Next week, voters in Wards 4 and 8 will not only elect an at-large D.C. Council member. Each community also will choose a representative to the D.C. State Board of Education, which advises the state superintendent. Four people are vying in Ward 4; that seat became vacant when Sekou Biddle opted to run for the council. The sudden death of William Lockridge created the opening in Ward 8; nine people want that job.
Trayon White Sr. has been endorsed by the Washington Teacher’s Union and Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry. The 26-year-old nonprofit executive may have promise, but some of his policies conflict with the current reform agenda.
The better choice in Ward 8 is between Philip Pannell and Eugene Dewitt Kinlow.
“People are looking for leadership,” said Kinlow, a native Washingtonian, current public affairs director for D.C. Vote, and former chairman of the Ward 8 Democrats.
Reducing truancy and dropout rates while increasing parental involvement are among his priorities. “The key is to change the mind-set of a few hundred people to change the outcomes for thousands of children.”
Pannell has promised to make reading a “community mission,” engaging existing organizations to increase family literacy. He also has talked about establishing school-based “student courts to enhance safety.
“I am probably the most qualified person running,” said Pannell, citing his work in re-establishing the Parent Student Teacher Association at Ballou High School; his service as executive assistant to former school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz; 10 years on D.C. Library Board of Trustees; and multiple terms as chairman of the Ward 8 Democrats. “I have been there.”
That claim has been made in the Ward 4 race, where there’s an embarrassment of riches: An Almquist, a visiting professor at the University of the District of Columbia with expertise in special education, and Andrew Moss, a former elementary school teacher and lawyer, bring records of achievements.
But D. Kamili Anderson, whom I met years ago when our children attended the same school, is the best person for the post. Her children graduated from D.C. Public Schools; her grandchildren currently are enrolled in Ward 4 schools.
The former president of the Brightwood Community Association, Anderson has pledged to focus on graduation requirements, ensuring they will make District students more competitive in this global, 21st century environment. She also talked of borrowing innovative ideas from charter schools to institute in traditional schools.
“I have decades of experience,” said Anderson, who has worked at Howard University and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. She currently operates her own communication consulting firm. “[My experience] is in the kind things the board is actually doing: analytical research, taking something from concept to policy and engaging administrators, teachers and community in discussions to effect change.”
Anderson, Kinlow and Pannell deserve voters’ consideration. They are deeply rooted in their communities, whose educational needs they understand and can articulate. Equally important, they can enhance the work of the State Education Board.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
