August 30, 2007
Fenty's School Choice Still Irks Some
Mayor Adrian Fenty will continue to send his children to a private school in the District this year, reports the Examiner. Unlike Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso, who have both enrolled their children at one of the District's best public elementary schools, the Mayor and his wife have chosen to send their seven year-old twins to another year at the private school they have attended since preschool. The mayor said his children will be enrolled in public school starting next school year.
The story quotes some community members who continue to criticize the Fenty family's school choice, shouting about the need for D.C. government officials, and the Mayor who takes such pride in his takeover of the District's schools in particular, to put their children in the public school system. And sure, there's a logic to the argument in the abstract, but we're talking about two, real live seven year-old boys here, boys who probably have friends at their school and relationships with teachers. We're all for holding the Mayor accountable to practicing what he preaches, but aren't parental decisions about when to move children to a new school really better left to the parents themselves? There could be a whole host of reasons why it would be best for the Fenty twins to switch schools next year instead of this one, and there's no way upset community members could say for sure what the situation is.
One could more successfully argue that Fenty's sons were enrolled in a private school when he was a hard-charging D.C. Council member, making him a long-standing hypocrite -- but everyone knew Fenty's kids were in private school when they sent him to the mayor's office by a resounding majority, so the fact that they'll be there for another year doesn't really make that big of a difference. It's good news that the Fenty boys will attend a D.C. public school next year -- the Mayor will have that promise in his mind as he works with Rhee and Reinoso over the next year on fixing the troubled school system. We'll be watching over the next year to ensure Fenty makes good on all of his school-related promises, but until then, this just doesn't seem like something worth getting upset about.
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What's the big deal? You can be committed to a cause without having personal involvement. For example, people in congress who are fighting for universal healthcare probably aren't going to actually use the healthcare program that the government creates.
And you can always fight a war using other people's children.
"We're all for holding the Mayor accountable to practicing what he preaches..."
Given that Fenty preaches that the DC public schools are horrible and the schoolboard was too ineffectual to ever fix them, I can’t see why anyone would expect him to put his sons in there. Fenty should be hailed as a hero for working hard and earning a living that allows him to keep his sons out of DC’s schools.
Hey, Fenty's pal Bloomberg takes an multi-SUV security detail 4 blocks to an express subway stop. That makes him somewhat of a hypocrite for encouraging public transportation and only leading by strap-hanging example just for the photo op. However, he is championing NYC towards adopting congestion pricing. Which has a bigger impact? If Fenty delivers the promised and badly needed public school overhaul, who cares where he sends his kids.
I agree with Guest1 about Fenty's decision to keep his kids in private school. One doesn't have to have a whale at home to support Save the Whales.
Fenty's kids going to private school doesn't bother me. But you know what does? The fact that the guy who's in charge of DC vote lives in Maryland. That makes my brain explode!
Not sayin it's rational, just sayin...
I don't think it matters at all. It is just two less kids that our tax money has to pay for. It can go to two other kids who don't appear to care anything about education. Thanks DC parents!
What would be hypocritical is if Fenty had campaigned that the schools were great and that no improvements were needed and yet his kids were in private schools.
As it is now, I think its only right that he holds his kids out and says that I will send them to DCPS when we get this thing fixed. But he is putting a damper on that argument by saying that he will be sending his kids next year. Why? If its not important this year (which I don't think it is), why is it so important next year? And does any one really think it will only take 365 days to get the system turned around?
i guess this proves that mayor fenty is both a reformer and a realist... like tupac said, "i aint mad atcha".
Guest #2, it's not quite the same thing. Fenty hasn't made a plea to the public to put their kids into DCPS, he is simply trying to make things better for those who do want to be able to send their kids and for those who don't have a choice. He's never said people who can afford to send their kids to private school shouldn't do so. And don't forget, while improving DCPS is about the kids, it's also about the city as a whole. For example, DC is missing out on potential residents (and tax dollars) who would live in the city confines but for the school system.
Like Fenty is going to take on the teachers union. Please. Per dollar spend, DC has the worst education system in the entire country. The only way to fix that is to fire a whole lot of people. Will Fenty do that? I don't think so.