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Grosso invites D.C. youth to public roundtable on issues facing the city's young people

Councilmember David Grosso announces the scheduling of a public roundtable of the Committee on Education on youth issues. The roundtable will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 in Hearing Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building.  The purpose of this roundtable is to hear testimony from District of Columbia youth regarding issues that impact their lives as they make their way through the public education system. 

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Ensuring Our Children's Safety On The Way To School

Guaranteeing our children not only feel safe at school, but also on their way to and from, allows them to focus on learning and is a primary concern of Councilmember Grosso.  In August, he requested that the Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles and Chief of Police Cathy Lanier share their plans to keep students safe and what information they are sharing with parents. With the recent increases in violent crime and delays caused by Metro’s SafeTrack programming, these plans are even more important.

Deputy Mayor Niles responded to the councilmember with a letter laying out their efforts on school safety planning as well as for SafeTrack.  Below you can find the letter Councilmember Grosso received from the deputy mayor, a summary of the SafeTrack communications plan, the Metropolitan Police Department's Annual School Safety and Security Report, as well as the original letter Councilmember Grosso sent.

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Grosso Shares Important Characteristics of Next Chancellor with Mayor

Councilmember David Grosso, chairperson of the Committee on Education, sent a letter today to Mayor Muriel Bowser, outlining important characteristics that should be considered as she moves forward with the search for a new chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. 

In Councilmember Grosso's view, the ideal candidate for the job will have past work demonstrating a commitment to closing the achievement gap; share Chancellor Henderson's commitment to equity; have a track record of engaging the whole community to serve the whole child; be willing to engage in cross-sector collaboration; and "keep the trains running on time".

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Grosso Connects with Educators at Summer Conversations

On July 18 and August 2, Councilmember David Grosso, Chairperson of the Committee on Education, invited educators throughout the District to attend a summer educator townhall to discuss issues that impact their ability to teach students. Some fifty teachers candidly engaged in a provocative dialogue with Councilmember Grosso about some of the most pressing issues troubling public and public charter schools throughout the District of Columbia, from their point of view.

We’ve highlighted just some of the comments made during the conversations below.

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Grosso Proposes to Codify Objective School Modernization Approach

For Immediate Release
June 7, 2016

Contact: Keenan Austin
(202) 724-8105

 

Grosso Proposes to Codify Objective School Modernization Approach

Washington, D.C. — Today, Committee on Education Chairperson David Grosso (I-At Large) introduced the “Planning Actively for Comprehensive Education Facilities Amendment Act of 2016,” also known as the PACE Facilities Amendment Act. The bill would codify the Committee’s objective approach to determining the prioritization of inclusion in the capital improvement plan for D.C. Public Schools, based on equity and data, not politics. It would also update the requirements for a Master Facilities Plan for public education facilities in D.C.

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Thoughts on DCPS FY17 Capital Budget

In 2008, D.C. released a new Master Facilities Plan for DCPS to prioritize renovations of schools, with an emphasis on improvements to the academic learning environments—i.e. classrooms. This was to allow for enhancements to all schools within 5 years, rather than pursuing more capital-intensive full modernizations, which would have required more than a decade to complete. However, over time, priorities shifted. Last year, the Committee on Education was surprised to learn that even after spending over a billion dollars since 2008, 24 schools still had not received any form of renovation.

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