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The Answer Sheet: The feuding is getting in the way

Valerie Strauss has written a strong column that provokes strong comments. I don't know enough about D. C. political scene to know how accurate these comments are, but they certainly raise some questions.





rsmullin1 wrote:A leader gets those who look up to them to follow. Our schools are not military institutions that just need a good hard general to crack down on those who will not follow blindly. Schools are human organizations where trust, camaraderie, and mutual respect get human results. Michelle Rhee is the wrong person for a truly human enterprise.




vscribe wrote:
You're another naive, blind Rhee-supporter, but it's not necessarily your fault.

She has raised cronyism at DCPS to a level not seen in prior administrations. She has fired almost everyone at Central Office with institutional knowledge who were excellent at their jobs, so she could put people in place loyal to (or fearful of) her who would not question her about her wrongdoing (she also is the most autocratic leader of the school yet). As a result, central office is staffed by over-paid novices (the salaries she pays these people without prior experience are alarming, yet teachers, paid far less on average, are being unfairly slandered by her and her likewise supercilious supporters, as if the failures and ineffectiveness of DCPS is their fault alone). Worse, central office is run no better, as her cronies make more mistakes and add to inefficiency far more than the people she fired. Unfortunately, this aspect of her management remains a dirty little secret that only insiders know. The local newspapers won't touch it. That's why I understand that your ignorance about Rhee is really not your fault.

I wanted desperately to believe in Rhee too. As a special education teacher who fought frustration ever since I joined DCPS in 2005, I voted for the Mayor solely based on his promise to fix the schools. Also, as a DC Teaching Fellow/New Teacher Project recruit, I hailed his appointment of Rhee. Nonetheless,I had to join the army of dissenters when it became impossible to ignore Rhee's hypocrisy and laziness (yes, laziness, because she is working from Janey's curriculum, Janey's Master plan, and an ideology borne out of her cliquish "Teach for America/New Teacher Project/New Leader for New Schools" arrogance, which has a "my way or the highway" ring to it). Moreover, she does not have nearly as many responsibilities on her plate as her predecessors did. Fenty took away facilities matters from her and gave it to Alan Lew, the Technology department was meshed with the city's, the curriculum was already in place, thanks to Dr. Janey, and certification was assumed by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, OSSE. All of these matters were managed by her predecessor. Yet, what has indolent Rhee done with her free time? She has roamed the nation bad mouthing teachers and well-meaning people, who are nonetheless ignorant of education, have drunk her kool-aid and fallen victims to her indoctrination.

Trust me, if you really care about D.C. and its children, you too will come to see the light about Rhee and realize that she is not who she purports to be.




judyfish77 wrote:
The call for Mr.Fenty to end the Council/Rhee bickering is ridiculous. Mr.Fenty has neither the skill nor the motivation to enter into this fray. The man can hardly put together a coherent sentence. Mr.Fenty was never known as a conciliator. Remember he is the original loose cannon of the Council. To ask him to mediate anything is laughable.





There are more comments at the Washington Post.


by Valerie Strauss

I just might scream if I hear one more person invoke what is "best for the kids" in the growing conflict between D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and her critics.

Tension is rising over a seemingly ever-larger gap between what Rhee says in public and what she does -- and while everybody is arguing about who is right and who is wrong and who didn't call whom back, guess who is going to suffer?

(Did I just invoke what is "best for the kids"? Okay, I'm screaming.)

Rhee was criticized by D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray for deciding unilaterally to lay off teachers and staff instead of trimming summer school operations, as the council had ordered, to save $9 million. It was suggested that she broke the law; she said she was on solid legal ground.

My colleague Bill Turque wrote in Friday's Washington Post that the dismissals have brought us to the most turbulent time of Rhee's 28-month tenure as D.C. schools czar. The distance, and enmity, between Rhee and her critics has never been greater. And the public debate gets ever more shrill:

She's right! Research says kids need summer schools!

She's wrong! Kids suffer when teachers are laid off during the year!

She's wrong! She can't ignore the D.C. Council and do whatever she wants!

She's right! The D.C. Council only cares about adults, not kids!

She's right! And people who don't see it that way don't care about the kids!

She's wrong! And we'll never trust her again!

Here's the problem: The toxic atmosphere will make it impossible for real reform to take place. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong.

It's time for someone to stage a high-level intervention and put a stop to this feuding. I'd vote for the man who hired Rhee in the first place and made her more powerful than previous school chiefs. That would be Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

Rhee seems to think she can do whatever she wants because she is sure she is on the side of the angels in her reform efforts. She clearly views Gray as the defender of process rather than poor kids.

Such characterizations are not only pointless but dangerous because they only increase a polarization that is sure to end in another failed reform, which would be tragic for the nation's capital.

The more the bureaucracy doesn't trust Rhee, the more entrenched it will get, and the less it will do what she wants.

If you don't think this will happen, look at what has gone on in the District for years. With every new superintendent and every new reform policy, the folks who don't trust their leaders just dig in, waiting for the next boss to show up. That's how we got to the place we are today.

Rhee would get a lot further if she made her case to the public, explaining why she was doing what she was doing. She doesn't have to be nice about it. She just can't say one thing when something else is true. And she has done that more than once in recent months, and not only about the layoffs.

I found disturbing a recent story about Rhee by Turque, in which he quotes a few principals who said that Rhee asked at a meeting how she could regain the trust of teachers. Such a question indicates that she recognizes that having their trust is useful.

But when Turque asked her about it, she denied ever saying it. My instinct tells me that the principals did not misquote her. So why would she deny having said it? None of the possibilities is good.

Does it matter? Yes.

I have said before that I fervently hope that Rhee is able to succeed where her predecessors could not. But no matter how marvelous her policies, she won't be able to implement them by hedging the truth. It's that simple.

So, Mayor Fenty, do something. Hold a summit. Bring together Rhee, Gray and whoever else matters.

Shame them, if you must, to end their feuding. Tell them to return each other's calls.

Because at this point, the adults are sounding a lot more childlike than the kids.

— Valerie Strauss
Washington Post
2008-11-02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102318.html

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