By Courtney Rozen
Activists, educators, parents and community leaders have a message for Mayor Muriel Bowser’s pick to lead the district’s public schools: Listen to us.
They took turns repeating this, in different forms, at the microphone Wednesday night at the city council’s second public forum on whether to confirm Lewis Ferebee, the former Indianapolis Public Schools chief who Bowser tapped to lead D.C. Public Schools.
They also called on the council to closely review his record on charter schools and classroom technology. They pointed out achievement differences across racial and income groups in D.C, and they asked the council to carefully evaluate whether Ferebee is the right leader to bring stability to the district’s schools.
DCPS is home to 49,000 students. 77% of the system’s students were considered economically disadvantaged in the 2017-2018 school year, meaning they received free or reduced-price lunch, were identified as homeless, were eligible to receive assistance from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program orTemporary Assistance for Needy Families, or were in the care of D.C.’s public child welfare agency, according to the school system’s website.
“My children are the beneficiaries or victims of your decisions,” Sandra Moscoso, the parent of two DCPS students, told the council in her testimony.
Two union leaders spoke at the meeting: Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers Union, and Richard Jackson, president of the Council of School Officers.
The Washington Teachers’ Union did not take a position on Ferebee’s nomination. Instead, Davis called on the council and Ferebee to focus on improving low-performing public schools, instead of closing them or giving control to charter school operators.
As the head of Indianapolis Public Schools, Ferebee pushed a law that allowed charter groups to manage low-performing public schools, while still making them accountable to the district for specific student outcomes. The Washington Teachers’ Union represents DCPS teachers, and not charter educators, according to their website.
“He is not the chancellor of the charter school system,” Davis said. “He’s the chancellor of the D.C. Public School system. And we want him to know that our focus is on building our public schools to be what they should be, not what they are.”
At least two parents testified about how they hoped Ferebee would improve technology used in public classrooms. Tilman Wuerschmidt, the parent of a seventh grader at Hardy Middle School, said the district has called on schools to use more technology in the classroom, but his child’s school isn’t always able to meet that demand because their computers don’t work properly.
“The best of plans is only as good as its execution,” he told the council.
At-large Councilmember Robert White said he hopes to hear from more parents, not education activists, before the council votes on whether to confirm Ferebee. At least three of the witnesses Wednesday night were activists.
White also said Ferebee’s record on improving the achievement gap between white and students of color in Indianapolis “leaves a lot to be desired.” Test results for the 2017-2018 school year show that 82% of of D.C.’s white students met expectations in English, while about 25% of black students and 32% of Hispanic students did the same, The Washington Post reported.
If he’s confirmed, Ferebee would be the system’s permanent replacement for former chancellor Antwan Wilson, who resigned in February 2018 after he dodged the public school lottery process to get his daughter into a preferred high school. Amanda Alexander, the former head of the DCPS Office of Elementary Schools, served as interim chancellor after Wilson resigned.
The council will question Ferebee himself, who is now acting chancellor, at their next public meeting on Feb. 12 at the Wilson Building.
“I represent the folks in this room, the folks in this city, and I want to make the right call for them,” White said.
Update: Ferebee was confirmed by the council in March 2019.
Courtney Rozen 