Council OKs Mayor’s School Takeover
After a long political battle, the council overwhelmingly approved the mayor’s proposed takeover of the city’s struggling public schools system.
No. This didn’t happen in Detroit. This school takeover may occur in the nation’s first official Chocolate City - Washington D.C.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s plan would make the school system a cabinet level agency managed by the mayor and a schools chancellor. A Department of Education would watch over other aspects of the system, and the Board of Education would be reduced to a policy-setting role. Fenty’s proposal faces a second council vote, and if it passes, would be submitted to Congress for final approval.
According to the Washington Times, “the mayor has touted the takeover as a way to effect change in a school system suffering from declining enrollment and low test scores.”
Sound familiar?
Not everyone is happy with this move. School board member Jeffrey Smith will resign. Board president Robert C. Bobb threatened to quit, but now claims that promise was made in the “heat of battle.”
The change will also make the mayor responsible for the system’s success or failure.
“We’re going to hold Mayor Fenty’s feet to the fire,” said Marion Barry, Ward 8 Democrat. “We want this school system to be the best in the world, and it can happen if we make it happen.”
Detroiters refused Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s bid to take over Detroit’s Public School system. Now the mayor is working to build a charter school system that would compete with the public schools for students. It is certain that Kilpatrick will watch the situation in D.C. with some interest.
