Ward 1 Education Update

September 15, 2023
Education, including Early Childhood Education

By Ben Williams
State Board of Education Member representing Ward 1

Councilmember Nadeau and State Board of Education Representative Williams regularly stay in touch on the issues, but each represents their own office separately. This update is written by Representative Williams alone.

Hello Ward 1 Residents!

I’m Ben Williams, your Ward 1 State Board of Education representative. The 2023-2024 school year is off and running and I wanted to take a moment to share some important information and upcoming events in our community and around the city.

Upcoming events:

Ward 1 Family and Education Meet-Up @ Latin American Youth Center
Saturday, September 23, 10 am – 12 pm
Focus on Bullying & Harassment to ensure all students feel safe in school.

Graphic with details of the Ward 1 Family and Education in English

Graphic with details of the Ward 1 Family and Education in Spanish

Deputy Mayor for Education Town Halls on the Boundary and Student Assignment Study

Participants will review the landscape of DCPS boundaries and student assignment analysis, provide feedback on potential policy tools, and receive an introduction to the online web tool. The two halls will have the same content. You may register to attend at the following links:

Tuesday, September 26, 12-1:30 p.m. Register for this virtual town hall
Wednesday, September 27, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Register for this virtual town hall
Other opportunities to provide feedback
Ward 1 community input is necessary to ensure the Deputy Mayor for Education develops the best proposals for our schools, as well as understands the impacts of its proposals. In addition to the district-wide town halls, the DME will engage with school-specific communities. There is also a Boundary-specific website that collects YOUR feedback at: collecting feedback. You can also sign up to the DME listserv to stay up to date on local engagement activities.

Revising DC’s School Report Card

Be on the lookout for news on how to weigh in on this important tool to give families a closer look at all public schools in the District of Columbia.

Opportunities to provide input through OSSE and the SBOE will be occurring this Fall in October and November 2023.

Please reach out to me @ [email protected] if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to speak with me about anything related to DC education.

Sincerely,

Ben

Increasing access to Out-of-School-Time programs

Out-of-school time programs play a pivotal role in the overall development and well-being of our students.

November 21, 2024, 12:07 pm

Supporting the Educators who Support our Kids

We have been legislating wider access to early childhood education for years now, and we are going to have to continue doing it until it is fully implemented.