October 2026

We are excited to see all LEA Leaders virtually at our first LEA leaders meeting of SY26-27 on October 13th at 1pm. Invites should be on calendars. During this meeting, we will provide updates on federal and local legislation, advocacy, and school support topics. In addition to our LEA Leaders meeting, there are several opportunities for school leaders and their teams to engage with the DC Alliance in October:

• Our SBAC Interim Assessment Series continues with sessions 2 (Oct 1), 3 (Oct 15)  and 4 (Oct 29). More details here. POC: Noah Dougherty

• The New Instructional Leaders Cohort kicks off on October 6. We look forward to working with 40 school leaders across 22 LEAs who directly manage classroom-based staff on people management, instructional coaching, project management, and emotional intelligence.  POC: Noah Dougherty

• The first Expert Site Visit of SY26-27 is on October 8 focused on Restorative Practices and Shared Values. More details and Registration here. POC: Noah Dougherty and Michele McKenzie

• The first session of our three-part AI & Fundraising Series is on October 16 focused on AI for Grants: Prospecting, Narratives & Proposal Development.  Details here. POC: Rachel Johnston

• We continue our role-specific meetings (ie: Communicators, Data Leaders, Finance Leaders, Safety Leaders). Details and POCs here. 

Additionally, our advocacy team is now in the midst of fall hearing season. The Fall 2026 Advocacy Resource Hub has been refreshed to help you prepare for the year ahead. We have two hearings in October:

• October 9, 2026: Oversight Hearing on Technology in Schools. Sign up to testify here. Talking points here. 

• October 21, 2026: Oversight Hearing on CTE, ATCs and Vocational Education. Sign up to testify here. Talking points forthcoming via email

If you are interested in scheduling a 45-minute Advocacy 010 or a 90-minute 101 workshop for your community or staff to help them prepare to testify, reach out to Andy Renard to schedule a training session.

It is also critical that our school communities complete Mayoral Nominee Janeese Lewis George's People’s Survey. This is one of our first big opportunities to insist that charter school priorities are considered by Mayoral Nominee Lewis George and her team as they begin planning for the new administration.  Check out our Quick Guide to the People's Survey.

And lastly, check out the new or recently updated resources in the Member Portal:

• Model Technology Policy and Screentime Policy (under the Operations content area): As the role of technology in classrooms continues to shift, we developed draft language for LEAs that address safety and security concerns, as well as capture best practices. 

• Cross-Agency Compliance Calendar (under the Operations content area): We update this resource each month to help you stay on top of deadlines and tasks due to the PCSB and OSSE. We know Fall is a particularly busy time for compliance deadlines and are re-elevating this resource. 

• Resources List for Immigration Support (under the Student Support content area): This document has been updated with additional resources to support families subject to TPS status changes.