As District school officials brace for the first day of classes on Monday, Mayor Adrian Fenty and school Chancellor Michelle Rhee are preparing for a greater challenge: reforming the 55,000-student system from the ground up. Perhaps the greatest obstacle they will face is the vast disparity between schools serving the city’s poorest children and those in relatively affluent neighborhoods. At one pole is Key Elementary, the city’s highest-performing school according to federal data. At the other is Gibbs, the city’s worst. The Examiner visited both schools in an effort to identify the factors that affect student performance.
Key Elementary
Key, in Ward 3, sits on a hilltop in Palisades, in a leafy neighborhood of million-dollar homes in Northwest. A Wachovia bank sets out dog treats for customers. Residents take ordinary security precautions, but it’s rare to see a home with bars on its windows.
The student body is more than 70 percent white in a system that is nearly 85 percent black. Few of Key’s students come from “out-of-boundary,” meaning that most of the children live in the neighborhood.
Ninety percent of Key’s students tested at or above proficiency for reading or math, according to 2006 No Child Left Behind data. Principal David Landeryou, who is entering his seventh year at Key, attributes the school’s success to dedicated teachers and highly involved parents. Landeryou is paid $89,717 annually.
“The success I think sort of creates a situation where families [come together], and then the whole community comes together and they all want to be a part of the program,” Landeryou said. “It sort of builds on itself, the success that we’ve had.”
Parents clamor to get their children into Key. Enrollment has gone up from about 180 six years ago to upward of 300 in the upcoming year, in part because of the addition of a new wing, Landeryou said.
“We have kids that are coming excited, running to school,” Landeryou said.
The school is buoyed by parents, all of whom are considered to be part of the school’s Parents and Teachers Association, whether or not they are dues-paying members. Each family pays $100 plus $75 per child to join, said Catherine Stirling, who is completing a stint as the PTA’s president.
Fundraisers and other events augment the money budgeted for the school by the city. The PTA recently set aside $500 to help cover the costs of a new social studies program.
“Overall, if there is some need that can be financially met, the parents will provide it,” Stirling said.
At Key, it appears the biggest issue facing children and parents is whether to continue in public school in D.C. after the elementary years.
About 50 percent of children head on to Hardy Middle School in the District, Landeryou said. Private school is also an option for many Key families, and some move to better districts in Maryland or Virginia.
“As deep as this community’s commitment is to public education,” Stirling said, “there are a lot of concerns.”
Gibbs Elementary
Straddling the line between Ward 6 and Ward 7 in Southeast, Gibbs sits two blocks south of a gritty strip of liquor stores that line Benning Road in Rosedale, a neighborhood ravaged by crime and drugs. A police surveillance camera is mounted on a pole near the entrance to the school, not far from a bright yellow sign declaring the area a “DRUG FREE ZONE.”
Less than 5 percent of Gibbs’ students were considered proficient in math, according to 2006 No Child Left Behind data. A little more than 13 percent of its students were considered proficient in reading.
Enrollment shrunk from 324 in October 2005 to 298 during the same month last year, and it could drop even further this year. The number of students is important because Gibbs could end up getting less money from the District under the city’s per-pupil funding formula.
“It’s just a mess down there [at Gibbs],” said Shirley Henderson, whose granddaughter attends Gibbs.
Because of the school’s troubles, Rosedale’s newest residents — white gentrifiers who have helped push some home values up to $400,000 — are unlikely to send their children to Gibbs.
Principal Kimberly Davis refused to be interviewed for this story, despite repeated requests from The Examiner. Davis, who started at Gibbs last year and is a graduate of the New Leaders for New Schools program, makes $82,465 annually.
Henderson and Mary Garvin, whose granddaughter also attends Gibbs, said they have had positive interactions with the school’s teachers but felt the educators were often frustrated because children often show up for class without support and encouragement at home.
“I don’t think parents are really involved,” Garvin said.
Several parents complained that Gibbs is run like a “prison” so that administrators and teachers can maintain order. Recess has not been allowed under Davis, parents said.
That surprised former Gibbs principal Ray Bledsoe, who retired in 1999, after 18 years at the school. Bledsoe said his test scores were comparable to those elementaries “westof the [Rock Creek] park.”
Bledsoe described his approach at Gibbs to that of a politician seeking re-election. He said he worked hard to establish personal relationships with parents and to be visible in the community.
When the D.C. school system failed to provide support or when parents could not make ends meet, Bledsoe said, he was able to get help from churches and community organizations.
Since he left, Gibbs has had a new principal “every other year,” Bledsoe said. He attributes that high turnover to Gibbs’ downfall and the systemic failures of the school system.
“I think the system … should have a better and more effective way of matching the schools with the principal,” Bledsoe said.
