Mashea Ashton

Testimony Delivered to the DC Council – November 8, 2023

Good morning,

My name is Mashea Ashton and I am the founder and CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy, a computer science-focused charter middle and high school in Washington DC.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. There is no more important issue facing our city than addressing youth violence, and I’m hopeful that this hearing – and the policy discussion it will inspire will lead to positive change.

Unfortunately, I have become all too familiar with the horrific reality of our city’s youth violence epidemic. Last year, we lost four students to gun violence in shootings off campus – Antoine Manning, Jakhi Snider, DeMarcos Pinckney, and Jaylin Osborne.

Our city is in a crisis, and it is our collective responsibility to do more to protect our young people.

In the aftermath of our tragedies, the City provided exceptional services to our school. Counselors helped many members of our community – myself included – process our anger and our grief. And this fall, many of you on this Council visited our campus, which meant a lot to our staff and families as it showed that our city leaders care. Councilmen Phil Mendelson, Kenyan R. McDuffie, Robert C. White, and Charles Allen, thank you.

While we have moved beyond the immediate grief, the pain and trauma remain. We still have siblings of the shooting victims enrolled at our school. And each week comes a new birthday or an anniversary that is impossible to ignore. I attended a vigil for a student who passed one year ago and asked the family what has changed. They still do not feel safe in their community.

At school, our team of caring educators can keep our scholars safe, engaged, and cared for. Outside of the school walls, our influence is limited. But that doesn’t mean we will stop trying. As our City leaders, you can help in this effort.

First, we need to expand after-school programs for youth. In partnership with the Washington Commanders, we launched our first football program this season, and have expanded team sports offerings for both young men and women. We need to make schools community hubs.

Second, mental health counselors are not only needed in a crisis. Public schools need the resources to make mental health services part of the fabric of their school community. This year, we have expanded counseling for young people and the adults in the building and it has made a big difference.

Third, youth in DC need to be occupied with meaningful activities over the summer. Teenagers need opportunities for meaningful work in the summer. And we need to expand Summit Youth Programs and better coordinate services across the city.

I’m an educator of 600 amazing students. Our team of educators would rather spend our time thinking about how to teach them to code, but unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury.

Thank you for the opportunity.

When our middle school students arrive at DPA, many are intrigued by the idea of computer science but not quite sure exactly what it is.

Our teachers have found a sure-fire way to make computer science immediately exciting and accessible.

Robots!

Maybe it’s our love of science fiction and our familiarity with images of futuristic worlds with super-intelligent machines. Or maybe it’s just that we’ve all seen robots and realized how cool they are.

Whether you’re in middle school or middle-aged, everyone is into robots.

Which is why this summer we launched a pilot program with iRobot to teach students the fundamentals of robotics. We are grateful to the Players Coalition and Super Bowl Champion Kyle Arrington for connecting us with this great organization! Because of the success of the summer pilot, we are now expanding it as an elective for all DPA middle school students.

The beauty of the iRobot program lies in its simplicity. Using software on Chromebooks, the robots can be programmed to use a dry-erase marker to draw on a whiteboard. Students just have to imagine the shape or image they want the robot to draw and then program it to do what they envision.

The iRobot program is tailor-made for computer science novices because it offers three layers of coding. Beginner students can simply use pictures, then they can progress to a mixture of pictures and script, and they finally learn how to use only script. Along the way, they are thinking analytically and learning the foundations of coding.

Our iRobot pilot is being led by Erin Roberts, our Dean of Social and Emotional Learning. She previously served as a humanities teacher. Inspired by her mom, a computer teacher, Ms. Roberts began incorporating digital literacy skills into her teaching to better equip scholars for the future. On her own initiative, she decided to get her tech certification.

After conversations with Erin and I, iRobot generously agreed to donate 6 robots to allow us to launch the pilot. Erin said the student engagement was immediate, and she was amazed at how quickly students made progress thanks to their curiosity and excitement.

That pilot initially served a mere 6 summer school student and will soon be serving  20-28 students in grades 6-8.

Peek into one of our robotics electives and you’ll see Ms. Roberts walking around as groups of students excitedly program their iRobots to draw triangles, hexagons, and designs as unique and creative as our students themselves.

Programs like iRobot are one of many ways we are preparing our scholars to be the next generation of innovators. If our students are going to succeed in a rapidly changing world, they are going to need both the computer skills and collaborative teamwork they learn through computer science.

I am humbled to share that I was sworn in on August 23rd to serve on Virginia’s Board of Education.

I have always believed strongly in public service and am honored to give back to the state where I reside. Ever since the news was made public, my friends, family, and colleagues have reached out with questions so I figured I’d answer them publicly in this post.

Q: Will this impact your role at DPA?

A: While I am thrilled to serve as a volunteer on the Board of Education, my priority remains my day job as Founder and CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy in Southeast DC. I remain committed as ever to the students, families, and educators at DPA.

Q: What exactly does the Virginia Board of Education do? 

A: This appointment is a great opportunity for a quick civics lesson. Most K-12 public education policies are determined at the state level, not the federal level. It’s the responsibility of the Board of Education to set policies and guidelines to ensure laws are put into place in areas such as learning standards and high school graduation requirements.

Q: What’s your vision for the State Board? 

A: As the leader of a public charter school in DC, I am intimately familiar with the challenges students are facing today, but I still have more to learn and better understand about education in Virginia. I will spend my first months listening and learning from Virginia educators and my new colleagues on the Virginia Board of Education.

I hope to serve as a voice for ensuring all students, particularly those who have been traditionally underserved, have access to rigorous curriculum and high-quality instruction. And, of course, I’ll continue to be a cheerleader for the power and importance of all middle and high school students having access to computer science to prepare them for success in the modern economy.

I’m excited to get to know my fellow Board members and get to work serving the students of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The mark of a great educator is the ability to make each student feel cared for and loved. All children have beauty and worth, but for too many young people, adolescence is a period of insecurity and self-doubt. For students of color living in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty like Southeast DC, those feelings are heightened and the need to feel appreciated and valued is even more important.

By this standard, the Washington Commanders demonstrated they are an organization that cares about the well-being of DC’s young people. At a season practice, on an unbearably hot and humid day on August 14th, they made two dozen DPA varsity football teammates feel like they were VIPs.

In 2018, Digital Pioneers Academy (DPA), a tuition-free public charter school, was founded to teach DC middle and high school students coding, computer science, and problem-solving skills. We also believe students learn valuable skills of teamwork and persistence through sports. That is why we are launching a football team this fall. Commanders’ head coach Ron Rivera came out to mid-field to personally greet our DPA athletic director Robert Harris. He was joined by Commanders’ President Jason Wright. It was Jason’s vision that has made the Commanders’ support for DPA a reality-including a $75,000 grant to launch our inaugural DPA football program this fall.

From the moment we walked off the bus, we were greeted not as simple fans or visitors but as special guests. We were escorted past the normal spectator section and directly to a tented area with a perfect view of the field and refuge from the sun. Some young fans actually asked our players for autographs because they looked so awesome in their uniforms that the kids assumed they were professional players.

It wasn’t the practice that was so special but what came next. After a grueling practice in the heat, we expected the players to maybe sign a few autographs for the eager fans in the bleachers and then hit the showers. Instead, many of the players came right to our area.

And they didn’t just sign autographs. They spoke to our players. They connected with them on a personal and profound level, sharing wisdom and offering advice on how to persevere through hardships.

And when some of our brash students – Khamel Williams – started playfully boasting that they could keep up with Washington Commanders’ cornerback Darrick Forrest one-on-one, he accepted the young man’s challenge. Forrest had already visited our DPA campus this past June when the Commanders announced their donation to the DPA football team. Needless to say, Khamel Williams had trouble matching Forrest’s NFL speed, but he was all smiles in his inevitable defeat.

It was a day our DPA students and coaches will never forget. Our football players were so bursting with pride that they all looked like they stood four inches taller.

I’m hopeful that this level of energy and excitement carries over into the start of the school year. To Saddiq Charles, Kamren Curl, Darrick Forrest, Jarret Patterson, Ron Rivera, Jason Wright, and the Commanders’ organization, thank you for making our young people feel so respected. To our DPA players, I can’t wait to see you have success on the field and in the classroom this year.

Dear Digital Pioneers Academy Community,

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the death of Jaylin Osborne, a member of our 8th grade. Jaylin was a bright student and dedicated friend and big brother. He was a hard working and curious scholar who was seen as a leader among his classmates. He had hoped to join the DPA football team in the fall. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. I cannot imagine what they are going through right now.

We are making grief counselors available tomorrow, June 29th, at our 12th Street campus at 709 12th Street SE from 11:00am – 2:00pm. We will have virtual counseling options available as requested. Please talk to someone if you need help processing this tragic loss.

Once again, we are forced as a DPA community to grapple with the horrific reality of our city’s youth violence epidemic. This year alone, we have lost four students to gun violence off campus and outside of our supervision. This reality must change.
There is nothing more important to me than your child’s safety. At school, our team of caring educators can keep our scholars safe, engaged and cared for. Outside of the school walls, our influence is limited. As parents, I know you feel the same. Right now, the city is not safe, and violence usually increases in the summer when young people are out unsupervised.

That’s why I’m making the recommendation that you keep your children indoors in the evening and in supervised activities during the day.

I’m an educator, not an activist, but it’s clear that right now the city is in crisis, and we must do more to protect our young people. In the days and weeks ahead, I will be meeting with city officials and civic leaders to demand more is done to improve public safety in our neighborhoods.

My deepest condolences to the Osborne family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and please pray for a safer city for our young people.

Sincerely,
Mashea M. Ashton