AP Photo/Susan Walsh

In a letter released this morning by DCPS, Chancellor Michelle Rhee responded to demands from D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Council members Kwame Brown and Marion Barry that she clarify her much-contested comments to Fast Company magazine, where she was quoted as saying, “I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of school.” Local reactions have zeroed-in on the sexual abuse allegation, wondering, as City Paper’s Mike Debonis put it, “How could a D.C. Public Schools teacher have sex with a student and remain on the job, sticking around long enough to be fired for budgetary reasons?”

In response, Rhee reiterated the District’s concern for student safety, and argued:

“The comment I made to Fast Company was made some time ago — and in context of explaining the importance of considering teacher performance, and not just seniority, in deciding which teachers would be let go during a reduction in force necessitated by a budget cut. I was describing the kind of conduct that was appropriate to take into account in implementing the reduction in force.

The examples I gave involved a very small minority of teachers who were terminated in the budget reduction.

One teacher against whom serious allegations of sexual misconduct had been made was terminated in the RIF. This teacher was immediately put on administrative leave and removed from the school as soon as the allegations came to our attention. This person was not in the classroom at the time of the RIF, and DCPS referred the case to MPD.”

Rhee went on to answer specific questions from the Council members about the allegations of corporal punishment and chronic absences, and the process for reporting and acting on allegations of employee misconduct. For example, Rhee was asked “When there are allegations of serious misconduct, are teachers immediately fired?” The response? “Not necessarily. For example, if a teacher has committed corporal punishment, depending on the surrounding circumstances, DCPS may not be able to fire the teacher on first offense,” she wrote, alluding to the difficulty the school district can run into with the Washington Teacher’s Union and due process requirements when attempting to fire a teacher.

Full letter below the jump.