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I'm Kaya Henderson, Chancellor of DC Public Schools.
Recently, we launched new strategic goals for the next five years, A Capital Commitment.
With this new plan, we will ensure that every DCPS student receives a world-class education.
We have five bold goals.
improving achievement for all students
investing in our struggling schools
increasing our graduation rates
improving student satisfaction
And increasing enrollment
I'm excited to work with you to meet our commitment to our students.
But to achieve our goals, our schools need to look very different.
We need elementary schools that can offer students a wider range of opportunities.
We need middle schools with more robust course offerings
to prepare students for high school.
And we need high schools that provide challenging coursework
to prepare our students for college.
We also need more career and technical education programs that prepare our students for the workforce
and more alternative schools that offer students a second chance.
As I visit schools, I see tremendous potential and energy in our students.
However, the way we are now organized, our schools are not set up to offer everything our students deserve.
We have too many schools that are too small to support our students' needs.
With so many small schools,
it's difficult to make smart investments in high-quality programming in every school.
We can't always organize teachers and schedules to provide the most benefit to children,
and we're not getting the most out of our modernized buildings.
At this point, we need to make sure our investment is in our students and their education
and not in keeping small schools open.
I want to ensure that our priority is always investing in our children's education.
In the coming weeks,
I want to work with you to identify creative and innovative ways to reorganize our school district.
Together, I want to create a district that does everything it can to serve our students now,
and that is flexible enough to serve our students as our population grows in the future.
We've put together a proposal for consolidating and reorganizing our schools that I want to share with you.
In fact, you can find it on the DCPS website.
I know that this work will be challenging and I'm sure for many of us, the change will be really difficult.
I also know that by working together,
we can create a system that provides our students with the world-class education they deserve.
Please visit our website to find dates and times for community meetings,
or join us online to share your thoughts and feedback.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
I'm honored to have the opportunity to serve you and your children,
and I will do everything in my power to make sure we give your children the education they deserve.