Education
By Norma Porter - WI Staff Writer
Thursday, 06 August 2009

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced on Tue., July 28 that 13 public schools will introduce specialty programs that include science and technology, arts and world cultures into their curriculums. The Chancellor made the announcement at Malcolm X Elementary School in Southeast. Flanked by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), Rhee said that she is broadening the “portfolio” of schools by establishing special programs that often attract families to charter and private schools.

“We want to offer the type of programs and initiatives in our DCPS schools that first and foremost engage our students in learning, but second, really excite, inspire, and compel our families and parents to want to send their children to our schools,” Rhee said.“This is what is so compelling about a lot of the private and charter schools in the city and there’s no reason why we can’t provide those kinds of programs within DCPS.”

In the last decade, enrollment in District public schools has declined as parents opted, instead, to send their children to charter and private schools. Last year, DCPS enrollment was slightly more than 47,000, Rhee said, but this year she predicts that the enrollment number will be closer to 45,000. All 120 public schools were invited to submit applications for the D.C. Catalyst Project. The application process required that parents, community members and principals form teams and submit proposals detailing how the school would integrate one of the themes in its restructuring plan. Malcolm X Elementary School Principal Darwin Bobbitt, said his school submitted a proposal for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) theme because the program was aligned with his goals for the school and its students.

“We have been getting a lot of donations from private companies and trying to get more computers and smart boards in our classrooms,” Bobbitt said. “We want to give our children the opportunity to be on top of everyone else in D.C. and the United States as far as technology, math and science. A lot of our kids have a lot of potential, despite where they are from, and we don’t use that as an excuse. We really try to have them leaving out of here prepared for the 21st Century.”

Residents in the Congress Heights community of Ward 8 said that they are hopeful that a new science program might draw families back to Malcolm X Elementary.

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For more Congress Heights and River East news visit The Congress Heights Examiner website, http://www.examiner.com/x-13507-Congress-Heights-Community-Examiner


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