D.C. fired 98 public school teachers yesterday, bringing to 400 the total that have been fired for poor performance since 2009.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee spent the last couple of days not responding to questions from reporters regarding her controversial comments to Fast Company magazine, but finally gave an exclusive interview to WRC/NBC4’s Tom Sherwood late Monday. While she didn’t name names, as D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray has been calling for her to do, she did offer some more specific numbers on the teachers she said were fired “who had hit children, who…

Metro has fired the train operator who was behind the controls during a recent collision at the West Falls Church Rail Yard, WTOP is reporting. The operator’s name has not been made public, but investigators have reportedly already found enough fault with him that he has been let go. The crash, which took place at about 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 29, injured three Metro workers and caused as much as $9 million in damage….

WMATA offers this update on the fate of three Metrobus drivers who have been under investigation recently. Two bus operators have been fired this week, according to Metro. The first is the driver who was arrested and charged with kidnapping after refusing to let a passenger off the bus during a verbal dispute. The second fired driver had been driving with a suspended license, which Metro only discovered after the operator got into an accident…

Yesterday evening, we received a tip from a DCPS high school teacher that nearly 20 teachers at their school received termination letters from their principal that afternoon, including the union building representative. This morning, Candi Peterson, a Washington Teachers’ Union board member, has letters from two teachers on her blog, and while the exact number of teachers fired has not yet been announced, D.C. Wire reports that four types of school employees were terminated…

Last Friday was payday for the 3,293 students at 15 D.C. middle schools who are enrolled in the District’s Capital Gains program. The pilot program, co-funded by the District and Harvard University, allows students to earn up to $100 every two weeks for meeting conditions based on good academics, attendance, and behavior. The average amount earned by students in the first pay period was $43, though district officials say they expect payouts to increase as…

Dr. Galeet BenZion, the principal of Shepherd Elementary in NW D.C., was fired last week by D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee for “unforeseen reasons” after only a few months on the job. As the chancellor’s office is restricted from disclosing details about personnel decisions, no specifics regarding the firing have been forthcoming, predictably resulting in an explosion of speculation and frustration on the school’s email list and in the comments section of D.C. Wire. Jamie…

Last month, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee drew some heat for not renewing the contracts of 24 principals, including the principal of Oyster Adams Bilingual Elementary, where her daughters attend. This afternoon, she continued her crack down on administrators, firing 22 assistant principals, who like principals, work on year to year contracts. No specific reasons have been given for the terminations, which is consistent with DCPS’s policy of not disclosing personnel details. DCPS spokesperson Mafara…

WTOP’s Mark Segraves has the scoop that interim D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has advised Police Chief Cathy Lanier that she may legally fire the 17 officers (though Segraves now says it was 20 officers — that’s first time we’ve seen that number) she was forced to rehire. Lanier has reportedly already begun the process of terminating the officers again, who were originally fired for violations ranging from lying to get time off to posting…

When, in early March, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee handed 98 central office workers pink slips, the move was heralded as a step forward in cleaning out the District’s bloated and inefficient public schools bureaucracy. But you know what they say — one bureaucracy’s loss is another one’s gain. D.C. Wire reported yesterday that of the 98 workers fired, 11 have already been put back on the city payroll, though in a different department. According…