June 12, 2007
Education Policy Community Thinks Highly of Rhee
As we mentioned in the Roundup this morning, Mayor Adrian Fenty has fired D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, and announced this morning at a press conference that he would be replaced by Michelle Rhee, in a new position as D.C. Schools Chancellor. The Post has a good story up already with some details of Rhee's background: she's the the founder of New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group based in New York that trains mid-career changers for teaching jobs in needy urban centers. She also served as a teacher in Baltimore's public school system through Teach for America. But, it should be noted, she has never served as the head of a school system in any capacity. Fenty claims that was one of the top reasons he picked her.
Rhee has an unbelievably difficult task ahead of her. It's not hard to imagine that her status as a non-Washingtonian and the first non-African American head of D.C. Schools in 40 years will make her job that much more difficult. It's also fair to say that most people outside the education community, especially parents and the D.C. Council, were unfamiliar with her until today.
Within education policy circles, however, Rhee appears to be highly esteemed. Over at Eduwonk, Rhee is described as "one of the most impressive people in education today, she's an effective manager, keen intellect, and very much on the leading edge." Democrats for Education Reform declares that "her guts to bluster ratio is pretty much unmatched in public ed today." Alexander Russo at This Week in Education says "Rhee is a standout, there's no doubt, and has accomplishments coming out of her ears," though he also admits her appointment is "a little nervous-making."
Will this kind of confidence in Rhee's poise, intelligence and overall experience from some of her peers in the education reform community make her transition into the job of chancellor easy? It seems unlikely, given the enormity of what she's about to take on and the District's reputation for not being the friendliest to "outsiders." But Eduwonk has an excellent point here:
The people who tried and failed before [Rhee] were not bereft of talent. There are two key differences though: She has a mayor who supports her and can support her through the new governance arrangement and she understands the system, wants it to work for kids, but is not of it, she's a reformer. D.C. has had folks who are one, or the other, rarely both and never, obviously, in this governing arrangment.
Even if outgoing Superintendent Janey was just beginning to make some headway, as some claim, Janey clearly never had the confidence of Mayor Fenty. And now that Fenty has control of the school system, it will take someone who isn't afraid to shake things up who also has the complete support of the mayor to make a difference. It's now up to the D.C. Council to give Rhee the chance to do just that.
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There will be a lot of people waiting for her to fail and, of those, a few that will be hoping for it (regardless of the impact her success could have on the city).
I wish her luck. She's definitely not short on courage.
She needs to hire a real ass-kicker as her number 2. Somebody who will make it his first mission to break the stranglehold of the teacher's union and then go after the parents who don't care and the kids who have turned some schools into revolving crime scenes.
Fire the bad teachers, expel the bad students. Not pretty, but it must be done if we are to save this ship.
This is what Fenty was hired for, but no one should expect a smooth ride.
The last number 2 ass-kicker who actually kicked ass and took names got fired for correct usage of the term "niggardly." His departure ensured that Anthony Williams could always count on both the illiterate and hard-of-hearing vote.
The parents and teachers are nothing compared to central admin career bureaucrats. Where do you think those hundreds of millions of dollars go? Because it sure as hell isn't reaching teachers as salary or schools as supplies and maintenance.
Rhee's first act should be to demolish the DCPS central admin building and sow salt so nothing ever grows there again. This will be a day long remembered. We have seen the end of Kenobi and we shall soon see the end of DCPS admin.
Why couldn't Fenty hire an african american to head our mostly african american school system?
Why couldn't Fenty hire an african american to head our mostly african american school system?
Maybe because we've been doing just that for the past 3 decades?
Identity politics is one of the reasons DCPS is a mess. I doubt more of the same will fix the problem.
A new captain might change the ship's direction, but it doesn't change the fact that the boat is still sinking.
Closer to 4 decades than 3.
Why couldn't Fenty hire an african american to head our mostly african american school system?
As an African-American myself allow me to say FUCK ALL THAT. I want the best person available doing the job of educating the children of this city; I don't care if that person is white, black, purple, has three tits, three nuts, or both.
As far as Mr. Howard's situation goes, you gotta know what time it is; and in DC, the time for a white guy in city gov't to be using the word "niggardly" is a quarter past never. I agree it was political correctness run amok, Barry holdovers causing trouble, etc. that ultimately cost Howard his post though. Even so, that's a pretty poor choice of words when you consider the ready availability of synonyms that could have the same impact and infinitely less chance of their use turning into a racial bru-haha.
Also, IMHO the use of the word Niggardly smacks of a smart ass white guy who wants to see how close he can get to saying "nigger" in public without getting his teeth kicked down his throat.
I think the Howard incident is less political correctness and more Marshall Brown getting tired of taking orders from some uppity white homo with an unabridged Oxford English Dictionary.
I'll bet that even now, some of Rhee's subordinates are looking for a chink in her armor, so they can gook up her reform plan, and send it down a slippery slope.
"so they can gook up her reform plan"
.....
"I'll bet that even now, some of Rhee's subordinates are looking for a chink in her armor, so they can gook up her reform plan, and send it down a slippery slope."
I think some of her subordinates will take that slant. The smart thing would be to nip it in the bud.
I want someone to tell me why it is acceptable to use the terms "chink" and "gook" even in the context of a joke about Asian people? I know that chink is a legitimate word in the context of "chink in armor", but "gook" is definetely not. Is it acceptable to somehow fit "nigger" or "spic" or "wop" or any other derogatory word into a joke about a particular ethnic group?
It makes me wonder if part of the opposition in DC to an Asian leading the school system has something to do with racism on the part of residents here.