In a recent broadcast of “This American Life” Burroughs Elementary School parent Maria Jones, interviewed by journalist Jon Jeter, calls Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s proposal to close down 23 district schools a “land grab.” In making her point, Jones mentions two former school buildings sold to developers and converted into swank condos: Pierce School (now Pierce School Lofts) and Lovejoy School (now Lovejoy Lofts).

She’s not crazy. Quite a few other ritzy apartment buildings have origins as DCPS properties. Bryant School Lofts, Lennox School Condos, Berret School Lofts, and Carbery School Lofts, for example.

When asked whether the District was shutting down schools in order to sell public land to hungry developers, D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s spokesperson, Mafara Hobson, responded that the claim was “absolutely not true.” “There are a number of rumors circulating, but parents and residents should know that there are no immediate plans for the school buildings.” Hobson added there would be a “separate public process to determine alternate uses for the buildings.”

Contacted on this matter, Jones counters that “immediate plans” is the key phrase. “They’ll let them[the buildings] sit there for a few years, then either sell them to developers or give them over to charters. It all points towards privatization,” she says. Jones describes the school closures as a “corporate heist” and warns that in the District, “all our public property is being threatened, period.”

Though the school her daughter attends was recently taken off of the administration’s “hit list”, Jones said that she’ll continue to work against the closures.

“Even my little daughter knows that school reform does not mean closing buildings.”

—Rend Smith

This past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine featured a conversation about education philanthropy with several education and charity experts. Among them was Joel Klein, who has been chancellor of the New York City school system since 2002. Klein also figures prominently in the D.C. education world since he recommended District chancellor Michelle Rhee for her job. Apparently, he’s still standing behind his selection because he mentioned her in the Times piece. The premise of the conversation is to discuss how an ignorant, but benevolent billionaire could properly invest his money in education.

“I would look for the most promising individuals and make heavy investments in them. Let’s say you choose Michelle Rhee, the new schools chancellor in D.C. That school system has long been one of the worst-performing in the country, and Michelle wants to really overhaul it. I think our philanthropist could make an eight-year bet on her. It’s the same kind of thing I would have wanted to have happen to us when we started six years ago in New York. To start, I’d give her a couple of million to do some planning. Then I’d ask her to sit down and show me what strategic investments she thinks a philanthropist could make in D.C. that the system itself, for whatever reason, is not going to make. And I would try to make three or four of these strategic bets around the country, on individuals who I thought had the talent, the longevity and the political support to make significant change feasible.”

Tuesday’s City Title basketball game between Gonzaga and Roosevelt drew more than 6,000 fans. Not bad for a high school game in this town, right?

Well, for these times, anyway.

But go back to the early 1960s, and nothing could pull in fans like high school sports. Not even the Redskins or the Senators.

You can look it up: The City Title football game could sell out D.C. Stadium. Some amazing (perhaps only to me) local history buried in this week’s Cheap Seats column: The 1962 gridiron matchup between St. John’s and Eastern brought in 50,033 fans to the place now called RFK, making it at the time the biggest sporting event in D.C. history.

And this is a town that by that point had hosted NFL Championships, World Series games, and even Joe Louis fighting outdoors for the heavyweight championship (against Buddy Baer at Griffith Stadium in May 1941).

But, the St. John’s/Eastern game ended horribly, with a black-on-white brawl that brought tons of attention to D.C., all of it bad. Columnist Drew Pearson told readers of his nationally syndicated “Washington Merry-Go-Round” column that the brouhaha was “the worst race riot Washington had seen” in more than 40 years. Congressional hearings were held to discuss what happened. And, all future City Title football games were put on hold. Perma-hold, really.

But, now there’s been movement to put the matchup of champions from the public school league, the DCIAA, and the Catholic league, the WCAC, back in play. And the main player in this movement is, strangely enough, the Washington Post.

Last football season, some 45 years after the brawl, David Jones, public relations manager for the Washington Post, approached WCAC and lobbied the Catholic schools league to restart the football game. Jones was backed in his discussions by D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.

Asked why the Post would launch such an effort, Jones said, “We’re a hometown newspaper. This is a big event.”

Jones declined to answer any other questions about the City Title game or his role in its possible comeback. Despite the powerful folks behind the campaign, the leagues have yet to agree on terms.

Yesterday, I received responses to my questions regarding the resignation of Pamela Graham, former budget director for the D.C. public school system. To recap: Immediately after Graham’s resignation, D.C. Financial Chief Natwar Gandhi named Noah Wepman, an education program director with city administrator Dan Tangherlini, as a temporary replacement. According to a mid-February brief in the Post, Rhee planned to submit her budget on March 4 to Mayor Adrian Fenty. He is scheduled to submit the budget to the D.C. Council on March 20.

Below, Karyn-Siobhan Robinson, spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, responds:

“The budget director Noah [Wepman] presented the budget to the city administrator [on March 4]—I wouldn’t say it was a submission. The budget will still go in [to the D.C. Council] on March 20 as planned. Of course, Pamela Graham is still an employee of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. As you know schools can be a rough gig for everybody. We’ve gone through a few CFOs…She’s taking some time off, and everybody right now is looking at the best way to use her skills and assets. She’s been an extraordinarily valuable employee of the OCFO, and will continue to be so.”

Michelle Rhee’s central administration has thus far seemed to operate like a fortress atop a hill. It’s visible to all, but secured. Only certain people can come in and know what’s going on. Time and time again, activists have lined up to protest Rhee’s actions. Still, the inner sanctum is protected. But yesterday came news that a key figure in DCPS has left the building.

The Washington Examiner broke the story: Pamela D. Graham, head of the DCPS budget office, has resigned. D.C. Financial Chief Natwar Gandhi immediately named Noah Wepman, an education program director with city administrator Dan Tangherlini, as a temporary replacement. According to a mid-February brief in the Post, Rhee planned to submit her budget today to Mayor Adrian Fenty. He is then scheduled to submit the budget to the D.C. Council on March 20. I’m sending a request into the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to see if that’s still happening. Stay tuned.

Now’s your chance: Tune in to Channel 13 and play along.

P.S. Not included on that chart is one of the chancellor’s more annoying habits: Starting every response to a question with “So…” She already did that. On the very first question.

I caught up with Maria P. Jones, one of the chief anti-school closure activists, this morning. Jones is currently visiting family in New Orleans. But she still had some thoughts–and a lot of anger and perhaps wishful thinking–on Fenty’s revised school closure plan.

“He’s still playing games,” Jones said meaning Fenty. “That’s not doing anything for the people. You still have all of the schools that will remain open will be weakened by all the closures around them. Our stance is still the same. And that stance is: we are calling an immediate cease and desist of all the school closures. What we want to happen is to have a conversation that does not solely focus on school closures. The conversation—if it is about school reform—then all the major stakeholders should be involved. The teachers, the principals, the city council people, the parents, the students, the school board members, the chancellor. Everyone should be involved in that discussion. There are so many things we need to look at before we get to school closures.”

Among the items on Jones’ agenda:

*Equitable distribution of funds across all schools.
*To make sure the modernization money is allocated properly
*To look at the buildings, all of the vacant buildings where we could move DCPS staff and administration into those buildings.
*To put a cap or moratorium on new charter school openings.

“When we have a discussion like this, school closures may not enter into the conversation,” Jones says. “We’re going to help the Fenty Administration by changing the conversation.”

What about future protests, I asked.

“We’re always planning,” Jones said. “You are definitely going to see increased resistance.”

Stay tuned!

Still waiting for Hizzoner to show up here at Ron Brown Middle School in Northeast, but school honchos have passed out a press release detailing their school closure plans.

The skinny: Six schools will remain open. They are Bruce Monroe ES, Burroughs ES, Smothers ES, Brown JHS, Shaw JHS, and today’s host, Ron Brown Middle.

But! Four have been added to the closure list. They are Benning ES, Park View ES, Garnet-Patterson MS, and Merritt MS.

The early read is that this is a big win for Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and a blow to Ward 1’s Jim Graham. Evans fought hard to keep Shaw open, and Graham is getting two additional schools closed.

More to come.

A week ago this evening, the D.C. Public Schools held 23 simultaneous meetings to discuss school closings. Afterward, DCPS put out a press release announcing that “more than” 411 people had attended. Here’s a breakout of those numbers, according to data provided by DCPS.

Of note: No one chose to testify at three of the meetings. Sixteen of 23 meetings were over in less than an hour. The hotspots seemed to be in Wards 1 (Bruce-Monroe ES), 2 (Shaw MS), and 5 (Young ES).

On the morning of Jan. 17, teachers and staff at Garnet-Patterson Middle School in Shaw thought their school remained safe from the dreaded D.C. public schools closure list. Hours later, their outlook changed.

Around 3 p.m., Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham placed a call to Garnet’s principal, Veda Usilton, letting her now that the plan to close Shaw Junior High School and ship its students and a gifted program over to Garnet could be in jeopardy. Schools Chancellor Michele Rhee, he said, was considering a swap: Shut down Garnet, keep Shaw open.

With a few hours to go before Rhee’s 23 simultaneous school-closure hearings—the public’s last chance to testify on the proposal—Graham wanted Garnet to stand up and show some muscle.

“I had advised her that I believed it was important that some support be established in the record,” he says.

That night, after Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and a variety of other community figures testified on behalf of Shaw, a group of Garnet supporters spoke about how they were blindsided by their school’s potential closure.

“The good people of Shaw have had upwards of three months to gather support from the community. We had three hours. Here at Garnet-Patterson, we need the same time to gather our community members,” said one Garnet teacher.

Toward the end of the meeting, Rhee showed up and confirmed she was considering moving Garnet to the closure list. If the switch were to take place, she added, the Garnet community would get an opportunity for its own hearing.

Fisher assesses the low turnout at last night’s school meetings. He seems to think that this means there is little opposition to the school closings. You can read our own coverage of the school meetings here.

The Examiner reports that a bomb threat has closed the World Bank.

Prince of Petworth hates on some new development.

D.C. Public Schools honchos just put out a press release touting that “Hundreds Gather to Testify at DCPS Community Meetings.” Just how many? Well, “more than 411″ is what they say, which means that an average of (”more than”) 17.9 people showed up at each meeting.

At the meeting I went to, at LaSalle Elementary in Riggs Park, about 25 people showed. Only about a half-dozen chose to speak, however, and the meeting was over within 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, at the “People’s Meeting” at the John A. Wilson Building, organizers—who called for a boycott of the official DCPS meetings—touted a crowd around 200.

Possible spin for Chancellor Michelle Rhee: DCPS succeeded in keeping the meetings intimate!

Prince of Petworth posts a picture of a sweet porch sofa.

The Post reports that Fenty and Co. plan to hold 23 public hearings at the same time on January 17. Each meeting will address a school slated for closure.

Hitchens writes the most honest assessment of Bhutto (at least that I’ve seen). You can read it here.

DCist settles some X-mas-time parking enforcement issues.

Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss has made no bones about the fact that he’d like spots for him and his daughter in the city’s Verizon Center skybox for the Jan. 7 Hannah Montana concert.

Well, he asked. And he’s been denied.

“Neil Albert told me there’s no room,” Strauss says, referring to the deputy mayor for planning and economic development. That means Strauss won’t be sitting with Albert, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, City Administrator Dan Tangherlini, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and offspring.

Strauss says he’s moved on to Plan B: Appealing to the Verizon Center itself for any spare seats.

“I haven’t given up hope yet,” he says. (There’s always Plan C: A glimpse at StubHub reveals that two nosebleed-section tickets could be his for $240 apiece.)

Strauss says he’d love to take his daughter to future skybox events. “She’s 9,” he says, “so I hope there’ll be other opportunities.”

The D.C. Council earlier this afternoon approved the legislation reclassifying most DCPS central office employees as “at will,” meaning schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee can start firing them soon.

Voting against: Marion Barry, Phil Mendelson, Harry Thomas Jr.