By: Matt Repka, Policy Analyst
Last month, State Board members met with teachers and administrators at Center City Public Charter Schools’ Shaw campus to visit classes and discuss their school. Principal Alicia McCloud, assistant principals Natasha Taylor and Rashaida Melvin, and managing director Demetrial Gartrell welcomed Board Members Ruth Wattenberg (Ward 3) and Joe Weedon (Ward 6) and staff from SBOE and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education to their school.
Center City is a public charter network with six campuses in the District of Columbia (Brightwood, Capitol Hill, Congress Heights, Petworth, Shaw, and Trinidad). The Shaw campus is a pre-K-to-8 school with 234 students in the current school year. According to the DC Public Charter School Board, the student population is 57 percent African American, 37 percent Hispanic/Latino, and was rated Tier 1 – the highest rating – in 2016-17.
Center City’s Global Ambassadors program, which offers students the opportunity to embark on service-learning trips to different countries, is the foundation of the school’s international focus and emphasis on service. This school year, students focused on learning about Costa Rica, culminating in a project there. The school also offers “ESL After the Bell” academic support to English Language Learner students, which comprise 15 percent of the student population.
Board members and staff from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education had the chance to see students and teachers in action in classrooms ranging from pre-K up to 8th grade. School teachers spoke briefly at a panel discussion after the classroom visits to discuss restorative justice practices, parent engagement efforts, the role of technology in the classroom, and standardized testing.
For more about Center City PCS, click here.
D.C. State Board of Education Blog 