The Unacceptable Silence: Why DC Officials Will "FAFO" on DCPS Corruption

For five exhausting years, a system of corruption—pervasive and deliberately maintained—has taken a hard toll on me and few other DCPS administrators. both financially and emotionally. And the children pay the highest price.

The core charge is chillingly simple: Black principals and administrators in Wards 7 and 8 were fired for defending Black children from harmful practices and for daring to expose ethical crimes within DCPS senior leadership.

"If defending Black children in Wards 7 and 8 isn’t worthy of recognition, what is? We should be celebrated, not silenced!"

Evidence Show it Was Intentional and by Design

 Why the Principals Were Fired

The principals were not terminated for incompetence or underperformance.

They faced termination precisely because they vocally opposed the harmful program practices mandated by "Relay," a DC government contractor, and fearlessly exposed the Instructional Superintendents' admitted guilt to conflict of interest with said contractor.

Relay's program practices were not imposed on DC Public Schools in DC's affluent northwest neighborhoods. Why?

What is Relay?

Relay Graduate School of Education (Relay) promoted a no‑excuses, compliance‑first model, limited critical thinking, scripted “Strong Start” routines, rigid behavior tracking, and drill‑like transitions—that narrowed curriculum and stifled student voice, particularly in majority‑Black schools in Wards 7 and 8, segregated by the mayor to mandate Relay.

Former US Asst. Secretary of Ed. wrote: "Relay would never be acceptable to middle class parents of any race. They shouldn’t be trained like dogs. Why is this harsh treatment reserved for low income Black children?"

As of Friday, October 3, 2025: Two DCPS Senior Superintendents Admit Guilt

"Respondent violated D.C. Official Code § 1-1162.23(a), D.C. Official Code § 1-1162.24(a)(1), DPM § 1807.1(b), and DPM § 1808 when she contracted with and did business with a company that did business with her agency, influenced a principal who was her subordinate to do business with said company, failed to accurately report the amount range of payment she received from her outside activity on her Financial Disclosure Statement and used her District government tour of duty and email account for outside activity."

This isn't an isolated incident; it's a systemic rot. The widespread corruption and pervasive culture of retaliation in DCPS—evidenced by recent, blistering ethics rulings—is actively destroying our schools. And the deafening silence from the decade tenure of the Bowser administration and City Council?

That, my dear DC gentle reader, is complicity. It is time for them to experience FAFO by the voters' wrath.

The Exemplary Victim and The Damage Done

Consider the tragic case of principal Lee of Kimball Elementary. Under his leadership, Kimball achieved the highest ranking DCPS elementary school east of the river. Yet, because he and other principals dared to oppose Relay, they was terminated via extremely corrupt instructional superintendent found guilty of coercing principals to fund the contractor she had financial ties to. The devastating result? Kimball Elementary, once a beacon, is now a failing school. This is not just a statistical decline; it's a generation of children betrayed.

Long-term impact on students

• Students in Cluster II schools under the guilty superintendent endured years of turbulence tied to leadership coercion, turnover, and contested procurement priorities, undermining instructional continuity, school culture, and academic growth across multiple cohorts.

• Children lost irreplaceable instructional time under stronger, more stable leadership, with long-tail effects on literacy, numeracy, and readiness that cannot be quickly remediated and will require sustained supports to restore learning trajectories. In essence, our children have been unfairly denied a quality education, and there's no way to undo the damage.

  
  

Admission of guilty and civil rights exposure

• Potential civil rights violations are evident, specifically race discrimination under Title VI. This could manifest as disparate treatment or impact if "no-excuses" policies and Relay contracts were exclusively imposed on predominantly Black Cluster II schools, while affluent, predominantly White schools received exemptions. Additionally, possible breaches of the DC Human Rights Act's prohibition on discrimination in educational institutions are indicated. All of this is further highlighted by BEGA's findings regarding Ms. Stinson's conflicts of interest and her statement implicating senior leadership communications.

  
  

• The disposition notes she sent Relay training and pricing to “Cluster II Principals” and stated she forwarded a message from “DCPS senior leadership,” which justifies chain‑of‑command scrutiny in any civil rights investigation of selective application of “no‑excuses” practices and vendor mandates. More senior than the instructional superintendent are chief of elementary, deputy chancellor, chancellor and mayor.

  
  

The Hard Facts: An "Orgy of Corruption" Exposed

The truth, stark and undeniable, is now laid bare by multiple ethics rulings.

A. The Blistering OGE Ruling: A Pattern of Misconduct

Just six months after the first, a second Instructional Superintendent (IS) has been found guilty of numerous, severe ethics violations by the DC Office of Government Ethics (OGE). This isn't a fluke; it's a pattern. The source of this exposure? Two brave whistleblowers complaints beginning in 2019 and officially filed in 2020 by the former principal and director of strategy and logistics at Boone Elementary.

B. The Relationship: Personal Profit Over Public Duty

At the heart of this scandal lies a deeply conflicted relationship. The IS cultivated a lucrative personal arrangement with Relay Graduate School of Education—a non-profit vendor that has received millions in DC government contracts. This IS deliberately placed personal financial gain over the best interests of DC children, particularly those in Wards 7 and 8.

C. Key Allegations and Financial Crimes: The Evidence

The OGE ruling meticulously details the IS’s flagrant misconduct:

Flagrant Dual Employment & Conflict of Interest: Between 2017 and 2024, while fully employed by DCPS, the IS earned approximately $169,464.82 from Relay as an independent contractor. She actively used her official IS position to benefit Relay, including facilitating a $30,000 contract with a school under her direct supervision and using the DCPS principals’ listserv to market Relay pricing and training.

Abuse of Public Time and Resources: Not content with personal financial gain, the IS brazenly used DCPS paid time and sick leave to attend private Relay events, disguised innocuously as "Triathlon Coaching" and "Triathlon Wave 1 meetings." She also used her official DCPS email for private business communications in at least 20 documented instances.

Deliberate Misrepresentation of Financial Interests: Perhaps most damning is the deliberate effort to conceal her illicit earnings. The IS grossly underreported her Relay income on required Financial Disclosure Statements (FDS). For example, in her 2022 FDS, she reported Relay income of a mere $1,001-$15,000, while Relay's own records show actual payments of $59,824.95 that year. This isn't an oversight; it's an attempted cover-up.

The Wards 7/8 Betrayal and The Retaliation

A. The Educational Damage

The repercussions of this retaliation are catastrophic and undeniable. The ousting of exemplary, ethical leaders like Principal Lee and Principal Jackson-King directly triggered the downfall of Cluster II schools. This calculated fraud and vindictive retaliation didn't just target individuals; it inflicted profound damage upon the most defenseless population in our city: the children east of the river, whose futures hang in the balance with DCPS.

B. The Legal Backlash

The pattern of retaliation is so clear that it has spawned legal action. An ongoing wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the two former DCPS administrators from Boone Elementary, all of whom were supervised by the IS now found guilty of ethics breaches, further confirms the systemic nature of this betrayal.

The Systemic Failure: Mayor Bowser’s Accountability Void

A. The Pervasive Culture of Corruption

The emerging pattern is unmistakable: Mayor Bowser’s administration harbors a pervasive culture of corruption and retaliation. This culture doesn’t just undermine our schools; it fuels broader crime and compromises the integrity of our government because senior leadership is personally profiting from vendors at taxpayer expense.

B. The Mayor and Council’s Silence

We must ask: Why are DC elected and appointed officials silent in the face of such egregious misconduct? Why have they turned a blind eye to the destruction of our public schools? This case serves as a sober reminder that the Bowser administration is an orgy of corruption and cannot be trusted to correct such blatant and pervasive systemic issues without federal oversight.

C. The Call for External Review

Public scrutiny is mounting, including from the US House Oversight Committee. It is increasingly clear that ethical leadership must begin with the Mayor herself. A true commitment to our children and our city demands an immediate, independent external review.

Call to Action: Vote!

The time for silence is over. The time for action is now.

A. Immediate Demands to Leadership

To Mayor Bowser and the Office of the Attorney General (OAG): End this corruption and retaliation now! Launch a comprehensive investigation, prosecute all those involved in these ethical and financial crimes and make whole all the victims

To the DC City Council: Grant a public hearing immediately. Residents must be made aware of the specific measures being taken to safeguard our children, restore transparency, and rebuild trust.

B. The Political Ultimatum

To every elected official: If you are unwilling to advocate for our children, if you are unwilling to condemn and dismantle this corrupt system, you do not deserve your position. The voters will speak loud and clear at the voting polls, sending an unequivocal message to Muriel Bowser's administration, city councilmembers, and all others who have failed to act.

The residents of DC deserve better. Our children deserve better. Accountability must be swift, comprehensive, and uncompromising. This is our city, and we demand its integrity back.

Now that you know, what will you do?