Maybe they need a voucher program:
Jonetta Rose Barras: School safety in the District
Washington Examiner
The Metropolitan Police Department received 3,500 reports of crime in D.C. Public Schools -- including homicides, sex offenses, robberies and assaults -- during 2007-2008, according an Aug. 24 report by The Heritage Foundation and the Lexington Institute.
That is how the police department reports the crime numbers. Let's see how the schools report the same numbers:
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which is responsible for analyzing incident reports, appears to be out of touch or playing with the numbers. Chad Colby, agency spokesman, said there was a decrease in violent crimes reported in DCPS and public charter schools for the same time period "as reported by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department." He provided a chart showing 60 violent crimes in DCPS in 2006-2007 and 40 in 2007-2008.
You need a bablefish to interpret the language of the State Superintendent of
Some more glowing facts:
The U.S Department of Education "Indicators of School Crime and Safety," released earlier this year, noted 11.3 percent of D.C. high school students told of " 'being threatened or injured with a weapon while on school property' the previous [2008] school year -- a rate well above the national average." (Anacostia Senior High, Ballou, Cardozo, Coolidge, Dunbar, Eastern, Roosevelt and Springarn had a total of 7,813 students during the 2007-2008, according to audited data used by Heritage/Lexington. Eleven percent comes out to 859 threatened or injured students.)
Those numbers are shocking. I couldn't imagine sending a child to one of those schools.
It doesn't get any better for the elementary schools...
Safety at elementary schools was no better. There were 60 incidents reported at Moten Elementary; with a population of 275, the rate was 21.8 incidents per 100 students. At Webb, the rate of violence was 22 incidents per 100 students, according to Heritage/Lexington.
It is amazing that anyone could make it out alive AND become a productive citizen. Talking about a stacked deck. We need to reinstate and expand DC Vouchers now.
And what is the offical take of the The Office of the State Superintendent of
Incredible. If we were not talking about something as serious as violent acts against children a farcical statement like that would be enough to make you spit out your drink all over the keyboard.
Heritage Study Here
Jay P. Greene's blog here
-----------------------------
Also found through Jay's blog:
So We Can't Have Single Payer for Health Care, But How About Single Payer for Education?
Arianna Huffington embraces school choice under the guise of "Single Payer for Education".
I don't often get a chance to agree with Arianna Huffington, but today I salute her efforts for school choice. Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment