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interesting: every dcps parent i talk to in person supports rhee
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Anonymous
SWW is in LOWER Caucasia. And Columbia Heights & Adams Morgan are the frontiers of OUTER Caucasia. Where are the shiny new facilities in Wards 4 & 5? SO many schools were closed there. |
Anonymous
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Just returned from vacation...and the topic of Rhee is quite the TALK. I do believe if she leaves tomorrow...she can write herself a ticket to ANYWHERE, USA to do a reform project. I will be first to say that Rhee and I have bumped heads in her first two weeks on the job. But since then...I have been her strongest ally, she has never been a disappointment on any issues considering my two high-schools. There has not been one occasion that I have thrown my hands up in frustration with her. Now, as for her staff...I can and I have raked them across the hot burning coals of my disgust. But that is not her fault, it was her remedy to ensure that it would not happen again. Too that...I am the most satisfied.
I am fortunate to say...I have seen the two sides of Rhee...the Chancellor side and the Michelle side and the commonality with the Michelle side is the most endearing but the Chancellor side is the most employable. LOL |
Anonymous
Correction - I didn't say he was fired. There is a long thread here about him. He retired rather than be fired for being "ineffective" acording to the Chancellor's new evaluation tool. There was nothing about "insubordination" just low scores. Also - he's back at Wilson! - part time, but teaching only AP -- so much for insubordination and ineffectiveness. |
Anonymous
| The incidents at Hardy and Ellington may have seemed insignificant to some, but many voters followed the stories and were not happy with the way they were handled. |
jsteele
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This is just a quick off the top of my head. I probably left out a few things.
Reasons that I don't support Michelle Rhee: 1) At the time of her selection as chancellor, Rhee's resume made claims pertaining to test score improvements during her time as a teacher. She admitted during her confirmation hearing that there was no evidence available to support those claims. My own research suggests that while there were gains, they were not near as large as her resume claimed. I can't support a chancellor who lies and/or exaggerates on her resume. 2) Rhee's sole teaching experience was in a "for-profit" public school. Her deputy, Kaya Henderson, was a member of the board of EdBuild, a company formed with the hope of getting DCPS modernization contracts. These and other factors suggest a focus on turning public education into a profit center. I am against the privatization of public assets, especially the public school system. While there has not been as much privatization as I had feared, there still have been significant steps (for instance, the administration of entire schools has been turned over to private companies). 3) Rhee's management style is based on confrontation rather than cooperation. As a result, she has alienated potentially valuable allies, making reform more difficult. Combined with political tone-deafness, Rhee has created a number of unnecessary hurdles for herself. 4) Rhee has concentrated too much on her own profile. She spends way too much time with the media, again often resulting in unnecessary problems. There was no reason to tell a reporter that she had fired teachers that had sex with children, let alone given that the statement was misleading and arguably false (only one teacher had been accused, not found guilty). We don't need a chancellor on the cover of Time holding a broom. We need a chancellor whose focus is on DCPS stakeholders. 5) When Rhee learned of allegations of sexual misconduct at a school upon whose board she served, her reaction was to conduct "damage control". I do not believe that is the appropriate role for a school administrator. 6) Rhee's history with finance officers and the budget suggests she lacks competency with budgetary affairs or is dishonest. She got one fired after failing to take his advice, hand-picked his successor, who then got fired for providing Rhee false information which she used to fire a number of teachers (before claiming to have a budget surplus instead of a deficit, which also turned out not to be the case). 7) I do not agree with Rhee's philosophy of emphasizing standardized testing. I believe an over-reliance on metrics can actually be counterproductive when one accepts less than perfect metrics because better data is not available. This also leads to teaching to the test which I do not consider an optimal educational strategy. 8) I do not agree with Rhee's handling of the situation at Hardy in which she negatively interfered with a successful program. The fact that she appeared to favor wealthy whites over poorer blacks only made things worse. This is a case in which short-sightedness and a lack of political awareness probably caused longterm harm. 9) Rhee has been a long-time critic of teachers' unions. While unions have their problems, and the WTU in particular has had its issues, the WTU is a stakeholder that is not going away. Rhee's antipathy toward the WTU has likely prevented necessary and beneficial reforms within the union. Her posture probably contributed to delays of many of her own reforms. 10) Rhee has been too quick to establish ties to private foundations and corporations. We all know that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Our public school system lacks a strong board and is run by a mayor with little interest in public opinion. Hence, there is very little input from the general public. Such input is easily dwarfed by that of those contributing huge sums of money. At some point, it's reasonable to ask, whose school system is this? 11) Rhee gives every appearance that DCPS is but a stepping stone on her way to bigger pastures. She seemed to love having both McCain and Obama fight for her affections in 2008. She seems to enjoy being the biggest issue of this mayoral election and is doing nothing to lower her posture. As such, it is likely that short-term career-enhancing accomplishments are her primary goal. I'd prefer someone with more commitment to the system and a greater interest in longterm accomplishments that will outlive a single individual. |
Anonymous
I would also add Webb-Wheatley to the list that not in "Caucasia". This characterization of the improvements and facilities is just completely inaccurate. Yes Janney and Deal are finally getting an upgrade. For literally the first time since they were built 80 years ago. Come on. Lafayette and Mann continue on in their beat up physical plants. |
Anonymous
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I agree with PP. The modernization effort was well-planned out and thoughtful about the order that schools would get renovated. It's too simplistic to say that all of the renovated schools are in upper Caucasia - it's just not true.
As a Lafayette parent I agree that our building is definitely worn but there are many, many schools in much worse shape. |
Anonymous
Groan. I don't love the testing grind either. But really? Your kid finishes in 30 minutes? Does she/he have high scores? If your child is really is SO gifted in this way--and you can so casually contemplate shelling out 30k+ plus per year because your child is disgruntled by having to sit and read, you really should leave DCPS probably. By the way--you could never really know how long your child is taking to finish the DC-BAS or DC-CAS. Parents are ABSOLUTELY not allowed into the upper level floors when test taking is in progress. Your child is probably wildly exaggerating, as children do, about how long it is taking them to do anything. 
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Anonymous
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15:33, Yes, except his teacher told me too. Sorry, didn't mean to threaten you. I simply stated what happened because it illustrates how soul sucking Rhee's testing fetish can be on children.
Again, so sorry to ruffle your feathers. 40 questions in 30 minutes is more than reasonable. At least at our house! |
Anonymous
| What irritates me is the unbelievably short memories people seem to have. Does nobody remember what things were like pre-Rhee? No books, horrible registration process, principals unable to get rid of ineffective staff, music and art seen as luxury items, lousy test scores on lousy tests, a revolving door of superintendents who could not cope with the entrenched system and quit and/or were no good. Here comes someone who came in and really *did* things. Not all of them have been first-rate, not everything she's done has been perfect or PC, but things have moved since Rhee took over and she has stayed. To me, she seems motivated by a desire to make things better, not to become famous. It's disheartening to see how the big picture is overlooked by petty complaints. Who would want this job? Who would do a better job? I haven't seen any evidence that Gray could attract and retain a more talented person. I fear we'll go right back to the way things were in a short period of time and all you complainers will be complaining again. |
Anonymous
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Thanks JSteele, that's quite an argument. I will add a few more in the morning.
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Anonymous
Sousa was under construction before Fenty took office in 06. And Kelly Miller went even earlier than that. |
Anonymous
Honestly. The reading portion of the test requires the review of short story essays followed by short analytical questions. It is almost precisely like the format of a mini-SAT. There is always that one kid that walks out of the SAT or LSAT or MCAT in one hour. This is not the norm. If your child is easily processing 40 paragraphical questions with a high degree of accuracy in 30 minutes on a regular basis, you're seriously gonna need a bigger boat than most local schools could offer you... 
I'm surprised your teacher and the school administration isn't telling you that. |
Anonymous
| Patrick Pope, Art Seibens, Joe Reiner, Erich Martel, all white guys who made Rhee mad. I guess they didn't eat a bee or tape their students' mouths shut during class. If I were a male I wouldn't go within 100 miles of Rhee's version of the American school house. |
Anonymous
PP here...Also my kids are in 4th grade and did just fine, so no ruffled feathers on that. 40 simple arithmetic questions in 30 minutes would be no problem but 40 essay questions? Probably would need twice that amount of time or more + at least 1 or 2 breaks and a SNACK, PLEASE. They get no break or snack during this, btw, according to them. There still needs to be regular assessment, but there'll never be a consensus as to how this can be fairly done. In the meantime we'll just keep yanking the kids through these flaming hoops designed by different screaming constituencies. le sigh. |