Ashton! Demi! Tobey!

At Ballou!

That's right---honest-to-god A-listers made their way out to the oft-maligned Congress Heights high school this morning. There, a breakfast was held commemorating today's "day of service" on the occasion of Martin Luther King's birthday.

Also in attendance: Superman star Brandon Rauch, West Winger Richard Schiff, California first lady Maria Shriver, and some dude LL didn't recognize but who's supposedly on CSI. Charlie Rose---buds with Michelle Rhee---was emcee.

The event was put on by an outfit called Service Nation and sponsored by Target (whose logos were all over the place), among others. The Ridgewells-catered quiche breakfast was followed by opportunities for dozens and dozens of volunteers to participate in projects around the city. Many went a block down the hill from Ballou, to Simon Elementary, to help paint classrooms. There, the Ballou band pepped up volunteers, and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty gave brief remarks, as did Rauch. Maguire---who LL nearly knocked over before snapping the above fuzzy cameraphone photo---pitched in with the painting.

LL wasn't able to pick many celeb brains for their thoughts on school reform---to wit, teachers unions, 90-day improvement plans, "red tier/green tier," et al.---because (a) none of them "did media" and (b) LL showed up late.

In any case, LL showed up at Ballou just in time to watch Kutcher and Moore leave the school, in separate black luxury cars. LL did hear one entourage member say, "We need to find a Starbucks."

They were in for a drive.

UPDATE, 12:45 P.M.: Shakira is pitching in at Oyster-Adams. SHAKIRA! Her multilingual-ness should come in handy while visiting the Spanish-English bilingual program.

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray apparently finally got around to reading Amanda Ripley's Time magazine cover story on Michelle Rhee that ran last month. And he didn't like what he read. He posted a letter Friday to Time editors expressing "outrage" at a line in Ripley's story.

Read More "Gray Peeved About Rhee Time Mag Article" »

LL just caught Tom Nida, the chair of the Public Charter School Board, ahead of the board's monthly meeting tonight.

Asked about Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton's demand that, in the wake of the Washington Post's reporting on alleged self-dealing, he resign his post, Nida said, "I serve at the pleasure of the mayor."

Asked if he would resign should Mayor Adrian M. Fenty ask him to, Nida said, "I'm a volunteer."

Nida said he had no plans to address the Post story at the meeting: "I'm in no-comment mode right now."

Indeed, at meeting's start, David Holmes, an advisory neighborhood commissioner from North Lincoln Park, strongly rebuked the board for various issues, including those raised in the Post report. Neither Nida nor any other board member said anything, and the board moved straight into its agenda.

UPDATE, 8:30 P.M.: In fact, ANC 6A is calling for the resignations of PCSB members and administrators and calling for additional reforms by the council. Letter after the jump.

Read More "PCSB Chair: “I Serve at the Pleasure of the Mayor”" »

On Sunday, the Washington Post dropped a huge investigative report on the many, many intertwined links between officials on the Public Charter Schools Board, their employers, and the schools they oversee.

Now Eleanor Holmes Norton is weighing in on the matter. She wants PCSB Chair Tom Nida and credit enhancement committee chair Barbara Hart to resign, and she wants the system by which board members are chosen to change. Currently, for each vacancy, the federal government draws up a short list of names, from which the D.C. mayor is obligated to make a final selection.

The result has been that, for as long as the board has been in existence (mostly under a Republican president), it has been populated by folks who have or have had vested interests in the success of charter schools from an ideological, business, or other perspective. (LL wrote about this in more depth over the summer.) And many have not been District residents. The concept of having "outside directors," as most corporate boards do, has not been the practice of the PCSB. That has meant that the board has been highly successful at growing the charter system, and somewhat successful at raising levels of student achievement, but undeniably aloof when it comes following well-accepted principles of good government and working as part of a larger body politic.

Whether that's a good thing or a bad think depends who you ask.

Read More "Eleanor Wants Charter Board Changes" »