Opinion

Over the past several weeks, the political and public policy rhetoric in the District has seemed like a five-alarm fire — the heat and damage impossible to escape. A large part of that reality is predicated on the fact that MAGA…

Half-jokingly, I asked earlier this week on my Twitter account whether the DC government needed a therapist, considering the stress it has been experiencing both externally — from MAGA Republicans intent on making the city their pawn in…

For thousands of DC’s adults, improving literacy skills can be an essential tool for completing education, getting and keeping a decent job, and staying out of poverty. Increasingly, however, digital literacy has become just as important…

Ward 3 State Board of Education member Eric Goulet publicly asked on Twitter whether DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson has become “unhinged.” Other civic and political leaders I spoke with wondered whether he is suffering a “midlife crisis”…

Even before Mayor Muriel Bowser submits her fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, a full-blown fight has kicked off over spending for public education in the District. This may seem like the annual skirmish between parents, teachers, school…

Both DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and a Republican-led coalition of House members oppose meaningful and data-backed changes to the District’s sentencing laws by challenging the DC Council’s Revised Criminal Code Act (RCAA) and its provision for…

Long before Stokely Carmichael (aka Kwame Ture) shouted the phrase “Black Power” in 1966; before James Brown, sans his famous processed pompadour, urged his audience in 1968 to “Say it loud: I’m Black and I’m proud”; before musician and…

The disjointed mishmash of architecturally inferior structures mostly resembles a collection of shanties rather than outdoor cafes. There are concrete barriers and bollards that further distort Adams Morgan’s 18th Street NW commercial…

DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson may have been right to persuade his colleagues to use the 2023 Budget Support Act to mandate a DC Public Schools (DCPS) boundary study — but not so much on his narrow perspective on its scope. The resulting…

At the core of opposition to the District of Columbia’s proposed new code of criminal laws — the subject of a mayoral veto overridden by the council, and more recently a resolution of disapproval passed by the House — is a commonly…

While the District has made some progress in addressing technology challenges for students at DC Public Schools (DCPS), more planning and investment is needed to ensure a functional, modern school system that is able to prepare our…

The house at 1304 Euclid St. NW has a long history as a low-cost refuge for people living on the margins of DC’s economy. Initially, it was one of a few houses connected to Mitch Snyder, a now-deceased popular local and national homeless…

For nearly 50 years, Duke Ellington School of the Arts has provided a world-class pre-professional arts education to thousands of DC Public Schools (DCPS) students through instruction by professional artists. This is key to fulfilling the…

It’s not surprising that so much of the conversation in education right now is focused on recovering from the academic damage that students sustained over the past few years, especially our students of color and students deemed “at-risk.”…

I am on the telephone listening to my granddaughter discuss the week’s events. Normally she is a confident, self-assured, sassy high schooler with opinions about everything. Today, however, I hear something else in her voice: anxiety. A…

What a difference a day can make. On Monday, watching the swearing-in ceremony for recently elected and reelected DC officials at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, residents may have thought some kind of unprecedented camaraderie…

What is wrong with at-large DC Council member Robert White? What is he thinking? These are questions some residents may be asking. In the past week, I have wondered the same thing. The two-term legislator has leapt from the…

It’s unsurprising that many of the District’s poor and working-class residents — and their advocates — lack faith in Mayor Muriel Bowser to act in their interests. There have been myriad occasions where she seems to have ignored their…

Some of the best teaching outside of the classroom happens on a trip to the grocery store. Reading labels. Checking items off a list. Introducing new foods and, in the process, new words, too. Imagine a little boy and his dad…

With too much gun violence in neighborhoods across the District, local leaders and residents continue an urgent debate around the best strategies and policies to solve the root causes of crime and reduce violence fast. Yet, too often in…