LISTEN TO MALACHI & MIRANDA WOODS
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From left to right: Miranda, grade 8, Malachi, grade 7, and their mom, Sherry Woods, standing in front of Hardy Middle School. (9/15/10)
While there has been a great deal of discussion in the media surrounding school reform, rarely are the voices of those at the target end of those reforms heard from. Hardy Middle School students Malachi and Miranda Woods are determined to change that. This brother-sister team attempted a sit-in strike to protest the changes they have endured at their school, including the removal of their principal, the popular Patrick Pope.
The Hardy students’ attempted sit-in strike occurred the day after the Democratic primary election which saw D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray defeat Mayor Adrian Fenty. One of the central issues in that election was Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s school reform. District voters took the opportunity to weigh in on the matter by voting Fenty and Rhee out of office.
Presumptive Mayor-elect Gray just completed a series town halls throughout the city. At the Ward 5 Town Hall, in front of nearly 1,000 people, Miranda spoke. The Washington Post noted, “The biggest crowd response of the night came after a 13-year-old Hardy Middle School student lamented the removal of principal Patrick Pope. She rattled off several problems at the school, centered mostly around class scheduling.”
At the end of last school year, Rhee “promoted” Pope to a school that doesn’t exist, replacing him with Dana Nerenberg. Malachi said of Nerenberg, “She is operating two schools now, including Hardy. She was operating just Hyde-Addison, but now she is operating Hyde-Addison and Hardy.” So while the acclaimed Pope is not heading up a single school, the far less accomplished Nerenberg is principal of two schools.
Miranda said, “Right now there might be other schools going through similar things or other students that feel the same as we do, they just feel like there has been an injustice to them. I just want to say [to them], ‘Just keep holding on. Protest in a peaceful manner. Get the word out about what’s going on in your school. If a lot of people do this, then it can put a big impact on the city. There is strength in numbers. If you continue [to organize]… then you can be heard and things can change.'”