DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has selected Antwan Wilson to succeed Kaya Henderson as Chancellor of DC Public Schools. This comes at a time of important changes on the DC Council and on the national stage as well.
Read the Mayor’s announcement, with Mr. Wilson’s professional background, here.
On December 8, 2016, Globalize DC presented testimony at the DC Council Education Committee Roundtable on Mr. Wilson’s nomination for the DCPS Chancellor position. We argued that with the transition to a new Chancellor, we need to be vigilant that the recent progress made by DCPS in the area of global education and language learning not be reversed. In the past, changes in leadership in DCPS have often been marked by setbacks for this work, in light of so many other competing demands.
You can read our testimony here: Schwartz-Testimony.12.8.2016-Antwan-Wilson
In addition to this change in leadership at DC Public Schools, the DC Council has three new members – Vincent Gray (Ward 7), Trayon White (Ward 8), and Robert White (At-Large).
And three new representatives were elected to the DC State Board of Education – Lannette Woodruff (Ward 4), Markus Batchelor (Ward 8), and Ashley Carter (At-Large).
These changes in leadership across city government offer new opportunities, especially for our mission to advance global learning east of the river. We look forward to working with Mr. Wilson, along with these newly elected public officials, to press the case for the importance of global education and world languages for our city’s K-12 students. Particularly with so many questions about the direction federal education policy will take in the coming years, we believe it is extremely important to work locally to ensure that global education and world language education front-and-center and relevant moving forward.
If you are a partner, educator, or other community member who is particularly interested in working with us in our advocacy and outreach efforts to our city and schools leadership, please send a note to sally@globalizedc.org.