Opinion

During the latest round of performance oversight hearings, some DC Council members have asked advocates and public witnesses to indicate the amount of extra spending they envision for existing programs. Most have responded with requests…

Washingtonians are serious about education, and DC Council hearings focused on education over the past several years are proof: Hundreds of witnesses sign up every time, including dedicated teachers, invested parents, thoughtful students…

Ecosystem. That was the word that drew me into Mayor Muriel Bowser’s recent discussion about the “Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords (RENTAL) Act.” Her administration’s legislative proposal, as presented…

Government has a fundamental responsibility to provide an excellent education to the next generation. To meet the moment, we must get cellphones out of the classroom and empower our students to learn and our teachers to teach without…

When Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker, chair of the newly constituted Committee on Youth Affairs, conducts his performance oversight of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children and the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) this…

In a somewhat anticlimactic move, the DC Council unanimously voted earlier this week to expel Ward 8’s Trayon White Sr. from its membership, ending a nearly six-month saga that dragged on ad nauseam as legitimate concerns festered about…

Is there any unethical or corrupt DC official whom Frederick D. Cooke Jr. won’t defend? Does he not think residents have the right to demand an honest and responsible government? Is it acceptable that politicians continue to receive…

While well-meaning, a recently proposed DC Council bill to mandate training for public charter school boards fails to address the real problem in DC’s public schools: the city’s large, growing racial gap in student achievement. At-large…

On April 24, 2017, after months of fighting to prevent officials at the DC Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) from violating the city’s Foster Youth Amendment Act of 2012 and pushing them to publish the mandatory report about…

Raw emotions consumed me as I reflected on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s accounts of her meeting with President-elect Donald Trump and her failure to take on or even address the looming possibility of a federal takeover of DC’s Metropolitan Police…

Change takes time. This is the reality of improving literacy outcomes in Washington, DC — a reality that is both challenging and hopeful. As the city embarks on the implementation of DC’s Early Literacy Education Task Force…

Call it the “Saga of Trayon White Sr.” The DC Council has been considering since August how it should punish the Ward 8 legislator for his blatant violations of the legislature’s Code of Conduct and a variety of local laws. This…

Some DC government officials, private-sector education researchers and advocates with whom I spoke during the past week seemed unfazed by President-elect Donald Trump’s expressed desire to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. During…

DC residents and their political leaders are understandably anxious about Donald Trump’s second presidential term. They are also disturbed by the fact that the Republican Party has gained control, albeit narrow, of the Senate and House.…

In a period of just four years, DC families have gone from unprecedented levels of economic security — thanks to pandemic aid programs — to a point where thousands are overwhelmed by unaffordable rents and food prices, with few options for…

Remarkable. That’s the word used frequently by DC residents and leaders with whom I spoke in recent weeks to describe Mary Levy, a public education activist who lived in Ward 2 and died of cancer this summer. Some, myself included, have…

As a senior reflecting on my time as a student in DC schools, I am particularly grateful for the experiences I’ve had after school. Out-of-school-time (OST) programs have opened so many doors for me — transforming my life, giving me…

That was the question I asked myself hours before the polls opened Nov. 5 for the general election. Vice President Kamala Harris was right: After having dealt with then-former President Donald Trump for eight years, I, like many Americans,…

District voters may be trying to decide whether to mark yes or no for Initiative 83, a general election ballot measure that could partially open political party primaries to non-members and install a candidate selection system known as…

When I was growing up in a five-generation household in New Orleans, the elders passed around wives’ tales, family lore, adages and ethics lessons as frequently as they did crawfish bisque or jambalaya. My grandmother often warned that,…