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229 Teachers RIFed, see DC Wire for full story
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Anonymous
Have you bothered to read any personal stories like the one posted in this thread? Or did you just jump in without assessing the situation, on the assumption that your desire to express your opinion automatically meant it was of value to anyone other than you? |
Anonymous
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It's all a question of priorities.
If budgets have to be cut, then do it, but why make the children suffer. Cut some other services. Give up useless things like the war |
Anonymous
Wait a minute. The war (in Iraq or in Afganistan, btw?) is being funded as a line-item in the DCPS budget? Who knew? Thank goodness we've got a crack forensic accountant like you on board DCUM! |
Anonymous
Believe or not, not everyone feels the same way about the "destruction" of DCPS by Rhee. Their opinions are just as legitimate as yours. The sentiment on DCUM is so anti-Rhee and Fenty, the folks that don't agree just don't bother to post. Your post is a good example why not. |
Anonymous
Agree! |
Anonymous
If you don't find the firing of a dedicated teacher with excellent performance reviews and who spent her own money in the classroom and who hadn't been evaluated for even 5 minutes by her own administration to be destructive, then how exactly would you characterize it? |
Anonymous
"crappy" "suck" some posters are verbally bankrupt. |
Anonymous
| I hope people who agree with Rhee and Fenty's policies do post--I would like to see the light. I think there is such anti-Rhee sentiment as so many of us are pretty versed in school politicy because we have to be -- we have invested a great deal of ourselves and our children in area schools, have researched the issues, and are peeling back the onion on Rhee's 'reforms'. When they negatively impact schools where we have given countless volunteer or professional hours, or our own children, we speak up. Everyone knows DCPS is abysmal, which is why any more blows hurt so much! If there are other points of view speak up. Personally, I was content with Janey. He seemed in it for the school system, not his national media profile. I truly believe that DC schools --already such a political football--need a true educator steward who also had good business/management sense. A rare breed, but surely not impossible to find in a nation of 300+ million? Why did we roll the dice with Rhee, with 3 years of teaching through TFA, and an immediate jump to running her own education service? I know people like this. They are focused on telling others how to serve, not serving themselves. If she was so invested in inner city education, maybe she would have stuck around Baltimore a few more years as a rank and file teacher to really make a difference in kids' lives.... |
Anonymous
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They rolled the dice with Rhee because she was going to shake things up. I also liked Dr. Janney, but things moved very slowly. While I am sympathetic to anyone that loses their job, we all have to agree that a big part of the success in the classroom lies with the teacher. DCPS needs dramatic changes and change hurts. This happens all the time in the private sector - either you perform or you are out.
I also disagree with the sentiments that Rhee is not in this for the kids. Yes she likes media attention, but I disagree that it is all about her. The problem of terrible schools in urban areas is a nationwide problem and more folks need to understand how dire the situation is. I also think she does a good job of bringing out the complexities of race and poverty. She would not be in DC if she weren't invested in inner city education. There are some really CRAPPY teachers in DCPS. You can't tell me that every single teacher that has been laid off had an excellent performance rating - I don't believe it. Even though I would not describe myself as a Rhee booster, I do get sick of the anti-Rhee sentiments that only focus on her personality. DCPS parents that are happy with their schools need to hear concrete examples of what is going on in other parts of the city. This incessant whining is annoying. |
Anonymous
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6:29, well said.
And yes, if you're still pro-Rhee and have an argument beyond "the last best chance for DCPS" I would truly like to hear it. As for DCUM being anti-Rhee, that's interesting. My general take was most posters on these boards were in the bag for her. I know I was, until her policies started causing damage to the school my children attend. Given that she is a darling of the national media and the Washington Post, I find it somewhat refreshing that there is a place where she can actually be criticized without bringing her "candor" down on the head of local school staff. If the disgust over Rhee expressed on this board has silenced her cheerleaders, I suppose that's too bad... However, judging from the editorials in the Post, those that wield power in DC are still enchanted by her. Of course the Post editorial board would never dream of using DCPS, but that's another thread entirely. |
Anonymous
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What I don't get is that this was actually a DC Council decision. They yanked millions from the school budget and told the schools to deal with it. Our school sent a letter about what the shortfall was for our school based upon enrollment figures.
As someone who works at a non-profit that had to do our first RIF during the year, I know first hand that even organizations that care deeply for our employees have to make tough choices that no one will be happy about. In our case, it was heart wrenching. But the RIF happened in our case because the money wasn't there. Not after we started rationing office supplies, nor after we cut back on the budgets for necessary staff travel, nor after we got rid of our good coffee makers. After we'd trimmed everything, we still had a RIF. So DC pulled the money, many teachers had to go, and as it turns out, not all of the teachers who had to go were bad teachers. At my org, maybe two of the 15 RIFfed were bad employees. THe RIF didn't eliminate bad eggs but the less necessary positions-- all of which had felt necessary before the economy tanked. Wake up and realize that this is about tax revenues and not whether you like Rhee. Somebody had to go because there was no money to pay. Just like in any field. Except that this is our kids, and the Council f---ed them over. |
Anonymous
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They didn't need to let them go after school started. This could have been taken care of over the summer. DCPS hired 900 new people since June and then just let nearly 300 go. Very, very poor planning, especially since everyone saw this coming.
The Chancellor blew this one and kids are being hurt because of it. |
Anonymous
| as i understand it, the council made it plain a long time ago that this was coming. and rhee chose to hire anyway. also, i wouldn't lay the blame at the feet of the council. like you say in your message, if there is no money, then there is no money. they can't make it fall from the sky either. |
Anonymous
Sorry, but I think you have your facts wrong. Council did not screw this one up. Council gave DCPS the same monies provided last year, nothing more, nothing less. Moreover, Rhee knew about her budget long before school started. She waited three weeks into the school year to either figure out her budgetary needs or attempt to make a political statement. Either she was managerial incompetent with her budget or she figured Council would not fight back. Councilchair Gray put out a statement with the facts , including a dated letter, he sent to Rhee in July. So, she knew and it was her fuck up. |
Anonymous
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The Council's perspective on DCPS budget
PRESS RELEASE Council of the District of Columbia Office of Chairman Vincent C. Gray The John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20004 ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________ For Immediate Release: Contact: Doxie A. McCoy September 17, 2009 202-724-8032 202-664-9862 dmccoy@... Chairman Gray Challenges Mayor and Chancellor's Assertion the Council Reduced DCPS Budget for Fiscal Year 2010 Washington DC -- Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced yesterday (Wednesday) the annual DCPS Equalization Process has begun, and according to them, as a result, DCPS must conduct a reduction- in-force (RIF) and decrease individual school budgets because the Council of the District of Columbia reduced the DCPS FY 10 budget. Chairman Gray today released the following statement to provide clarifying facts so the public is not misled about the Council's involvement in this Fenty Administration policy decision. The Council approved a $770 million budget for DCPS for FY 10 based on the per pupil student funding formula of $8,945 per student and a projected enrollment of 44,681 students in school year (SY) 2009-10. The proposed budget for public education, including DCPS and charter schools, projected an enrollment increase which equated to $27.5 million. The Council questioned the validity of that increase because DCPS enrollment historically has declined over the past 10 years. Therefore, it set aside the $27.5 million until the actual enrollment could be substantiated. On June 1, 2009, after the Chairman convened a meeting to discuss public school enrollment projections for SY 09- 10, the Chancellor wrote a letter to him that stated, "I understand and recognize that questioning the DCPS enrollment projections is both warranted and appropriate. The current economic crisis only heightens the importance of the enrollment projections. I understand your hesitance to accept the projected increase in enrollment across the District. I cannot guarantee that this will occur. To that end, we concur in the following proposal: 1) For fiscal year 2010, DCPS is funded at the audited enrollment figure approved by the independent auditor and based upon the verified October 6, 2008 count of 44,681 students." Based on this agreement, $24 million of the $27.5 million that was set aside was restored to the public education budget. Now the Mayor and Chancellor claim the Council "cut" $3.5 million ($27.5 million - $24 million) from the DCPS budget even though the Chancellor concurred with funding in accord with the most recent audited enrollment. In response to new revenue reductions provided by the Chief Financial Officer in late June, the Council also decided to not provide an inflation adjustment of 2 percent as originally proposed in the FY 10 budget ($8.1 million total), and reduced the budget for summer school by 50 percent ($9.1 million total). The Council is currently researching ways to restore funding for summer school, which does not begin until late June 2010. Since the Council funded the public schools at last year's levels and with inflation holding constant, there was no reduction in the DCPS budget as the Mayor and Chancellor portray it. And, the Chairman is perplexed how a reduction in summer school funding (1.2 percent of the total DCPS budget) requires principals to reduce their budgets and for teachers to be RIF'd. He is alarmed the Administration informed principals to plan for drastic reductions in their budgets - effectively exploiting the city's fiscal situation to implement its desired reductions in the teacher workforce. The $20.7 million ($3.5 million + $8.1 million + $9.1 million) the Fenty Administration alleges the Council "cut" is 2.7 percent of the DCPS FY 10 budget-hardly a substantial sum that has to be recouped by firing teachers. Clearly, the Chancellor wanted to fire these "excessed" teachers and is seeking to scapegoat the Council for her policy decision. The Council approved a balanced budget for FY 10 that preserves the long-term fiscal stability of the city while funding the District of Columbia Public Schools and charter schools at last year's funding levels. While these teacher dismissals are within the Mayor's purview, the Council strenuously disagrees with the unilateral decision to reduce the teacher workforce and cut local school budgets, and will not allow the Mayor and Chancellor to place the blame for these decisions at the Council's doorstep. Moreover, in his review of the FY 10 budget in the aftermath of the Council's action on July 31, the Mayor vetoed one item-the budget for the State Board of Education. In his letter of August 26 to the Chairman communicating the line-item veto, the Mayor not only approved the DCPS budget but made no reference to the DCPS budget whatsoever. "In the midst of our nation's worse economic recession since the Great Depression, and at a time when states and cities are being forced to drastically slash their education budgets, layoff teachers, and delay the start of school, the Council found a way to fully fund the public education budget at last year's levels while effectively closing a budget gap of nearly $140 million," Chairman Gray said. "The Mayor and Chancellor's attempts to characterize the Council's action as a reduction are disingenuous and simply not accurate." |