Blowing the whistle on DC schools
When Relay Graduate School of Education was brought in by D.C. Public Schools to do staff training, administrators Carolyn Jackson-King and Marlon Ray blew the whistle on the disciplinary methods they mandated. The two lost their jobs, in what they claim was retribution for speaking out. They sued the district; now that lawsuit is finally moving forward.
Working to improve schools
Carolyn Jackson-King spent almost two decades working in the District of Columbia Public School system, including seven years as principal of Lawrence E. Boone Elementary School.
Jackson-King started there is 2014, inheriting a school that was chaotic, with fighting, low morale, and weak academics. Jackson-King started there when the school was still named Orr Elementary, after Benjamin Orr, D.C.’s fourth mayor. When a student in the predominantly Black school discovered that Orr had been a slave owner, Jackson-King worked with the school community to have the name changed to honor the school’s first Black principal.
Jackson-King was respected in that community (they reportedly called her Dr. J-K or Principal JK). She told WAMU, “In order to have a culture like the one we have at Boone, we have to build relationships and that’s what we do best.” Boone’s rating went from 1 star to 3 star. Jackson-King appeared to be a successful, well-respected principal who had lifted up a struggling school in an underserved community. Then Relay Graduate School of Education came to town.
What is Relay GSE?
Relay Graduate School of Education was launched in 2007 as Teacher U. It was set up by three founders of charter school chains as a way to beef up the teacher pipeline for their schools. The founders had little formal teacher training of their own. In 2011 they changed the name to better reflect their expansive new plans, expanding Relay’s operations across the country.
Relay is not a graduate school in any traditional sense of the word. As Lauren Anderson, chair of the Education Department at Connecticut College, once put it:
It is a charter-style network of independent teacher preparation programs created by the leaders of three prominent charter school chains (Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First), primarily as a means to bypass traditional teacher education.
Education historian Diane Ravitch wrote of Relay:
It has no scholars, no researchers, no faculty other than charter teachers. It is a trade school for teaching tricks of test-taking and how to control black and brown children and teach them to obey orders without questioning.
The state of Pennsylvania actually rejected Relay’s bid to locate a Masters of Arts in Teaching program in the state, finding that the organization lacked people with the background or expertise to operate such a program. But this parallel system of training teachers is well-funded and well-connected. And in 2017, they came to D.C.
Relay trains DCPS educators
Some educators were alarmed by what the training included. In interviews with NPR, teachers listed requirements such as
- Students must pick up their pens within three seconds of starting a writing assignment.
- Students must walk silently, in a straight line, hands behind their backs, when they are outside the classroom.
- Teachers must stand still, speak in a "formal register" and square their shoulders toward students when they give directions.
From the description, it appears that Relay was training DCPS personnel to follow a No Excuses model for student behavior (though they denied ever requiring the model these teachers described). It’s a controversial model that uses tight controls on student behavior. It’s also a model that several charter chains have since renounced. KIPP and Achievement First both stepped away from the No Excuses model that had long been associated with their schools. The Noble charter chain not only dropped the model, but sent an apology email to alumni, calling the practices “assimilationist, patriarchal, white supremacist and anti-black.”
But those actions came in 2021, after Jackson-King had spoken up.
Jackson-King calls out Relay
20 DCPS schools were directed to attend the Relay training, most of them from Wards 7 and 8, where students were mostly from low-income Black families. And that included Boone.
Jackson-King found some of the training useful, but she bristled at an approach to students that she found too controlling, too “militaristic and racist.”.
Kids have to sit a certain way, they have to look a certain way. They cannot be who they are. Those are all the ways they teach you in prison — you have to walk in a straight line, hands behind your back, eyes forward.
The methods pushed in the training, she said, “attempted to control Black bodies.”
For the 2019-2020 school year, Jackson-King received a 2.75 out of 4 score on her evaluation, her lowest since DC started its IMPACT evaluation system. On February 27, 2020, Jackson-King was informed by DCPS that because of that low rating, she would not be rehired the next year.
The pushback
The community was upset. Two members of D.C. Council got involved. One of the community members involved in peaceful protests against the firing was Marlon Ray, employed by DCPS for almost twenty years. At the time he was director of strategy and logistics at Boone.
“Principal Jackson-King was appalled at the things she saw — our Black children being militarized and racist practices being forced upon them,” said Ray, Boone’s director of strategy and logistics. He described watching instructional videos showing teachers cajoling students into a straight line and elicit responses devoid of emotion.
According to the complaint, Ray had filed previous whistleblower complaints, including one involving overpayment of Relay. Jackson-King’s replacement reprimanded Ray for participating in a protest and required Ray to be the only school employee to work five full days a week in person during the height of COVID concerns. In June of 2021, Ray’s position was terminated. He was told the cause was budget cuts, but two months later, according to the complaint, his former job was posted by DCPS.
The lawsuit
In February of 2022, Jackson-King and Ray filed suit against DCPS and the District of Columbia, seeking reinstatement to their jobs along with benefits and back pay. They are challenging “Defendants’ retaliation against them in violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act and the D. C. Human Rights Act.”
Their argument is not that complicated: They stood up for the students against a program they saw as abusive and racist (a point on which many authorities agree, including charter schools that had previously implemented the model), and the district retaliated by taking their jobs.
Last fall, the court denied the government’s motion to dismiss the claims for whistleblower protection, finding, according to the plaintiff’s lawyers, that they had made sufficient allegations about protected disclosures and about the adverse retaliatory effect the disclosures had on them. The judge also dismissed the school district as a separate defendant; in DC, the school district operates as an arm of the District government. The suit will continue with the District of Columbia as the sole defendant.
There are still plenty of lawyerly things to do, but the case is now on a path toward a trial. The wheels of justice grinding as they do, it may be a while yet before Jackson-King and Ray see some justice, but at least the wheels are moving.
Update: Response from Relay
Relay GSE did not respond to a request for comment before this piece was posted. They have since sent extensive comments, the highlights of which are now attached here.
On the issue of the disciplinary system at the heart of the suit, Relay says:
Relay has a demonstrated commitment to educational equity for Black and Brown students and to culturally responsive teaching, which prioritizes the whole student – including their social and emotional well being, identity, and empowerment.
They point to statistics and quotes indicating that many participants in their training are satisfied with Relay’s work (”I appreciate the focus on cultural relevance that was discussed today”) and add
To be direct, Relay does not prescribe disciplinary methods. We encourage leaders to set a vision for how they want to build a strong, inclusive environment that reflects their unique communities, and then Relay coaches the leaders based on the plans they create.
In response to other statements made or quoted about Relay GSE:
Though in interviews at the time, the oft-repeated founding story was that the three founders, tired of competing with each other for teachers, decided to grow the available pool, Relay asserts that the “founding vision” was to prepare teachers for both traditional public and charter schools, a vision reflected in their original provisional charter.
In response to their characterization as “not a graduate school in any traditional sense,” Relay notes that they are “recognized as an institution of higher education by many experts in the field,” and fully accredited by the Middle States Commission and The Council for the Accreditation of Education Preparation.
In response to Lauren Anderson’s comment that they exist as a means to bypass traditional teacher education, Relay points out that they partner with public schools, districts, charter systems, and state departments of education.
In response to Diane Ravitch’s observation that Relay has no scholars, no researchers, no faculty other than charter teachers, Relay argues that they have “over 200 faculty, many of whom have experience in traditional public schools (We do not keep track of the exact number).” Also, they note “we certainly value doctorate degrees and welcome faculty with them.” They point to a research team, though that teams focus appears to be on the impact of their own programs. They object strongly to the rest of Ravitch’s characterization of their work.
