A contingent of D.C. schools activists and parents is urging community members to boycott public meetings set for later this month on the proposed shutdown of 23 public schools.
“Your voice will not be heard, so you might as well not waste your time,” said Carolyn Steptoe, a parent who’s helping to mobilize the effort. “You’ll be speaking to a staff facilitator, who just listens, takes notes and doesn’t have any real authority.”
Steptoe, like dozens of others, signed up to testify at what was originally planned as a single, citywide meeting about the closures. But with the announcement that there will instead be 23 separate meetings, all on Jan. 17, Steptoe is refusing to participate in a process she considers a sham.
The Ward 5 resident is part of the newly formed Coalition to Save Our Neighborhood Schools.
In addition to the boycott, the group is organizing a protest to coincide with the D.C. Council’s hearing on the matter on Jan. 14. And members will submit a list of demands to Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s office that includes dropping the closure plan and placing a moratorium on new charter schools.
“We feel betrayed,” longtime activist Zein El-Amine said.
Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas, whose ward is home to the largest number of schools slated for closing, has joined the fight. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents relating to the decision-making on the closures.
Rhee spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said Rhee decided to hold 23 simultaneous meetings because “each school community has specific, individual programmatic concerns, and parents, students and residents can best address their concerns or comments at a hearing specific to their community.”
“The mayor, deputy mayor and chancellor will make rounds to all of the meetings,” Hobson said in an e-mail.
