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This website is dedicated to the reinstatement of Dr. Art Siebens to his teaching position at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C. Dr. Siebens has been teaching Botany, Anatomy & Physiology and Advanced Placement Biology at Wilson for the past 18 years and is a remarkable, dedicated and inspiring teacher who changes students' lives. His students' performance speaks for his effectiveness as a teacher: on the 2007 AP Biology exam, 41 of the 43 students (95.3%) with scores of 3 - 5 throughout the District of Columbia Public Schools had taken Dr. Siebens' class, and of the seventeen students who received a score of 5 out of 5 on the AP Biology exam, all of them had taken his class. Minority students in Dr. Siebens' AP classes achieved scores of 3-5 (50%) at a rate twice the average of all Wilson's other AP courses (23%). Over 64% of Dr. Siebens' students over the past five years were in classes other than
his AP classes.
As an instructor, Dr. Siebens makes every effort to ensure his students are learning and retaining the material, from hosting extra study sessions during lunch and on school holidays, to writing, recording, and performing over thirty original songs to help students understand and memorize biology concepts and vocabulary. On a more personal level, Dr. Siebens takes the time to get to know each and every one of his students, and brings unparalleled dedication and enthusiasm to his teaching. In short, Dr. Siebens is precisely the kind of teacher Wilson cannot afford to lose.
An on-line Petition to Reinstate Dr. Art Siebens has been published by Dr. Siebens' students, which is restricted to past and current Wilson students and their parents only. This petition details the troubling circumstances surrounding his removal from the Wilson faculty in June 2008 during a restructuring mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. His removal came as a surprise to him and to the Wilson Community because of his effectiveness, involvement and passion for his students' learning. The Chair of the Wilson Local School Restructuring Team (LSRT) subsequently reported that the teachers who were removed "were seen not to fit in with the restructuring plan". Dr. Siebens was never told why he doesn't "fit in". Those who have signed the Petition to Reinstate Dr. Art Siebens disagree, as is apparent in representative comments these signatories have added to the Petition.
Since the decision to remove Dr. Siebens, his current and past students, their parents and other supporters have rallied to defend him and have him reinstated as teacher at Wilson. We are coordinating this effort and this website provides additional information and resources in support of the students' petition.
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