LOCAL NEWS

12
T U E S DAY, M AY 2 4 , 2 0 1 1

EDUCATION
Metro train runs stop signal
Schools screen film critical of testing after special safety session
By Lisa Gartner
Examiner Staff Writer
Parents at Robinson Secondary
School in Fairfax received an email
on the first day of state standard-
ized testing urging them to see an
“important film about high-stakes
testing and the toll it takes on stu-
dents, parents and teachers.”
●
The email’s sender? Robinson
Secondary School.
“Isn’t that coincidental?” said
Suzanne Tsacoumis, president of
the school’s Parent Teacher Student
Association, which is sponsoring a
screening of critically acclaimed
documentary “Race to Nowhere”
at Robinson on June 6.
“I’d love to say we did that inten-
tionally,” said Tsacoumis of the
overlap with Virginia’s Standards
of Learning exams, adding that she
“hope[s] the screening will encour-
●
age people to pause to think about
the pressures we put on our stu-
T H E WA S H I N G T O N E X A M I N E R
AP FILE
At least a dozen D.C.-area schools have
screened the film “Race to Nowhere,”
which spotlights the effects of testing
and homework on students’ stress levels.
stress levels.
In the past six months, the film
has been screened more than 2,000
times in 48 states and 17 countries,
“most often sponsored by PTAs or
education associations with local
schools,” a spokeswoman for pro-
ducer Reel Link Films said.
that,” he said. “We certainly think we
ought to evaluate students on things
other than tests. Tests is one thing,
but shouldn’t be the only thing.”
Laurie Levy-Page, a member of
the “Stressbusters Committee”
at Walt Whitman High School in
Bethesda, said her band of par-
ent volunteers decided to screen
“Race to Nowhere” last fall at the
suggestion of Whitman’s guidance
counselors.
“I think people were very much
in agreement with the thesis of the
film, that we’re pushing our kids too
hard, and for what?” Levy-Page said.
“... It gave people a lot to talk about.
People didn’t leave thinking, ‘That
was a pleasant evening!’ ”
The Alexandria PTA Council
organized a screening at the urg-
ing of Superintendent Morton
Sherman, who “doesn’t shy away
from the controversial” and met a
packed audience with fierce con-
cerns, Council President Karen
By Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
The day after Metro ordered
special safety meetings because
its vehicles were running red lights
on its tracks, another incident
occurred, The Washington Examiner
has learned.
A train at the Shady Grove rail
yard ran through a red light at 5:30
a.m. Friday, Metro confirmed. The
train had no passengers aboard it
and no other trains were in the area,
but it was the third red-light viola-
tion within two weeks.
On Thursday, the transit agency
ordered a “safety stand-down,”
meaning all train operators and
supervisors had to come together
to review the rules and procedures
to stop more red-light running.
“The efforts in the rail yards con-
tinue,” Metro spokesman Steven
Taubenkibel said.
It’s not clear how often such vio-
lations occur, but Benton said the
recent red-light signal violations
were the first Metro has told the
safety oversight group about since
he joined the TOC in July.
The severity of a red-signal viola-
tion depends on how far the train
goes past the signal, said TOC
member Eric Madison, and what
else is nearby. He compared it with
running a red light at a busy inter-
section during rush hour or doing
the same thing on a rural road.
No one was hurt in the three inci-
dents and all occurred in rail yards,
not on main tracks.
But Metro has had trouble with
such events. In February 2010, a
train operator ran a red signal out-
side the Farragut North station. The
train automatically derailed to save
it from going into incoming traffic,
stranding some 300 passengers
in the tunnel and injuring three of

dents. We want everyone to do the
best they can, but sometimes we go a
little over the top. It’s a fine balance.”
Robinson is the latest of at least
a dozen schools in the Washington
area to show the documentary,
which highlights the impact of
homework and tests on students’
Fairfax County Public Schools
spokesman Paul Regnier reiterated
that the sponsoring parent organi-
zations are independent from the
school system.
The film’s creators “seem to think
high-stakes testing is a bad idea — I
don’t know that we have a position on
McManis said.
“Parents were saying, ‘My kids
are at school until 9:30 at night,
they’re in drama club, they’re in
show choir,’ ” McManis said.
“But,” she reasoned, “there’s not
a perfect fix. Life is life.”
lgartner@washingtonexaminer.com
Metro’s independent safety over-
sight group, the Tri-State Oversight
Committee, said it had been notified
of the safety violations. It plans to
discuss them with Metro officials
Tuesday in a meeting that already
had been scheduled, TOC Vice
Chairman James Benton said.
them.
Still, Benton said Metro officials
are taking safety incidents more
seriously now.
“They’re taking this without
brushing anything under the rug,”
Benton said.
kweir@washingtonexaminer.com

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