeting and elections will follow. Many of you will remember that Ginnie spoke at our last annual meeting in January 2007. At that time she had been on the job for only six months, and was confronted by a library system in distress. Collections in poor condition, insufficient staffing, and a crumbling infrastructure were just a few of the problems she faced. She candidly acknowledged the challenges ahead, and pledged to work towards creating a library system that all District citizens could be proud of. It's one year later, and significant changes have been made. Come hear what's been done, what's in the works, and what's in store for the DC Public Library System.

You do not need to be a member of the Friends of the Cleveland Park Library to attend. All are welcome! Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you think may be interested. Jill Bogard, president; Judy Smith, vice president; Rich Mandelbaum, secretary; Nathalie Black, treasurer.

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Ward 5 Democrats January 2008 Meeting, January 21
Hazel B. Thomas, thomashazelb@aol.com

Monday, January 21, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Michigan Park Christian Church, Taylor Street at South Dakota Avenue, NE. Chairman Tim Thomas, presiding. There will be a brief business meeting, followed by a Ward 5 Democrats presidential candidate representatives debate and straw poll. 

Volunteers are needed for the 2008 pre-primary delegate selection caucus, which will be held at McKinley Technical High School, 151 T Street, NE, on Saturday, January 19, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. At this caucus, we shall elect delegates to represent the presidential nominees at the 2008 National Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado. Shuttle buses to McKinley will be available to and from the New York Avenue/Florida Avenue Metro Station from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Contact the DC Democratic State Committee at 347-7260 or go to http://www.DCDSC.org. 

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Watha T. Daniel Library Demolition Commemoration, January 22
Archie D. Williams, archie.williams@dc.gov

You are invited to an event to commemorate the demolition of the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library. Tuesday, January 22, 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. At the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library site, 945 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. 

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Joel Kovel at Busboys and Poets, January 28
Jenefer Ellingston, jellingston@greens.org

On Monday, January 28, 6:30-8:00 p.m., come to Busboys & Poets , 14th and V Streets, NW, to hear author, professor, doctor, editor, and social activist Joel Kovel lecture and discuss his new book, Overcoming Zionism. What is the "right" resolution for Palestine and Israel? Will they choose two nation states or one? Sponsored by the Statehood Green Party; for more information, call 546-0940.

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Quality of Service Hearings, February 7, 9
Kami Corbett, kcorbett@opc-dc.gov

Let the DC council know about your experiences with PEPCO, Washington Gas, and Verizon at the citywide utility quality of service hearings. Hearings will be held at the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, before the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs. Thursday, February 7, 10:00 a.m., in the fifth floor council chambers and Saturday, February 9, at 11:00 a.m., in room 412. Anyone wishing to testify at the hearings should contact Aukima Benjamin, abenjamin@dccouncil.us. For more information, contact the Office of the People's Counsel, 727-3071 or ccceo@opc-dc.gov. 

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CLASSIFIEDS — RENTAL

Vacation Rental in Italy
Dorinda White, dorindaw@gmail.com

Easter in Italy? Or at any other time. My longtime friend has a beautiful bed and breakfast available for your stay (fifteen rooms/double occupancy/private bath) in a small village outside of Perugia, Italy (province of Umbria, near Assisi). Take your family and/or friends. Take the entire villa or just a few rooms, either way you will be made to feel at home. You will feel like family! It is owner occupied and run just like a real Italian family environment. There is a van for transport of small groups. A well known cashmere entity is also nearby.

If you've ever wanted to put together a group of friends and take art classes, have a cooking school week, attend Umbria Jazz or the Festival dei Due Mondi, if want to hold a seminar/classes/workshop in Italy, organize a girls week of shopping in Florence/Rome, or wish to have a wedding there, this is the place you can make it happen. They are open to ideas/suggestions as to how to encourage/invite travelers to visit Villa Solomeo. Just let me know what you have in mind!

This villa was built in 1694 ( I lived there off and on during my ten-year residence in Italy when the villa was in its rustic state) and renovated about seven years ago. It looks over an Umbrian valley. It was at this villa that I learned to make homemade pasta; can homegrown tomatoes; get into a giant vat to stomp grapes to make "mosto," the first pressing of the grapes; where I also learned to relish the taste of either black or white truffles just found in the forest; to use a handmade mortar and pestle to grind fresh grown basil from the garden, homemade olive oil, and just-picked pine nuts to make pesto; how to make homemade gnocchi; and how to make foccacia in a gigantic rustic fireplace. The villa is near Lago Trasimeno where the Romans fought with Hannibal, not far from the Perugina Chocolate factory where I taught ESOL, and near Ellesse where I also taught English to the owners. It's a brief train or car ride to Florence or Rome and not far from Gubbio! Wonderful memories for me and awaiting the opportunity to make some wonderful ones for you, too. Please feel free to E-mail me for details.

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CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS

UDC Law School Advocate for Justice Scholarships
Joe Libertelli, jlibertelli@udc.edu, through Tolu Tolu, tolu2books@aol.com

As most of you likely know well, many would-be public interest legal careers founder on the sharp rocks of law school debt. Pressed to pay back huge loans, many talented law graduates opt for the highest available paycheck. And, seeing this dynamic, many other talented potential law students who are committed to the fight for justice are deterred from even seeking a legal education. To address this dilemma, the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL) has embarked upon an ambitious plan to raise sufficient funds to offer up to twenty full three-year scholarships to top students whose records reflect deep commitment to justice. Thanks to the generosity of our friends and alumni, we are able to begin this Advocate for Justice Scholarship this fall! If you want to support this effort financially, please go to http://www.dcslf.org.

For more information on the Advocate for Justice Scholarships, go to http://www.law.udc.edu/prospective/afj.html. The award of these scholarships will be based equally upon the Scholarship Selection Committee's evaluation of applicants' academic talent and their proven commitment as advocates for justice. Toward this end, the Committee will consider applicants' undergraduate and graduate fields of study; grades; LSAT scores; publications; academic, personal and professional recommendations; as well as evidence of their professional and voluntary experience and other pertinent information. Due to our emphasis on demonstrated commitment to working for justice, some successful scholarship applicants may be more than a few years out of college, with “real world” experience. We strongly encourage second and third career applicants to apply. However, we also encourage applicants of all ages, including recent graduates who feel that their track record reveals a deep commitment to the social good.

For more information about the Law School, go to http://www.law.udc.edu, and for information about admissions nuts and bolts, E-mail Donald Pritchett, Dpritchett@udc.edu.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED

Politically Active Writers Sought
Ramon Rivera, corruptones2008@verizon.net

The Corrupt Ones 2008 blog with over thirty-five thousand daily readers in DC and one thousand readers working in Congress invites all good government and politically caring people who want to let their voices be heard to contribute to our blog daily. Our blog pulls no punches, we are hard hitting, we can be comical and sometime crude, but this is what made us so popular and grow to thirty-five thousand readers in just eight months. Look us over at http://corruptones2008.blogspot.com. Our blog only deals with issues surround our local government and life in the District of Columbia.

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