Jonetta Rose Barras: Education reform detour

There I was, sitting at my computer, prepared to riff on local elections.

Challengers to incumbent D.C. Council members are beginning to line up. Jeff Smith, head of DC Voice and a former school board member, announced last week that he will take on Ward 1’s Jim Graham. Just as I was pulling together a comparison between those two, describing the tension-filled dynamics sure to surface during the campaign — race, class, old Washington versus gentrifiers, ethics and integrity in government — I got misdirected.