With the November election just around the corner, contenders for the open State Board of Education seats in wards 1 and 5 tackled some of the District’s most pressing — and controversial — education issues at a recent forum organized by the Coalition for DC Public Schools and Communities, better known as C4DC.
The Oct. 22 event at the Thurgood Marshall Center began with the candidates from Ward 5 facing off. With incumbent Mark Jones stepping down at the end of his term, three contenders — Adrian Jordan, Zachary Parker and William “Bill” Lewis — are vying for the seat.
After the candidates introduced themselves, moderator Jenny Abamu, an education reporter for public radio station WAMU, asked them about the controversial STAR rating system, which the state board voted to approve last spring. That’s the acronym used for the School Transparency and Reporting framework, which allows parents to compare traditional and charter schools with one tool. The Office of the State Superintendent of Education hails the ratings as a convenient and powerful way to empower parents and ensure accountability, but critics contend that boiling down complex data to a rating of one to five stars will lead to many mistaken conclusions about the education students available at area schools.
“I support the intention and the spirit,” said Parker. However, he said he would have voted against the plan since he thinks it’s fundamentally wrong to rank schools. He added that some schools, while scoring high, still leave sectors of their population behind — like “black and brown” boys — and school ranking don’t hold them accountable.
Lewis, too, was against the system.
However, Jordan, who has a son at Two Rivers Public Charter School, said that choosing a school was like the “Wild Wild West.” Although he noted that the system was not perfect, he considered it a “starting place” and said he wished that OSSE had provided a plan to improve one-star schools.
Candidates were also asked about bills now pending in the DC Council. The first would establish an independent research advisory board and collaborative to be housed under the Office of the DC Auditor, an agency outside the control of the mayor.
Both Jordan and Parker were skeptical of placing it under the auditor, who is appointed by the council.
“We can’t have another independent research collaborative that’s beholden to the council, whose budget is geared towards the council. I support an independent research collaborative, but it would have to be held in a university — something nonpartisan — not directly controlled by either the mayor or the council,” said Jordan.
“I would agree to housing it in a university,” said Parker. “Not for the reasons that were mentioned, but just for the appearance of non-bias.”
Lewis said he was against it altogether, suggesting that this is the type of policy that looks good but “fizzles out.”
There are also two bills in front of the council that would strip power from the mayor’s office, potentially also giving the SBOE more power. The first, introduced by at-large Council member David Grosso, would extend the term of the state superintendent and remove the mayor’s power to fire him or her at will. Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh’s version would shift authority over the Office of the State Superintendent from the mayor to the SBOE in order to make it independent of the chain of command that stretches from the DC Public Schools chancellor to the mayor.
Jordan said he has supported Grosso’s bill from the beginning, but opposes Cheh’s proposal. Parker does not support either one. He said that the school system needs a “paradigm shift” toward a more holistic model and cannot rely on changing “the boss” to fix the problems.
“I want politics out of it altogether,” said Lewis. While he was unclear as to whether he supported either bill, he did say that he wanted the state board to have more power, and that he doesn’t think “politicians should have complete control like they do now.”
When the floor opened to audience members, their questions focused on whether the STAR system was a fair way to compare schools and on how to get parents more involved in the classroom.
A question from a Ward 5 resident about accountability to constituents was directed at Adrian Jordan in particular. The resident described Jordan’s time on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5A — which encompasses Brookland, Michigan Park and North Michigan Park — as “woefully inadequate.”
“I’m proud of my service on the ANC,” said Jordan. “I’ll be transparent and keep showing up and holding meetings. Just because we disagree on an issue doesn’t mean we disagree on everything.”
After a short recess, the three Ward 1 candidates took their seats at the front of the room. Jason Andrean, Emily Gasoi and Callie Kozlak are running to replace incumbent Laura Wilson Phelan, who opted not to seek another term.
Questions from the moderator were the same for Ward 1 candidates and included whether or not they back the STAR rating system.
“I think it’s important to bring information to our families,” said Andrean, offering his support for the system but describing it as imperfect.
Kozlak agreed, noting that she would have voted in favor of the system but thinks that it should have put more emphasis on measurable improvements in students’ performance as they advance from grade to grade.
Gasoi said that star ratings are well-suited for hotels and restaurants but are too simplistic for DC’s schools. She said that she would have voted against the rating system and that she’ll work to change it if she’s elected.
When asked about Cheh’s bill to establish an independent research agency, all three candidates expressed support for the legislation.
“It’s an acknowledgement that we do need more transparency,” said Gasoi.
Both she and Andrean made clear, however, that they would want to revisit the structure once the collaborative had been incubated within the auditor’s office.
Their agreement didn’t last long. Abamu asked candidates about the two bills that would lessen the mayor’s power over education.
Andrean and Kozlak both supported Grosso’s bill, but differed slightly in their opinions of Cheh’s. Andrean opposed the bill, but Kozlak’s response was more nuanced.
“On the surface, I do not support it,” Koslak said. “I do think there’s a value to mayoral control. I do think there’s value in coordinating things across the city to support our schools. But I would be open to hearing more opinions on that bill.”
Gasoi was on the other side, supporting Cheh’s bill over Grosso’s. “There’s an inherent conflict of interest when you have a superintendent holding [the] system accountable, but also reporting to the mayor,” she said.
After the moderator finished asking questions, she opened the floor to the public. One resident asked Andrean specifically about his relationship with Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and Achievement Prep, a public charter school in Southeast. DFER, the audience member complained, advocates for educational privatization, while Achievement Prep has earned a bad reputation from those who worked there.
“I’ve never shied away from a challenge,” Andrean responded, saying that he accepted a position on Achievement Prep’s board hoping to turn things around. He also defended his role on the advisory board of DFER, arguing that its goals and mission were misconstrued.
[…] for comment, while Jordan and Parker expressed differing views on the new bills. At a recent forum, Lewis’ stance on the bills was unclear, but he advocated for a more empowered board, with less […]