A little story and a long story.

I was going to write about this guy in a blue Ford Explorer with DC Clergy tag 818 who had lots of trouble stopping at stop signs in Dupont Circle last evening, and in fact was swerving to go around cars in front of him that did stop at stop signs, but I figured that Clergy 818 obviously knew that God would never let him run over a pedestrian or be broadsided by another car, so it was OK. Anyway, stop signs are of this transient, temporal life; he answers to a higher law.

Instead I could talk about how Monday is the opening of schools here in the District of Columbia, and it's been a busy summer for my son's school, what with a new principal and fighting budget cuts and parents and teachers working weekends to paint the school and put in flooring since DCPS facilities is the most corrupt and ineptly run organization in the entire morass that is District government.

I've talked about the schools before and I'm sure they'll come up again. Many parents are anticipating Superintendent Janey's "Master Facilities Plan," which is due out in mid-September. The Post had a decent article on it in the District Weekly on Thursday. The plan will have not only modernization plans and renovation lists, but also will contain the next round of schools Janey would like to shut down. What the article doesn't tell you is that DCPS facilities are in shitty shape because decades of neglect tend to turn minor issues into major problems.

At my son's elementary school, the trim under the eaves of the roof needs to be painted. That job requires a cherry picker, two or three workers, and perhaps three days (scrape, prime, paint). However, neglect that job -- and it's being neglected -- and all of a sudden you've got rotten wood that needs to be replaced and then painted. Neglect that job, and in short order you've got water leaks that crumble plaster in interior ceilings and walls, rotten wood that needs to be replaced and painted. The jobs multiply as do the costs.

It might be useful for Democratic voters to think about what each mayoral candidate has to say about the schools before the primary on September 12 (as an independent, I can't vote in the primary -- and let's be realistic: the winner of the Democratic primary will be the next mayor). The Post also ran an article giving brief summaries of the candidates' plans for the schools if elected.

At least during campaign season, each candidate seems to be interested in elevating Janey's ties to the mayor's office (Fenty would make Janey part of the Cabinet; Cropp would make him attend Cabinet meetings; Orange would make Janey part of the Cabinet; etc.). Marie Johns, who is the only candidate I have spoken to in person, would like to see the city take over the facilities management and let the superintendent concentrate on academic issues.

Regardless, the mayor's office is only one part of the problem and one part of the solution. The School Board is another matter altogether, and their day to day oversight borders on the criminally negligent. But that's a story for another day.

Still, I love our school and it's worth the fight.