Last Friday the astonishing news broke that DCPS Chancellor Antwan Wilson skirted the city’s public school lottery to have one of his children enrolled at Woodrow Wilson High School where there is a wait list.  In transferring his daughter in this manner away from the Duke Ellington School for the Arts and bypassing Dunbar, his neighborhood high school, Mr. Wilson violated the new policy that prevents D.C. Chancellors from making discretionary placements.

The individual responsible for creating and approving this policy was Chancellor Wilson.

In his apology for his action, which the Mayor forced him to do and that has now been removed from the DCPS website and Twitter, Mr Wilson stated that “my decision was wrong and I take full responsibility for my mistake.”  But in reality, he has taken no responsibility at all for his behavior, instead throwing Deputy Mayor for Education Jennie Niles so far under the bus that Mayor Bowser forced her to resign her position.  Apparently, as soon as Mr. Wilson’s action was discovered, he explained that he had his wife work with Ms. Niles to make the change.  The Mayor then dismissed Ms. Niles because she should have known it was against the rules.  The student is no longer attending Wilson.

All of this is so sad.  Ms. Bowser has explained on numerous occasions over the years that when she approached Ms. Niles about becoming her Deputy Mayor for Education she was turned down.  The Mayor has bragged that it took four requests before Ms. Niles changed her mind.  The reality is that Ms. Niles should have stayed at E.L. Haynes PCS, the high performing charter that she founded, and not had her fine reputation and integrity caught up with someone who needs an Office of Integrity to tell him that students who cannot read, write, or perform basic math should not graduate from high school.

The entire incident now calls into question the turning over of the traditional public schools to Mayoral control.  Michelle Rhee was fortunate that she resigned because citizens were ready to run her mean-spirited persona out of town.  Kaya Henderson was the reform-minded Rhee with a pleasant demeanor, and she was extremely well respected until it was determined that it was under her reign that there were discretionary placements for politically well-positioned friends which led to the development of the current policy Mr. Wilson ignored.   It was also while she was in office that high school students received diplomas who rarely came to class.  Now we have the Wilson mess.

Alternatively, pundits are pointing to the academic progress that students have made as a plea not to go back to the old days when the Board of Education was running the show.  However, and it really pains me to say this, I’m starting to have doubts about the validity of these results.

If the Mayor want to keep her schools she better move fast.  Mr. Wilson and anyone associated with the recent scandals need to go as quickly as possible.   Then Ms. Bowser needs to bring in someone who has a proven track record who the public can trust.  Someone like Jennie Niles.

The final report from the State Superintendent of Education regarding the scandal around Ballou High School giving diplomas to high school seniors who did not meet graduation requirements is out and the findings are devastating:

“. . . of the 2,758 SY16-17 DCPS graduates, 937 (34.0%) students graduated with
the assistance of policy violations.”

In fact, the only DCPS schools not tied up in this mess are the selective high schools School Without Walls and Benjamin Banneker.

How was this injustice accomplished? Here you go:

“Most DCPS schools violated credit recovery program requirements, by:

1) Offering credit recovery courses to students who had not yet failed a
regular instruction course (i.e. credit recover offered concurrently or in
place of regular instruction).

2) Awarding credit for courses which do not meet 120 seat hour requirement
under the Carnegie Unit definition in 5-A DCMR § 2299.1 (“seat hour”).

3) Failing to enforce attendance requirements in credit recovery courses

4) Creating school-developed credit recovery programs that do not comply
with the Evening Credit Recovery Operations Manual (“ECR Manual”)

At most DCPS high schools, students have been allowed to pass courses despite
excessive unexcused absences, at times missing the majority of the course. Grade
reductions and failures due to absences are rarely enforced by DCPS high school
teachers or administrators.

A lack of support and oversight from DCPS Central Office contributed significantly
to policy violations system-wide related to grading, credit recovery, excessive
absences, and graduation of ineligible students. Specifically, training,
communication, tools, and monitoring were inadequate.

DCPS teachers and school leaders are subject to a variety of institutional and
administrative pressures which have contributed to a culture in which passing and
graduating students is expected, sometimes in contradiction to standards of
academic rigor and integrity. Pressures contributing to this culture included:

1) Empathy for the extreme needs of the DCPS student population (high
poverty, English language learners, and special education)

2) Aggressive graduation and promotion goals

3) Increasingly burdensome documentation required to fail students.”

The Washington Post’s Perry Stein revealed some of the greatest abuses:

“At Anacostia High School in Southeast Washington, nearly 70 percent of the 106 graduates last year received their diplomas despite violating some aspect of city policy — the worst violation rate among comprehensive schools in the city. At Ballou, the school whose mispractices spurred the investigation, 63 percent of graduates missed more classes than typically allowed, or inappropriately completed credit recovery, according to the report.

One of the most damning findings came from Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington. Teacher-centered attendance records at the school were modified from absent to present more than 4,000 times for the senior class, which numbered fewer than 200.”

According to Ms. Perry, the principal of Dunbar, Abdullah Zaki, who was named DCPS principal of the year in 2013, was removed from his job, based upon this study.  He becomes the fourth employee of the traditional public schools to lose their positions in the wake of the controversy.

The Post reporter’s article quotes DCPS Chancellor Antwan Wilson as finally showing the slightest bit of emotion over this mess.  ‘Are you telling me that they didn’t know they were supposed to go to school?’ They know that they are supposed to go to school. You can have an attendance issue and not miss 30 periods of a class.’”

He needs to be the fifth person to go.  We need to start over.  D.C.’s charter schools did not cheat while teaching the same population of students.  Perhaps they should be given the chance to turn this situation around.

In a perfectly written article by my friend Martin Austermuhle, the WAMU reporter tells the tale of John Goldman, currently the DC Public Charter School Board’s senior manager, finance, analysis, and strategy, who has been placed on administrative leave after allegations have been made that he is a supporter of the alt-right, a group that is a proponent of white nationalism.

First, some background.  I know John Goldman.  It was news to me that he was working for the PCSB.  I first met him about a decade ago when he was hired to be the business manager of the William E. Doar, Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts (now renamed City Arts and Prep PCS) and I was the board chair.  The school served predominately African American students.  I also know that he played a prominent role in the turnaround of IDEA PCS, a charter serving black children living in poverty in Ward 7 that the PCSB almost closed.  If you asked me, I would state that there is no way on earth this man could be racist.

However, Mr. Austermuhle provides another side of the story.  It turns out that Mr. Goldman writes a blog under the pseudonym Jack Murphy.  The WAMU piece states:

“And in March 2017, he [Mr. Goldman] weighed in on what was then reported as a rape of a teenager by two undocumented immigrants at a high school in Rockville, offering his views on immigration and so-called sanctuary cities: ‘Is it worth educating, protecting, and defending illegal immigrants if it means our daughters will be raped while they are at school?’

That same month, Goldman described his transition from ‘Democrat to Deplorable,’ saying that he voted for Barack Obama in 2008 but cast a ballot for President Trump in 2016 after ‘Democrats created a new environment in which normal beliefs are heretical.’ (He says he is writing a book about his political conversion from ‘Democrat to Deplorable.’)

‘A man and woman are different you say? We all have different aptitudes? We should spend our money on Americans instead of aliens? We should lift ourselves up before we lift up others? You are [N]azis now, says the left. Racists. Bigots. Terrible vile people!’ he wrote.

Goldman called Trump ‘unabashedly masculine, unafraid to violate the fascism of political correctness, and willing to take on the issues of the 21st century.’

In earlier writings, Goldman identified himself as a father of three who is divorced. He wrote that going through a divorce made him change. He identifies, as inspirations, Mike Cernovich, an alt-right personality himself, and Roosh, who refers to himself as a ‘pickup artist’ and writes about his exploits with women. (In July, Goldman posted a picture of himself alongside Cernovich.)

‘I am unashamed to be masculine. I see myself holding on to something which is under attack. There is a war against men and boys, being myself and holding strong is an act of protest,” he wrote. ‘The world always needs a villain and today, that villain is the white straight male who knows what he wants and is unafraid to get it.'”

Mr. Goodman flatly rejects the charges.  He asserts:

“A photo recently surfaced where I appeared with Chelsea Manning, the whistle-blower, and a diverse group of media personalities who support Donald Trump including a latina, a homosexual, a jew, an immigrant, and a transgendered person. I myself am Jewish.

I was the unknown person in the photograph. Because various political advocates were upset that Chelsea Manning appeared with Trump supporters, they investigated and discovered my identity for the express purpose of a public shaming.

Lacy MacAuley, an admitted member of known domestic terror group Antifa, libelously spread false information about me in an attempt to get me fired. She tweeted that I was a white supremacist and known associate of Richard Spencer.

She then notified my employer, the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB), and they’ve placed me on administrative leave pending an investigation.

I 100% deny any association, affiliation with, or support of the alt-right, Richard Spencer, racism, fascism, or anything else other than a liberal Democracy where each citizen has equal protection under the law.

Any notion I am a white supremacist is a complete fabrication, while the opposite is unquestionably true: I am open minded, I love everyone, and I wish nothing more than for our country to come together.

I have written a book on these very subjects, called Democrat to Deplorable. And it will be released this spring.

And today, I am the victim of a vicious smear campaign indicative of the nasty times we live in.

I believe everyone has equal rights and should be treated fairly. I believe we should come together and find unity. I believe we all need to find a way to live together because that’s our best future.

But now I am being libeled as a white supremacist when in fact, I am anti-hate and abhor the alt-right.

I have been openly critical of the alt-right, Richard Spencer, and ethno-nationalists in general. I wrote several articles against Richard Spencer and the alt-right here, and here.

On January 20th, 2017 I even confronted him in public as documented here by the Atlantic.

Rosie Gray of the Atlantic, Oliver Darcy then of the Business Insider, and Andrew Marantz of the New Yorker all witnessed my altercation with Spencer.

I don’t just disavow Richard Spencer, I’ve openly fought him.

I have worked to shine the light on Spencer’s disgusting views and ensure there was no perceived association because there is none.

The New Yorker wrote about my condemnation for white supremacists and my public disagreements with them here.”

It is a highly confusing and weird situation.  But let me just offer one criticism of Mr. Goldman.  If you are going to write an opinionated blog then you need to use your real name.  Over the years I have received my share of compliments on my posts but I’ve also been called horrible names.  Whatever the response, I think it is important to identify yourself so that you are held accountable for your public thoughts.

I hope the PCSB resolves this issue quickly.

The fallout from the Ballou High School student graduation scandal continues unabated.  Today, Perry Stein of the Washington Post reveals that Jane Spence, the DCPS chief of secondary schools, has been placed on administrative leave.  There was no indication of when she will return to her job, when this action was taken, or whether the leave is paid or unpaid.  Yesterday, WJLA NBC7 reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been interviewing current and former teachers at the high school, along with the United States Department of Education and the D.C. Office of Inspector General.  According to the story:

Last Saturday Washington Post reporters Moriah Balingit and Andrew Ba Tran revealed the following:

“In June, a day after graduates from Ballou High received their diplomas, a group of teachers met with D.C. Public Schools officials to share an alarming allegation: Students who missed dozens of classes had been able to earn passing grades and graduate.”

You can read the sad story yourself but I can save you the time.  Here’s what happened.  Several teachers,  including Monica Brokenborough, who was a music teacher and union representative at Ballou, tried on multiple occasions through emails and the grievance process to warn Chancellor Antwon Wilson of problems at the school that were revealed in a WAMU and NPR investigation that was released last November.  However, no action was taken until WAMU made the report public.

The Post article also included this new information about the problems at the high school:

“In January 2017, an email sent from [Principal Yetunde] Reeves to Ballou staffers included a presentation about changes in grading policies. It instructed teachers to enter ’50M’ in their online grade books when students missed assignments: ‘Missing grades should be marked as ‘50M’ (Missing).’

But according to Brokenborough and the school district’s grading policy, entering an M in the grade book signals that the student is out for a medical reason. The mark would allow students to miss assignments without hurting their final grades. Brokenborough emailed teachers telling them to disregard Reeves’s grading instruction because it conflicted with school district policy; she copied Wilson on her note. She later told a labor-relations official that she believed the directive was an effort to inflate grades.”

Here’s government teacher Brian Butcher’s experience:

“Butcher said several students approached him a week before graduation, imploring him to give them makeup work so they could pass his government course. Butcher said that when he refused, an assistant principal told him the students would be enrolled in credit-recovery classes — even though there was just one week left in the school year. Many of the students who failed his class ended up earning diplomas.”

Neither Ms. Brokenborough or Mr. Butler currently work at Ballou.  Her contract was not renewed and Mr. Butler was fired for poor performance.  Both have filed grievances.  The Chancellor stated that Ms. Reeves should stay in her position before he abruptly re-assigned her.  He has offered as an excuse that “that at least one-third of graduates in every comprehensive high school missed 30 or more sessions of a course required for graduation.”

Our children deserve much better then this.  I’m willing to wait until the various investigations regarding Ballou are completed before coming to a final conclusion.  In the meantime, I think Mayor Bowser should be looking for a new Chancellor.

Last Tuesday, WAMU and National Public Radio released an article by Kate McGee detailing extremely serious allegations regarding fraud in allowing many of the students who graduated from Ballou High School to receive diplomas.  From the story:

“An investigation by WAMU and NPR has found that Ballou High School’s administration graduated dozens of students despite high rates of unexcused absences. WAMU and NPR reviewed hundreds of pages of Ballou’s attendance records, class rosters and emails after a DCPS employee shared the private documents. The documents showed that half of the graduates missed more than three months of school last year, unexcused. One in five students was absent more than present — missing more than 90 days of school. . . Another internal email obtained by WAMU and NPR from April shows that two months before graduation, only 57 students were on track to graduate, with dozens of students missing graduation requirements, community service requirements or failing classes needed to graduate.”

The school had touted the fact that all of its 164 seniors had graduated and been accepted to college.

But after WAMU and NPR spoke to approximately 12 current and former teachers at the school and four recent graduates, it was revealed that instructors felt pressure from their superiors to ensure that students passed.  They were told not to fail students and some stated that if they resisted their contracts were not renewed.  Their review uncovered other irregularities around student eligibility for graduation.

This is disgusting.  Obviously, numerous seniors were matriculated without being able to read, write, or perform basic arithmetic.  Standardized test score proficiency rates at Ballou are 22 percent in reading and 10 percent in math.  What is also highly upsetting is that it looks like the current DCPS administration is unequipped to fix the situation.  Chancellor Antwan Wilson has asserted that Ballou principal Yetunde Reeves should stay in her position.  Jane Spence, DCPS Chief of Secondary Schools had this to say, again from the WAMU piece, “It is expected that our students will be here every day, but we also know that students learn material in lots of different ways. So we’ve started to recognize that students can have mastered material even if they’re not sitting in a physical space.”

One current Ballou teacher had a different view on the subject.  “It’s oppressive to the kids because you’re giving them a false sense of success.”

Yesterday, D.C. Mayor Bowser announced that two investigations have begun into the allegations at Ballou, one by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and another by two deputy chancellors.  David Grosso, chairman of the D.C. Council’s education committee, will hold a hearing on the matter.  But I’m afraid all of this is too little too late.  Ms. Bowser bristled when I suggested to her recently that D.C.’s high performing charter schools should take over traditional schools that are not making academic progress.  Perhaps now she will give my idea more serious consideration.