Dee Does The District doesn't appreciate a sad bit of race baiting reported from the marathon hearing on the DCPS teacher layoffs.

Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare despairs over their students' poor attendance. They write:

"Our school's enrollment is down, and attendance is lower than I've ever seen it. When I first started at my school, I routinely had between 25 and 30 students in my class each day. Now, I'm lucky if I get 12. Today, less than half of my students were in class, and last week the average was 55%. Now, the kids who are there every day are learning like FIENDS, but at this rate 45% of my kids are going to fail. So what gives?"

DC Teacher Chic reports from her classroom a new trend—the working lunch. They write:

"This past week, I welcomed my students into my classroom / office space to eat their lunches. At first, it started because a few students were finishing assessments while eating their lunches (so as not to miss further instruction). To say the students loved the idea is an understatement. In the days following, my working lunches have blossomed from four students to seven, with several more students showing interest in attending next week."

Borderstan reports property crimes and violent crimes were up in September according to the latest crime stats: "Total crime (both violent and property crimes) for the  month of September 2009 in the Borderstan crime area¹ is 27% higher than in September 2008 and 61% higher than September 2007." The blog has maps and stats.

The 42 does not miss the Real World folks. But if you do miss the cameras or the realty competition shows, the blog knows what film crews are coming next.

And Now, Anacostia admires some new display windows on MLK.

Southwest...The Little Quadrant That Could has an update on Arena Stage's redevelopment.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery