Filing Complaints
Dear Filers:
In the last issue of themail, we wrote about DC Fire Chief Dennis
Rubin’s ordering fire recruits to serve as waiters at Councilmember
Jim Graham’s birthday party last August and his Christmas party
scheduled for this Monday afternoon. We wrote that we were going to file
a complaint with the Office of Campaign Finance over how this violated
the District’s Personnel Manual. We haven’t filed that complaint yet
because we wanted to look into some contradictions and get all the facts
straight before we filed.
For example, we found that Rubin actually assigned fire department
personnel to act as servants at three, not two, Graham parties. The
first was Graham’s Christmas party last year, December 17, 2007.
Photographs of that party are posted on Graham’s web site, http://www.grahamwone.com/?q=gallery&g2_itemId=13484,
and photographs of the August birthday party are at http://www.grahamwone.com/?q=gallery&g2_itemId=1892.
The second contradiction was that Councilmember Graham categorically
told DC Examiner columnist Jonetta Rose Barras that Rubin had
offered the cadets and recruits on his own, and that Graham never
requested them (Jonetta Rose Barras, “Craziness in DC,” http://tinyurl.com/69xs4x).
We wanted to locate the E-mails from Calvin Woodland, Graham’s Deputy
Chief of Staff, making the request for the August birthday party and the
E-mails from Myra Logan, Graham’s Special Assistant for Scheduling,
making the request for this year’s Christmas party. The third
contradiction is that the fire department claimed that the party
servants were all volunteers, so we wanted to find the E-mails from
Chief Rubin ordering his subordinates to assign the workers. We’re
about ready to file with OCF now, but we still want to find out how
these three parties were financed — Graham’s campaign finance and
constituent services fund reported no payments for anything related to
these parties and no contributions to pay for them. Perhaps Graham paid
for the parties entirely out of his own pocket. If you believe that. . .
.
How can DC Public Schools save money on special education? For
decades, the city has spent a lot of money sending special education
students to private schools because it can’t provide adequate and
appropriate education in its own facilities. DCPS fights hard to save
money by denying special education students these opportunities, but
active and knowledgeable special education lawyers have frustrated the
effort to economize on the backs of special education students. Now
Attorney General Peter Nickles has taken a more drastic step; he is
threatening lawyers for special education students, and letting them
know that if they represent their clients too zealously the city will
sue them. Bill Turque reported that Nickles filed a suit against
attorney John A. Straus for pursuing a due process hearing for his
client, http://tinyurl.com/5m63kn.
Nickles generalized the threat, Turque noted: “Nickles said he
intended to make more aggressive use of the law to discourage the high
number of due-process filings against the District.” In the City Blog,
Jason Cherkis has written a thoughtful and strong analysis of what has
been wrong with the school system’s evaluations and hearings for many
years, why parents must have lawyers to represent their childrens’
interests, and why Nickles’ war against the special education bar is
an effort to deny parents and students their rights, http://tinyurl.com/5j7cr9.
It seems that the Attorney General’s effort to intimidate lawyers and
to prevent them from representing their clients to the best of their
ability is something that the DC Office of Bar Counsel should look into.
Shouldn’t Nickles be disciplined, or at least admonished, for using
his office to threaten lawyers and discourage them from representing the
most vulnerable students in DC schools? Can any lawyers out there let me
know if this is something the Bar Counsel can look into on its own, or
does an attorney who is threatened by Nickles’ attempt to cripple the
special education bar have to file a complaint first? Shouldn’t the
federal Department of Education investigate Nickles’ threat as an
attempt to deny legal rights to special education students?
Gary Imhoff and Dorothy Brizill
themail@dcwatch.com and dorothy@dcwatch.com
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Collaborative Planning For Student Success
Candi Peterson, saveourcounselors@gmail.com
With support from Mayor Fenty, Chancellor Michelle Rhee is moving
onto Plan B, seeking federal emergency legislation to empower the city
to bypass collective bargaining and expand nonunion charter schools. The
alternative plan consists of a newly-devised teacher evaluation,
abolition of teachers’ jobs, and the resurrection of a poorly enforced
provision in the current contract allowing administrators to give
teachers ninety school days to improve or face dismissal — all
objectives of her stalled contract proposal. Parts of the proposed Plan
B have already gone into effect. Teachers and administrators report that
the city is requiring DC principals to place a quota of teachers on
ninety-day plans. Teachers are monitored by their school administrator;
if funds are available, a helping teacher is assigned during the
evaluation period after which an administrator can recommend
termination. This is the first time in years that principals are being
told to observe teachers en masse and make decisions on teacher
termination by December 5. Principals report being instructed to lie in
their “teacher observations” about what is taking place during a
structured lesson. One principal at Patterson elementary school resigned
in opposition to these unethical practices.
What has been most disappointing for the quota of teachers placed on
ninety-day plans is that the school system is still failing miserably to
provide many of the promised outside interventions to assist in
executing teacher improvement. There is still a lack of helping teachers
from the central office and appropriate professional development; local
school resources are wholly inadequate and come too little, too late, or
never at all. “The Chancellor’s one-dimensional approach to school
improvement, simply firing employees, is not working and has created an
environment of advantage taking,” said Nathan A. Saunders, WTU General
Vice President. The Chancellor’s top-down management style is creating
a situation where many teachers — young and old — will be fired.
Many of us do not believe that this approach will lead to better
teaching. It seems encouraging to many DC teachers that American
Federation of Teachers’ President Randi Weingarten, who recently spoke
before a group of union leaders and education policy makers, stated that
no educational reform issues should be off the table as long as they are
both good for students and fair to teachers. Among the recommendations
made by Weingarten include the use of experienced teachers sharing their
skills and mentoring teachers experiencing problems and peer review,
utilizing some aspects of merit pay in which teachers could earn extra
pay when their schools excel, and systemic support for teacher’s
professional development and enhanced working conditions.
DC teachers will be working closely with the American Federation of
Teachers to design workable solutions to support student instruction and
successful teaching, and to provide economic security for its members.
We are looking to engage interested parents and community members in a
collaborative effort to improve our public schools. If interested,
please E-mail your contact information to saveourcounselors@gmail.com.
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They Make It . . .
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom
. . . and you bake it. That’s the modus operandi of the new
Homemade Pizza store that just opened in the Spring Valley Shopping
Center. They make the pizza, you pick it up, take it home and bake it
for about fifteen minutes. Place was very busy this Saturday afternoon
with seven folks making pizzas and lots of customers waiting for their
order. I’ve eaten pizzas in more than forty countries, including many
in Italy. I’d rate the pizza from Homemade as one of the very best I’ve
eaten. Great ingredients and marvelous crust. Not inexpensive but a real
treat.
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The Best Christmas Gifts Might Be Free
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
My parents taught me that not everything that is valuable costs
money. This Christmas, look around to locate gifts that cost no money.
My favorite no-cost gift this year is Google SketchUp, the playful and
easy-to-use 3D drawing program. SketchUp works well on any Macintosh or
Windows computer from about 2003 onwards. If you don’t own a computer
that can run SketchUp, get yourself over to a friend who does have such
a computer. And if you’d like to try using SketchUp with kids, there
are no better books on the topic than those by DC-author Bonnie Roskes.
I recently wrote a review of her books. See http://tinyurl.com/57b8tr
The screencasts linked to in this book review tell far more about the
books than the review itself. These screencasts may be downloaded and
distributed for free via USB Flash drives, CD-ROM’s, etc. My parents
were correct: The best things in life are free. Don’t you ever believe
otherwise.
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Fourteen Days and Counting
Ed T. Barron, edtb1@macdotcom
Despite repeated calls by myself and neighbors to the Department of
Public Works via the mayor’s line about the lack of pickup of
recyclables since December 1 along Massachusetts Avenue in American
University Park/Spring Valley all we have to show for it is a set of
case numbers. We have enough case numbers to play the lottery for a year
or more. In the meantime the recyclables continue to pile up, far
overfilling the little blue recyclable cans. They did suck up the leaves
I raked to the median, however. Hey, the DPW is batting 500.
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Graham’s abuse of young firemen by using them as personal party
servants, and Chief Rubin’s willingness to let him have them, is a
disgusting display of two politicians (yes, Rubin is a politician) who
are self-serving and arrogantly pompous. Where does this behavior stop?
Do Councilmembers Catania, Mendelson, and Barry have these kids
scheduled next? How about Thomas, Wells, and the rest? I’d sure like
them to serve at my next party. I pay taxes; how do I arrange that? If
the other councilmembers are aware of what is going on they should put
pressure on Graham to stop and to pay back the taxpayers with his own
money for services rendered at last year’s holiday party and for his
birthday party in August. He has a large constituent services fund,
doesn’t he? When one DC agency uses the services of another DC agency.
isn’t there a reimbursement for the time and costs? Of course there
is, and Graham should not be the exception; he should be forced to pay
for the salaries and benefits of every cadet, recruit, and officer who
took time to “service him and his community!” This city is subject
to the same economic woes as everyone else and for those two public
officials to think it is okay to have taxpayer-paid public servants
working as their taxpayer-paid private servants, is enough to warrant
complete investigations of their actions. Where is the mayor? Where is
the Washington Post? Too busy covering up for the city? Where is
the Washington Times? They have dropped the ball on what used to
be excellent coverage on city issues. Thank goodness for the DC
Examiner and their steadfast pursuit of DC corruption such as this!
I heard Councilmember Graham say on WMAL that these cadets were “volunteers”
and that he never asked for them to serve at his parties, but that the
services were offered by Chief Rubin. Then today I read that Graham
claimed the same thing in an interview with Jonetta Rose Barras in the DC
Examiner. Mr. Graham, you should be ashamed of yourself for telling
such bold-faced lies! I have heard from reliable sources that you did
request the services of those young men and that the fire chief was only
too happy to oblige, in fact honored. And I spoke to one of the “volunteers,”
and they were not volunteers at all; the chief ordered them to go. This
is a big deal! If it were not, it would not have been picked up by
MSNBC.com and Judicial Watch and dozens of other web sites, some local
but some national. I hope they get to the bottom of this, and you and
Chief Rubin are made to pay us back before he is fired and you are voted
out!
###############
What’s new and different concerning the low life behavior of Jim
Graham? The people of his Ward must like being treated in this manner,
because they have chosen to reelect him as their Councilman for years.
Based upon my lay opinion, Mr. Graham does not walk his talk; and, more
importantly, he does not act, as a civil servant of the public, to
protect and honor the dignity and value of the individuals within the
community that has given him the privilege of leading and serving them
and their interests. If you choose to sleep with a dog, you get fleas.
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Fire Cadets Serving at Private Parties
Jennifer Ellingston, jellingston@earthlink.net
I remember when Marion Barry was mayor, we often said that “to
qualify for an appointment in Barry’s administration, you had to have
a criminal record” (just not violent crime). I guess the moral
integrity of our DC government is still the same. The difference now is
that the wave of financial mismanagement and misuse has curved over and
is rolling in to shore, washing all before it.
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Write-In Votes Should Be Counted
Qawi Robinson, qrobinso@lycos.com
Mr. Orvetti [themail, December 10] is correct. All votes should be
counted; anything less is voter disenfranchisement. DC’s right to vote
(23rd Constitutional Amendment) implies that your vote will be counted.
Political party majorities aside, the DC Board of Elections and Ethics
should not shortcut the process on the basis of cost or of what seems
feasible. As a recent Democrat convert (thanks to the 2007 Ward 7
Special Election), I registered several protest votes over the years for
candidates who had no chance at winning. Others have as well. Whether
your candidate’s choice is “Mickey Mouse,” “Donald Duck,” or
“Marion Barry,” your write-in selection should not be abridged or
discarded. Undercounting or not counting write-ins by BOEE proved to be
a problem in the September 2008 primary. Adding to that, even with Carol
Schwartz’s failed attempt at reelection as a write-in candidate, every
permutation of misspelling of her name should be counted too. If it
takes two and half weeks to count the ANC results, the write in votes
should be counted as well. It’s the least that can be done to certify
the election results.
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The InTowner
December
Issue
P.L. Wolfe, intowner@intowner.com
This is to advise that the December 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 and 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 January 9 (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) “Recent Church Re-Use and
Raze Hearings Reveal Growing Public Disillusion With DC’s Historic
Preservation Laws”; 2) “Once Scary Girard Street Block Now Shines;
Rehabbed Playground Seen as Key.” We also call attention to a new
on-line feature linked from our home page by clicking the button labeled
“Special Online Content.” It is here that we will from time-to-time
post articles or other matter of interest too lengthy for inclusion in
the print edition. To inaugurate this feature we have posted an article
by a longtime iron work expert who specializes in restoring historic
staircases, titled “When Does My Cast Iron Staircase Need Attention?
Always!”
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
From My Altitude (Desde mi altura), December
17
George Williams, george.williams2@dc.gov
Antonio Guerrero, along with four other Cuban citizens, was
imprisoned by the US government under allegations of conspiracy to
espionage. Guerrero’s paintings are lyrical reflections of his longing
and nostalgia for Cuba. Conceived in total isolation, the paintings
consist of scenes drawn from memory — portraits of his lover, the
prisoners’ mothers, Che Guevara, Fidel, familiar landscapes — all of
which seem far removed from the daily struggle of prison life. In his
quiet contemplation of the everyday and the ordinary, Guerrero’s
naturalistic paintings speak volumes about his uncommon dignity,
patience, and courage.
An exhibit showcasing the artwork and poetry of Guerrero will be held
at Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 2nd Floor West Hall, 901 G
Street, NW., Through January 2, 2009. A poetry reading and musical
performance related to the exhibition will be held on December 17. For
further information, please call 727-1183.
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Historical Society of Washington, DC, December
20
Ed Bruske, euclidarms@yahoo.com
Saturday, December 20, 12:30-2:00 p.m., Historical Society of
Washington, DC, 801 K Street, NW. Free admission. Workshop: Everything
You Need to Know to Celebrate Kwanzaa. In this workshop, you will learn
the history of Kwanzaa and its creator; the purpose for celebrating
Kwanzaa; and the items needed to celebrate Kwanzaa and to create a
Kwanzaa altar. Visual artist Dietra Montague will guide you through this
process. Dietra has designed and created altars for the Smithsonian
Institution for over two decades. Ages ten to adults. RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
Saturday, December 20, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Historical Society of
Washington, DC, 801 K Street, NW. Free admission. Sacred Music Series
featuring Buddhist voices, SGI-USA New Century Chorus, “Songs
in Appreciation of Humanity.” The music of the SGI-USA New Century
Chorus reflects the underlying mission of its parent organization,
the Soka Gakkai International, in creating value and promoting world
peace. The musical presentations of the chorus demonstrate its
commitment to respect and appreciation for humanity and all life. It is
through the music that they seek to touch the hearts of humankind,
highlighting peoples’ interconnectedness and shared humanity. The SGI-USA
New Century Chorus is composed of members of the Soka Gakkai
International in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The SGA is a lay
American Buddhist organization. The group has performed at DAR
Constitution Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Kennedy
Center, the Hospital for Sick Children, and others. Mollene Fowlkes, the
musical director, has written many of its selections. RSVP@historydc.org
or 383-1828.
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
Fire Verizon and Make Money Doing It
Leo Alexander, Whittier Place, NW, leo_alexander@yahoo.com
If you are interested in saving money on products that you already
use, like your home phone service, local and long distance calling
plans, cell phones, Internet provider, satellite TV, and home security
service, then go to http://www.5linx.net/teamalexander.
For those of you who are interested in owning your own business, this
could be the opportunity you have been waiting for . . . marketing the
New 5 Linx Video Phone. Now you can literally see the person you’re
talking to. If you would like to see a presentation of this video phone
technology, call 276-0083 to reserve a seat and get the address of the
meeting in the District of Columbia this Wednesday, December 17, at 7:00
p.m.
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