Middle schools. They’re among the hottest topics in the District — and for good reason. Continued growth in traditional public schools depends largely on their swift and comprehensive reform. But many parents aren’t happy with middle-grade opportunities. Some decry the absence of any middle school in their ward. Others lament the lack of rigorous, academic programs that will ensure their children are accepted at top-notch high schools.
Daniel Holt’s daughter is in the fourth grade. Already he’s scouting middle schools. “She needs a school that offers high math and world language,” said the Ward 6 resident and former president of Brent Elementary PTA. “Eliot-Hine doesn’t offer that. Deal is not an option, and Hardy took a step backward.”
Holt is expected to host at his home Wednesday a meeting where D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown will discuss with parents and education advocates their concerns and possible solutions.
“Until we have a strong middle school option, we will continue to have an incomplete [reform] project,” Holt said.
Reforming middle schools has been a key plank in Brown’s legislative agenda even before he became chairman. But he has accelerated his efforts. He has scheduled two public roundtables for Sept. 7 and 27.
“The chairman wants a robust, innovative middle school experience for all our kids,” said Lisa Raymond, a former school board member who now works for Brown and spoke on his behalf about the middle school initiative.
Raymond said the gathering at Holt’s home is one of several conversations Brown will have ensuring that “he moves the ball forward in partnership with families and educators.”
The city’s middle school problem isn’t new. Last year, a nasty public debate erupted when some parents in the neighborhood near Rose L. Hardy Middle School in Ward 2 announced they wanted a more traditional academic program than the existing integrated arts curriculum. Earlier this month, Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh reignited that debate when she requested a new middle school in Ward 3 — although Alice Deal was recently renovated.
Cheh said many of the facilities in her ward are at capacity. More parents are choosing neighborhood public schools and there is a large out-of-boundary population. Things will get worse, she predicted, as those prekindergarten students move through elementary school. “There is going to be a day of reckoning,” she told me.
Brown appears to understand the urgency in finding solutions and creating a somewhat universal middle school model. Raymond said he will introduce legislation soon after the last roundtable. “If we don’t lay the groundwork now, then it won’t happen at all,” she added.
Certainly it won’t be in time to rescue the Holts and other families like them.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
