Events over the last several weeks have gotten me to ruminating that “change is hard”, and viewed close up it can be pretty messy at times as well.

I’m thinking of a few things here – the recent layoffs of teachers at the DC public school system, but also the Parks and Recreation contracting scandal which also involves the D.C. Housing Authority.  Both the public schools and parks and recreation are two areas of the government which badly could use improvement.  The public schools have had a largely deserved bad reputation for years, the school facilities were a wreck (and an insult to our school children) and too often our parks and recreation facilities were likewise in bad shape and we the public would break out into applause when we achieved something as simple as getting the grass cut! 

I count myself among those who urgently support change and improving the function of our government – in terms of time, efficiency, and cost.  I also believe administrators need to be given both the leeway and tools to decide how they want to accomplish these goals.  But as we have seen with the school teacher firings and with the contracting scandal, there are going to be some potholes along the road of bringing about change.  I agree it is incumbent upon the Council to get to the bottom of these problems and mistakes that are invariably going to get made along the way.  However, we cannot afford to let such problems stand in the way of continuing to advocate for change – rather, they should inform and refine our thoughts about the changes we wish to make and how we bring them about. 

There are plenty of forces aligned against change.  In fact, a testament to this is the nearly revolving door of school superintendents and parks directors we have had over the past two decades.  In my view, I think we should stick with the people we’ve got and continue to embrace the change agenda and give people more time to continue to make a difference.  In just a few short years in fact our school facilities have gotten much better – the best they have been in a generation – and there are signs that school test scores and other metrics of student achievement are turning upward.  Our parks and recreation facilities continue to be improved  and we have been building or rehabbing facilities at a rate unseen before.  Mistakes have clearly been made along the way, and we must always learn from such mistakes, but it is important as well to keep our eyes on our ultimate goal of better serving the children of the District in these two important functions of government.

Reminder: Celebrating the Life of Desi Deschaine

Shaw Dog Park

Logan Cirlce House Tour

Sign of Honor

Evans Speaks at ANC 2B

LGBT Update

Legislative Update

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