DCPS will host a middle school fair Thursday, February 9, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Columbia Heights Education Campus, 3101 16th St. NW.

Read the PDF version of the DCPS flyer

DC Public middle schools, education campuses & DCPS community partners will showcase their academic programs & extracurricular activities for parents.

For more information visit the DCPS website. You can also call Nancy Iheanacho at (202) 719‐6595 or email her at nancy[dot]iheanacho[at]dc[dot]gov.

To our valued DCPS community members,

We are excited to share the opportunity to help the students of Takoma Education Campus and Cardozo Senior High School move into their respective school buildings this December 28, 29 and 30.

These school communities have spent several months preparing for these important moves and need your help to finish the work.

For Takoma EC, we are fulfilling the promise made a year ago to restore a school building devastated by a fire. We are proud to report that the Takoma school building on Piney Branch Road has been completely repaired and is ready for students and staff to return.

For Cardozo HS, this move is the first step towards a complete modernization of their historic high school. Students will attend school at the Meyer building across the street from Cardozo until the modernization project is complete next school year.

We have two schools, two weeks and one purpose: to ensure that Cardozo and Takoma students have a successful school opening in January.

Takoma and Cardozo are an important part of the DCPS family, and we’d sincerely appreciate any time that you can spend working with us to prepare these buildings.

Here is how you can help:

All individuals, families and groups can sign up to volunteer here: School Opening Volunteer Registration. Choose the day, site and time block that you are able to volunteer. A member of the DCPS School Operations team will reach out to you directly with confirmation and directions for the day of volunteering.

Thank you for volunteering your time to support our educators and students. For questions, please contact Bryant Sewell at (202) 442-5438 or via email at Bryant.sewell@dc.gov.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Cobb
Coordinator, Volunteers and Donations

DCPS Parents and Families:

Today, DC Public Schools are bracing for Hurricane Irene, which is expected to hit the Washington, D.C., area this weekend with forecasted wind gusts of up to 48 mph and possible flooding.  I want you to know that we are taking every precaution to prepare our schools for the storm and respond quickly in the aftermath to make any necessary repairs.

Our priority is to open schools on Monday and we are taking every step necessary to ensure that our buildings are protected throughout the storm and ready to open.  After assessing damage, we plan to communicate with school staff, parents, members of the community and the local media regarding the status of every DCPS facility.

Football games that had been scheduled for today will be held as scheduled, however, Saturday’s games (McKinley vs. St. John’s, Hart vs. Deal, Kelly Miller vs. Stuart-Hobson, and Kramer vs. Jefferson) have all been cancelled.  Several schools are receiving sandbags and wet-vacs, while we also work to clear storm drains and catch basins to mitigate the impact of heavy rain.

To ensure the safety and success of our students, it is critical that we take these preventive measures so we can regain the momentum we had on the first day of school and move toward our goal of improving proficiency district-wide. I encourage everyone in the community to visit the emergency closures and delays page on the DCPS website (dcps.dc.gov) for more information and resources, or feel free to text NEWS to 91990 to receive breaking news and updates from DCPS directly to your cell phone.

I hope that you remain warm and dry during this challenging weather weekend. I look forward to seeing you and your children early Monday morning.

Sincerely,
Kaya Henderson
Chancellor

August 24, 2011

DCPS Parents and Families:
On Tuesday, August 24, 2011, the entire Mid-Atlantic region experienced an earthquake that caused a great deal of disruption to our work and home lives. Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we expect all DCPS schools to be open and safe for return tomorrow morning, with the exception of the School Without Walls High School in Ward 2.

Parents, you’ve often heard me talk about what I believe it takes to create great schools.  But I really want you to know, before great teachers and before great classroom instruction, it is imperative that DCPS create and maintain a safe and welcoming environment where teachers, principals, parents and students can achieve great things.

I apologize for any burden placed upon DCPS families by today’s closure of our schools.  The decision to close Wednesday was made after careful deliberation and consultation with the Mayor’s Office, the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, and twenty-five teams of structural engineers who are surveying each and every site.

I believed then and I believe now, the right decision was to ensure the complete safety of everyone who enters our buildings.  I encourage you to continue monitoring the status of our schools through your cell phones, through our social media channels, and the DCPS website.

Thank you for your support and your patience.  You are a vital part of the DCPS community.

Sincerely,
Kaya Henderson

Mayor Gray and Chancellor Henderson Put Safety of Children First

WASHINGTON, DC – All District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) will be closed Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011, to allow for a thorough assessment of school buildings following Tuesday’s earthquake. School staff, except for custodians, should not report to work today. Custodians should remain on stand-by. DCPS administrative offices will open and staff should report to work on time, said Chancellor Kaya Henderson.

“Understanding the impact to working parents and families, we made every effort to keep schools open,” Chancellor Henderson said. “However, we felt it would be best to have qualified structural engineers thoroughly inspect all 126 school buildings so our parents and community members could feel confident we’ve placed the highest priority around ensuring the safety and well-being of their children.”

The Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM) on Tuesday deployed structural engineers who worked through the night to inspect each school, advise the Chancellor and Mayor Vincent C. Gray on any recommended closures, and prioritize repairs. Mayor Gray and Chancellor Henderson determined the most prudent course of action was to close schools to allow for a thorough inspection of DCPS buildings district-wide.

OPEFM and Chancellor Henderson will discuss the condition of DC Public School buildings today at Mayor Gray’s weekly press briefing. Parents and families should continue to monitor the DCPS website, www.dcps.dc.gov, as well as DCPS social media ( @DCPublicSchools on Twitter and facebook.com/dcpublicschools).

The majority of DC Public Schools were evacuated Tuesday as a result of the earthquake that struck the Washington, D.C., area at about 1:50 p.m. Most schools reported minor damage and two students, one at Kelly Miller Middle School in Ward 7 and another at Deal Middle School in Ward 3, received minor injuries. No serious injuries were reported.

DCPS took immediate action to notify parents and families of the steps taken to ensure the safety of their children. DCPS Chancellor Henderson remained in constant contact with the Mayor’s Office, OPEFM and DC emergency response officials to determine the scope of the emergency and appropriate district-wide measures to ensure public safety.

For more information:
Call the Critical Response Team at (202) 478-5738.
Visit the DCPS website.
Text NEWS to 91990. (Text and data rates may apply.

Students are safe in evacuation locations for their buildings. We are not suspending afterschool at this point. Parents may pick up students if they wish.

School dismissal will proceed as normal at 3:15 p.m. However, due to traffic congestion, we will keep students as long as needed.

More updates on the DCPS website at http://dcps.dc.gov

Sign up for DCPS email here.

DCPS Acting Chancellor Kaya Henderson accepted the Hardy principal selection committee’s recommendation and announced that Dr. Mary Stefanus will be the new principal at Hardy Middle School.

Dr. Stefanus is an extremely experienced middle school principal with a great record. She’s had a long and very successful career as a middle school principal in St. Louis, Missouri, where she also served as an assistant principal, dean, and teacher, etc. She retired from the  St. Louis system in 2009, and after a few years of teaching college and “recharging,” she decided she was ready to get back in the game for another long-term commitment at the middle-school level.

She has a history of success in fostering academic excellence at the middle school level and a very collaborative management philosophy. Her vision for unifying and strengthening the Hardy community is impressive. During the interview process, Dr. Stefanus won strong support across all elements of the selection committee — teachers, parents, and feeder school representatives.

It is important to know that, indeed, Hardy is on track and, with support from our feeder schools, it will be a strong institution for years to come.

[Ed.: There was a nice story in the Georgetown Patch on May 27 with some additional detail: http://bit.ly/jdLQQk]

DC Public Schools is collecting hopes and dreams for our children and our schools. You can help lay the foundation for a shared vision for DCPS that guides the next phase of our work together.

There are several ways to participate.

1. Take an online survey at http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/hopes. There’s a 10-minute version and a 2-minute version.
2. Lead a group discussion with the PTA or any community group you’d like to assemble and submit the group’s responses online. Click here for facilitator resources.
3. Text HOPES to 91990 (*Data and messaging rates may apply.) You’ll get directions on how to submit your responses.

Pass the word about this campaign! Encourage your friends, children, neighbors, and colleagues to participate. We need everyone’s voices!

Dear Parents and Families of DCPS students,

The last day of school for DC Public Schools has been changed from Friday, June 17, 2011 to Monday, June 20, 2011. The change is required by law and allows us to make up the instructional day we lost on January 27, 2011 when schools were closed due to inclement weather.

Please note that Friday, June 17, 2011 will now be a full-day of school and Monday, June 20, 2011 will be the last day of school with a 12:15 p.m. student dismissal. Monday, June 20, 2011 was designated as a make-up day when the school calendar was originally issued and published last year.

Thank you for your ongoing support as we move forward.

Sincerely,

Kaya Henderson

Acting Chancellor

DCPS will continue to offer enriching, rigorous and engaging summer school programs for students in kindergarten through grade 8 and high school students within three credits of graduating (this will be determined by the school counselors). Please be aware that due to a limited capacity and available spaces at each site, enrollment will be on a first-come, first-served basis with priority given to DCPS students.

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More detail and all the forms you need are on the DCPS website — just follow the link above. If you have trouble with the link, paste this text into your browser:

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Beyond+the+Classroom/Summer+School+2011