Dear Neighbor,
This month, I am highlighting a few projects and priorities that are important to the District in my newsletter. As I have shared, my team and I are spending time this summer ensuring policy initiatives we advanced throughout this past year are implemented as planned, conducting oversight of our District agencies and programs, and meeting with residents across the city to hear ideas about how we can best serve you.
This week, I am sharing about preparations for the school year and exciting literacy investments we made in the budget this year to improve reading and writing outcomes for our DC students!
School Readiness
As schools and educators prepare for students to begin classes next week, my team and I have met and coordinated with school principals and facilities teams to make sure our faculty, facilities, students, and families have what they need to hit the ground running for School Year 2024-2025. I am especially excited that School Without Walls-Francis Stevens will be open this school year! The modernization project required continued budget advocacy and coordination with DCPS to ensure community input throughout the design and construction process.
Thank you to the teachers, staff, and agencies for their partnership to address facilities issues and to create a safe, engaging environment for our students this school year!
For a comprehensive list of back-to-school resources, out-of-school programming, and supports, check out backtoschool.dc.gov.
Literacy Investments for our Educators and Students
Reading and writing are foundational skills for our kids to ensure they get an excellent education and have the tools they need to thrive as adults in the workforce and in life. Following the deep impact of the pandemic on learning loss for our kids, I knew that we needed a robust solution to address the declining and concerning literacy outcomes for too many of our DC students.
I met with countless students and educators who shared with me the difficulties they experienced learning to read or effectively teaching reading itself.
That’s why in 2022, I created and funded an Early Literacy Education Task Force (Task Force) to develop DC-specific recommendations to ensure our educators have the resources and training they need to teach our students how to read. In a shift toward literacy instruction rooted in the science of reading – strategies that focus on vocabulary and the relationship between letters and the sounds they make – the Task Force provided four major recommendations last fall, including:
- Mandating competency and instruction for all elementary school teachers, reading specialists, special education teachers, and English learner teachers;
- Mandating training for school-based administrators responsible for evaluating teacher competency in literacy instruction;
- Providing literacy coaching and on-the-job supports for elementary school educators; and
- Providing high quality instructional materials.
Through focused advocacy and collaboration with my colleagues, I successfully secured $5.5 million to begin the implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations. As a result of these critical budget investments:
- Our schools will be required to adopt a science-based literacy program for this School Year (SY) 2024-25;
- The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has released high quality instructional materials to support our teachers and parents;
- OSSE will begin a coaching pilot program for our kindergarten teachers at select schools by 2026; and
- All kindergarten teachers will be required to participate in structured literacy training by the start of SY26-27.
In coming years, I will continue to fight for additional funding to implement all of the Task Force recommendations, including to provide the mandated training for all recommended educators. With these investments, I am hopeful that our students will soon experience needed improvements in reading and writing outcomes, skills that strengthen our entire DC community.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to OSSE, DCPS, and all our charter schools for their partnership to champion improved literacy outcomes for our young scholars. I also want to thank my colleague Ward 2 State Board of Education Representative Allister Chang for his partnership and focus on expanding structured literacy training in DC - he has been a vital partner in this work and continuous champion for literacy across the District.
Lastly, I am deeply troubled by the federal bribery allegations that have been leveled against Councilmember Trayon White related to our violence intervention programs. These allegations undermine confidence in impartial and fair contracting and good governance in DC, and I will be holding rigorous hearings this fall to evaluate the potential reach of these allegations and ensure the efficacy of, and restore public trust in, our violence intervention efforts. You may read my full statement here.
Make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter to receive it in your inbox each week this month!
Yours in Service,
Brooke
- Washington Post: Tech problems have hit D.C.’s 911 center eight times this year. “'The standard for our emergency response must be 100% accuracy,' said council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), who chairs the committee on public safety. 'The public deserves better.’”
- DC News Now: DC councilmembers react to Trayon White’s arrest. “'Integrity is not something that we can take for granted; it must be affirmatively maintained each and every day. I am deeply troubled by the federal allegations leveled against Councilmember White that undermine the public’s and my confidence in the provision of impartial and fair public contracting and good governance in the District.’”
- Watch: FOX5: Questions grow about DC councilman Trayon White's residency, other financial reporting following arrest. “In a statement Tuesday, Public Safety Committee Chair Brooke Pinto says she wants answers. 'I will be holding rigorous public hearings this fall to evaluate the potential reach of these allegations and ensure the efficacy of, and restore public trust in, our violence intervention efforts,' Pinto said.
- Watch: WUSA9: Nonprofit linked to Councilmember Trayon White's bribery case still operates in DC, employee says. "’I am particularly concerned by the connection between this alleged impropriety and the provision of government services and contracts for our violence intervention programs,' Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto said in a statement.”
- Washington Post: D.C. Council to investigate White amid bribery allegations, consider expulsion. “The last time a sitting D.C. Council member faced a serious ethics scandal started in 2018, when multiple investigations, including one led by an outside law firm hired by the council, found that Evans acted unethically by using his office to assist private consulting clients... Ultimately Evans, despite his resignation, still ran in the Ward 2 Democratic primary in spring 2020, but lost decisively to Brooke Pinto (D).”
- GW Hatchet: Aston unhoused shelter to open by early October, District officials say. “Ward 2 D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto thanked Community Advisory Team members, community partners and Friendship Place for their work developing a Good Neighbor Agreement for The Aston, which outlines shared responsibilities of tenants and neighbors. She said The Aston’s opening will mark the first time D.C. has implemented 'bridge housing' — a short-term shelter program — and can serve as a model for the city going forward.”