DC Met Spring 2014

Location: 
300 Bryant St. NW

Do students who arrive late to school not care about their education?

Our fall students at D.C. Met launched a campaign to change the school’s attendance policy. The policy stated that students who arrived late to their 1st period class would be marked absent for the entire school day. Students documented their journeys to school beginning in Southeast D.C. and ending at the school in Northwest. Many of these commutes took an hour or more. The students surveyed more than 60 members of the student body and met with their principal to discuss changes to the policy.

Students in our spring class at D.C. Met are beginning a campaign to improve the school’s inadequate facilities and document how inadequate transportation funding prevents students from attending school. The students have documented both issues and, thanks to community support in the form of emails and postcards, Chief of Schools John Davis agreed to meet with the students to discuss their demands.

The mainstream narrative tells us that youth – especially low-income youth of color – choose to drop out of school and are disinterested in education. In reality, the students at D.C. Met have demonstrated tremendous commitment to education. In the face of obstacles, both in their communities and once they arrive at school, our students have developed into a community of committed learners who are dedicated to making D.C. Met an empowering learning environment.

See their photos here.