Washington City Paper: Contents for Nov. 11

Schoolhouse Rock
Superintendent Franklin Smith shakes, rattles, and rolls D.C.'s abysmal public schools.

Cover Story

“This noise level would not be acceptable in most classrooms,” shouts Arona McNeill-Vann, a teacher at the District's new Nongraded School. Her 4- and 5-year-old students are really making a racket. In one corner of the classroom, half-a-dozen kids play a boisterous counting game, noisily swapping red, blue, and orange plastic tiles. The other young scholars eagerly flip through a picture book. The children composed the book after a class trip to the pumpkin patch, and they beseech the teacher to come and examine their favorite drawings.

“But it is a productive kind of noise,” McNeill-Vann yells cheerfully.

“They are excited about learning, and that is what we are trying to do: Build excitement in kids when they come to school,” the teacher continues. “All kids come to school wanting to learn, but something happens along the way to kill that enthusiasm. But now Dr. Smith is trying to find ways to keep kids excited.”

Dr. Smith is Franklin Smith, the crusading and embattled superintendent of the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). Last spring, he invited D.C.'s 6,000 teachers to found their own “charter schools,” and McNeill-Vann accepted his offer. She and three colleagues submitted an application outlining their idea for an alternative primary school. DCPS accepted the proposal and the Nongraded School opened in September with 68 students. The program—a “school within a school”—occupies four classrooms on the top floor of Truesdell Elementary in Petworth.... Continued

Issue of Nov. 11 - 17, 1994

News and Features

Schoolhouse Rock
Superintendent Franklin Smith shakes, rattles, and rolls D.C.'s abysmal public schools.
Cover Story By David Plotz
Magical History Tour
A Walk on Lafayette Square Park's Dark Side With Anthony Pitch
The City By Maria Ware
Truncated Truth
The City By Clara Jeffery
Family Affair
How I Reported on Rosa Lee Cunningham's Family and Barely Escaped With My Mental Health
The City By Lisa Gray
Won't Get Fooled Again
The Mail By Louis Simmons Jr.
Legwork
The Mail By Robert Stoesen
The Streetlight Zone
The Mail By Neal Duncan
Truffle Trail
The Mail By Stewart Schulze
Many Are Called, Less Are Chosen
The Mail By Glorio Patsy Jr.
Mama Don't Want No Violin Playing in Here
The Mail By Susan Wiener and Karen Perry
Not Laughing
The Mail By Patrice Gaines
If He Only Had a Heart
The Mail By Joe Heim
Love It or Leave It
The Mail By Emanuel Bode