Jonetta Barras says what everyone is thinking

[Anonymous]

This article has more merit that I think people appreciate. I am a Dem, middle of the road. But lets be real. The DC school system has been a mess for decades, and the individuals directly responsible for that mess include the Ed Board, School Admin, Teachers Union, Teachers, etc. I, of course, understand that DC has some great teachers. Absent race, most people would say that, if one has created a mess after a few decades running something, then one should probably be fired. Since most of the individuals involved with the school system have been African Americans during this time, then no doubt African Americans will bear the brunt of the firing, etc. But the issue is should we continue to use the school system to keep many AA in middle class or should we use the school system to educate the DC youth, most of whom are AA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a question for you Dorrie: Ever hear of BRAC?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Realignment_and_Closure)

One thing everyone in the country agreed on was that military bases needed to be closed. "It's a no-brainer!" Of course, it's taken decades to even start to close bases, and it's a political battle to the death every time we try.

Are you arguing that the residents of Novato, CA were supposed to be *grateful* that their air force base was closed???

C'mon, let's be adults here. There are incredibly difficult decisions that had to be made. The status quo meant hemorrhaging money on half-empty, crumbling facilities. It's the easiest thing in the world to wave your hands and say, "it wouldn't taken much more planning to make things work". It's always easy when you don't have to do it.

Your argument doesn't hold water for two reasons.

1. The purpose of the military base was not to serve the local population. The benefits to the local economies were incidental. Therefore they had no right to expect the based to stay. Public schools are another matter entirely.

2. At best you have a hypothesis that people are just resistant to change. To prove it you have to determine first whether there is real substance to the objections and whether there are reasonable alternatives. You have not.

I suspect that many posters with similar beliefs don't really know what the actual objections are. And therefore they, like you, apply a generalization that local groups object to everything and thus you can dismiss their concerns without hearing them out. This is hubris.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a question for you Dorrie: Ever hear of BRAC?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Realignment_and_Closure)

One thing everyone in the country agreed on was that military bases needed to be closed. "It's a no-brainer!" Of course, it's taken decades to even start to close bases, and it's a political battle to the death every time we try.

Are you arguing that the residents of Novato, CA were supposed to be *grateful* that their air force base was closed???

C'mon, let's be adults here. There are incredibly difficult decisions that had to be made. The status quo meant hemorrhaging money on half-empty, crumbling facilities. It's the easiest thing in the world to wave your hands and say, "it wouldn't taken much more planning to make things work". It's always easy when you don't have to do it.

Your argument doesn't hold water for two reasons.

1. The purpose of the military base was not to serve the local population. The benefits to the local economies were incidental. Therefore they had no right to expect the based to stay. Public schools are another matter entirely.

Sorry, but your thinking about this is muddled. Your argument, refactored is, every public school has a right to stay open, regardless of population changes. You obviously think that no public school should, once opened, ever be closed. I think that's madness. Every school system in the country expands facilities when child population grows, and shrinks when it contracts.

2. At best you have a hypothesis that people are just resistant to change. To prove it you have to determine first whether there is real substance to the objections and whether there are reasonable alternatives. You have not.

I suspect that many posters with similar beliefs don't really know what the actual objections are. And therefore they, like you, apply a generalization that local groups object to everything and thus you can dismiss their concerns without hearing them out. This is hubris.

It's not a hypothesis; it's a law of human nature. Now people may overcome that resistance over time, through persuasion, but it's not really questionable that folks crave stability. I never said that people's concerns were baseless--just that, however you reconfigure the reform strategy, I'll find dozens of naysayers who have equally compelling reasons not to change anything. So you get the DCPS of the last 30 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a question for you Dorrie: Ever hear of BRAC?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Realignment_and_Closure)

One thing everyone in the country agreed on was that military bases needed to be closed. "It's a no-brainer!" Of course, it's taken decades to even start to close bases, and it's a political battle to the death every time we try.

Are you arguing that the residents of Novato, CA were supposed to be *grateful* that their air force base was closed???

C'mon, let's be adults here. There are incredibly difficult decisions that had to be made. The status quo meant hemorrhaging money on half-empty, crumbling facilities. It's the easiest thing in the world to wave your hands and say, "it wouldn't taken much more planning to make things work". It's always easy when you don't have to do it.

Your argument doesn't hold water for two reasons.

1. The purpose of the military base was not to serve the local population. The benefits to the local economies were incidental. Therefore they had no right to expect the based to stay. Public schools are another matter entirely.

Sorry, but your thinking about this is muddled. Your argument, refactored is, every public school has a right to stay open, regardless of population changes. You obviously think that no public school should, once opened, ever be closed. I think that's madness. Every school system in the country expands facilities when child population grows, and shrinks when it contracts.

2. At best you have a hypothesis that people are just resistant to change. To prove it you have to determine first whether there is real substance to the objections and whether there are reasonable alternatives. You have not.

I suspect that many posters with similar beliefs don't really know what the actual objections are. And therefore they, like you, apply a generalization that local groups object to everything and thus you can dismiss their concerns without hearing them out. This is hubris.

It's not a hypothesis; it's a law of human nature. Now people may overcome that resistance over time, through persuasion, but it's not really questionable that folks crave stability. I never said that people's concerns were baseless--just that, however you reconfigure the reform strategy, I'll find dozens of naysayers who have equally compelling reasons not to change anything. So you get the DCPS of the last 30 years.

No. You are not thinking clearly. I said the example was bad because you compared the school situation to a group that had no legitimate right to what they were demanding. It is a bad analogy. It does not mean that the dc residents have individual vetoes over the location of every school. A better analogy might be a neighborhood group that opposes a proposed re-zoning to enable a high rise in their community. Sometimes it's a bunch of NIMBY nutjobs. But other times the opposition has real merit.

And this gets to your second point about this "law of human nature". Sure, any plan is going to have opponents. I have lived in DC long enough to see the most ridiculous protests, usually in Wards 2 and 3 and over zoning and roads. But you can't just wave your hands and say "any plan will have detractors". Some plans are better than others. The only way to know is to dig into the specific decisions. This is something that is done in every city and county, all the time - school boundaries, zoning changes, roads, you name it. Most of those elected officials manage to get things done without getting booted out of office, because the governments find a way to address the biggest community complaints while still getting things done. This one did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not Ward 3. My point is, there were *plenty* of folks who were incensed because *their* school was closed. Period. The vast majority of parents with a child in a shuttered local school would have preferred that that local school had stayed open. "After all, why not renovate *my* school, and shutter those two other schools--their kids can come to my kid's school. It's OUTRAGEOUS that Rhee closed my kid's school! It makes no sense!! GRR!" Meanwhile, the parents in the school that remains open are pissed off that "all these outsiders are imported into my kid's school, disrupting everything." Again, some folks seem to think that "reform" means that everyone is happy. Reform usually means that in the short-term, no one is happy. Or at least a voting majority are unhappy.

You can talk about how everyone would've been happy as a clam if only Rhee had done differently whatever pissed you off personally. But everyone is not you. If she'd addressed your particular concerns, it would've pissed off someone else.

Rhee's replacement will either do nothing, or will piss off folks just as Rhee has.

NP here. So you've decided that Rhee knows best what schools should be closed and Ward 5 residents couldn't possibly be right about what has happened. That Rhee doesn't make mistakes and anyone who gets angry is just afraid of "change."

You've demonstrated Rhee's problem -- she makes mistakes and can't admit to it. If anyone gets pissed off, well, she doesn't care because she just really really cares about the children and she's the only one who can save them. She really does have a savior complex.

[Anonymous]

I did not read Jonetta's column though can speculate what she may have written based on when she was the political analyst for Kojo's "DC Politics Hour." (I think Jeff errs when he thinks her thinking reflects her post-WAMU employment - she has always been fairly upfront on her views.)

Perhaps I inhabit a special enclave in Ward 3, or have white friends in Ward who defy some of the earlier PPs' experiences, but I have yet to hear any folks compare Gray to Barry. Most of these folks like Rhee and liked that Fenty hired someone willing to blow up the central school administration. There is something WRONG when books are sitting in a DC warehouse, a specific school starts in two days, and central administration says it will take three weeks to get the books to the school. The start date wasn't a secret. That should be CRIMINAL. People needed to be fired from or reassigned at school headquarters and Rhee was willing to do it. This was not an easy thing to do. I feel bad for the folks who lost those jobs, but I feel more bad for kids and teachers who do not have books for three weeks.

I voted for Gray for council chair, but not for mayor. I do hope, however, that he governs as he campaigned. He did a good job in developing consensus on the council and I hope he brings that similar skill to uniting the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did not read Jonetta's column though can speculate what she may have written based on when she was the political analyst for Kojo's "DC Politics Hour." (I think Jeff errs when he thinks her thinking reflects her post-WAMU employment - she has always been fairly upfront on her views.)

Perhaps I inhabit a special enclave in Ward 3, or have white friends in Ward who defy some of the earlier PPs' experiences, but I have yet to hear any folks compare Gray to Barry. Most of these folks like Rhee and liked that Fenty hired someone willing to blow up the central school administration. There is something WRONG when books are sitting in a DC warehouse, a specific school starts in two days, and central administration says it will take three weeks to get the books to the school. The start date wasn't a secret. That should be CRIMINAL. People needed to be fired from or reassigned at school headquarters and Rhee was willing to do it. This was not an easy thing to do. I feel bad for the folks who lost those jobs, but I feel more bad for kids and teachers who do not have books for three weeks.

I voted for Gray for council chair, but not for mayor. I do hope, however, that he governs as he campaigned. He did a good job in developing consensus on the council and I hope he brings that similar skill to uniting the city.

I wish Fenty had done the same. His door to door campaign suggested a presence that was not reflected in his time in office.

[Anonymous]

I voted for Fenty but wish folks would take a few deep breaths and try to get to know Gray and give the guy a chance. So far he sounds reasonable to me. He did two radio shows on Friday and was impressive on both. (Kojo, with Tom Sherwood, and Plotkin).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did not read Jonetta's column though can speculate what she may have written based on when she was the political analyst for Kojo's "DC Politics Hour." (I think Jeff errs when he thinks her thinking reflects her post-WAMU employment - she has always been fairly upfront on her views.)

Perhaps I inhabit a special enclave in Ward 3, or have white friends in Ward who defy some of the earlier PPs' experiences, but I have yet to hear any folks compare Gray to Barry. Most of these folks like Rhee and liked that Fenty hired someone willing to blow up the central school administration. There is something WRONG when books are sitting in a DC warehouse, a specific school starts in two days, and central administration says it will take three weeks to get the books to the school. The start date wasn't a secret. That should be CRIMINAL. People needed to be fired from or reassigned at school headquarters and Rhee was willing to do it. This was not an easy thing to do. I feel bad for the folks who lost those jobs, but I feel more bad for kids and teachers who do not have books for three weeks.

I voted for Gray for council chair, but not for mayor. I do hope, however, that he governs as he campaigned. He did a good job in developing consensus on the council and I hope he brings that similar skill to uniting the city.

I wish Fenty had done the same. His door to door campaign suggested a presence that was not reflected in his time in office.

And this is why people in the other neighborhoods are so pissed off. He overpromised on having open, transparent and responsive government. This means different things to different constituents. He knocked on everybody's door to get votes and then he never came back.

[Anonymous]

I voted for Fenty because I liked what he was doing with the schools. I'm disappointed Gray got elected because I think he is going to stop the progress that was being made. I also think that black voters rejected Fenty because they didn't like that he was firing teacher and hiring competent bureaucrats. That doesn't mean I'm an African colonialist thinker. Every time a black voter is disappointed, doesn't mean it's a racist plot. Racism is really overrated

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Fenty because I liked what he was doing with the schools. I'm disappointed Gray got elected because I think he is going to stop the progress that was being made. I also think that black voters rejected Fenty because they didn't like that he was firing teacher and hiring competent bureaucrats. That doesn't mean I'm an African colonialist thinker. Every time a black voter is disappointed, doesn't mean it's a racist plot. Racism is really overrated

A significant factor of colonialism is a belief that the natives can not rule themselves. As Kipling put it, it was the "White Man's Burden" to rule over those so clearly unable to govern themselves. What you write above does seem to reflect this type of thinking.

Gray has repeatedly stated that he favors education reform. A major point of his victory speech was a commitment to continuing such reform. He was a supporter of mayoral control of the schools much earlier than Fenty. It is wrong to suggest that Michelle Rhee and her slash and burn approach is the only course for successful reform. There is really no evidential support for your belief that Gray will stop the progress. That is an emotional response on your part.

The idea that black voters do not appreciate competent bureaucrats is so rooted in colonial thinking that I can hardly believe anyone would argue otherwise. It is the idea that the only competent bureaucrats are white is what is troublesome to voters (many white voters included).

[Anonymous]

Post colonial? you really do a disservice to African liberation and you should do a little reading or maybe you are just a product of the DC school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Post colonial? you really do a disservice to African liberation and you should do a little reading or maybe you are just a product of the DC school system.

Who are you talking to? 9:19 and 9:39 talked about colonialism, not post colonialism.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Post colonial? you really do a disservice to African liberation and you should do a little reading or maybe you are just a product of the DC school system.

Who are you talking to? 9:19 and 9:39 talked about colonialism, not post colonialism.

9:19 and 15:30 appear to be the same poster. If so, the poster should probably refrain from comments about the educational background of others.

[Anonymous]

Folks, the world is not going to come to an end. I personally think Jonetta is full of it. Give me a break. She might as well say that the negros just don't know what's good for them!

I truly believe that had Rhee approached people in a different way, she could have still been successful without pissing everyone off. Instead of sitting in Ward 3 living rooms, she should have been having meetings all over the city, including in Wards 7 and 8.

Cynthia Tucker, Pulitizer Prize winning journalist, stated that she has never heard politicians piss so many people off unnecessarily. We recognize that people get upset when change occurs, but you don't have to be a jerk when it is just not warranted. I find Rhee's post election comments to be very ungracious. I hear she has a job with the White House. She should be careful b/c she cannot possibly believe that she can act the same way working for Arne.