DCist: Schools Roundup: Balls in the Air Edition

monkeyrotica

Wed, 07 May 2008 07:56:23 -0500

DCPS has been in steady decline since Brown v. Board of Education. I'm inclined to think that it's going to take more than 18 months to turnaround a system that's been in the crapper for close to half a century. Most folks seem to think "if she's pissing people off, she must be doing something right." It remains to be seen whether anything actually substantial gets accomplished, or whether she goes the way of every chancellor and superintendent DC's ever had: golden parachutes and on to the next school district.

borbely

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:48:47 -0500

Rachael: thanks, and sorry I was so harsh. Just from reading your entries these last few months, I wasn't sure you'd done much (any?) talking to parents and teachers or other involved citizens who have a different outlook on what's going on. It's easy to dismiss Rhee's critics as anti-reform or pro-status-quo, but that's just silly. I'm glad you're open to listening.

borbely

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:35:43 -0500

Ha! Touché IMGoph! For the record, here's some of what I think is great about Rhee: she's energetic, she responds to e-mails, she sends her children to DCPS schools, she clearly feels free to talk about problems at DCPS. In terms of what's she actually done for DCPS, you're right, I haven't seen a lot of positive. In response to a community suggestion, she did launch a Good Neighbor Day in September, to get folks into the schools, which I thought was great. But since then, she seems to have gone the opposite way: pushing the public out of the schools, literally and figuratively. Here's a DC Examiner editorial from Saturday, worth reading.

Rachael Brown

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:27:04 -0500

Marc - Good point about the connotations of the quotations around "school advocates," and I apologize if they caused misunderstanding. I used the phrase not to quote Mathews, but to address the diversity of the individuals who have raised concern about the teacher transfers, not all of whom are DCPS parents. Rhee's actions have received support on DCist because thus far we've largely agreed with them. However, we definitely welcome more debate over the direction of DCPS, and I hope you'll continue to comment.

IMGoph

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:19:09 -0500

hey borbely, if she's a rhee apologist, you're a knee-jerk opponent. yin and yang.

borbely

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:59:48 -0500

the Post’s Jay Mathews argued that those union officials and “schools advocates” protesting the placements of teachers at the 23 schools scheduled for closure are actually doing students a disservice. Rachael Brown has been a shameless cheerleader for Michelle Rhee for months, defending her every move and attacking anyone who dares be critical of her two "reform" initiatives so far: closing schools and firing people. Today Ms. Brown puts "school advocates" in quotes, like there's no way someone can disagree with Rhee and support public schools at the same time. Um, by the way Ms. Brown -- no, Jay Mathews actually _didn't_ refer to school advocates at all in his column. He did say he disagreed with the "many kind and well-intentioned teachers and parents" who he thinks have different priorities. But I guess that would be too generous a description for a Rhee propagandist to use. - Marc Borbely http://DemocracyInEducation.net

OldPosterKnownAsCranky

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:08:14 -0500

The DCPS budget has funny things going on. Like how they transfer duties to other agencies, but keep the money allocated for those duties. Sorta nifty deal for DCPS, right?

IMGoph

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:06:02 -0500

i'm starting to fear that rhee is going to end up being janeyed before too long. i know that expecting the schools to change overnight is impossible, but it seems like she's getting a hell of a lot more pushback than there was during the first couple months of her chancellorship... but i don't know anything about school administration, so this is really just me blowing hot air. maybe things will be fine?

DCster

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:52:39 -0500

"Never mind that ... City Council Chair Vincent Gray is messing with her budget." It's a good thing he is though, because DCPS shouldn't be diverting money set aside for school modernization to fund arts and after-school programs. Fenty campaigned on his support for repairing crumbling roofs and broken school bathrooms so I was surprised to see him back away from this in his budget. Until he provides sufficient justification I think the council is doing the right thing.

drew in adams morgan

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:44:52 -0500

"Despite complaints that excessed teachers from the closing schools should be automatically transferred to the same schools as their former students, Rhee has worked to make sure that district principals will have the authority to choose which teachers to hire to fill any vacancies, contrasting with long-held policies demanding that principals hire teachers with the most seniority, even if more effective candidates are available." Why is this even an issue for the parents of these students? I am assuming these closures would happen over the summer. So say a student passes the 4th grade (as a hypothetical example). They would then move on to 5th grade and get a new 5th grade teacher. Why do parents want their students' 4th Grade teacher going to the same school as them if they aren't going to be in the 4th grade? Am I missing a point to this?

monkeyrotica

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:30:54 -0500

I figure Mccain's education plan will really start to affect test scores sometime in his second term. [ducks behind sewage trebuchet]