SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010
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CLOSE TO HOME Education standards on track
VIRGINIA
Regarding Kristen Amundson’s July 11 Local Opinions piece, “National education standards: The right answer for Virginia”: In taking Gov. Bob McDonnell and the Virginia Board of Education to task for not adopting the Common Core national education standards, Ms. Amundson ignored recent actions to strengthen Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL). The College Board and the America Diploma Project — organizations advocating postsecondary reform and rigor — recognize Virginia’s newly revised reading and mathematics standards as containing content essential to college and career readiness. In addition, the state superintendent and I are committed to raising the bar by increasing the number of items on reading and mathematics SOL tests that students must answer correctly to demonstrate proficiency. Word-for-word adoption of the Common Core — required to compete in the federal Race to the Top contest— would interrupt this revision of Virginia’s standards, which began well before the national standards initiative was launched. Whatever gaps may exist between the SOL and the Common Core can be addressed in the curriculum frameworks that detail content at each grade level. The Common Core initiative has produced
grade-by-grade objectives, but corresponding assessments, aligned instructional materials and resources won’t be available for several years. Given the uncertainties surrounding the Common Core, Virginia is wisely moving forward with an accountability program that has made the commonwealth’s public schools among the highest-achieving in the nation. Eleanor B. Saslaw, Springfield
The writer is president of the Virginia Board of Education. SAM OGLESBY NEW YORK
Local Blog Network
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Some of the region’s best bloggers share work on the All Opinions Are Local blog. Below is one of last week’s posts.
Va. workers: Bottled up no more
Hydration is a need that’s carefully noted in state and federal budgets. We learned that last week when Gov. Bob
McDonnell reversed a ban instituted by then-Gov. Tim Kaine. Virginia state agencies are once again allowed to purchase individual-size bottled waters — not just 5-gallon water coolers. Even with Kaine’s ban in place, the state spent thousands each year to keep its offices stocked with the watering holes symbolic of pre-Internet days when employees gathered around the cooler to chat, gossip and generally bond. Virginia’s spending on bottled water totaled at least $158,000 in fiscal 2009 and another $126,000 last year, reports The Post’s Anita Kumar. Of course, Virginia’s in good company. Bottled
water will pop out at you if you ever spend time perusing congressional office spending reports. It appeared so consistently on the logs that I started to wonder whether legislative aides relieve their frustration at constantly stalled bills by running marathons up and down the halls. I found that every Virginia congressman spent at
least several hundred dollars on bottled water during the third quarter last year. Rep. Randy Forbes spent $626.63, while Rep. Jim Moran spent $524.93 —which accounted for 10 percent of his spending on supplies. Too much spending on stuff that’s way cheaper coming out of the faucet? That’s up for debate. On the other hand, I hear water coolers are a standard institution in the white-collar world. My new office has one. But other than that, I wouldn’t really know, since I’ve only worked at a bankrupt newspaper where our Christmas parties amounted to potluck lunches and we were lucky if the vending machine was stocked.
Paige Winfield Cunningham, Old Dominion Watchdog
Now that the fences are gone . . .
The South was a strange place to live during segregated, pre-civil rights days. Looking back to my childhood more than 60 years ago on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, I remember the fences, signs and an “invisibility” that pre- vented me from seeing many of my fellow human beings. African Americans were a sizable
part of our community, but I seldom saw them. With schools segregated during those years in Worcester Coun- ty, I had no black classmates. On Sun- day in church, I saw no African Amer- ican children.
Only once did I meet African Amer-
icans my age. It was by chance and for less than a minute, the time it takes to pluck ripe tomatoes from a few vines. During the high season, tomato- pickers swarmed the fields near our farm on the outskirts of Girdletree, Md., near the Chesapeake Bay. I used to watch them from behind the wire fence bordering our property. When I was 4 years old, I was clinging to the fence one day, gazing at the rows of workers. Three little black girls ap- proached and grabbed the wire. For a few seconds we swung together on the fence in a childishly improvised game, laughing as the fragile barrier sagged. One girl, a scholarly-looking child wearing wire-rim glasses, tweaked my nose and said she wanted to marry me. Then she was gone as her parents moved to pick another prickly row of tomato vines. This encounter was cap- tured by my father, whose Brownie camera was often at the ready. From that brief, fence-swinging
courtship, I never had the chance to speak to an African American socially until I went to the then all-white Uni- versity of Virginia 15 years later. Liv- ing in Charlottesville in the early ’60s was a surreal experience. “Whites Only” signs were everywhere. Sitting at lunch counters in local diners was forbidden to blacks; even water foun-
way; otherwise there would be trou- ble for Deenie.” For the next three hours or so, we had our dinner and enjoyed each other’s company. In our little bubble of the moment, lightened by fragrant kitchen smells and happy conversation, everything was normal, no signs or fences or angry stares. But when I took my leave and Bob and Deenie bid me goodnight, the fear and sadness in their eyes belied the smiles on their faces. Today, more than half a century lat-
COURTESY SAM OGLESBY Sam Oglesby on his grandmother’s farm near Girdletree, Md., in 1944.
tains were segregated. And the races were separated in movie theaters, with balconies designated for African Americans and the downstairs or- chestra sections reserved for whites. Listening to their divergent reactions to the punch lines in films, I came to realize that black and white audiences had distinctly different senses of hu- mor. It made me think: If we can’t laugh together, how can we live to- gether? Weekend football games were the highlight of the fall collegiate sea- son. To me they were strange events, with black spectators — none of them students — limited to seating in the end zones of the football field. Fifty years later, it seems incredible to me that such a society could have even existed, let alone present a ve- neer of happy contentment with seeming friendliness between the races and cheerful acceptance of hu- miliating, second-class status by those who faced discrimination. I knew it was a charade when I met the only Af-
rican American I would know socially during those years. She was a soft- spoken 20-year-old named Deenie, a student at a black teachers’ college outside Charlottesville and the girl- friend of a white classmate of mine, Bob. Evenings, they met clandestinely at his apartment near the university. One night I was invited to Bob’s place for dinner. Deenie had promised to cook smothered chicken for us, a dish that my friend had raved about, something found mostly in homes and not in the local greasy spoons. When I arrived at his building I was surprised to see that his apartment windows were dark. Had I come on the wrong evening? I climbed the stairs to Bob’s floor, and when I knocked, the door was opened imme- diately by my friend. “Come in, come in,” he said, looking nervously down the corridor as he quickly closed the door behind us. As I entered, I noticed the curtains drawn over his windows. He whispered, “We have to do it this
er, my life is very different. There are no forbidding fences and signs. I live happily in an urban, New York City neighborhood that is harmoniously black, Hispanic and white, and this country has an African American president. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that during my lifetime we could come so far so fast. Now in my 70th year, it seems not that long ago that I was standing with my three little friends, tugging at the sagging wire fence on my grandmother’s farm. I like to think that our childish game had a grander meaning; that we were trying to pull down a bigger bar- rier. These days I often think of our long-ago fence-side encounter. Where are these little girls now? What have they done with their lives? What did they think of me 65 years ago, peering at them through that ugly wire bar- rier? I hope the three of them are hap- py wherever they are. I wish the four of us could meet again and laugh to- gether once more, now without a wire fence dividing us.
Sam Oglesby is a native of the Eastern Shore. His second book, “Encounters: A Memoir — Relationship Journeys from Around the World,” was just published and has received the 2010 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention award for autobiography. His e-mail address is
ogl39@aol.com.
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NEXT WEEK’S TOPIC What issues would you like local government to address in a new way? Send us your ideas for creative solutions.
STEVE SHANNON FAIRFAX More help for unemployed Virginians
Virginia’s unemployment rate is 7.1 percent. Some areas of Virginia have twice this rate, with Martinsville top- ping the list with more than 20 per- cent. These cold numbers translate into nearly 300,000 Virginians and their families who are in desperate need of help from their elected offi- cials. Yet the U.S. Senate and Virginia state officials seem disconnected from families hardest hit by the worst eco- nomic situation since the Great Depression. The Senate in June failed to extend long-term unemployment benefits and has continued to dither, a delay highlighted by The Post’s July 13 edito- rial “Jobless benefits, now.” And Vir- ginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and mem- bers of the General Assembly also have failed to help, by allowing $125.5 million in federal aid to languish. Virginia’s elected leaders still have an opportunity to assist unemployed Virginians, but they will have to be willing to reconsider prior decisions of the Virginia General Assembly. The American Recovery and Rein- vestment Act of 2009 authorized $7 billion to the states for their un- employment insurance programs. As a condition of receiving Virginia’s full
share, which is an additional $125.5 million not yet received, the state would be required to amend its eligibility criteria for unemployment benefits to include two of these four categories: (1) people seeking part- time work; (2) people who are in a state-approved training program who have lost their jobs in a declining in- dustry; (3) people who became unem- ployed because of a compelling family reason, such as caring for a sick or dis- abled family member; or the state can (4) offer eligible claimants with de- pendents a stipend of at least $15 per week for each dependent. In both the 2009 and 2010 sessions of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislature failed to pass legislation ex- panding the eligibility criteria, thus preventing Virginia from collecting this $125.5 million in economic stimu- lus funds. Virginia must apply for these funds no later than Aug. 22, 2011.
Advocates for the state legislation
focused on the extraordinary eco- nomic downturn resulting in thou- sands of Virginians becoming unem- ployed, most through no fault of their own. Opponents focused on the possi- bility that Virginia businesses would have to pay additional money — esti-
mated at $2.62 to $4.50 per employee annually — to the state’s unemploy- ment insurance trust fund because of these added beneficiaries. The Labor Department has clar-
ified that while the federal law’s intent is to permanently expand the eligibili- ty criteria for citizens, states will not have to return the federal funds if they later scale back the eligibility criteria. If Gov. McDonnell, who has op- posed Virginia accepting these federal funds, believes the Virginia General Assembly lacks the political will to scale back on the eligibility criteria once the money is distributed, there are creative ways to minimize the long-term impact on Virginia busi- nesses. One example could be to enact a business deduction to offset any in- crease in an employer’s contribution to the unemployment insurance trust fund caused by expanding the eligibil- ity criteria. This is not the time to shake a fist at
Washington and just say no. Gov. Mc- Donnell has exhibited a penchant for studies and commissions. One is an Economic Development and Job Crea- tion Commission. Currently, the com- mission does not have on its public agenda consideration for how to ob- tain the $125.5 million to assist unem-
ployed Virginians and, as a corollary, distressed areas of Virginia where those Virginians reside. This is a missed opportunity to bring together stakeholders who can think through ways to minimize the tax implications on Virginia business- es with the goal of assisting our fellow citizens through this period of eco- nomic uncertainty. In the meantime, Gov. McDonnell should immediately make it clear to Virginia’s congressional delegation and to the leaders of his party that he favors extending long-term unem- ployment benefits. As this newspaper pointed out in its July 13 editorial, “Unemployment benefits, which are most apt to be immediately plowed back into the economy, are about the most stimulative form of spending. Extending them is both fiscally sen- sible and morally decent.” This is an opportunity for the gover- nor to step forward and find a way to say yes to helping citizens who so need our help.
Steve Shannon is a Virginia lawyer in private practice. He served three terms in the Virginia General Assembly and was the Democratic nominee for attorney general of Virginia last year.
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JEANNE ALLEN BETHESDA When will Montgomery County learn to embrace charter schools?
When I arrived at the Crossways Community in Kensington, I felt as if I had discovered a little-known gem. Nestled on several acres behind an older neighborhood is an in- tegrated learning environment that spans generations. It’s a place families can go to become healthy, single mothers can go to reshape their lives and become effective parents, children from all back- grounds can join in a diverse Mon- tessori community and school, and people of all races and ethnicities can advance their education, lan- guage skills and more. It is a place where one woman’s enrollment in the family education program while her daughter at- tended the early education pro-
gram yielded her child a full ride to the private Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart and later a Posse Scholarship to Grinnell College in Iowa. “When they see their children really improving, they start seeing a future for themselves,” Crossways President Kathleen Guinan told me. As one of the members of the
local Chamber of Commerce meet- ing there that day pointed out, an integrated learning community like Crossways is a K through K environment — kindergarten through Kiwanis. But recently this community was denied the ability to thrive in a new way when its plan for a public charter school was denied.
Nothing builds a community
better than quality education, and so Crossways sought to build a new school as a continuation of its suc- cessful programs. The plan draws on the methods of Montessori phi- losophy — from growing live gar- dens to learning math — and ex- pertly addresses the academic and social foundations of effective schooling models. I left scratching my head: I found it unfathomable that the Montgomery County school sys- tem in June rejected the applica- tion by Crossways to start a public charter school for grades K-6 on the same campus, with the same proven programs. Never mind that the nearby Rock View Elementary School is
oversubscribed by more than 200 children, or that multiple-income families flock to the Crossways pre- school Montessori program. Par- ents want more options for person- alized education for their children. The fact that such busy, accom- plished, successful people would offer to start another public school is something we should encourage, not hinder. Instead, Superinten- dent Jerry Weast signed off on a re- jection that said there was no facil- ities plan, when a multipage pro- fessional architect’s plan and budget accompanied the applica- tion. The rejection questioned Crossways’ ability to handle ac- counting matters, despite a 20-year track record of clean audits of multiple programs. The rejection
pondered how the proposed char- ter would handle transportation and food service, even though Crossways’ food service is highly re- garded and the application made both issues clear. As it did in reject- ing the Jaime Escalante Charter School proposed by a veteran Whit- man High School teacher in 2003, the system again failed to demon- strate competency in reviewing charter applications. Crossways appealed the decision to the Maryland State Board of Education. If successful, Crossways would be the first charter school in Montgomery County. But just be- ing the first isn’t what drives Cross- ways. Guinan, who also happens to be the chamber’s new president, told me as I was leaving: “We were
doing it because we believe in an integrated learning environment, and it works, across the spectrum.” But as long as Maryland has a
charter school law — unlike the majority of states — that puts school district personnel in charge of deciding the fate of our children, the Crossways proposal and others like it will be lost opportunities for better customized learning envi- ronments. It’s a lesson we cannot afford to learn years from now. Our commu- nities and our students deserve better.
The writer is president of the Center for Education Reform. She is also a candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 16.
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