Schools to lack books, repairs as classes resume

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D.C. public schools will likely open without textbooks and still need repairs when students return for classes in a few weeks, said members of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration, which recently took control of the troubled school system.

"We've been working specifically to make sure students have what they need to be successful, ensure teachers get prepared, hire and orient our interim principals and tighten operations in our central office," D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said at a press conference yesterday. "There are some challenges that we've incurred encountered in doing this."

Miss Rhee, who was confirmed by the D.C. Council this month, said a task force will be resolving a mix-up in which about half of the city's schools did not get textbooks or got the wrong books.

The problem was discovered last week and probably will not be fixed before the start of school on Aug. 27, said Miss Rhee, adding that the extent of the mistakes will be known within a week.

Getting textbooks on time has historically been a problem in the District, one which Miss Rhee's predecessor, Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, tried to prevent by installing a $3 million automated validation system.

Additionally, Miss Rhee has issued a hiring freeze in the school system's central office while the office is "streamlined." Miss Rhee cited the need to outline job responsibilities after several employees could not tell her their job descriptions.

"The vast majority of answers I got was 'I do whatever Mr. So-and-so tells me to do,' " Miss Rhee said. "There's not a clear sense of the individual personal responsibilities for ensuring specific outcomes."

Meanwhile, the new director of the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, Allen Y. Lew, continues to deal with repair projects at about 70 of the city's roughly 140 schools.

Mr. Lew, who was also confirmed this month, said perhaps half or more of the city's classrooms still need air conditioning and many will not have it by the start of school.

He said the school inspections also revealed that the severe backlog of work orders had many incomplete or inaccurate requests.

Mr. Lew told council members earlier this month that repairs scheduled to be complete by the end of summer would not be done.

"We came to a very early conclusion that the blitz program and the targeted repair program had to be expanded if we were going to do a complete job," he said. "We're looking at this in a very holistic way, and we're addressing those problems."

The council approved adding $2.5 million to the $23 million set aside for the summer blitz repair program that comprises 37 schools, according to the mayor's office. Contracts for "targeted repairs" on 33 schools were expanded from $16 million to $25 million.

Three contracts under the blitz program and seven under the targeted-repairs program that each exceed $1 million must be approved by the council when it returns from recess in September.

This is not the first time the school system has opened with problems.

In 2004, students at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast were sent home on the first day of school because class schedules were not available. The principal and two others were fired.

In 2000, 50 schools undergoing renovations were not finished on time and had to be repaired during the school year.

Miss Rhee's task force is also charged with ensuring new teachers — 290 so far — are paid on time. Previously, the school system has taken as many as 23 business days to get teachers on payroll and about 20 percent were not paid on time, according to the mayor's office.

Mr. Fenty, a Democrat who in June gained control of the 55,000-student school system, said the school system is making progress, despite the obstacles.

"This could very well be a situation where despite the fact that there's still a problem progress has been made," he said. "What we've always wanted to do is give an honest opinion about exactly what the problem is and that's what we're doing here."