Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Mother knows best Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 14:51:51 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Mother knows best \SH Reform tops Mohammed's agenda \BY Darryl Lynette Figueroa \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Even in a field of 10 candidates running for two at-large seats on the D.C. Board of Education, you couldn't miss Valencia Mohammed. A no-nonsense mother of six children in the public schools and a longtime activist, she stood out at community forum after community forum. On the subject of safety and security, for example, only Mrs. Mohammed called for more female security guards to prevent girls from bringing in weapons hidden in bras. Even when newly installed metal detectors go off, there are often no female guards at schools to check the girls. She has also become a familiar face at school hearings before the D.C. Council, at citywide parent conferences and at the four public schools her children attend. She's been an outspoken critic of the system, often writing about it, speaking to reporters about it and certainly letting board members know what she thinks about it. Founder of the citywide African history group Operation Know Thyself, Mrs. Mohammed, 41, has also had a reputation for militancy. Part of it came from her past demands for an Afrocentric curriculum and her headful of dreadlocks, school sources say. "Valencia has moved from more strident tones to more conciliatory tones," a board member said. "It worked." The aid of well-known figures - including the Rev. Willie Wilson and, at the end of the campaign, Marion Barry - helped her capture 15 percent of the vote, only 4 percent less than Karen Shook, an incumbent who retained the other at-large seat. Her reform program includes making the board more responsive to the community, abolishing useless political positions and funneling the savings into bare classrooms and new textbooks, and galvanizing community resources and alienated parents. "I am still going to represent the consumers of the services of the school system," Mrs. Mohammed said, "but this time in an official capacity." No one expects her to be a part of the status quo once she joins the 11-member school board in December. "I think Valencia will insist on accountability," said Jim Ford, staff director of the D.C. Council's Education and Libraries Committee. "Sure I know Valencia," Mrs. Shook said. "She ran a recall effort against me." "She was the first person that came to me to talk about Afrocentric education," said Board of Education President R. David Hall. "I was chair of the Finance Committee at the time and we did appropriate money. So that's one thing on which she's already had an impact." Superintendent Franklin Smith said he expects to be able to work well with her. "The key is going to be if all members can come together and work in harmony," he said. Mrs. Mohammed was born in Texas and was raised in Tennessee. She came here in 1983 when she was pregnant with her fourth child to get away from a divorce she went through in Chicago. She is now married to Wakili, 48, a construction manager for a small firm who was part of her core campaign team. The first time she ran, in 1990, she finished third in a campaign she says was no different from this one - with the exception of having dropped Afrocentric education from it. This time around, she spoke about all children seeing themselves reflected in what they're taught. "I had to make it more appealing to the community at large," she said. After her previous loss, she stopped working from the sidelines and joined a number of education groups, including a mayoral planning committee for the Education Summit held earlier this year and the superintendent's District Wide Governance Committee. Mrs. Mohammed began to show her "more motherly side," she said. But although she has toned down her persona, her beliefs are solid. School choice, a concept favored by Mr. Smith and being debated nationwide, will not work because schools aren't equal, she says. She also said parents should have been consulted before the plan to make condoms available in schools was announced. There must be a constant flow of information from the home to school and through the community, she said. "I still have a lot of footwork to do," she said. There are more schools to visit, more parents to talk to and organize, more teachers in the trenches to listen to and more citywide parent conferences to attend before she joins the board, she said. She will work full time on the so-called part-time board job. She must also prepare for her first challenge on the board, one that will come immediately upon taking office - devising a 1994 budget. She said she is studying up on the school and D.C. budgets and will speak with city budget analysts. Besides that, her approach is simple. "Any money allocated to a particular program, I will look to see if it's been evaluated and I will go myself or send my researchers into the field to see if what's on paper is actually there," she said. "It was a hard race," she said. "Now that it's all over, I'm ready to serve." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM