Henderson Back on the Hot Seat!
Dorothy Rowley's front-page article "Henderson's Plan to Shutter Schools Ignites Fury," November 28, 2012, brought to the forefront some very important issues facing DCPS students and especially their parents.
While many of us want to blame Chancellor Kaya Henderson, she is just the mouthpiece to move a well-devised plan forward. For years we have allowed a school system to abuse our students at certain schools while pushing them out into the world ill prepared, and then having other schools with strong parental support and good teachers function with a sense of educational consistency.
Why are so many parents buying this charter school plan hook, line, and sinker? I'll tell you why: because they think a charter school will do something for their children that they as parents should be doing: supporting the students and their schools. Look at the studies; charters aren't teaching their students any better than the public schools are. But unfortunately, they are buying the message that charter schools are better. In a few years the D.C. school system will once again be a segregated school system, but this time segregated by class.
The new residents of the District of Columbia aren't enrolling their children in charter schools; no, they are waiting for their neighborhood schools, and believe me when I say they will get them. Those parents will want good public schools and will do whatever it takes to ensure that they have them. I think the last paragraph in Ms. Rowley's article tells it all!
Benny K. Sylvester
Washington, D.C.
Yes! Organic to Shutter Doors East of the River
I was so sorry to read that the Yes! Market was closing, "Yes! Organic to Close East of the River Store," in the November 28, 2012 edition by Michelle Phipps-Evans. Although I couldn't afford to buy all of my groceries there, I did like trying some of the variety of products it offered, especially the fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables.
This is just another reason for us on this side of the river to get the Walmart stores; we need places to shop for fresh foods. If Safeway, Whole Foods, or even Kmart want to build stores over here, I say come on with them; the more the merrier! There is something to be said about having the opportunity to stop on the way home from work and pick up some fresh food in your neighborhood. That's a choice in terms of urban living that everyone should have.
Leon Mathis
Washington, D.C.
