Sign Up to Testify at the Education Committee budget hearings!

Mayor Bowser has released her FY2017 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan for public education. In a continued effort to engage the community and stakeholders in the budget-making process, Councilmember David Grosso, Chair of the Committee on Education, will hold a series of budget hearings throughout the month of April. If you would like to testify at any of these hearings, please fill out the online google form located here: http://bit.do/educationhearings.

Please note: The witness list will close 24 hours before the start of each hearing, so please sign up to testify in a timely manner. The Committee on Education will not add names to the list after it is closed. There will be no exceptions. For your convenience, a confirmation email with instructions will be emailed to all public witnesses at least 48 hours before the start of each hearing.

Budget Hearings

Tuesday, April 12 at 10:00am: Public Charter School Board (Room 123)

Tuesday, April 12 at 10:00am: State Board of Education (Room 123)

Wednesday, April 13 at 10:00am: District of Columbia Public Library (Room 120)

Wednesday, April 13 at 10:00am: Deputy Mayor for Education (Room 120)

Thursday, April 14 10:00 am: DCPS- Public Witnesses Only (Room 412)*

Thursday, April 14 5:00 pm: DCPS- Public Witnesses Only (Room 412)*

Monday, April 18 at 10:00am: Office of the State Superintendent for Education (Room 412)

Thursday, April 21 at 10:00am: DCPS- Government Witnesses Only (Room 412)

 *The DCPS budget hearing on Thursday, April 14, 2016 will have identical hearings at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., so please only select one session.

If you are unable to testify at the hearing, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. Written statements can be emailed to Jessica Giles, Committee Assistant, at jgiles@dccouncil.us or mailed to the Committee on Education, Council of the District of Columbia, Suite 116 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004. The record typically closes 10 business days after each hearing.

MEDIA ADVISORY: Results Released on the Impact of the Healthy Schools Act of 2010

For Immediate Release

February 9, 2016

Contact: Keenan Austin

(202) 724-8105

MEDIA ADVISORY

Results Released on the Impact of the Healthy Schools Act of 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Healthy Schools Act (HSA), a law enacted to reduce obesity rates among students attending public and public charter schools in the District of Columbia. The HSA sought to combat those trends by increasing student access to healthy meals, providing physical education and health-classes, and requiring physical activity during the school day. On February 9th, researchers from American University will present the findings of a five-year independent study, funded by Kaiser Permanente, on the implementation and effects of the HSA.

WHO:                  Councilmember Mary M. Cheh

                          Councilmember Yvette Alexander

                          Councilmember David Grosso

                          Celeste A. James, Director
                          Kaiser Permanente, Mid-Atlantic States

                          Anastasia Snelling, Ph.D., R.D.,  Professor
                          Dean, American University School of Education
                          Chair, American University Department of Health Studies

                          Sarah Irvine Belson, Ph.D.
                          Associate Professor
                          Executive Director, American University
                          Institute for Innovation in    
                          Education

                           Amanda Delabar
                           Principal,  Tubman Elementary School

WHAT:             Presentation of research findings on the
                           implementation and impact of
                           the Healthy Schools Act

WHEN:             Tuesday, February 9th at 12:00 pm

WHERE:           Mayor's Press Briefing Room - Room G9

                           John A. Wilson Building

                           1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

                       

                               

 

 

Grosso's opening statement from the hearing on B21-0508, "School Attendance Clarification Amendment Act of 2015"

Good morning. The time is now 10:00 am and I am calling this joint hearing of the Committee on Education and the Committee of the Whole to order.

My name is Councilmember David Grosso, chairman of the Committee on Education. Today is January 21, 2016 and we are in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building. We are gathered today for a hearing on Bill 21-508, the “School Attendance Clarification Amendment Act of 2015.” I introduced this legislation along with Chairman Mendelson.

Over the past year, the interagency Truancy Taskforce has been meeting to discuss ways to better streamline our approach to truancy and boost overall student attendance. We’ve evaluated data, researched best practices, reviewed our current laws, policies, and practices for attendance, and are close to agreeing to a robust strategic plan in this area.

This legislation amends the District of Columbia’s compulsory school attendance laws to make changes based on the interagency lessons learned over the past two years.

In addition to clarifying agency responsibilities and attendance reporting requirements, this bill would require schools to obtain a written explanation verifying the reason for an absence within five days after a student’s return to school and prohibit the suspension, expulsion, or unenrollment of a minor covered by the District’s compulsory attendance requirement due to an unexcused absence or late arrival to school.

This legislation also takes steps to decriminalize school attendance by amending the protocol for law enforcement officers who come in contact with a minor they believe to be truant and amending educational institution’s referral requirement for CFSA, Court Social Services, and the Office of the Attorney General after a minor accrues a certain number of unexcused absences.

This builds upon emergency and temporary legislation the Council passed earlier this year to address the unintended consequences of the 80/20 attendance rule, which has accounted for young people being referred to CFSA and CSS for educational neglect when in reality they have just been tardy.

As I have said before, chronic absenteeism and chronic tardiness are inherently different. They generally have different causes and students are in need of different interventions. The key word here is intervention. We know from data that introducing students to the juvenile justice system for tardiness or absenteeism is not an effective intervention. We also know that suspending or expelling a student for not showing up to school is not particularly effective in getting them to change behavior and actually come to school more often.

Students need to attend school daily in order to succeed academically, and this legislation attempts to better align our laws with this belief. I admit that this legislation is not perfect. In my ideal world, we would be getting rid of referrals to Court Social Services altogether in favor of effective intervention and diversion programs that has the capacity to serve the volume of students in need of those services. But, I believe this legislation presents a strong step in the right direction.

I want to thank you all for being here today. I will now turn to my colleague who is co-chairing along with me for an opening statement.

Grosso's opening statement from the introduction of the "Protecting Students Digital Privacy Act of 2016"

Thank you Chairman Mendelson. Today, I am also introducing the “Protecting Students Digital Privacy Act of 2016.”

There are four main components to this legislation. First, this legislation requires that any contract or agreement between a local education agency and a student information system provider expressly authorize and require the provider to establish, implement, and maintain appropriate security measures to protect student data and personally identifiable student information and to comply with certain procedures with regard to accessing, analyzing, storing, or sharing that information.

Second, it limits an educational institution or a vendor that provides a technological device to a student for oversight or home use from accessing or tracking the device, and analyzing, selling, or sharing the activity or data, except in limited circumstances. 

This bill also prohibits a school from requiring or coercing a student or prospective student to disclose the user name or password to a personal social media account, add school-based personnel to their list of contacts, or to change the settings that affect a third party’s ability to view the account. 

Finally, this legislation would prohibit school employees from accessing or compelling a student to produce, display, share or provide access to, any data or other content stored upon, or accessible from a student’s personal technological device, even when the device is being carried or used in violation of a school’s policy, except for in limited circumstances.

There are some in the education space—schools and vendors alike—who have this notion that students leave their right to privacy at the schoolhouse door. That the only way to truly educate a young person is to have absolute control and constantly monitor their inputs and outputs. I simply don’t believe that to be the case. 

Further, I do not believe that third party vendors or organizations providing technology or software to our schools should have unfettered access to sell, analyze, or share the data they receive from our students. This bill takes steps to put safeguards in place. 

Now I must say, nothing in this legislation gives anyone a privacy right for online websites, accounts, or social media pages that are unsecured. It is not an invasion of privacy for an educational institution, a teacher, or anyone else to view material that has been voluntarily put on public display. And so even while I introduce this legislation today, I still want to advise the students who may be listening that discretion and a slow trigger finger remains wise.

I want to thank the ACLU for working with my office on this legislation. I look forward to a spirited debate on this issue. And I welcome any co-sponsors.

Protecting Students Digital Privacy Act of 2016

Protecting Students Digital Privacy Act of 2016

High School Scores a Sobering but Necessary Performance Reality Check

For Immediate Release: 
10/27/2015
Contact: Darby Hickey
(202) 724-8105

High School Scores a Sobering but Necessary Performance Reality Check

Washington, D.C.--Councilmember David Grosso, chairperson of the Committee on Education, released the following statement on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) high school scores for the District of Columbia:
 
"As expected, today's release of PARCC high school scores is nothing to cheer about; however, we must remember that this is a recalibrating moment in our city for assessment of progress in the public education system. When the District of Columbia transitioned to the PARCC assessment, we knew that the test would be more difficult. But we also knew that it was important for us to raise our standards to ensure that our students are honestly "college and career ready." These results present a more accurate indication of how much work we still have to do. It is not an indication of students learning less, but rather a better understanding of where we need to be in the long run.
 
I am confident that our educators and school leaders will get to work and use these new scores and data to continue to improve. This is simply a new baseline. And it is important to remember that the PARCC assessment is not our only indicator of success or progress. We must continue to look towards NAEP/TUDA data, high school graduation rates, and other indicators that show public education in D.C. is constantly improving.
 
I am committed to supporting the work of our public schools, and continuing to push and innovate in other areas of our government whose work impacts our students. If we want to see these results improve, schools cannot be the only place where we tackle the achievement gap. Every single resident has to be committed to doing all we can to ensure that every child in the city is in the best position to learn."
  
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