Maybe the DC Public School "system" should just be shut down

Not because I don't believe in public education, or that the system can be fixed. I believe in public education and I believe that the system can be fixed (although probably not by the people charged with the fixing right now).

One of the things I suggested early on was a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools (a chaotic system, most of which don't do "better" than traditional schools, but because parents have more access to the school, and they "choose" the school, they feel a greater sense of empowerment and efficacy when it comes to charter schools versus public schools, which, face it, for the most part have been immune and disconnected from parents and the community for awhile) to provide some base level of stability as the traditional system works to improve.

But proposals for and the creation of new charter schools is surging.

It could be that the traditional school system moves to a point comparable to a fibrillating heart, and it can't be fixed, so long as new schools keep opening and the system keeps hemorraging students, teachers, and funding.

See "12 organizations seek approval for new charter schools" from the Examiner. While not all applicants are likely to be approved, they are seeking authority to open 18 new schools (although 7 are rebadging Catholic elementary schools into publicly funded charter schools). Meanwhile the city plans to close 23 schools, and that probably wasn't even taking into account the enrollment impact of even more schools.