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Articles
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| 'I Hear Those Bells A-Ringing . . .' |
admin writes, "'I Hear Those Bells A-Ringing . . .'
BY TOM SHERWOOD
The opening day of school still rings in the Notebook's ears, the scent of new schoolbooks and school clothes nearly as fresh as it was decades ago.
Unfortunately, it's hard to get that same feeling in many of our city schools.
But you have to give it to her — new Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is trying.
"In the first few weeks of school," she told reporters on Monday, "I will be sitting down individually with every single principal ... to explain ... measures of success."
How Rhee will manage to meet with dozens and dozens of principals in a few weeks would be a good math problem for students.
Here's another math problem: How many paper personnel records can be fit into a single room? The prize goes to the central school office downtown. "
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Rhee said on Monday that the storeroom, which was only recently discovered, was thought to have 1 million pieces of paper. Actually, she said, it had closer to 5 million papers.
The pathetic paper chase is just one example of the density of problems in the school system. "We have made a lot of progress," Rhee said of her two months in office, "but we see new issues and challenges every day."
But as the Notebook and others have said, the time to declare the magnitude of the problems is growing short. People will be interested only in solutions. The mayor himself says people don't expect everything to be fixed right away, but they do expect measurable progress. The bell is ringing.
• Pooling resources. The Wilson High School pool has been out of commission since 2003. This week the mayor climbed into a piece of construction machinery to help tear the building down. If all goes well, the new and larger pool will be ready in 2009. But now it's a mess of rubble.
"I have to tell you," said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, "I've never been so happy to see something destroyed."
A sideward glance showed that the Wilson athletic field is fast becoming a usable space. The track surrounding the football field was so poorly constructed that it had to be ripped out and totally replaced.
Allen Lew, the new schools facilities guru, is keeping the pressure on to get the field and pool done.
Under the original plan, the contractors working on the pool were going to tear down the old one but not start the new one until next spring, when full designs will be available. No way, Lew said. He told the contractors to begin preparing the foundation for the new pool, keeping it months ahead of the original schedule.
That's the kind of can-do approach that Lew — and the mayor — say will make a difference.
• Business makes a difference. Earlier this year, the mayor urged city businesses to join in a Buff and Scrub event to help get school buildings ready for opening day.
The Board of Trade organization and Vornado/Charles E. Smith Co. descended on Francis Junior High. It was just one school of many that the business community adopted.
The initiative "was very successful and positive because it forged new bonds on so many levels," said Mitchell Schear, president of Vornado.
Skeptics may say businesses get involved because executives are eyeing all the excess school land that may one day be up for redevelopment. But the often-skeptical Notebook saw dozens of business representatives and employees doing hard work that the city should appreciate.
"Over 90 employees painted, scrubbed and installed whiteboards in 18 classrooms," Schear wrote in response to a question from the Notebook. "This ... is a relationship that we will continue to grow and expand in the future."
If Vornado follows through — and the school system lets it — the business community could open a few windows for students to see job opportunities down the road. It's more than buff and scrub. It's part of preparing a workforce this city needs if it's going to be competitive with the suburbs.
• More business. If you haven't been by the old Woodies store downtown, you're missing the beat of the revitalized city.
Furniture retailer West Elm opened its doors this week on three floors of the old department store building that developer Doug Jemal restored.
West Elm's furniture and accessories target the thousands of people who are flocking to apartments and condos in and around downtown Washington. Mayor Fenty helped with the ribbon cutting Monday.
"If it's possible to kind of encompass all of the energy and optimism and hopefulness in the city in one retail store, I think you've got it right here," Fenty told NBC4.
Jemal was particularly proud that his 20-year-old son helped cut the ribbon with Fenty. "The next generation of Washingtonians is going to enjoy what ... we've done today, what we've done over the last few years [to make] the future of Washington vibrant again."
Tom Sherwood is a political reporter for NBC 4.
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Posted on Aug 27, 2007 14:27pm.
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