Thread by @marycheh

In looking to help students recover from academic/social-emotional learning loss caused by the pandemic, we must ensure that the school system to which they return is not plagued by the same system-wide problems of recent years.

(an education policy thread)

Several colleagues have joined me in introducing a package of education bills aimed at addressing systemic issues w/in @OSSEDC @dcpublicschools. (They're based on a 'dear colleagues' letter I shared earlier this month: marycheh.com/wp-content/upl…)

Here are summaries of each bill:

IEPs have been wonderfully successful for children who receive special needs education, and we can create a similar program to provide tailored support for ALL students who are falling behind grade standard and/or experiencing severe learning loss due to the #COVID19 pandemic.

Additionally, an Office of Graduate support is a start to rectifying the ways the school system has cheated students out of a proper education (see: wamu.org/story/17/11/28…).

Unlike jurisdictions across the country, the District's state-level oversight body and the public school system are subordinate to the same elected position–and this creates several conflicts of interest (see: npr.org/sections/ed/20…).

This bill makes OSSE an independent agency.

Further, stringent top-down Central Office policies are harmful to students and dismissive of individual school communities (especially re attendance & school dress codes).

Under the State Board of Ed, this commission can help identify and change harmful policies & practices.

And, not only does the current PTO system create significant resource disparities among school communities, it also masks the problems with the school funding process. It should not be the responsibility of PTOs to fund basic school needs:

The District's school system has a systemic history of devaluing individual school leadership and student voices, lacking independent oversight, and it fosters a school budget process that exacerbates community inequities.

Pandemic learning loss only adds to these challenges.

But, I'm confident that, with the many efforts underway and more to come, we will find a path forward to help mitigate the harm caused to our students by the pandemic and a system that has been resistant to change.