Late on Friday D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 98 central office employees, taking a big step toward her promise to “create a culture of accountability.” Mafara Hobson, Rhee’s spokesperson, has said the dismissals were based “partly on employee performance and on Rhee’s plans to make the central office more efficient,” and the city’s Department of Human Resources has not yet released the names of those terminated, in an effort to preserve their privacy.

Predictably, the newly-fired employees are (anonymously) crying foul, and the D.C. Council, which voted to give Rhee the authority to terminate non-union employees without cause in the first place, is waffling on where it stands, though with a few exceptions. WAMU reports that Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells is in favor of the terminations, while Council Chair Vincent Gray wants to confirm that employees were fairly evaluated before forming an opinion.

The Post’s Marc Fisher comes down clearly on Rhee’s side, writing yesterday, “Year after year, decade after decade, waves of reformers and politicians swore they would finally address the incompetence and corruption that saturated the D.C. system. They promised to clear out the deadwood and bloat from the central office. But until now, no one had the legal authority, political foundation or spine to do the deed.”