Chancellors email on Marion Barry

[Anonymous]

Barry was good for charters. He had no choice after the hand WTU dealt us all.

[Anonymous]

Lovely service today.

[Anonymous]

There's mourning and a grieving period that this city will endure. Don't make it an us versus them in regards to how the school system chooses to remember the legacy of Marion Barry. Hush and put yourself on mute for a moment. Your anonymous comments are just what they are but try this for me...go to the Barry Farm's and utter your dissatisfaction. I'll wait.

[Anonymous]

Cowards shouldn't utter Marion Barry's name because of all the things he was accused of and convicted for he was never a coward. As the kids would say...go sit your punk - azz down somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone else appalled the chancellor would choose to publicly celebrate a convicted drug user?
seriously undermines any confidence i had in her judgement about appropriate messages to send to our kids

Just be patient for a few days. This guy was loved by many in DC. It's SOP for a the politicians and high ranking bureaucrats to say a few respectful words. Let them. In 3 months it will all be behind us.

I think george w bush did a lot of harm to this country, but I wouldn't go and heckle at his funeral. Just be glad that the Barry era politics have (more or less) predeceased their namesake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me the problem was that the administration was corrupt and so many suffered under his leadership: SPED students, all students, kids in foster care...

I know he created summer jobs and all but to me he was white a mixed bag apart from the cocaine thing. I don't think this celebration should have been done at taxpayer expense. If private parties want to celebrate him great.

Oh please. Get real. Any time a prominent mayor, gov or any political figure dies, it will be paid for by tax payers. You a a real piece of work. Undercover racist that probably wouldn't have any issue with George Bush being honored right?

Different poster, but why on earth would I have a problem with former President George Bush -- either of them -- being honored?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone else appalled the chancellor would choose to publicly celebrate a convicted drug user?
seriously undermines any confidence i had in her judgement about appropriate messages to send to our kids

I hope you're not modeling for your own kids that only your bad decisions "count" no matter how many great decisions and meaningful accomplishments you have. If you are, the therapy industry lives parents like you for creating generations of people needing counseling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me the problem was that the administration was corrupt and so many suffered under his leadership: SPED students, all students, kids in foster care...

I know he created summer jobs and all but to me he was white a mixed bag apart from the cocaine thing. I don't think this celebration should have been done at taxpayer expense. If private parties want to celebrate him great.

Oh please. Get real. Any time a prominent mayor, gov or any political figure dies, it will be paid for by tax payers. You a a real piece of work. Undercover racist that probably wouldn't have any issue with George Bush being honored right?

Different poster, but why on earth would I have a problem with former President George Bush -- either of them -- being honored?

I assume that you're referring to George W. Bush, not his father. In any event, I never voted for W or for Barry. But W was never a serial tax evader, never was a convicted offender and never made racist remarks about racial groups the way Barry did.

[Anonymous]

It seems that in Kaya Henderson, Marion Barry found a schools chancellor more to his liking than Henderson's predecessor. Reading Barry's statement from a DC Council hearing below, it's not hard to figure out why.

From a DC education blog ("Marion Barry Is a Buffoon.")

"Sorry, but that's how I'm going to call it. The City Paper documents Barry's latest ramblings at a D.C. Public Schools oversight hearing and they're a doozy.

Marion Barry: 'I'm gonna raise a subject that I know is going to set off the Washington Post. We have a clash of cultures. We have a clash of cultures. Everybody that comes here talks about Michelle Rhee not including people, not being collaborative, not listening....

The reality is that this school system is 90, 92 percent African American, Latino American, and a small number of white students. Everyone knows that this country is a melting pot, but there are distinct cultures in this country. The African-American culture, because of our history and a lot of other reasons, has a distinct culture difference with non-white America. Latinos are the same thing. Does not mean that non-African-American, non-Latino cannot teach, cannot administer, but when the cultures are so great, Ms. Rhee comes from a culture...that's autocratic, a culture that's dictatorial, a culture of hierarchical in their discussions.

We see it every day in Iraq---the American government trying to change a culture that has been totalitarian, that has been nonexclusive, that has been a police state. And we're having a hard time now, after 10 or 12 years in Iraq, getting that culture shifted to democracy. We see it in Afghanistan, and so until we face that, we're still going to have those problems.

I read the chancellor's educational plan...It looks at though it was designed for Montgomery County, or Long Island, N.Y., or some other affluent county. It was not designed for Washington, D.C., for an urban area. Not designed for a city, a ward where 82 percent of the parents are single family in my ward, where 54 percent are in poverty....'

You can't teach a child to read when you can't read yourself. You can't teach a child values of respect if you don't respect yourself. And there's a lot of that going on around....We have to recognize this culture clash. Be ready---the Washington Post is going to be going crazy....I'm raising reality on where we are.'

* * *
Marion Barry... champion of low expectations, and apparently a bigot to boot. If you didn't know Barry was black you could be forgiven for mistaking some of this coming from klan literature."

http://www.dcedublog.com/2010/03/marion-barry-is-buffoon.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

Which agencies specifically is the bolded true of? Which agencies were taken from under his leadership, and which agencies had a Federal control board put in to run them? Please be specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

Which agencies specifically is the bolded true of? Which agencies were taken from under his leadership, and which agencies had a Federal control board put in to run them? Please be specific.

Not PP, but the best example is child welfare which is STILL under federal court control in 2014. IIUC the court remains of the view that more milestones must be met before the DC govt can be trusted with the handling of its most vulnerable children. Is that enough for you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

Which agencies specifically is the bolded true of? Which agencies were taken from under his leadership, and which agencies had a Federal control board put in to run them? Please be specific.

Not PP, but the best example is child welfare which is STILL under federal court control in 2014. IIUC the court remains of the view that more milestones must be met before the DC govt can be trusted with the handling of its most vulnerable children. Is that enough for you?

Sorry, you also asked about the control board. That presided over the entire DC budget, but was temporary. Think Detroit, although it wasn't born out of bankruptcy. The feds stepped in, or else bankruptcy was inevitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

Which agencies specifically is the bolded true of? Which agencies were taken from under his leadership, and which agencies had a Federal control board put in to run them? Please be specific.

Not PP, but the best example is child welfare which is STILL under federal court control in 2014. IIUC the court remains of the view that more milestones must be met before the DC govt can be trusted with the handling of its most vulnerable children. Is that enough for you?

As someone who works for CFSA (yes, that is DC's child welfare agency), CFSA is still under the consent decree for "LaShawn A.", but 1) that is NOT the same as being "under federal control" (newsflash: the Mayor of DC has appointed at least the last 4 Directors of CFSA, if not more); and 2) while CFSA is still under the consent decree, we are all but almost out of it. The agency has been well-managed for years, the current Director was 95% likely to stay in place no matter who won the election, and you are WRONG that somehow the agency is currently under federal control. The feds are NOT calling the shots; the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the City Council are making budget and Director appointment decisions.

You are free to have your opinions about Barry, but you are NOT allowed to spread misinformation about the status of DC agencies and since you're wrong about this one, to answer your question: No, that example is NOT enough because it's no longer true and I'm wondering if it was ever true because you got it so wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

Which agencies specifically is the bolded true of? Which agencies were taken from under his leadership, and which agencies had a Federal control board put in to run them? Please be specific.

Not PP, but the best example is child welfare which is STILL under federal court control in 2014. IIUC the court remains of the view that more milestones must be met before the DC govt can be trusted with the handling of its most vulnerable children. Is that enough for you?

As someone who works for CFSA (yes, that is DC's child welfare agency), CFSA is still under the consent decree for "LaShawn A.", but 1) that is NOT the same as being "under federal control" (newsflash: the Mayor of DC has appointed at least the last 4 Directors of CFSA, if not more); and 2) while CFSA is still under the consent decree, we are all but almost out of it. The agency has been well-managed for years, the current Director was 95% likely to stay in place no matter who won the election, and you are WRONG that somehow the agency is currently under federal control. The feds are NOT calling the shots; the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the City Council are making budget and Director appointment decisions.

You are free to have your opinions about Barry, but you are NOT allowed to spread misinformation about the status of DC agencies and since you're wrong about this one, to answer your question: No, that example is NOT enough because it's no longer true and I'm wondering if it was ever true because you got it so wrong.

I wrote "federal COURT control". Read my post. The consent decree resulted from a class action lawsuit in federal court. The agency still answers to that federal court. I think the phrase federal court control is correct and you are splitting hairs. Anyway, glad to hear that it's almost done with. I am always pleased to see progress in DC govt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

Which agencies specifically is the bolded true of? Which agencies were taken from under his leadership, and which agencies had a Federal control board put in to run them? Please be specific.

Not PP, but the best example is child welfare which is STILL under federal court control in 2014. IIUC the court remains of the view that more milestones must be met before the DC govt can be trusted with the handling of its most vulnerable children. Is that enough for you?

As someone who works for CFSA (yes, that is DC's child welfare agency), CFSA is still under the consent decree for "LaShawn A.", but 1) that is NOT the same as being "under federal control" (newsflash: the Mayor of DC has appointed at least the last 4 Directors of CFSA, if not more); and 2) while CFSA is still under the consent decree, we are all but almost out of it. The agency has been well-managed for years, the current Director was 95% likely to stay in place no matter who won the election, and you are WRONG that somehow the agency is currently under federal control. The feds are NOT calling the shots; the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the City Council are making budget and Director appointment decisions.

You are free to have your opinions about Barry, but you are NOT allowed to spread misinformation about the status of DC agencies and since you're wrong about this one, to answer your question: No, that example is NOT enough because it's no longer true and I'm wondering if it was ever true because you got it so wrong.

You may be entitled to your own opinion about the mayor-for-life (has a Mugabe-esque ring to it, no?), but not to your own facts.

The Washington Post reported in 1998 that D.C. government, under Barry, had hired more municipal employees than any other U.S. city.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it), according to Business Week, as part of the Barry record were guilty pleas or convictions of more than a dozen people in his administration for misconduct in office. Courts appointed receivers to oversee city agencies that provided public housing and cared for the mentally ill. In 1995, the U.S. Congress took away much of his remaining power by creating the District of Columbia Financial Control Board, which oversaw city finances through 2001.

According to Washingtonian magazine, by the time Barry left office as mayor the final time, five city agencies were in court receivership or under court management.

As Business Week noted: “He was very bright, with wonderful leadership and oratorical skills,” said former U.S. Representative James Walsh, a New York Republican who chaired the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversaw spending for the District of Columbia. “But he didn’t have a clue how to run a city.”