Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Cue the “Hurricane Rhee” jokes. Here’s the latest being floated by Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee: ask the federal government to declare the D.C. public schools in a “state of emergency.”
If approved, the step would give Fenty and Rhee unprecedented authority to rebuild the school system, which is the lowest-performing the nation, similar to what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the system there. This restructuring would likely take the form of setting up non-unionized charter and autonomous public schools, which are granted more autonomy to shape curriculum and hiring practices.
The idea appeared in a draft statement prepared for a September press conference, but was never announced. The draft, later obtained by the Post’s Bill Turque, argues that such action would release the city from "the collective bargaining agreement and other constraints preventing the District from providing high-quality teachers to its students." In other words, from the Washington Teachers’ Union.
It’s unclear if such a drastic step was ever considered seriously by Rhee’s office, or simply included in a list of possible actions meant to intimidate union officials into bringing the stalled contract to a vote. D.C. Wire also recently reported that the Chancellor had been willing to send the contract negotiations to arbitration, a step that hasn’t been taken as of yet.
Regardless, it’s clear that something may be developing. Randi Weingarten, the newly-elected head of the American Federation of Teachers (the WTU’s parent union) will be meeting soon with Rhee in an effort to move the contract forward. While the pair has clashed in the past, Weingarten also indicated that the union is ready to compromise to achieve resolution, even on issues of merit pay and tenure, the controversial lynch pins of Rhee’s contract proposal.
Just asking out loud - if the negotiations fall apart and DCPS were to be granted “state of emergency” status, prompting a major war with the local and national teachers’ unions, would president-elect Barack Obama get involved? Democrats and teachers’ unions have a long history, but he’s also on the record praising Rhee’s work in the District... Or is this not the kind of “local, D.C. issue” Obama wants to mess with?
Photo by AlbinoFlea
DC Teacher Chic Profiled: Last week, DCist readers had some strong reactions to the story of DC Teacher Chic, a DCPS teacher and blogger who quit over out of control dicipline issues at her school. D.C. Wire picked up on the story, and (perhaps as a result?) DC Teacher Chic’s school, Nalle Elementary, has since received an additional administrator. Meanwhile, Sarah Yonkers argues at The Quick and the ED that DCPS needs to do a better job of addressing violence and behavior issues before they become news stories, rather than just responding to damaging coverage.
Schools Notes: The messy world of education reporting, revealed… Marc Fisher anticipates a Rhee backlash… Matt Yglesias points out that Obama’s Secretary of Education pick will have direct implications for the District’s charter schools.
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well heck, looks like the WTU might be interested in negotiating now, now that their very existence might be in trouble.
I guess schoolkids are the new Arabian horses? Can't wait til Fenty proclaims, "Heckuva job, Rhee-ey!"
I'm intrigued by the possibilities of such drastic action, but at the same time I'm wary. If Rhee and Fenty do get this, ". . .unprecedented authority to rebuild the school system," what's the price for failure?
Hillrat, the price for failure is what we're already paying.
I don't have any kids but I'm getting a kick out of what's going on. By the time its all fixed...all the kids have either dropped out of school or graduated. What's going on? Is it the teacher's fault or the system? Every year, just like Metro,
millions of dollars are poured into the deal. The next thing you know...there's a problem with money. Where'd it go? Who got the money? There can't be that many bad teachers? What is the problem.
Hey Ree Ree and Phenty! Don't throw out the kid with the bathwater. MMkay!
with the state in which the DC school system is in--everything, including this proposal--should be on the table.
we are failing our children.....
What's so funny is that anyone is delusional enough to think that the Obamas might actually put either of their kids in a DC public school. They're kids, not sociological experiments. No one can fault the Obamas for wanting the best education for their kids and DCPS 'aint it.
DCPS is a joke and the Obamas - like many of us who have made our decision to live elsewhere primarily on the quality of the DC public school system - know this only too well.
It would make me laugh if the Obamas were speaking to Jerry Weast about a waiver to get their kids into MCPS - a system that unlike DCPS can actually educate children. I'd love to see Sasha and Malia in Somerset and Westland. Bring 'em on! We can educate them!
triple a political scheming in our nation's capital, normally this overt of an attempt at strategery is left to idiots with the last name Hensarling. leaking an alleged 'draft' statement listing some scorched earth alternatives in the midst of a contract negotiation.
Can we please throw in an 'unidentified top aide to Fenty/Rhee' stated that 'there are grounds for such action...' blah blah...
I fully support Rhee in these negotiations, but i don't think this junior league type prank is going to help bring the sides together. Yeah, there's a possibility she could do it, but the teacher's union also has some a-bombs in it's closet.
I wish it were true that the WTU would actually consider negotiating now, as their very existence is on the line. Trouble is, and I'm a WTU member as a DCPS teacher, that many of the teachers don't see it that way. They hate Rhee and everything she's trying to do so much that there's no room for a compromise. Very few of us are behind Rhee's reform efforts; most teachers just think she wants us out.
But as for the Obama babies: I could easily see them going to Lafayette ES, Mann ES, Key ES, Murch ES or even Hyde ES (if it weren't for the building). Those schools are good, most of the parents are highly educated, upper middle class professionals who could have easily chosen private schools. But we all know the kids will probably go to GDS or Sidwell.
I'd have more sympathy for the anti-Rhee brigade if:
A. They put forward a vision other than "same people, more money"
AND
B. I didn't get the distinct impression that the opposition is greatly driven by conspiratorial fears of "The Plan".
If I could have a superpower, it would be to end the discussion on where the Obama children are going to school for once and for all.
Even though eventually they will have chosen a school, clearly that doesn't mean the discussion is over. Also, just throwing it out there that 95% of the commenters (in life, not just dcist) wanting them in DCPS either (1) don't have kids or (2) don't actually know what the DCPS system is like (chelita not included).
And, to clarify, Deep says "By the time its all fixed...all the kids have either dropped out of school or graduated." But more children will have entered the system, so once it starts to get fixed some kids will start with a good system from square one.
One last thing - to Drlronhoover - DC parents can actually pay to send their kids to Montgomery County schools.
Sorry!!!! I'm done.
Hey chelita - why do "most" WTU members oppose Rhee's efforts? Is it because they see it as the end of the Barry-era free ride? Or because, at long last, someone is realizing that the system exists to educate children, not to provide a sinecure for a large number of incompetent teachers?
And guest number 10 - so what? Let 'em pay. At least their kids will get an education. DCPS sure as shit can't educate kids. Not sure what it can do other than waste money and whine about reform.
No Apologies!!! I'm not done!!
Clearly, Obama needs to appoint an "Education Czar" to deal with these kinds of urban policy issues, since that worked so well with drugs and inflation. But only if he also appoints a "Czar Czar" or "Czar2"to oversee all the other czars and keep them in line. Hopefully this czar will not be married to his first cousin, producing a hemophiliac heir, and eventually fall under the spell of the mad monk Rasputin and his cult of ritual castrators, the Skoptsy.
On second thought, since we're talking about WTU, that would actually be really cool.
And it's also telling that the acronym for Washington Teachers Union is easily mistakeable for the World Toilet Organization. Coincidence? Don't forget: today is World Toilet Day! Make sure you practice safe and hygenic toilet practices: no peeing on the rim, remember to flush, and wipe three times (once each for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost). And as always, peeing on your hands does not count as "washing."
hillrat -
The price of failure is the status quo.
The WP article today on Rhee's plans for more school discipline and parent involvement seem to be a huge step in the right direction, albeit 40 years overdue.
I agree with Reid - the anti-Rhee folks seems to offer no other alternatives other than 'more of the same, but even more money (ignore the fact that we already spend more than 99% of the other school districts, per child)" and suspecting this may be part of The Plan and the end to job security for life regardless of skills or actually showing up for work.
@ Guest Number 10
One last thing - to Drlronhoover - DC parents can actually pay to send their kids to Montgomery County schools.
Could you elaborate on that please?
The cost of failed education amounts to lifelong ignorance, teen pregnancy, poverty, drugs, violent crime, and spirals downward from there into lost opportunities for generations. Therefore, the price paid by the community for failed education, in addition to (high and wasted) taxes, is incalculable. It is time to stop asking what is best for the teachers as a group, because Rhee has put forth a generous pay proposal for decent educators and other creative fixes for the enormous DCPS storm sewer. I want better lives for children in my city, because quality education is a key to unlocking opportunities. I do not want more opportunities for teachers that, as a class, have consistently underperformed. Yes, there are parent/family issues that challenge our education system here, but the bottom line should be What is Best for the Community, not protecting teachers and administrators for extremely costly, underaverage careers.
I can, 'read this'.
Hopefully I didn't botch the link.
Oh, f it. I did. It's here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901119.html
Unfortunately, I think Rhee is alienating the teachers who want to help bring the schools up to speed, along with those who don't give a fat rat's fart about anthing but a paycheck. Maybe if WTU was a little more accountable to its members, they'd be able to weed one out from the other. Instead, we're stuck with a situation where we pretty much have to throw the baby out with the bath water, the soap, the brush, and the Johnson's No More Tears Shampoo and start from scratch.
That said, teachers do need to have some involvement in the changes to the system. A top-down, do-this-or-else management attitude rarely works outside the Marine Corps and the lion-tamer's cage.
I think my question was misunderstood. When I ask the price for failure what I'm asking is what happens to Rhee if she gets the power and discretion she's seeking and still screws the pooch? Does she ride off into the sunset with a large sack full of DC taxpayer money?
Regardless, I'm a parent who's trying to figure out what the fuck to do about educating my kid in DC. I don't want to leave DC and have no desire to live in the 'burbs. Not because of any of kind of goofy, hipster, "keepin' it real in the city" thing, but because I hate commuting and WifeRat and I both work in DC.
Right now our choices are spend $1K/month on a private Montessori school or enroll BabyRat in a 3 year-old program at a DCPS. We're lucky that there are actually a few viable options within DCPS in our Capitol Hill neighborhood. There's Montessori at Watkins (if you can get into the Cluster School), a Spanish immersion program at Maury, and Ludlow-Taylor (our in-boundary school) is preparing to roll out a Reggio Emilia program. I take issue with the notion that "DCPS is a joke" and can't help but wonder if so many (White) people's hesitation to put their children in DCPS is simply the fact that there are too many black faces in the classrooms.
While most DCPS teachers might be openly opposed to any Rhee ideas in order to avoid peer alienation, how many will chance that in order to be the highest paid teachers in the country? It's done in business among white- and blue-collar alike daily: Incentive. It's a real buy-in opportunity. It is not executive legislation of change. It represents sophisticated paradigm shifting, is a creative civic management proposal and requires risk on both sides. It is an excellent carrot and a fine way to involve winners.
The tactic of moving to (or even leaking news of) emergency status might be yet another major lever in Fenty/Rhee's seemingly inexhaustible toolbox. While they might call Barack in for support, it's more likely that they will opt for Michelle's touch, especially since she mentioned it on 60 Minutes.
in that case i need to declare my crotch a federal disaster
i need aid stat!
I used to work with programs that worked with DCPS, and from my experience I have very mixed feelings on this. I do think that some good teachers may be alienated by this initiative, but God knows there are some horrific teachers in the system as well. However, a huge amount of the problems in DCPS have nothing to do with the union -- the belly of the beast is central administration, and being able to fire all the teachers in the world won't improve that. Also, Rhee hasn't really outlined what her long range plan for content is: we get these great teachers, and they teach...what? So far she has focused on improving buildings and defeating the union, but she has relied on Janey's work on building a strong curriculum. Like Hillrat, at the end of the day I worry about if she is able to get the control she wants and then isn't able to produce results quickly -- anyone remember General Becton?
As for the good schools in DCPS, there are some strong ones. They are largely located in areas of the city where the parents of the students attending there could have the mayor or chancellor's head on a plate if they weren't good. It's not rocket science.
Bear in mind that 1/3 of public school children in DC now attend charter schools because their parents have abandoned DCPS in DROVES.
@ HILLRAT above, check out Washington Yu Ying the Mandarin Immersion charter school (profiled in the City Paper at http://washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36480). Quite a number of Hill families are sending their children there. Having said that, there are some other highly-regarded charter schools as well, specifically: Capitol City, E.L. Haynes, Two Rivers, and Washington Latin.
Anyone who thinks the ENTIRE DCPS system is a mess obviously doesn't know the system and their opinion should be discounted on that basis alone. The problem is that the vast majority of the high quality, high test-scoring schools are west of Rock Creek Park and accept few out-of-boundary students. The Capitol Hill Cluster is known to be quite good as well and after that it's a mere handful scattered around. You REALLY have to do your research to know where they are and then get lucky in the OOB lottery.
Charter schools such as those mentioned above truly are saving the city for the middle class, (not to mention the professional class that nonetheless cannot afford $25K per child in private school tuition on top of the $600K mortgage...). There really are excellent educational opportunities in DC, which means this generation of parents doesn't have to follow the white-flight migratory path which began after Brown v. Board of Ed.
Having said that, in order to fully restore confidence in the system the regular schools need to improve too. The City Council's pattern of diffused responsibility has meant diffused ACCOUNTABILITY. Rhee may step on some toes but at least she's got the huevos to step up to the plate in the first place. Will all of her ideas be good ones? No. But they'll still be better than what we've got.
P.S. Kudos to the poster - Reid - above whose message bears repeating:
I'd have more sympathy for the anti-Rhee brigade if:
A. They put forward a vision other than "same people, more money"
AND
B. I didn't get the distinct impression that the opposition is greatly driven by conspiratorial fears of "The Plan".
(There are a lot of families with homes west of the park that are financially invested in having access to the only "good" schools - know what I mean?)
"I take issue with the notion that "DCPS is a joke" and can't help but wonder if so many (White) people's hesitation to put their children in DCPS is simply the fact that there are too many black faces in the classrooms."
Yes and no. I'm sure there are some that simply won't put their precious little Tiffany Heather in with black kids.
But DCPS, taken as a whole, is a joke. Saying so doesn't make you racist.
Yes, there are exceptions. But overall the system is grossly overfunded for what we get back. The bad schools outweigh the good. And the sheer waste and incompetence is systemic and mindboggling.
Saying that doesn't make you racist.
And let's face it. Even the 'good' schools in DC are a crapshoot. Why? Because they are part of the overall DC system.
If you are new to DC you really do have to do a crapton of research to distinguish the actual good schools from the DCPS 'every child a snowflake' bullshit.
I don't fault parents that try and give up.
Do you want your little Tiffany Heather sitting next to a kid who says when I get home Ima tell my uncle to come up here and bring his gun and he gonna shoot you because she won't lend him her eraser? I heard that spoken in a classroom in the DC school where I work. Or a kid who wants to be bad so the principal will send him to jail so he can be with his daddy, even though we tell him little kids don't get sent to jail for being bad? I also heard a kid say this in a DC school; I don't have the creativity to make this one up. It's not race, it's class. Before I started working in DCPS, I never knew of a child depressed because his mother was in jail or that grandmas could be 38. Heck, I knew women who were first time mothers at 38. I just thank G-d my kids are in college and out of DCPS, though they had some good teachers.
Thanks Hillman.
DCPS is failing the children in DC. Particularly the children not in the norther & wester parts of NW. Particularly the children whose parents don't have the ability/knowledge to get them into the schools in those parts of the city.
Essentially, DCPS is failing its students who need it most. It's not about the rich white kids, it's about the kids getting stabbed at Anacostia and people saying "so what?"
DCPS = Big Three
Both had tons of money and decades to gear up for 21st century standards. Both ended up holding a big bag of hurt and expect everyone else to bail them out. In both cases, if they want government money, they need to accept government salaries. There's no reason ANYONE in DCPS management should be making more than six-figures a year. FAIL.
I generally agree with HillRat's comment in post 21
and pfish post #25