Author Archives: DorothyRowley

Carey M. Wright, Ph. D., has been appointed chief academic officer for the District of Columbia Public Schools system. The former teacher, principal and assistant superintendent comes to DCPS with more than 30 years experience in Maryland. In her new capacity, she will serve on the schools’ management team, overseeing the offices of Teaching and […]

Falling in line with a federal mandate that calls for drastic improvement, the District of Columbia Public Schools system has begun restructuring six of its 129 schools and positioning another to operate with the assistance of an external partner. The restructuring processes, which come as the result of a five-year failure in meeting Adequate Yearly […]

The mercury level in the District has been so high the past few days that temperatures have easily exceeded 100 degrees, causing the Department of Parks and Recreation to extend its outdoor swimming pool hours. “Because of the high temperatures we wanted to give District residents an opportunity to beat the heat,” DPR spokesman John […]

The Supreme Court on June 28 struck down Chicago, Ill.’s strict anti-handgun legislation, but D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton said the decision in fact sanctions Washington D.C.’s new and revised gun laws, created after the same court struck down the city’s more restrictive gun ban two years ago. The nation’s highest court struck down a […]

Even though City Council Chairman Vincent Gray lavished praise on the architects of the landmark teachers union contract, he acknowledged that inequities exist and that those who have been impacted have looked to the Council for assistance. In comments to the media, Gray expressed relief that the controversial contract, approved unanimously this week by the […]

Mayor Adrian Fenty was a no-show at the highly anticipated June 28 debate that was slated to focus on the state of the city’s troubled public schools system. According to the District of Columbia Chapter of Young Education Professionals, which sponsored the “Great Education Forum,” Fenty was expected to spar with his chief opponent in […]

Mayor Adrian Fenty has joined with the District Department of Human Services to congratulate the U. S. Interagency Council on Homelessness on its release of the nation’s first comprehensive plan to prevent and end homelessness. The plan is entitled, “Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness,” and is the result of a […]

For years, because it lacked adequate housing for juvenile offenders, the District resorted to placing them in facilities outside the city; most times, in other states as far as 300 miles away. This was particularly true for females. Last year for instance, of the more than 300 youths from the District that were detained in […]

It has been just a handful of years since the highly acclaimed “Automatic Inmate HIV/AIDS Testing and Counseling Program” at the city lockup was launched. Since that time the program has already conducted HIV screenings for more than 40,000 inmates, and jail officials are poised to keep administering the tests as new detainees enter the […]