Six candidates vie for State Board of Education’s open at-large seat
Whether it’s prudent yet to reopen DC Public Schools to in-person instruction isn’t the only topic of vigorous discussion when it comes to public education in DC. Six candidates are vying for the at-large seat on the State Board of Education (SBOE) on the Nov. 3 ballot, and in the lead-up to Election Day they’ve talked about issues from standardized tests to police presence in schools.
While campaigning to replace Ashley MacLeay, who did not see a second term, all six hopefuls participated in a Sept. 29 debate moderated by Washington Post education reporter Perry Stein and presented by the DC Office of Campaign Finance as part of the Fair Elections Program. Candidates discussed a wide range of issues, including the diversification of the curriculum to include Black and LGBTQ+ studies; the debate over charter schools and their effect on neighboring traditional public schools; and whether or not DC public schools should have a police presence to ensure the safety of students and staff.
In ballot order, those running for the seat are Jacque Patterson, Mysiki Valentine, Ravi K. Perry, Christopher W. Martin, Dorothy Douglas and Troy Murphy (the latter two candidates do not have campaign websites). Each had a 15-second time limit to answer the moderator’s questions, and the same time limit if they wanted to rebut any of their fellow candidates’ responses. The DC Line consolidated the contents of the debate to provide an overview of each of the candidates’ views.
Jacque Patterson
Jacque Patterson is the father of three children; two of them currently attend DC public schools, and the other is a teacher at a DC charter school. Patterson most recently worked for two charter school networks, serving as regional director for Rocketship Public Schools and then chief community engagement and growth officer for KIPP DC Public Schools. A Ward 8 resident, he said he is running to “provide equity into the system for schools that have been marginalized.”
Early in the debate, moderator Stein referenced the concerns expressed last year by Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn about adding more charter schools, given the number of vacant seats in public schools. Stein asked candidates to raise their hands if they would support a cap on the number of charter schools in DC. Patterson did not raise his hand and went on to say that most parents in the District “practice some kind of choice” between public and charter schools.
Patterson is not in favor of keeping police officers in schools, arguing that their presence does not create a secure environment for those who are at risk of racial profiling. Instead, schools need more violence interrupters, mental health practitioners and social workers in order to maintain security at schools and prevent violence, he said.
Standardized testing and in-person attendance were also major components of the debate. Patterson opposed judging schools based solely upon how well students perform on the standardized test now in use — PARCC, or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers — and instead suggested that schools should gauge students’ growth using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment. MAP has been used in some parts of the country as a tool for teachers to assess students’ gaps in math and literacy, and to fill in those gaps during distance learning that’s taking place in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Given that all three of his children are involved in either charter or public schools, Patterson noted, “I am that candidate that can represent all of our parents and all of our students.”
Mysiki Valentine
Valentine is a native Washingtonian and a graduate of DC public schools. A Ward 7 resident, he is on the board of the community outreach organization Many Languages One Voice (MLOV) and previously worked as a teacher in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.
In his opening statement, Valentine stressed his support for “fully funded public schools.” He underscored the importance of prioritizing funding for traditional public schools and expressed support for a potential limit on the number of charter schools in DC. Valentine cited concern that per pupil funding formulas deprive some schools of needed funding because students have opted for charters. Students who live in neighborhoods with underfunded schools are not able to receive a quality education within “walking distance” of their homes, he continued. He noted that schools in wards 7 and 8, where students are overwhelmingly African American, have been hurt by underfunding.
Valentine holds positions similar to those of Patterson’s on police presence in schools, saying that he never needed a police officer to de-escalate a situation during his time as a teacher. In a rebuttal to Martin, who does not support the removal of police from schools, Valentine said, “In this climate, there cannot seem to be a separation of policing and profiling.”
“Data shows that over 90% of students in Washington, DC, who are arrested in schools are Black and Brown,” he added. “We can’t continue this system that we know is removing kids out of our school buildings, and then the community themselves criminalizes kids when they are out on the streets.”
Valentine also supports integrating lifestyle skills into the current curriculum, proposing that schools teach skills that prepare students for a life beyond academics, such as how to pay taxes. Valentine also supports adding Black and LGBTQ+ studies, noting that an Afro-centric curriculum would give students the opportunity to “learn things about their history that [they] have never learned before and give them courage and self-confidence in themselves.”
Ravi K. Perry
Ravi Perry is the head of the political science department at Howard University. He grew up in Ward 7, the child and grandchild of educators. He said he is running because he wants to ensure that all students, regardless of where they live, are able to pursue whatever path they choose after high school.
Perry also talked about ways to promote equity among students of color as well as policies that he believes are hindering equity. Similar to Valentine, Perry is a proponent of diversifying curriculum to add Black and LGBTQ+ studies. “Curriculum is the way we can solve equity,” he said, arguing that students who have been exposed to a more diverse curriculum perform better in school.
With regards to measuring achievement, Perry disagreed with Patterson, saying that measuring “growth” by using standardized tests does not work.
When the moderator shifted the topic to police presence in schools, Perry referred to his personal experience with the police to weigh in on the issue, saying that “I know the pain of structural racism all too well.” Like Patterson and Valentine, he also supports adding mental health services and hiring violence interrupters instead of increasing police presence in schools.
In response to a question about how the candidates would ensure that all public schools in DC are fully funded, Perry said that the board has failed to proactively “move the levers of power” by convincing decision-makers to provide equitable funding. He noted that as a policy expert, he has the experience to turn ideas into policy.
Christopher W. Martin
Chris Martin, the father of three children and a principal at a DC real estate company, said he is running to advocate that the city properly “fund affordable early childhood education.” He is a proponent of full implementation of the Birth-to-Three for All DC Act, which expands access to education, social and health services for children 3 and younger.
Martin does not think that the city needs to limit the number of charter schools, saying the District instead needs a baseline amount of funding for all schools. He also approves of the job that the DC Public Charter School Board is doing in its oversight of charter schools. That board’s transparency should serve as an example for the SBOE, he said.
In response to a question on removing police from schools, Martin argued that police are necessary to ensure the safety of students and teachers. “I think there is a difference between policing and profiling,” he said. Martin added that in dire situations where gun violence occurs, teachers and students need the police to protect the school. “Very different than actively policing, and harassing people,” he continued.
Like the other candidates, Martin does not think that student performance on standardized tests is an accurate measure of student achievement. Instead, he supports individualized plans for each student.
In his closing statement, Martin said, “I’m a father, I am a collaborator, I’m a problem-solver, and I think we need all of those skill sets so that we can focus on our children and collectively make this city a better place for all of them.”
Dorothy Douglas
Dorothy Douglas, a Ward 7 educator for 30 years, was elected to represent the ward on the SBOE in 2008 but lost to Karen Williams when seeking a second term. She is currently an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 7.
The DC Council transferred authority over DC Public Schools from the school board — the predecessor to the current State Board of Education — to the mayor’s office in 2007. Douglas is the only candidate in the at-large race who approves of full mayoral control over schools, because the system is already “set in place.” Unlike several candidates, she opposes putting a cap on charter schools.
Douglas underscored the need for parents to have a voice in decision-making. In order to close the achievement gap, parents have to be at the table for discussions about funding for public and charter schools, she said.
In answering Stein’s question about measuring children’s progress, Douglas said that standardized testing is essential to identifying students who are in the greatest need of extra attention and to determining how to allocate federal funds effectively.
Douglas would not support a resolution calling for removal of all police from schools, saying “we need security in schools no matter what.” She noted that parents deserve to know their child’s school is secure.
Troy Murphy
A graduate of DC public schools and a former charter school teacher, Troy Murphy said he is running to present the “unappreciated voices of Washington.” His main focus would be early childhood education.
Murphy said the inclusion of charter schools in DC’s education system takes funding away from neighborhood public schools, which is why he supports a limit on charter schools. Moreover, he said that the Public Charter School Board has not done an adequate job of overseeing charter schools in DC.
Murphy said he thinks that school evaluations should be more comprehensive than the School Transparency and Reporting ranking system. He also disagrees with using standardized tests as a metric for student achievement, saying that they marginalize students who don’t have access at home to the same resources that enable their classmates to prepare.
On the issue of police in schools, Murphy said that in his experience as a DCPS student, non-police security officers were not always adequately equipped to protect student safety. “There are lots of things that go on that may need that hand and assistance of an actual police [officer],” he said.
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