Posted on 10/13/2010 9:59:25 AM PDT by WebFocus
The head of the D.C. public school system says she is resigning.
Michelle Rhee made the announcement at a news conference Wednesday. She says the thought of not being chancellor anymore is "heartbreaking."
Rhee took over one of the worst urban school systems in the country in 2007 with a mandate from Mayor Adrian Fenty to improve them. Since then, she has arguably improved test scores but also angered many with teacher layoffs, firings and a brusque style.
Rhee's departure is not surprising since she campaigned for Fenty, who lost his re-election bid in a September primary.
Fenty says Rhee will resign at the end of the month. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
This is a loss for those schools. The kids’ education will suffer from continuation of the union grip.
But, I think she knows her future and wants to get out before some kind of political mess her new boss will create for her.
It is a loss for those kids, indeed.
However, it just may be Sacramento’s gain.
More here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101303416.html
D.C. parents sound off on Rhee exit
EXCERPTS
“I figured this was coming,” said Ugenia Bagley, whose daughter is a first-grader. “A lot of people had problems with [Rhee]. I don’t have many problems with her. She got some schools in order that weren’t in order.”
Lorraine Woodridge, 54, has two grandchildren at Thomas and two others at a nearby public charter school. She said she can’t believe how the public schools have “turned around” under Rhee’s guidance.
“I would like to see her stay,” said Woodridge, who has lived in Northeast Washington for more than 20 years. “I’ve seen a lot of improvements. . . . The teachers are caring; it’s not just a job to them. I haven’t seen something like that in D.C. in a long, long time.”
......
“I don’t think she actually did much, anyway,” she said. Cha`Nova said that for schools to improve, the city needs to pay teachers more, offer more special-education classes and give children more resources, such as community centers. “They are being set up for failure. It should be better.”
.....
“I was supportive of Michelle Rhee’s reforms. But I gotta tell you, she didn’t go out on a high note,” said Brian Cohen, 42, who works on Capitol Hill and has a first-grader and fifth-grader at the school. “The way she handled the last six weeks left a bad taste in my mouth. I want someone who’s going to continue reforms, but who’s about the kids, not an ego trip.”
Deirdre McAllister, 45, a government worker who was dropping off her daughter at pre-kindergarten, called Rhee’s departure “a loss” for the city.
“She had to make some hard decisions, and in a lot of cases she made the right decisions,” McAllister said. “There are a lot of people in the schools who probably weren’t certified to do their jobs. It was really strong of her to remove those who were ineffective.”
McAllister added that the D.C. school system “should be the model for the rest of the country. It’s not yet, but maybe it will be.”
Democracy. It really isn't for everyone.
More evidence that government schools are (and have been for decades) a failed experiment. Do not experiment with your children.
RE: However, it just may be Sacramento’s gain.
Are you telling us something we don’t know yet?
““should be the model for the rest of the country. It’s not yet, but maybe it will be.”
...oh it’s a model all right...a model for a black urban school system...notice that Obama and the rest of Capital Hill send their kids to private schools.
Michelle Rhee is a true reformer, who has almost single-handedly waged a battle to undo decades of rot and decline in the DC public school system.
Like all real (and effective) reformers, she’s a huge threat to the decrepit establishment, who have done everything in their power to stop her from cleaning house.
It saddens me to see that she’s being forced to give up the fight. She was the best thing that’s happened to the DC schools in a generation.
“...oh it’s a model all right...a model for a black urban school system...notice that Obama and the rest of Capital Hill send their kids to private schools.”
Take that model somewhere else.
We private school and supplement when we deem necessary.
“...oh it’s a model all right...a model for a black urban school system...notice that Obama and the rest of Capital Hill send their kids to private schools.”
Take that model somewhere else.
We private school and supplement when we deem necessary.
She’ll make a great Secretary of Education in the 2013 Palin/Daniels/Barbour/Christie administration.
HUGE loss for the DC schools, but that’s politics.
Hopefully, she’ll be snapped right up by some wise
school system.
She’s brilliant, tough as nails and fearless
against the teacher unions.
MUST SEE, if you missed this
Video:
Scroll up to 4:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Auvrsw4bT0&p=FB34F7A3C0610E25&index=2&feature=BF
And the IMPORTANT segment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUqzS5Egbt0&p=FB34F7A3C0610E25&index=3&feature=BF
America’s future .. on the line. I was shocked that
Oprah took on her buddy -0’s union comrades.
God bless and protect Michelle Rhee.
Paying teachers MORE to do LESS.
SPECIAL education classes,
MORE RESOURCES and of course
MORE COMMUNITY CENTERS,
will NOT make KIDS BETTER STUDENTS.
This approach has NEVER worked.
If the kids aren't DOING their work and don't care there is NO POINT in any of this. What they are “learning” is garbage as well too.
The problem is the CURRICULUM, LOW STANDARDS, KIDS, PARENTS, and TEACHERS. It's a losing combination. Their home life is atrocious. Their PARENTS really don't care - and that is the MAJORITY of them. Teachers really don't care. They actually get paid MORE to teach in this "environment".
Median household income in the District of Columbia: $47,644
Average Teacher Salary in the District of Columbia: $59,000
The problem isn’t paying teachers more.
Meant to say “The solution isn’t paying teachers more.”
Well leave it to DC to do the union thing.
Score one for the NEA hacks who defend incompetency and sloth.
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