New council program aims for parent involvement

D.C. Council members on Friday unveiled a new program they hope will spur thousands of parents to become more involved in the public school system as it undergoes dramatic reform. Council member Kwame Brown, who created the pledge system, said the idea is to get parents to commit in writing to volunteer 10 hours of their time to one of the school facilities and recruit five other adults to sign a similar pledge.

Individual schools will then compete to see which can make the greatest strides in increasing Adequate Yearly Progress scores. The top three will win tickets for the whole school to Six Flags for a Family Fun Day.