Where Are We now? Allister Interviews the Incumbent

On July 26, 2020, Allister had the opportunity to speak with Jack Jacobson, the incumbent Ward 2 representative on the DC School Board of Education. The video is available here.

Allister Chang: What do you view to be the role of the Board of Education in DC

Jack Jacobson: The role of the Board has really evolved over the last 8 years. When I was first elected in 2012, and took my seat in 2013, we were a very different board with a very different scope. We were part of the Superintendent's office, our budget was in the Superintendent's office, and the Superintendent set our agenda, called our witnesses, and actually had an employee seconded to our office that helped us work on everything. Basically, we were just another arm of the Superintendent's office, albeit an independently elected one. Mark Jones, when he was President, made sure that we were broken off completely from OSSE [Office of the Superintendent of Education] and that we had our own budget. When I became president 3 years into our term, I made sure we were setting our own agendas and invited our own witnesses, and really being that independent voice for education in the district, still working with the Superintendent's office, with the Deputy Mayor, with the Chancellor, with the Public Charter School Board, but making sure that we did reflect that we were independently elected. Originally, we voted only on things that the superintendent put before us, voting up or down on regulations related to graduation requirements, education standards, seat time and attendance roles. We really expanded that to become more education advocates broadly in the city. We're the only elected position in the city that is only focused on education, we're in our schools every day, we're talking to parents, we're talking to students, we're talking to teachers and faculty, and so we really got a broader landscape of what the education system looks like, and we're really trying to put the pieces together to form partnerships that ultimately benefit our students. 

Allister: That's fantastic, and I think that's the piece of the role that I would be most excited about. I'm curious what the key issues are you've been working on to accomplish those goals? 

Jack: I've really loved the work on the board, it's policy work, it's wonky, but you still have to connect to your communities, and you have to be just a general problem solver. We do have a specific set of issues we work on that are statutorily prescribed, things like passing educational standards. One of the first standards we enacted when I was elected was pre-K3 and pre-K4 education standards, which we didn't have before and that was terrific. About a year later we adopted the next generation science standards, which is a national standard for science. We of course worked with DCPS, and the Charters, and the students to tailor those national standards to suit DC's population... We're a very urban district, and so we wanted to tailor those standards. We did the same thing about 4 years in when we wholesale re-wrote our health education standards... originally health education standards were sexuality and body. We had students come to us from the Young Women's Project, and they said that's really important, but it's also really important that we deal with mental and emotional health, and gun violence and safety, and what about drugs and alcoholism and addiction. We've got a myriad of other health issues that make up the whole student. We dove in head-first and re-wrote our health education standards, we become the gold standards nationally... we're working on that again now on social studies standards, and this is such a seminal moment in time for us to be doing that. Jessica Sutter from Ward 6 is leading that work and it's so important. There is a tectonic shift in societal views right now and we're working to make sure that this change, and the importance of civics and advocacy and government is really at the forefront of our social studies standards. In addition to all that we have the No Child Left Behind Waiver, and the Every Student Succeeds Act, but the standards are the ones that really speak to me. 

Allister: I'm curious what other top issues are on the board agenda currently?

Jack: So social studies certainly for all the reasons I've just enumerated. Additionally, teacher retention is a real issue and it's especially important right now under COVID. You've got a lot of elderly teachers that may be interested in retiring rather than going into a classroom. Same thing with teachers with chronic health issues. We really need to continue to focus on teacher retention. Teacher, unfortunately has one of the greatest teacher turnover rates in the country, if not the greatest, so it's trying to figure out how can we retain high quality teachers, how can we grow teachers from within our city and within our systems, and moving teachers assistants into certified teachers roles. And then hugely, just making sure that we're connecting students at this point in time when they're unable to go into a classroom and be with their peers and be with their teacher and make those social and emotional connections. That's not specifically within our purview but we're doing a lot of work and having a lot of community discussion around it because it's so important. Our assessments for students are already delayed a year because the 2019-2020 school year they couldn't capture what a student had learned over the previous 9 months because they weren't in school -- they were at home... We're going to have to start the 2021-2022 school year with a brand-new baseline... we're not going to want to be assessing students when they've had this disadvantage that is going to even more starkly show the haves and have-nots within our system that speak to equity. 

Allister: What advice do you have for whoever fills this seat, and what the board ought to focus on in the next 4 years?

Jack: I think this board needs to be a truthful and transparent partner with other education agencies and other education leaders. None of us today can go at it alone. The students are too much at risk. Over the next year or so, as we see the economy hopefully come back, it's going to come back first for the ones who are furthest ahead already, and it's going to come back last for those that are already at the tail economically. Figuring out ways to value partnerships and trust each other to do the right thing at the end of the day. Keeping the focus on the students, not on personalities, not on power, but keeping the focus on students is going to make sure that the policy decisions that are made by the future board are based on what the position is -- we're advocating first and foremost for the students.