Washington, D.C., school veterans skeptical of consultants

Two dozen high-priced consultants have set up shop on three floors of the Washington, D.C., public schools' headquarters. They come from big-name restructuring firms, and the city is paying $4 million for their services this summer. The findings of the consultants could have a large bearing on whether Mayor Adrian Fenty's plan to overhaul the 55,000-student system is successful. But to many school employees and activists, there is a depressingly familiar ring to promises from city leaders that the consultants will somehow work magic with their spreadsheets, databases and management-school theory.
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EARLIER:
Part 1: As Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty prepares to become the first mayor with direct control of the city's schools, his team promises a clean slate and a rapid turnaround. Yet a detailed assessment of the state of the school system, based on extensive public records, suggests that the challenge is enormous: The system is among the highest-spending and worst-performing in the nation. Click here to read The Washington Post article.

Part 2: Bureaucracy and politics have worn out a succession of superintendents and plans. Click here to read The Washington Post article.

Part 3: As Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) seizes control of the struggling public schools, Philadelphia and a handful of other cities are showing signs that it is possible to repair broken school districts, but only through extraordinary effort. The school systems making the largest gains are united by some common threads: Government and school leaders have set aside differences and harnessed their power behind reforms, superintendents have brought an intense, persuasive leadership style to the process, and efforts have concentrated on raising the test scores of the lowest-performing students.
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With celebration and sadness, the Washington, D.C., school board met in what is likely to be its final meeting before Mayor Adrian M. Fenty assumes control of city schools. The meeting sometimes took on a wistful, last-day-of-school tone as a small audience gave the school board a standing ovation. Fenty is expected to assume oversight of the schools next week, although a group of residents is continuing to press their last-minute challenge to the takeover.
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The Washington, D.C., Board of Elections and Ethics has reversed itself and declared that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover plan cannot be the subject of a referendum, opening the way for the mayor to assume control of the 55,000-student system next week.
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Washington, D.C., government officials are beginning an extensive audit of the city's public schools designed to pinpoint how the system is spending its $1 billion budget and identify areas of waste and mismanagement. The audit comes as Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) prepares to take control of the 55,000-student school system.
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ALSO: President George W. Bush has approved a Washington, D.C., charter amendment that takes power away from the school board and advances Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's plan to control the public schools. Fenty must wait until June 12--when the standard congressional review period for his takeover legislation expires--to assume full authority over the 55,000-student system.
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A coalition of Washington, D.C., activists has launched a campaign to gather about 20,000 petition signatures in an uphill effort to put Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover legislation to a referendum.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's high-stakes effort to seize control of the city's struggling public school system has set off a fight for influence and power among the city's top elected leaders.
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The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover legislation. The bill awaits final authorization from President Bush, who could sign it by the end of the week. Under that scenario, Fenty would assume authority over the 55,000-student school system by the end of the standard congressional review period, probably around June 14.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has rewritten his school improvement plan and expunged language lifted verbatim from a North Carolina district. The latest version of the mayor's education strategy maintains most of the core initiatives included in the first draft but eliminates the word-for-word copying from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system's strategic plan.
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Critics of Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty's decision to model the city's school reforms on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) district are questioning how much Charlotte's experience applies to the Washington. Charlotte's system of 129,000 students has more than twice as many pupils as Washington and includes suburban and rural schools. Enrollment in the nation's capital has declined for more than a decade.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty characterized his administration's verbatim copying of portions of an education plan from another school district as a "serious issue" that should not have happened, while some city leaders warn that the matter may erode support for the mayor's takeover of the public schools. Fenty says the administration made a mistake in lifting sections of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) school system's "strategic plan" and using them without attribution in a document submitted to the D.C. Council in February.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration copied significant portions of its education strategy verbatim from a plan developed by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) school system. The 31-page document, a blueprint of Fenty's plans to improve students' academic performance, contains passages virtually identical to some in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools' strategic plan -- including the opening statement describing the administration's vision. Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials say Superintendent Peter C. Gorman developed the plan in November after discussions with more than 500 parents, teachers, education experts and consultants over 100 days.
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Victor A. Reinoso, the man tapped by Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to head his takeover of the failing public school system, is a reluctant warrior. Ultimately he gave in to the mayor's hard sell and took the job. He is expected to be the ultimate authority for areas of pressing need, including hiring teachers, repairing facilities, ordering textbooks, lining up student immunizations, visiting schools, hiring an ombudsman, raising money from private donors and organizing town hall meetings.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has won final city council approval to take control of the city's public schools, beginning a transfer of power that will place him in charge of fixing the troubled 55,000-student system. He still needs Congress to change the city's Home Rule Charter before he assumes complete authority. Fenty has made improving the public education system his top priority.
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A day after the Washington, D.C., Council gave preliminary approval to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's plan for taking control of the city schools, reaction among parents and citizens ranged from tentative hope to resounding reproach. Critics say the public should be given a chance to vote on the proposal; supporters say the schools desperately need the jolt.
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The Washington D.C. City Council has granted preliminary approval for a dramatic shift in power for the city's public schools, giving the mayor control over the budget, key administrative functions and the blueprint for modernizing every dilapidated building in the 55,000-student system. After final approval from the council, which could come as early as April 17, and Congress later this spring, parents could see the first changes in the fall. As part of the new structure, the council would have line-item budget control, and the school board would set academic standards.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has beefed up his proposal to take over city public schools by promising to overhaul special education. If he gains control of the school system, the mayor says he will expand the placement of disabled children in regular classes, bring special education into compliance with court rulings and cut transportation costs.
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