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Council committee proposes return to elected school board
(Published April 5, 2004)

By KATHRYN SINZINGER
Staff Writer

A proposal that would restore an all-elected school board as the governing body for D.C. Public Schools is expected to be considered by the full council at its next legislative session on April 6.

The plan, approved April 2 by the council’s education committee, would maintain the current part-elected, part-appointed structure of the Board of Education until Jan. 2, 2007. Nine school board members elected in November 2006 would take office at that time. The elected board would include one member representing each of the city’s eight wards and one at-large member, who would serve as board chairman.

"With this bill, a new superintendent coming in will know what’s happening – that will add stability to the system, not detract from it," said Councilwoman Carol Schwartz, R-At Large.

A national search is currently underway to find a new superintendent to replace Paul L. Vance, who resigned last November. On April 1, the school board selected Assistant Superintendent Robert C. Rice to become the school system’s interim chief when current Interim Superintendent Elfreda W. Massie departs for a job in private industry later this month.

Schwartz, who served as an elected school board member before being elected to the council, proposed adding the elected school board structure to legislation that Councilman Kevin P. Chavous, D-Ward 7, put forward during the committee’s legislative markup session. Chavous, the committee’s chairman, began the session by proposing legislation that would continue the current school board structure until Jan. 2, 2007, but was silent on what form of governance would follow.

The mayor, council and school board are in the process of approving a "memorandum of understanding" that would create a seven-member Education Advisory Collaborative to share oversight of the school superintendent with the Board of Education until Jan. 2, 2007. The collaborative would be chaired by the mayor and also include the school board president and vice president, a third school board member appointed by the president, the council chairman, the council’s education committee chairman and the city administrator. A council hearing on the collaborative’s creation is scheduled for 3 p.m. April 6, following the council’s legislative session.

How the plan to return to an all-elected school board will fare before the full council is far from certain. Some council members are believed to support a proposal put forward by Mayor Anthony A. Williams, which would turn the school system into a subordinate city agency in the mayor’s cabinet.

"We don’t like the [committee’s] bill at all," mayoral spokesman Tony Bullock told The Common Denominator. Bullock said that "it’s entirely possible" that the mayor would veto the bill if the council passed it in its current form.

"Give us an up or down vote on our bill," Bullock said. "Don’t go in, take our bill, disembowel it and then expect us to sign it."

Bullock referred to the council committee’s decision to start its deliberations by gutting the mayor’s bill and using it as the vehicle, in amended form, to present the committee’s proposal to the full council.

Councilman Adrian Fenty, D-Ward 4, acknowledged some reluctance in supporting the committee proposal, adding that "none of this stuff is gonna solve the school system’s problems – people need to roll up their sleeves."

But Fenty and Councilman Phil Mendelson, D-At Large, both asserted the need to maintain stability for the schools to attract a top-flight superintendent who can bring about the needed improvements in student achievement.

Mendelson, who has previously been a strong supporter of an all-elected school board, said he will consider asking the full council to extend the current school board structure beyond 2007.

"To me, the issue is stability," Mendelson said. "We need to rebuild the system ... and the board we have now is finally getting itself on its feet."

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator