A Post editorial today notes that the most effective action Mayor Adrian Fenty has taken since assuming control of the D.C. public schools a little less than a year ago was to bring schools chancellor Michelle Rhee on board, remarking, “Michelle A. Rhee has done more in months to reshape the system than her predecessors did in years.” However, the editorial also cautions that it will be some time before any true achievement growth takes effect, and that the administration’s issues with transparency and heavy spending should be addressed. In another editorial that ran last week, the Post also cautioned the D.C. Council from interfering too heavily in Rhee’s reform efforts, arguing that, “district boundaries, community whim and political machinations would come into play” if Council proposals “micro-managing” schools decisions were to pass.

Scrapping Seniority: The education blogosphere, which already had its eyes on D.C., is abuzz this week following news that Rhee plans to eliminate teacher seniority in the new union contract that is currently being negotiated. Adding to the fray are escalating leadership tensions within the Washington Teachers’ Union between reform-minded WTU president George Parker and feisty, lawsuit-filing WTU vice-president Nathan Saunders. The issue at hand is Rhee’s proposal that senior teachers will not receive automatic hiring preference in exchange for increased paid leave and funding for supplies, and annual raises of around 6 percent. A union source told the Post that without seniority, teachers could be hired and placed based on “qualifications or performance rather than years of service.”