On the Recent DC Public School Scandals

Today DC Councilmember David Grosso put out a press release regarding the recent scandals that have plagued DC Public Schools. In the following quote from that press release, the councilmember refers to addressing the root causes of those scandals.

At this time, I believe it is best to keep the Education Committee's time and energy focused on our students—an effort that requires a deeper examination of the root causes of the scandals that have beset our education system in recent months in order to swiftly and deliberately resolve them in meaningful ways.

Let's applaud the councilmember's commitment to addressing the cause of these scandals rather than the scandals themselves. As he points out in his press release there are other investigations that will look into the scandals.

In part, scandals involving officials skirting the school lottery system result from the perception that there only a few schools within DC Public schools that will provide a quality education. And of course, the other scandal related to graduating students who did not meet graduation requirements only reinforces that perception.

All of want the best for our children. It's so sad that DC Public Schools has yet to show solid results in providing quality education in most schools. If there are a limited number of schools that are perceived to be good, most parents, who find themselves in a position to pull strings for his or her child, would also find it difficult to resist the pressure to do so. DC ultimate solution for lottery scandals is to improve the quality of education in schools throughout the city each school is attractive to families and not a select few.