Rhee feared Hardy principal was weeding out poor kids

[Anonymous]

archerovi wrote:

This is, I think, pretty close to what happened. Whitmire's book also says Pope gave Rhee the impression he was on-board with the plan.

Pope didn't set out to discriminate against poor kids, and Rhee didn't set out to whitewash Hardy. The truth is, as it is so often, between these extremes. As a previous commenter summed it up: "dysfunctional systems beget dysfunctional workarounds".

I don't think it's even fair to say that the truth is between the extremes you cited. There is so much mistrust that disagreements quickly turn to demonization and people resort to maneuvering because they lose faith in persuasion.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:When Fenty was running in 2006 -- way before Rhee was on the scene -- it was an issue in Ward 3, and Fenty made a campaign promise that he would get rid of Pope if elected.

This is interesting, if true. In 2006, the Mayor didn't have control of the schools and Fenty had a record of opposing a mayoral takeover of the schools. Had Gray, in 2010, said that if he were elected he would have Pope reinstated, everyone would have gone ballistic about his micromanaging the school system. I guess there are multiple standards.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:
This is interesting, if true. In 2006, the Mayor didn't have control of the schools and Fenty had a record of opposing a mayoral takeover of the schools. Had Gray, in 2010, said that if he were elected he would have Pope reinstated, everyone would have gone ballistic about his micromanaging the school system. I guess there are multiple standards.

It seems to me that there were an awful lot of people who felt that Gray had made a campaign promise to reinstate Pope. While he never uttered the exact words he certainly didn't go out of his way to disabuse people of the notion. I went to meetings on the west side of town where he had surrogates going around saying, "Don't worry, Pope's not coming back, Gray just can't publicly take a position," so I have to imagine on the east side of town he had surrogates saying the opposite.

[Anonymous]

The only flaw with the overview of what happened is that the discipline problems are not coming from the new kids, it's the returning kids as much if not more. I've no way of knowing why except to say that their behavior towards Pope's replacement seems very similar to that of many returning parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only flaw with the overview of what happened is that the discipline problems are not coming from the new kids, it's the returning kids as much if not more. I've no way of knowing why except to say that their behavior towards Pope's replacement seems very similar to that of many returning parents.

I know people that work with kids from Hardy and they say pretty much that a lot of kids were told that they did not need to respect the new principal. Kids openly say my mom says the new person full of BS. The problem these parents did not get was when you get selective about the adults you don't have to respect kids decide the whole respect thing is BS.

I also blame Pope for this problem. He also decided it was better to fight the system than work for a better day. Sure I can see why but honestly along with Rhee, Gray, Fenty etal another adult chooses himself over the kids.

[Anonymous]

"He also decided it was better to fight the system than work for a better day."

Um, maybe he decided that it would be best for the children if he stayed. Just a thought. Not that it turned out to be true...

Oh wait, Hardy fell apart after he left. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Oh wait, Hardy fell apart after he left. Go figure.

But the real question is what caused it. Could it be sabatoging it to be spiteful? I get a real sense that parents were willing to do that out of spite to Fenty and Rhee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh wait, Hardy fell apart after he left. Go figure.

But the real question is what caused it. Could it be sabatoging it to be spiteful? I get a real sense that parents were willing to do that out of spite to Fenty and Rhee.

you truly believe parents WANT their kids in a school which is 'falling-apart'? I put the blame on Rhee's failure to replace Pope with a full-time, effective principal.

[Anonymous]

The parents and teachers wanted to be right. They wanted the new pro-Rhee principal to be wrong. Sometimes, yes, the adults are ridiculous and their antics hurt the kids. This is a prime example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: you truly believe parents WANT their kids in a school which is 'falling-apart'? I put the blame on Rhee's failure to replace Pope with a full-time, effective principal.

No, but I believe they didn't think through the consequences of their actions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wait, Hardy fell apart after he left. Go figure.

But the real question is what caused it. Could it be sabatoging it to be spiteful? I get a real sense that parents were willing to do that out of spite to Fenty and Rhee.

you truly believe parents WANT their kids in a school which is 'falling-apart'? I put the blame on Rhee's failure to replace Pope with a full-time, effective principal.

Yes, it's truly shocking that when aggrieved parents let their kids know in ways both explicit and implicit that they can run wild and that disrespecting the school administrators that those kids will tend to act up. So, so shocking.

It's a failure of parental responsibility, and when the parents act like spoiled children, it's always the kids that suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh wait, Hardy fell apart after he left. Go figure.

But the real question is what caused it. Could it be sabatoging it to be spiteful? I get a real sense that parents were willing to do that out of spite to Fenty and Rhee.

you truly believe parents WANT their kids in a school which is 'falling-apart'? I put the blame on Rhee's failure to replace Pope with a full-time, effective principal.

Anyone who's ever raised a toddler knows that when they're in the middle of a tantrum, reason is the first thing to go. So, yes, a small but vocal set of parents throw their tantrum, lose sight of what's important, and the kids suffer.

[Anonymous]

So the tantruming of small set of parents could bring down the order in an entire school. yeah. sure.

try again?

[Anonymous]

It's much easier to blame the failure of Hardy this year on a handful of parents than the incompetent administrators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's much easier to blame the failure of Hardy this year on a handful of parents than the incompetent administrators.

Without a doubt the transition was bungled, bringing in a part-time principal with no middle school experience into a difficult situation. But the parents are not without blame. If you go around rubbing lamps don't be surprised if a genie pops out.