WASHINGTON (HUNS) – While the election for Ward 5 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education is fast approaching, some parents say they care less about who is in the seat and more about the candidates’ efforts to embed themselves in the community and make decisions responsive to their needs.
The Ward 5 seat is one of four on the board that is up for election this year. The current representative, Robert Henderson, is not on the ballot, but two newcomers are: Jonathan Alfuth and Lynn Jennings, Ph.D. The ward is home to over 50 schools and last school year, it led the city in public school enrollment, which includes both public charter and D.C. Public Schools.
Bianca Shannon, a mother of three, said she wants the board member to be someone who does not “tiptoe around” and can properly represent the diverse needs of the ward.
“I wish people would go inside school buildings unannounced so that they get a true representation of how the school is,” she said. “How can you impact change if you’re not seeing what needs to be changed?”
Both Alfuth and Jennings have lived in Ward 5 for around a decade, and both candidates have backgrounds in education through teaching and working in education policy.
For his campaign, Alfuth named school safety and health a priority, along with college and career readiness. Jennings said increasing access to extracurricular activities and pairing community qualitative and quantitative data were some of her priorities. In separate interviews with HU News Service, both also said chronic absenteeism is an important issue they want to address.
Some Ward 5 parents are echoing similar desires for their community, but they are also calling for change and awareness in other areas, including logistics, educational value and extracurricular activities.
For some parents who have children ranging from daycare to high school, transportation and logistics are a common concern.
Cheyenne Taylor, who has children in tenth grade, seventh grade and kindergarten, said that sometimes getting her children to school in the morning is a struggle because they rely on public transportation.
In D.C., students can participate in the Kids Ride Free Program, but although it offers the benefit of free bus and metro rides, just like those commuting to work in the morning, youth are also impacted by delays.
“I would like for students to be able to get to school at an appropriate time,” said Taylor. “A lot of the kids in my neighborhood don’t live close to the school so [delays] cause them to be late.”
She said sometimes kids riding the bus can arrive an upward of 30-minutes late, which is concerning when that is a large chunk of their first classes of the day.
Other parents with younger children who do not use public transportation said walkability is important.
Allie Bagnall, who has a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, said being able to walk her daughter to school makes all the difference.
“I appreciate that when we walk to school we see all of the other children arriving,” Bagnall said. “You get to know the other children in the class. That’s a totally different experience than if we were driving.”
Bagnall also said that having an aftercare program that runs until 6:30 p.m. is very beneficial since the city often has traffic disruptions, which can impact families who are trying to pick up their children after work. Although her family does not always use the program, she said it is reassuring to know that the care is there if they need it.
Another issue concerning some Ward 5 families is whether they even want to continue living in the ward, as they say both academics and extracurricular opportunities can be strengthened.
Some parents, including Shannon, said that as her younger two children approach high school, their family is considering relocating outside of the District. Her oldest child, who is now 25, went to D.C. schools through eighth grade but then transitioned to a private boarding school in Virginia.
“At the time, D.C. schools, not just Ward 5, couldn’t provide what he needed. Every school can’t cater to every child, but I try to place my kids where they’ll be most successful,” Shannon said.
A mother of two boys, Jennings made a similar decision. After her sons expressed how important athletics were to them, Jennings said she made the tough decision to move her sons to an independent school in the city that is not in Ward 5.
She said they were getting what they needed in the classroom, but after talking to them realized that is not always enough.
“It was a learning curve for me with my sons. I didn’t realize how important having [extracurricular] programs is — the other reasons why young people want to come to school. It isn’t going to always be geometry that gets them there,” Jennings said.
Alfuth believes similarly, as his daughter also expresses interests in extracurricular activities including musical theatre.
“I would hope that she’s able to continue doing that and is able to go into schools that give her the opportunity to explore her passions and interests, and exposure to not just the things she enjoys but things she hasn’t encountered yet,” Alfuth said.
Looking forward to the Nov. 3 election, Taylor said she wants a representative who listens to the diverse concerns of the community.
“I really pray that the person who takes that seat understands the culture of our city and understands the culture of the schools and why they’re significant,” Taylor said.
Myla S. Roundy is a senior reporter for HUNewsService.com covering Ward 5 and social issues. She is also the managing editor of The Hilltop at Howard University.
