The consolidation of the listed 20 schools that was released today seems like the district is taking 5 steps backward when the Capital Commitment is supposed to be aimed toward improving the quality of each student's education.
1. Underenrollment is a negatively connotated way of saying that our schools are not overcrowded (some of them). Those select few are on the list for consolidations. In contemporary education discussions, small schools are always associated with increased student achievement. I'm not sure why this is somehow different in this district. In fact is just isn't, there are plenty of people in this city that pay well over 5 figures for just that: small schools. Our charter schools are bursting at the seams because parents are enrolling there under the false pretenses that their student will get more individual attention from the teacher.
2. If enrollment has been decreasing for the last however many years, that does not mean that our resources have been magically vanishing as well. It will continue to decrease if the Capital Commitment continues to put politics over student achievement. Smaller schools mean smaller classes which leads to increased student achievement.
3. The point that was made about creating situations that allow for teachers to collaborate on lesson plans was great, in theory. However, in closing 20 DCPS schools, this proposal is leaving hundreds of teachers and school staff unemployed. I would take lesson planning alone over unemployed any day of the week.
In your opening speech to all first year teachers, you said that money wasn't an issue and student achievement and teachers were the most important thing to you. This proposal is showing that those promises, those commitments were the empty promises of a politician, not an educator. That is not the kind of advocate these kids need. If you want to keep students and teachers, the policy decisions you make should support them.