Kaya Henderson was named chancellor of DC Public Schools last November, but the school system truly became her own this week, when she stood beside Mayor Vincent Gray and described her vision and goals for the next five years.
“I feel really good,” she told me the day after the announcement. “In part, I feel like I have just given birth to a baby.”
To continue the metaphor, public schools in the nation’s capital have been stillborn for decades. Lousy public schools lie at the root of all problems in D.C. — from crime to unemployment to housing to drug addiction. OK, dysfunctional families share the blame, but everyone knows the schools have failed poor kids for generations and consigned them to remain in the underclass.
So why do I now share Henderson’s hope when she says: “People have a sense of possibility. I believe we can do this. We can create a world-class education system for all 47,000 students.”
Because Allen Lew, now city administrator, repaired all the schools and built new ones under Mayor Adrian Fenty. Because Fenty’s reformers, including Henderson, negotiated a landmark contract with the Washington Teachers’ Union that limits tenure, rewards good teachers, and gives the system more leeway over length of the school day and year. Because teachers who fail to teach can no longer remain teachers forever.
And because of the “charter school effect.” Charter schools, which operate on public funds but independently of DCPS, now educate more than 40 percent of public school students. More importantly, Henderson is willing to embrace the charters, adopt their successes and charter her own semi-independent schools.
Take the expanded school year.
At Wednesday’s press conference announcing Henderson’s Five-Year Strategic Plan, Mayor Gray said it was time to abandon the “agrarian concept” that students needed to take the summer off to farm. I asked if Henderson was truly considering a longer school year, how it might be implemented and who would pay.
“Yes, yes and yes,” she said. “High-performing charter schools that are doing well with low-performing students are successful in part because their students spend more time in school.”
E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, for instance, has a yearlong program, with long breaks.
The new teachers union contract, she says, “has room and space to pilot different working conditions, like extended schools days and years.”
On the money side, Henderson’s new plan includes a $10 million “innovation fund” to seed changes such as extended school time. Principals can apply for grants to pay teachers to teach later into the day or, perhaps, all summer.
“These kids need to be in school more” was the consensus among Henderson’s top staff.
I believe most parents would concur.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
