SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010
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CLOSE TO HOME THE DISTRICT A strategy for statehood
Regarding the Aug. 1 Local Opinions letters, “D.C. voting rights: What now?”: Let’s make it simple and straightforward: Let’s go for
statehood for D.C. That’s what we really want, and it is doable. No other contrivance or permutation gives us the rights that every other American takes for granted — full voting representation in the House and the Senate. To get there, there must be a change in citizen attitude.
Years ago, I asked Jesse Jackson when “it would all change.” He eloquently said that our second-class status would change only “when it rises to the level of personal insult.” That has not happened. Statehood cannot be done with a Republican-controlled House or Senate. There could be a sequence of events in which Puerto Rico and the District would come into the union at the same time. Republicans seem to want Puerto Rico to become a state; Democrats favor the District. Failing that, every year our delegate must introduce a bill
to make the District a state, and every year round up the votes. Every year the number will grow larger. The best model is the designation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a national holiday. At first, very few signed on, but momentum grew. Republicans started joining. In the end, Ronald Reagan signed the bill. That it will not be easy should not deter us. There really is no other way.
Mark Plotkin, Washington The writer is the political analyst for WTOP Radio. The time to tap a fund balance
We at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute agree with Post columnist Colbert I. King that the District’s fiscal health should be issue No. 1 in this election [op-ed, July 31]. But we quibble with his statement that municipal finance comes “without a face.” Actually, it comes with 600,000 faces — those of residents who rely on the budget for everything from restaurant health inspections to library books to emergency shelter. That’s why we take issue with the fixation of Mr. King and others on the decline in the “fund balance,” the District’s savings account. Almost every state has tapped into its fund balance to maintain critical public services during this recession. Saving in good times to spend in bad times makes sense, and the District saved more than most. At its peak, our fund balance equaled an extraordinary 25 percent of our local budget. If our fund balance dips to $600 million next year — the worst-case scenario — it will still be bigger as a share of our budget than in 43 states. Instead, Mr. King and D.C. residents should press
candidates on their plans to keep investing in our city and its people by helping those hurt the most and maintaining the progress the District has made over the past decade. Ed Lazere and Elissa Silverman, Washington
The writers are, respectively, executive director and policy associate at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.
Local Blog Network
6voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/
Some of the region’s best bloggers share work on the All Opinions Are Local blog. Below is one of last week’s posts.
If Fenty and Rhee go, does Klein follow?
It has long been accepted that if Vincent Gray beats Adrian Fenty to become the next mayor of Washington, Michelle Rhee will be gone and many of the school reforms she champions will be discontinued. But what about Fenty’s appointments to other agencies? Specifically, what about D.C. Department of
Transportation Director Gabe Klein, whose progressive plans for streetcars and bicycling infrastructure have made Washington as much of a national model in the transportation sector as Rhee’s reforms have in education circles. If Gray is elected, will Klein be welcome to stay on? Last week during an interview on the Kojo Nnamdi radio
show, Klein was asked if he would be open to staying on if Gray wins. His response: “I serve at the pleasure of the mayor. . . . If the mayor wants me here, then I’m here.” So if Klein is at least open to the possibility of staying on under Gray, what does Gray think about Klein? Personally, I’d be much more comfortable with Gray if he would openly endorse keeping Klein and sticking with DDOT’s transportation reform efforts.
Dan Malouff,
BeyondDC.com
Local Opinions, a place for commentary about where we live, is looking for submissions of 300 to 500 words on timely local topics. Submissions must include name, e-mail address, street address and phone number, and they will be edited for brevity and clarity. To submit your article, please go to
washingtonpost.com/localopinions.
NEXT WEEK’S TOPIC Metrorail safety: Is the system on the right track?
CHRISTINE MAGINNIS COLUMBIA
What my grandmother knew about handling hard times
Agnes Masterson had it worse. While it’s all too easy to spend time feeling sorry
for myself for things like being unemployed and having to slowly deplete my retirement account to keep up with my mortgage, it’s important to keep things in perspective. My father’s mother, Agnes, was born in 1904 and
was raised in the coal-mining region of Pennsylva- nia. She lived in the poorest section of a poor town, in a home that fell somewhere between a lean-to and a shack. She was one of seven children and only one of two lucky enough to reach adulthood. Her fa- ther was a coal miner who’d lost an eye in a child- hood horseshoeing accident; one of my father’s fa- vorite stories is how his grandfather would pluck out his false eye before taking an afternoon nap, place it on a table and rumble menacingly to Dad and his kid sister with his black lung voice: “I’ll be asleep, but I’ll be keeping my eye on you kids.” My grandmother would often tell me about the influenza that swept through her town in 1918, forc- ing the family to stay indoors for weeks. In the end, her mother and her oldest sister were dead. So many townspeople died that there weren’t enough pine boxes for the bodies. The town priest had died, so there wasn’t anyone to conduct a proper funeral. When Nana finally returned to school, her class- rooms were half empty. My grandmother survived this great pandemic only to face the Great Depression, followed by World War II. Talk about hard times. Along the way, she married, had a son, a daughter and then an- other son. The third child lived only nine months, as he was born “wrong.” Whether it was because of the death of his child or simply the overpowering call of the bottle, Agnes’s husband left her after their infant son was buried.
MAGINNIS FAMILY PHOTO Agnes Masterson
She moved back in with her father, now remar- ried and living in Philadelphia. She got a job at a de- partment store, becoming a working mother long before it was fashionable or even proper. Her job was to wrap packages. Well into her 80s, she took pride in the fact that she could gift-wrap a package better than anyone, and without tape. It truly was a feat to witness.
Some things do not change with time: Kids often
have powerful mean streaks. My father was nick- named Rags as he wore the same clothes over and over. Agnes could not afford better. My aunt recalls that getting new shoes, even if they were “new” only to her, was the most expensive (and luxurious) thing her mother could do for her. As a child, I didn’t appreciate any of this history. I just thought Nana was a bit compulsive about not wasting things. She would use, wash and reuse tin foil over and over. She would only fill the tub with about an inch of water to bathe. I hated when she was in charge of giving me a bath. I shivered in a shallow, cold tub, thinking she was a bit off her rocker. She saved coins in glass jars. She made ap- ple sauce by salvaging the good parts of the rotten apples that fell in our yard. She never became finan- cially comfortable — she struggled all her life. Her son and daughter, though, did make better lives for their families, and I was born into a mid- dle-class world. I never knew the struggles that both my parents endured as children. My three brothers and I were sent to college. Such a cushy life would have been unfathomable to my grand- mother, and now that I find myself struggling, I think of her. I owe it to my grandmother’s memory, and to her
legacy, not to whine about the state of my financial affairs. Life dealt her bad cards; I played good cards badly. Collectively, we lost the lessons of our grand- parents, fell prey to the temptation of buying on credit and forgot the value of “never spend more than you earn.” My grandmother would have known better.
Despite all the hardships, Agnes never com- plained about her life. Standing as I do upon her shoulders, it would take a lot of nerve — and a stun- ning lack of perspective — for me to complain now.
R
C5
KRISTIN EHRGOOD WASHINGTON
With D.C. teacher firings, the students finally come first
The recent dismissals of 241 in-
effective and improperly licensed D.C. Public Schools teachers are doubtless upsetting to the friends, colleagues and family of those who have been fired. But it is important to recognize the fortitude of Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and her staff as they grapple with a tenure system that has rewarded mediocrity while allowing the country’s neediest children to drop out, fail out or grad- uate without enrolling in college. These students did not fail us. We failed them by providing weak stan- dards, erratic guidance and few in- centives to educators. In the year be- fore Rhee’s arrival, 8 percent of stu- dents were on grade level, but 95 percent of teachers “met expecta- tions,” and none was fired. Our stu- dents fell further and further behind. We can close the achievement gap
between middle class and low- income children within four years — but we must ensure that every stu- dent has an exceptional teacher. Un- der Rhee, the public school system is beginning to do just that. Recently, the school system fired
ineffective teachers and gave mini- mally effective teachers notice that they need to seek additional support and training, which the school sys- tem is eager to provide, in order to
improve within one year. These ac- tions are perfectly in line with the new tenure rules agreed upon in the recently passed teachers contract. Nevertheless, the Washington Teach- ers’ Union (WTU) has already vowed to contest the firings in court. By do- ing so, the union demonstrates that when hard decisions have to be made, it will continue to put adults’ interests ahead of children’s. The WTU has found many allies in the media. Some journalists and bloggers reflexively protect the failed status quo and offer ridiculous warn- ings of a conspiracy to destroy public education. By complaining that teachers are being victimized and in- accurately representing the D.C. Pub- lic Schools’ evaluation system, these people weaken the institution they claim to protect. They turn their backs on eager and ambitious stu- dents — all to preserve the job securi- ty of a handful of adults. We cannot let these interests derail the progress that our schools and our students are making. We must con- test the misleading information be- ing spread about the firings, the IM- PACT evaluation system, and the new Teaching and Learning Frame- work.
Whatever some bloggers might be- lieve, the IMPACT system is clearly
neither unfairly weighted nor inscru- table. Sixteen percent of teachers were rated “highly effective” under IMPACT, while approximately 60 percent scored “effective.” The vast majority of educators have per- formed admirably despite the new and unfamiliar rubric, with many ed- ucators going above and beyond IM- PACT’s requirements. No evaluation system can ever be
perfectly designed or executed. But IMPACT ensures that teachers have many opportunities to show their best work. IMPACT requires five full classroom observations followed by extensive feedback, so teachers have ample time to learn from mistakes. Furthermore, the Teaching and Learning Framework suggests tools for engaging students. It does not mandate a laundry list of actions for every lesson plan. Complaints that teachers may lose their jobs because they aren’t able to fit in all the ele- ments of good teaching into one 30- minute session are either misguided or willfully inaccurate. The D.C. Comprehensive Assess- ment System (DC-CAS) portion of IMPACT compares student scores to show how much each student has learned. It measures whether eighth- graders improved their performance from the fourth grade. It does not
compare year-to-year scores from the same grade. And education experts such as Rick Hess, director of educa- tional policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, are vigorously disputing unfounded and duplici- tous concerns about IMPACT’s grade-by-grade scaling. Furthermore, DC-CAS measures take free and re- duced-price meals, special needs and English learning populations into ac- count to predict scores for each teacher’s classroom. Systems such as IMPACT carefully consider how low- income populations can challenge teachers.
By using rigorous evaluations that recognize teachers’ challenges and offering them multiple opportunities to prove their skills, the D.C. Public Schools system can continue to pro- fessionalize teaching, reward excel- lent educators and help every child reach his or her potential. Unfortu- nately, there must be consequences for those who do not have the skills, motivation or professionalism need- ed to effectively educate children. We should applaud Chancellor Rhee and the IMPACT team for recognizing that improving public education re- quires painful choices.
The writer is president of the Flamboyan Foundation.
JOSEPH M. RIGBY WASHINGTON We can’t end outages, but we can respond to them better The recent outages that affected
Pepco customers throughout the Washington metropolitan area made clear the profound dilemma all of us face as we increase our de- pendence on electricity to power large appliances, hand-held devic- es and information technology. We live in an age when demand is escalating. Our electric delivery system must meet that demand. Despite annual investments by Pepco averaging $232 million, ad- vancements in electric technology have not kept pace with informa- tion technology. For example, Pep- co still must rely on customers to call the company to provide notice of power outages. This is not an excuse. We at Pep- co understand and accept our re- sponsibility to provide an essen- tial service and increase our capa- bilities to meet demand — and
restore service faster. We also ac- cept responsibility for the commu- nication errors that occurred dur- ing our restoration efforts. It is most clear that expecta- tions for reliability are very high. They should be. We continuously evaluate our system and update our plans to enhance reliability, including our recent comprehen- sive plan to install smart-grid technology that includes an ad- vanced metering infrastructure. The Obama administration ac- knowledged the need for electric utilities nationwide to make sys- tem improvements when it made stimulus money available for the adoption of new technologies. Pepco successfully applied for stimulus grants and received $149 million from the total $3.4 billion available. We will spend that mon- ey on the deployment of new
smart-grid technology that will significantly increase our ability to identify outages, communicate ac- curate information to customers and accelerate the pace of repairs. This is not to suggest, however, that smart-grid systems will elimi- nate outages. No technology exists to accomplish that goal. Even put- ting power lines underground cannot fully eliminate service in- terruptions. Electric delivery systems are mechanical and subject to pe- riodic failure because of the weather and myriad other circum- stances that damage poles and wires. But new technologies can make the system better, and we can target areas for placing por- tions of the system underground so long as we all are willing to ac- cept the inevitable cost and dis- ruption that will result.
The most recent storm under- scored, yet again, that trees and overhead power lines do not peacefully coexist, especially in storm situations. The D.C. area has the third-heaviest tree canopy in the nation, so Pepco must equally focus on tree trimming and service delivery. We cannot cut down all the trees, and in many areas it is even difficult to gain acceptance for the kind of heavy trimming that is necessary. Nevertheless, more is needed. Be- yond trees, we have growing infra- structure requirements. The costs associated with system expansion are substantial. While the federal stimulus grants are enormously helpful, they do not fully cover the costs. We must balance the need and pace of these improvements with their likely impact on cus- tomer bills. A collaborative effort
between customers, regulators, the company and other stakehold- ers is needed to ensure we do this together and in a way that will not create economic hardship. It is a reality that must be considered in an honest and frank discussion of system and operational enhance- ments. To succeed in the long term,
Pepco and the communities we serve must work together to ad- dress the challenges we face. We are preparing for a series of meet- ings with legislators and regula- tors where we will discuss our plan, which we believe will better meet our customers’ expectations. We will make recommendations for additional tree trimming, se- lective placing of lines under- ground and infrastructure invest- ments. Pepco will need the partici- pation and input of our customers
and political and regulatory lead- ers. While it will take time to com- plete all of the actions contained in any final plan, we will remain dedicated to improving electric service for our customers and our community. Pepco operates on the founda- tion of trust that exists between customers and a company that has operated in this community for more than 100 years. We know that trust has been shaken by re- cent events. We are confident, however, that if we can tackle the difficult dilemmas we face, we will not only restore service more rap- idly in the future but also restore the trust that we know we must earn.
The writer is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Pepco Holdings, Inc.
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