What we are seeing in the apparent demise of the New School for Enterprise and Development are the growing pains of the New Anacostia.
Washington’s worst neighborhood, known as home to our permanent underclass, is being reborn. Across Anacostia, new developments are replacing decrepit public housing; it has a spiffy new community center; charter schools are scheduled to open up more educational opportunities.
In these seeds of growth, the New Anacostia is rising on the city’s East End, across the Anacostia River. But the underclass of wrecked families and drug-infested housing projects and illiteracyis alive and unwell.
The two clashed in the New School.
It looks as if the charter school, born five years ago from the dreams of black business leaders and activists, will close its doors in June. That would be a sad day for many students and teachers and administrators.
But it will not be a failure for parents and students who are seeking the best education opportunities. And it will not close the door on other, perhaps better, alternatives.
Those alternatives were abundant Tuesday night at THEARC, the community center where the D.C. Public Charter School Board called New School parents in to help their transition to another school. New School administrators were hoping that parents would demand the school remain open. They did not.
Instead, the roomful of parents asked practical questions about the integrity of the New School’s grading system, the process of switching transcripts and the prospects of applying to other charter schools. They questioned representatives from other charter schools, who had set up booths in the THEARC.
I interviewed a number of parents and students, most of whom were quite satisfied with the small classes and extracurricular activities at the New School.
“It was safe for me,” one young man told me.
These are exactly the responses the New School’s founders wanted to hear. Butch Hopkins and Lloyd Smith, two luminaries of development in the city’s East End, started the school with Charles Tate, a longtime Washingtonian and businessman. Smith has passed away.
In hindsight, it took them too long to find a permanent home. Their educational model of entrepreneurship never gelled. Their school lacked organization and consistency and quality teaching. Scores went down.
“We needed more time,” Hopkins tells me.
The students needed books. As their scores failed to improve, thecharter board acted to revoked New School’s charter.
There is no easy answer to the question of whether the board acted prematurely. As to the investigation into how the school compensated Tate, I predict it will end with a whimper rather than any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the New School is negotiating with the highly successful Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter School to take over its building on Bladensburg Road near New York Avenue.
This school has excelled at teaching kids from Anacostia — and preparing them to thrive in the New Anacostia.
Perhaps the demise of the New School will have a positive outcome for the students, and that’s what matters.
Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at [email protected].
