Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics changed its tune yesterday and reversed an earlier decision by stating that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover plan cannot be the subject of a referendum. Once again, it comes down to the Home Rule Charter: attorneys for the election board said in papers filed yesterday that because Congress and President Bush have approved an amendment to the city's Home Rule Charter that gives the mayor direct control over D.C. Schools, the takeover plan cannot go on a special ballot -- the Home Rule Charter clearly states that residents cannot undo an act of Congress.
After the change in the board's position, D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer filed a motion with the court last night to withdraw the adminstration's appeal. A hearing scheduled for this morning in Superior Court was canceled, leaving the school takeover legislation in place to go into effect next week without further delay. Matthew Watson, the attorney for activist Mary Spencer who filed the referedum petition, could challenge the board's ability to reverse its own decision, but he told the Washington Times he thinks it's unlikely a judge would agree.
Expectations for what Fenty will need to do with D.C.'s failing public school system now that he was finally wrested control from the school board couldn't be higher. We expect we'll be hearing about the mayor's decision to fire Superintendent Clifford B. Janey within the next week, as Fenty and Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso plot out a busy summer ahead getting the District's schools in order to open in the fall.
Photo by Eye Captain
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I dig the shortbus-on-shortbus action in that photo. Nice.
Wow, the LetUsVote crowd must be livid this morning. Seeing as the concept of a republican-form of government seems to have escaped them, I bet they're now going to argue that this court ruling is clearly undemocratic, since only the judge got to decide.
It's time to move forward and give Fenty a chance to see what he can do. Personally, I think he ought to start by firing every third employee in the DCPS administration, but I'll leave that up to him.
My question is this, when the schools continue to fail and there is no improvement, will Fenty step up and take the blame? Better yet will the residents of DC hold him accountable? I doubt it.
My question is this, when the schools continue to fail and there is no improvement, will Fenty step up and take the blame? Will the residents of D.C. hold him accountable? I doubt it. However, I do wish him best of luck because he is in a no win situation now and the schools here need all the help they can get.
My bad, first post got cut off so I had to repost.
Contrary to what Reid suggests, this decision was not made by a judge but the DC BOEE. The DC BOEE made a flawed decision. The referendum sought to overturn Council legislation which is expressly permitted in the DC Charter. The act of Congress only eliminated two passages from the Charter, it did not address school governance or the transfer of control at all. Hence, there was no need, nor any desire, to overturn an act of Congress. The Post's coverage of this has been flawed, as subsequently, has been the DCist's coverage. When the DC BOEE's Charles Lowery decided in favor of a referendum, Adrian Fenty suggested a new chairman would soon be found. It will be interesting to see if Lowery now keeps his job.
Major egg on the face of the BOEE.
OK I got the BOEE mixed up with a judge, fair enough. But you're making a strained argument. The Act passed by the Council (The Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007) has within it a request to make conforming changes to the DC charter. Those changes relate to the budgeting and powers of the School Board. But these charter amendments are inextricable from the rest of the act. Congress approved those changes with the understanding that the rest of the act was to be adopted as well. The act is not severable. It would be overturning an act of Congress to throw out the rest of the act, regardless of whether the rest of the act required an amendment to the charter.
It's just these sort of desperate procedural arguments that I was talking about above.
The Board of Elections acted illegally. The law prohibits it from making such a decision behind closed doors, without giving public notice. We are in court today. Hearing at 3pm, Courtroom 312 of the Superior Court. Stay tuned!!!
- Marc Borbely
LetMeVOTE.org
I always wondered what rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic would look like.
I'd have a lot more sympathy for these folks if they hadn't pissed away three decades, billions of dollars, and the lives of countless DC kids. DC school administration has been stunningly bad for decades. And the LetUsVote folks are proposing yet more decades of the same crap.
Reid has it right.
I admire what Fenty's done. As Lawrence pointed out, he's taken ownership of a huge responsibility. It shows character.