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
