Do you think Rhee would stay under Gray?

[Anonymous]

Mayor Williams tried to gain the same kind of Mayoral/Executive control over the school system. However, when it came to Council approval, it failed, with Councilmember Fenty as one of the 'nay' votes.

To respond to another poster, you are right, hotels do not directly benefit DC Taxpayers. However, more hotel rooms, means more $$ coming to the city via the tourism dollar and taxes. This helps the bottom line, so please, just because it may not provide a "direct" benefit, hotels do provide the greatest source of revenue to the city in terms of tourism dollars - the biggest industry in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/06/rhee_praises_mayor_says_she_do.html

I heard this Rhee interview this morning on WAMU, and I thought she all but said she would not stay for a Gray administration, even if Gray would keep her (which is unknown).

Thoughts? Does this influence how you'll vote? For me, my main issue is buildings for charter schools, and on that Gray gets my vote, as Fenty prefers that buildings go to developers/ cronies. So Rhee does not actually factor in to the first level criterion for my vote.

Her comment was a violation of the Hatch Act. As a government worker, she was trying to influence an election in her official capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Um, Rhee and Fenty also considered moving Ellington to SE. The good folks in Ward 3 and the Cafritz family put a stop to that. And, if you have not heard, UDC is quiet;y moving to SE and NE. The school now have official locations in the old Patricia R Harris and Bertie Backus schools.

I'm no fan of Fenty/Rhee. But you are referring to satellite campuses of the new Community College, a offshoot of UDC, and a development that I applaud. UDC is still located in Van Ness.

Just to clarify, Rhee had someone look at what it would involve to move Ellington to Logan School, the school building near Union Station that Walls used as swing space while its building in Foggy Bottom was being renovated. What was objectionable about this move was that it was done without consulting anyone at Ellington. Also without considering that there had been many private donations given to renovate parts of Ellington's facility in Georgetown specifically for the performing arts and that those donors might be touchy about those facilities being taken away from the special arts magnet school. Additionally, Logan would take an enormous amount of work before it would be appropriate for a school like Ellington. And what with Jack Evans talking about how great it would be to have a neighborhood high school in Ward 2, this obviously raised a lot of concerns as to whether the majority black student population were being moved out at the behest of rich white people in Ward 2.

Anyone who actually has experience in managing a large school system could have seen that making these plans without including the Ellington community was likely to blow up in their face -- which it did. Rhee failed to understand how badly this would reflect on her, especially her failure to comment right away and clarify her intentions. Additionally, Fenty failed to understand how his ambiguous comments following the release of this information made him look suspicious. Big screw up in handling a sensitive situation and it could have easily been avoided.

I understand that people don't want to vote for Gray -- that they don't feel confident in his leadership. I don't know if I'll vote for him either. But don't tell me that I should be content to watch while Rhee and Fenty make these novice mistakes and that holding them accountable for their mistakes is somehow a vote for mediocre schools.

[Anonymous]

I agree, that plan to move Ellington was beyond dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/06/rhee_praises_mayor_says_she_do.html

I heard this Rhee interview this morning on WAMU, and I thought she all but said she would not stay for a Gray administration, even if Gray would keep her (which is unknown).

Thoughts? Does this influence how you'll vote? For me, my main issue is buildings for charter schools, and on that Gray gets my vote, as Fenty prefers that buildings go to developers/ cronies. So Rhee does not actually factor in to the first level criterion for my vote.

Her comment was a violation of the Hatch Act. As a government worker, she was trying to influence an election in her official capacity.

Doesn't the Hatch Act only apply to federal employees?

[Anonymous]

The Hatch Act applies to District Government employees as well. DC Govt was once also all fed govt. When the two separated in or about 1987, DC simply continued to apply federal laws.

[Anonymous]

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11543/hr1345shsga.pdf

[Anonymous]

Gray has released his educational plan. I love the fact that he wants to provide more dollar equity to the charter schools. Let's not allow are charters to flounder and fail while we prop up our DCPS schools. The two need not be in competition.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/01/AR2010070103422.html

[Anonymous]

our charters, not are charters.