9486 in the collection
Fenty, Rhee Look for Ways Around Union Proposals Would Set Stage For School System Rebuild
Ohanian Comment: New
Orleans showed the way. Now the District of
Columbia would like to follow. So far no
journalist has bothered to uncover which
foundation is supplying the money to pay the
promised big salaries to teachers who forgo
tenure. Now we can also ask which foundations
will step forward to endorse and finance this
plan.
I can't resist: Just let us secede.
That's a line from the Vermont Second Republic. I
seriously doubt that any D. C. teachers said it.
As A
Place to Respond blogspot observes,
About that STATE OF EMERGENCY
Dear Rhee and Fenty:
Indeed there is one! When the ed reform bigwigs
who posture as messiahs for poor children while
wagging fingers of blame at teachers and public
education say it's time for the nation to declare
a "state of emergency" about the condition of
childhood itself among our nation's millions of
children living in poverty, living amid violence,
abuse, and neglect, living without adequate
health care, then we may finally get some
"reforms" that will make a difference in the
lives of children.
A reminder that our nation is number one in
childhood poverty among the wealthy nations and
next to last in overall child well-being.
You say poverty is no excuse. No, it isn't. It's
a grinding reality.
But onward to more impotent market reforms,
disaster ed reform, bandaids like charters and
merit pay, and the dismantling rather than
strengthening of public education.
By Bill Turque
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Schools Chancellor
Michelle A. Rhee are discussing a dramatic
expansion of their effort to remove ineffective
teachers by restoring the District's power to
create nonunionized charter schools and seeking
federal legislation declaring the school system
in a "state of emergency," a move that would
eliminate the need to bargain with the Washington
Teachers' Union.
If adopted, the measures would essentially allow
the District to begin building a new school
system. Such an effort would be similar to one
underway in New Orleans, where a state takeover
after Hurricane Katrina placed most of the city's
78 public schools in a special Recovery School
District. About half of the district's schools
are charters, and it has no union contract.
Fenty and Rhee referred questions about the
proposals to mayoral spokeswoman Mafara Hobson.
"The Mayor and the Chancellor will continue to
keep these and all ideas on the table," Hobson
said in a statement issued Friday evening. "As
ideas are developed and considered there will be
extensive consultation with numerous and various
people."
The proposals first appeared in a statement
drafted for a Sept. 22 news conference where Rhee
and Fenty were scheduled to present a series of
steps they could take under existing regulations
to rid the system of teachers deemed ineffective.
The steps, dubbed Plan B, would allow Rhee to
bypass contract negotiations with the union. But
the news conference was canceled and the draft
statement was never made public. The Washington
Post obtained a copy of it under the Freedom of
Information Act.
The draft statement said Rhee will explore local
and federal legislation to restore power once
held by the D.C. Board of Education to create
charter schools, which are publicly funded but
independently operated. That authority lapsed
with the mayoral takeover of the school system
last year. It also mentioned seeking the ability
to establish "autonomous" schools, operated by
the District but that would have a higher degree
of freedom for staff and parents to shape
academic programs.
"Since charters and autonomous schools are not
subject to the collective bargaining agreement,
these schools would be better positioned to
ensure quality teachers in the classroom," the
statement said.
The statement also said Rhee will explore federal
legislation "that declares DCPS in a state of
emergency, given our status as the lowest
performing school district in the nation. "Such a
declaration," it said, would free it "from the
collective bargaining agreement and other
constraints preventing the District from
providing high-quality teachers to its students."
On Oct. 2, Fenty and Rhee presented Plan B
without mentioning the proposals to seek
authority to create charter schools or a federal
emergency declaration.
Those ideas, however, clearly remain in play.
Rhee indicated as much at an Oct. 31 forum
sponsored by the Aspen Institute, where she
discussed her proposal to make teachers more
directly accountable for student performance by
offering large salary increases in exchange for
rules that weaken tenure protections. Opposition
to the plan has stalemated contract talks with
the union, which has refused to bring the
contract to its 4,000 members for a vote.
According to an account of the forum, written by
Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt and
published on Monday's op-ed page, Rhee said a
"vast majority" of teachers want to be judged on
how they perform and that some are saying, "Just
let us secede." [SIC]
Rhee, who was wearing a sheriff's badge at the
Halloween meeting, said that making some schools
independent could set up an "incredibly
interesting" experiment. When an audience member
asked if she would consider declaring a state of
emergency, Rhee said, "We're researching all of
our options."
Weingarten declined comment on the matter Friday.
"We're not going to get involved in a public
negotiation," federation spokesman George Jackson
said.
Union President George Parker said he was not
aware that Fenty and Rhee have such ideas under
consideration. But he said any attempt to weaken
the union would be vigorously fought.
"Any effort to circumvent collective bargaining
will be met with serious opposition on the part
of WTU and its members," he said.
Obama's election has triggered intense
speculation in education policy circles about the
future of education reform in the District, and
the impact a new administration might have. In
the closing moments of the final presidential
debate, Obama praised Rhee as a "wonderful new
superintendent" working with Fenty to overhaul
the school system.
At the Aspen Institute forum, which occurred
before the election, Rhee said the fate of her
reform efforts could "depend on the fortitude of
the administration."
Privately, union leaders said they regarded the
chances of the District securing a New Orleans-
style state of emergency from the federal
government as remote, given Obama's victory and
the heavy Democratic margins in congressional
elections Nov. 4.
There is also scant evidence that Fenty and Rhee
have attempted to build support for the idea with
potential allies. A spokeswoman for Rep. George
Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House
Education and Labor Committee, said he has had no
discussions on the matter with District
officials. A spokeswoman for Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings also said she was
unaware of any talks.
A phone message Friday to Stanford University
professor Linda Darling-Hammond, one of two
leaders of Obama's education transition team, was
not returned.
Union leaders said the proposal to revive the
District's chartering power, now held exclusively
by the Public Charter School Board, is of more
concern. Tom Nida, charter board chairman, said
he had no objection to the idea in principle but
that it needed careful study.
"It's a logical step for her to take," he said of
Rhee's idea.
— Bill Turque
Washington Post
2008-11-16
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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