Schools Roundup: Missing in Action Edition
Earlier this month, we described a new report from a federal court monitor that placed heavy blame on the District for its inability to provide special education services for its nearly 11,000 special needs students. As Post columnist Colbert King put it somewhat dramatically at the time, “the courtroom drama I witnessed this week underscored a sad reality: The one true safeguard between the city's most vulnerable residents and acts of governmental injustice is the black-robed figure in the courthouse.” While we’d like to think that statement veers toward the hyperbolic, court involvement in city administration is nothing new, and neither is what came next – the city official responsible ducking out of the spotlight.
Only about a week after the report’s release, Phyllis Harris, DCPS’s deputy chancellor for special education, took a leave of absence, without giving comment or reason. Dena Iverson, a DCPS spokesperson, did deny an earlier report that had been floating around various teacher blogs that Harris had been fired, but would not comment further. While Harris did not directly manage the District’s response to the court monitoring of special education services, many seem to be holding her responsible, especially as complaints surface that some DCPS schools are still lacking proper special education staffing.
While it’s hard to overstate the difficulties and bureaucratic frustrations involved in special education administration, it’s also true that under the new culture of accountability that Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has worked to initiate, this kind of gross oversight simply mirrors the DCPS of the past. If Harris is taking responsibility for the failures of D.C. special education, that should be made clear, along with plans to address the enormous backlog of special education cases and staffing shortages.
Photo by dullshick
Rhee’s No Monarch: As the D.C. Council resumes session this week, The Washington Times spoke to several council members who plan to make squeezing restructuring details and budget specifics out of Rhee and DCPS facilities chief Alan Lew a priority. The council has been extremely critical in the past of Rhee’s reluctance to seek the council’s approval on details of her plans. Mary Cheh (Ward 3) summed up her views as follows: “It's my job as a council member to exercise oversight. I think I should have the best understanding possible of how money is being used. She has to realize she's not Henry VIII." Rhee, however, told an audience at an Aspen Institute education summit yesterday, “I think if there is one thing I have learned over the last 15 months it's that cooperation, collaboration and consensus-building are way overrated.” (Feel free to leave your beheading jokes in the comments.)
Schools Notes: DCPS ordered to repay federal grant money for migrant students because, well, there aren’t any… Michelle Rhee inspires educators everywhere to eat bugs in front of their students… Not one, but two, NPR interviews about Rhee and DCPS… the Washington Teachers’ Union is holding a contract negotiations informational meeting for all WTU bargaining unit members tonight next Tuesday, September 23rd from 5 – 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the McKinley Technology High School. Perhaps some contract movement is coming?