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Heal Thyself On Monday, the D.C. Board of Education met for the first time since Ward 7 Councilmember Kevin Chavous—who chairs the council’s education committee—introduced a bill that would shrink the board and require ward representatives to get citywide approval. The meeting was supposed to generate suggestions for improving the board’s operation, but representatives spent much of the time griping about Chavous’ scheme. They pointed out that Chavous had borrowed many ideas from a report issued by the D.C. Appleseed Center, which offered similar plans for streamlining the D.C. Council in a report issued earlier this year. “The city council said, ‘Thank you, but no thank you,’” said Ward 6 representative Benjamin Bonham. “Mr. Chavous is elected, too,” noted Ward 5 representative Angie Corley. “If you’re going to do this, Mr. Chavous, do you want us to look at the city council?” Unfortunately for Corley, the board isn’t empowered to reduce the number of D.C. Councilmembers—or even to gag the member from Ward 7.

Reporting by Laura Lang, Dave McKenna, Michael Schaffer, Elissa Silverman, and Virginia Vitzthum.

#Please send your City Desk tips to Elissa Silverman at esilverman@washcp.com or call 332-2100 and ask for my voice mail.