May
2005 Forum Educating
D.C.'s Children: Perspectives from the Field THE PURPOSE Almost unnoticed in the
media coverage of elementary and secondary education in
the District of Columbia
is the variety of substantial initiatives being taken by
traditional and innovative educational institutions in
creating schooling for the children of D.C. Public,
parochial, private and charter schools are in the
process of some major renewal efforts. New
leaders and teachers are emerging and they are tapping
into different public and private sources of funding
while developing a variety of approaches to education.
This Woodstock
forum will explore the challenges and possibilities for
what we hope might be a new springtime for D.C.'s
children in their schools. THE MODERATOR Rev.
Raymond B. Kemp is a senior
fellow of the Woodstock
Theological
Center, director
of Preaching
the Just Word, and teaches theology at Georgetown
University. He
is the former pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian
Catholic Church and of St.
Augustine's, both
historic African-American churches in Washington. He
served as an elected member of the D.C. Board of
Education, and as an appointed member of the University
of the District
of Columbia's Board of Trustees in the 1980s. THE PANELISTS John
Butler is the President of Archbishop Carroll
High School in Washington D.C., and is
creator of their Business
Champion Program, an innovative model to involve
local business people in supporting and funding city
education. John is a member of the Woodstock Board
and a graduate of St. Anthony's in D.C., a political
science major at St. Michael's College in Winooski,
VT, and holds
a Master's in Education, Guidance and Counseling from Howard
University. Kaya
Henderson is Vice
President of Strategic Partnerships at the New Teacher
Project (TNTP). Kaya's career in education began when
she joined Teach for America (TFA) in 1992, just after
graduating from Georgetown's School of
Foreign Service. She
taught Spanish in the Bronx for two
years and developed new teachers for TFA in New York, before
becoming Executive Director for its Washington,
D.C. program. TNTP's work has been featured by the
White House. Mary Anne
Stanton is the Executive Director
of the Center City Consortium of Schools for the
Archdiocese of Washington. She is a former
principal of St. Anthony's
Catholic School and has 20
years teaching experience in Catholic schools. Ms.
Stanton is a graduate of Trinity
College and
Catholic University. She is a past recipient of NCEA's
SPICE Award, and has led the way
in reorganizing the Catholic elementary school
curriculum in D.C. Angela
Tilghman is the
Principal of the Myrtilla
Miner
Elementary School in Northeast
Washington and she
was an assistant principal at three other public schools
in D.C. She is a third generation Washingtonian,
and has taught in Catholic and public schools in D.C.
and northern Virginia. She is a graduate of The
Catholic University of America and George
Washington University. She is the recipient of the
2004 Washington Post's Distinguished Leadership Award. Irasema
Salcido is the Founder and CEO of the Cesar
Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy in D.C.
A Cal State-Fullerton and Harvard graduate who was
Assistant Principal at the Bell Multicultural School in
D.C., Ms. Salcido ran their after school drop-out
prevention program. Ms. Salcido was born and
raised in Michoacan,
Mexico and has five children. She was honored with
the Use Your Life Award by the Oprah Angel Network. THE
QUESTIONS
Who
are D.C.'s children and families that you serve each
and every day? What is your
understanding of their deepest desires for
schooling, and the promise and challenge they bring
to our shared responsibility for their schooling? What
resources [teachers, leaders, parents, curricula,
finances, our diversity] are you using to prepare
our children for constructive engagement in the
world of work and further education? How
are we doing this? What are the
obstacles and challenges? What
criteria might be used to measure true
progress and success? What
do the interested citizen, the faithful congregant,
the active supporter need to know to promote the
better education of all of D.C.'s children?
Once we know, how might we get involved?
Educating D.C.'s
Children is the topic of an ongoing conversation among
local educators who are interested in the values that
shape educational policy and practice. A Woodstock Forum
in May 2005 examined problems afflicting educational
systems in big cities, as well as possible solutions.
The discussion looked at public schools and beyond, to
highlight some of the innovations that charter, private,
and religious schools are offering. The panelists hope
to bring their energy and expertise to bear on
additional questions, and Woodstock plans to reconvene
the group for more in-depth conversations.