Opinion

Earlier this month, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) presented designs for safety enhancements and road reconstruction for critical areas of Near Northeast DC in NoMa and Union Market, extending eastward through Trinidad to…

Some education advocates have started describing Mayor Muriel Bowser and sections of her administration as “Trumpian.” They have joked, for example, that Paul Kihn, the deputy mayor for education, continues to suggest that the 2018 Master…

As an editor or reporter working at a newspaper, you can easily see the work you’ve done pile up. My old desk at The Current surely demonstrated that. With an online outlet, it takes a bit more reflection to see the results of the time and…

While the expulsion of Jack Evans from the DC Council moved a step closer this week with the approval and submission of the ad hoc committee’s final report and recommendation, the ethics saga is not yet in the rearview mirror. The formal…

At the heart of the District’s approach to education lies a gaping contradiction. On the one hand, Mayor Muriel Bowser states a belief in “education reforms that guarantee every child a quality seat … regardless of ZIP code.” On the other…

Around 9:30 Tuesday morning, as DC Council members ended their breakfast before the scheduled legislative meeting, some lawmakers seemed uncertain about what would happen when the special committee — created to examine the Jack Evans…

When I was a student teacher at the now-closed Garnet-Patterson Junior High in Shaw in the fall of 1970, my mentor, Brittania Capers, offered me invaluable advice, shared her expertise, and gave me the tools to understand what I was about…

Our city’s school systems have made tremendous progress over the past decade. There are great schools and waitlists for both DC Public Schools and schools in the public charter sector. Elizabeth A. Davis is president of the Washington…

When DC Public Schools first administered the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams in 2015, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School was significantly behind in both English language arts (ELA) and…

The numbers are staggering: 32,000 children are living in poverty in DC. When I heard those statistics earlier this month during the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s conference on the “Young and Poor: The Trauma of Child Poverty,” I…

What were they thinking? The entire DC Council — led by at-large member Anita Bonds, chair of the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization — either co-introduced or co-sponsored the Rental Housing Act Extension…

A decade and a half ago, the District of Columbia lagged far behind the rest of the country in education. Our results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) consistently ranked us at the bottom in reading and math…

The most difficult part of having to scrape together money for the bills is finding the time, energy and emotional resilience to do the things you know you should do — once you’ve done the things you have to do. The working poor, the…

DC Council’s handling over the past year of allegations of ethics violations by Jack Evans has been a wholly messy affair. Legislators engaged in rash behavior, twice punishing the Ward 2 representative before conducting their own…

When faced with troublesome executive-branch or independent agencies, the DC Council’s solution has become nauseatingly predictable. Members, separately and collectively, propose a new agency, office or commission as an antidote for the…

During one of his four interviews with investigators at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, Ward 2 DC Council member Jack Evans was asked to identify the specific circumstances that would trigger a conflict of interest. He reportedly…

Voters in Washington will make history next year. For the first time ever, they will have the choice to cast a ballot for candidates taking part in DC’s new Fair Elections program. Across the city, five candidates for DC Council have been…

When DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced earlier this month her intention to place more affordable, low-cost housing in neighborhoods long perceived as havens for the wealthy or the near-wealthy, humanists in the city surely must have smiled.…

As we confront the climate crisis, DC officials have set ambitious goals to lead our city toward a more sustainable future. One of the primary goals is having all of the District’s electricity generated by renewable sources by 2032. While…

That seemed the logical question to ask after realizing that more than a quarter million dollars of DC taxpayers’ money already has been spent this election season — although not one of the individuals who has tapped the public’s wallet…