The Price Is Rightsize
Parents rant about the costs of the Fenty administration's school-closing plan.
Cover Story
Maria P. Jones has a lot riding on the actions of D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
Jones has a 4-year-old daughter, Laci Joseph, who attends pre-K at Burroughs Elementary School in Northeast. Jones and her husband live across the street from Burroughs. They did a lot of scouting before settling on Burroughs. They took two tours of Burroughs. They met with the principal of Burroughs.
Now each school day morning, Jones says her daughter can’t wait for Borroughs to open its doors.
Burroughs, however, is among two dozen public schools in the District slated for closing. The case for shuttering the schools, as articulated by Rhee and Mayor Adrian Fenty, is strong. The school population has dropped below 50,000 students, leaving classrooms across the system empty or close enough. School brass are forever chasing one deficit or another, and closing schools serves fiscal responsibility in two ways—the city can sell the real estate and trim its enormous facilities-maintenance budget.
D.C. has gone down this road before. The schools administration in 1997 proposed closing 16 schools and actually closed 11. ... Continued 
Issue of Jan. 25 - 31, 2008
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