Frontline doc about Rhee and cheating

[Anonymous]

I was a DCPS parent of a foster child. Our elementary child
Was forced to share a History(social studies) text AND workbook With another child. All the children had to share books.
I went to the teacher, school principal, school social worker and our council member about this with ZERO response. I gave them two months to supply our child with his own book.

Response was "we are on this".... Two months of nothing.

One night after midnight, I found Michelle Rhee's email address and gave it a shot-- I sent her an email about the situation at 12:37am. I figured I'd hear nothing. I received a detailed response at 12:50am. My son and his class had
Sets of text and workbooks by weeks end.

Say what you will it Rhee was the only person to get those books after months of begging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone can really say if Rhee would have done a good job or not. She came in, began to do some housecleaning, only to have the entire system rise up and rebel against her, and so she left.

As I see it, the culture of corruption and dysfunction wanted to remain in place, it outnumbered her, undermined her at every turn, and ultimately ran her out of town. And, given the testimonials from so many DCPS teachers about the money not reaching the classroom, there's not any way anyone can deny that those kinds of deep, systemic problems exist throughout the system, particularly at its highest levels.

This statement is just bizarre. Who longs for a culture of dysfunction? I know many great teachers and staff members who once supported Rhee, only to realize that her policies were misguided and short-sighted. They didn't stop supporting her because they wanted corruption and dysfunction. They stopped supporting her because while her policies may have been "bold," they weren't effective.

Who longs for it? The laggards who benefit from it through padded contracts and steady wages protected by fat unions, that's who. Theives. Thieves benefit in a culture of dysfunction. The prospects for a good education for our kids is under threat by these thieves everyday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a DCPS parent of a foster child. Our elementary child
Was forced to share a History(social studies) text AND workbook With another child. All the children had to share books.
I went to the teacher, school principal, school social worker and our council member about this with ZERO response. I gave them two months to supply our child with his own book.

Response was "we are on this".... Two months of nothing.

One night after midnight, I found Michelle Rhee's email address and gave it a shot-- I sent her an email about the situation at 12:37am. I figured I'd hear nothing. I received a detailed response at 12:50am. My son and his class had
Sets of text and workbooks by weeks end.

Say what you will it Rhee was the only person to get those books after months of begging.

I believe you and I know of many other examples of this kind of responsiveness.

However she did nothing to make sure that the staff at your child's school had the ability or the means to get textbooks. Michelle Rhee ran a great help desk. She did nothing though, to put systems in place to address these sorts of issues. And then she quit.

But yes, she was really, really good at email.

[Anonymous]

I was teacher in a low performing DCPS school for several years prior to Rhee. Had she come into position while I was there I might have been able to stay. The culture of dysfunction is deeply ingrained. Trying to buck it at any level is suicidal. Teachers who sleep on the job, leave early every day, don't teach ONE. SINGLE. BIT. of the curriculum, teachers who sleep with students... my stories could go on and on. One biology teacher refused to teach the class and instead preached Christianity the entire year. No biology.
I never once had enough text books.
I bought ALL of my own chemistry supplies.
I was out sick with the flu for a couple of days and no sub ever covered my classes- they just roamed the halls.
The librarian locked the library and would only allow teachers she liked to come in and socialize and eat lunch. Students were not allowed in there.
The counselors routinely lost students' transcripts. I was contacted for 2 years after I left to recreate grades for kids.
The athletic director changed a failing student's grade so she could play basketball.
We had a homeless kid live in the stockroom for a month of two because he broke in every night.
We had a couple of building service personnel who pimped out a couple of girls in the chorus room in the evenings and weekends.
The principal embezzled nearly a hundred thousand dollars from a technology grant from AOL, held a gospel concert that lost nearly all the money and NOTHING happened to him- even after being investigated and the involvement of the mayor.

I have hundreds of other stories of the culture of dysfunction. I was told early on when I went to that school that I landed the perfect job where everyone wants to end up because it is the easiest place to ride out your last years teaching. And so it was for 2/3 of the building. The rest of us got so burnt out from picking up the pieces that we couldn't last for more than 5 or 6 years. It would have been nice to have someone, ANYONE look at the school and notice just how bad and useless most of the adults were in that building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in DC for about 15 years, and in that time, DC has had about 6 superintendents. Rhee just seemed like all of the rest: they came in talking about "reforms", none of which had been empirically tested, and left after a few years for greener pastures.

There are programs that do work to raise achievement among children who are from low SES backgrounds. These programs, like KIPP or AVID in San Diego, generally keep kids in school longer ( longer days and longer years), and they teach kids study skills explicitly. Unfortunately that's expensive, so no one wants to do it.

^This.

DCPS already spends more per student than any other district. The money should be available. The whole system needs a top-to-bottom re-evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was teacher in a low performing DCPS school for several years prior to Rhee. Had she come into position while I was there I might have been able to stay. The culture of dysfunction is deeply ingrained. Trying to buck it at any level is suicidal. Teachers who sleep on the job, leave early every day, don't teach ONE. SINGLE. BIT. of the curriculum, teachers who sleep with students... my stories could go on and on. One biology teacher refused to teach the class and instead preached Christianity the entire year. No biology.
I never once had enough text books.
I bought ALL of my own chemistry supplies.
I was out sick with the flu for a couple of days and no sub ever covered my classes- they just roamed the halls.
The librarian locked the library and would only allow teachers she liked to come in and socialize and eat lunch. Students were not allowed in there.
The counselors routinely lost students' transcripts. I was contacted for 2 years after I left to recreate grades for kids.
The athletic director changed a failing student's grade so she could play basketball.
We had a homeless kid live in the stockroom for a month of two because he broke in every night.
We had a couple of building service personnel who pimped out a couple of girls in the chorus room in the evenings and weekends.
The principal embezzled nearly a hundred thousand dollars from a technology grant from AOL, held a gospel concert that lost nearly all the money and NOTHING happened to him- even after being investigated and the involvement of the mayor.

I have hundreds of other stories of the culture of dysfunction. I was told early on when I went to that school that I landed the perfect job where everyone wants to end up because it is the easiest place to ride out your last years teaching. And so it was for 2/3 of the building. The rest of us got so burnt out from picking up the pieces that we couldn't last for more than 5 or 6 years. It would have been nice to have someone, ANYONE look at the school and notice just how bad and useless most of the adults were in that building.

It's unconscionable that others keep denying it and keep placing all of the blame on Rhee. The problems are very deep, and very widespread - deeply ingrained, as you said. Rhee was only there for a few short years, before she was run out for "bucking the system" - it will take MANY years to get it sorted out, complete top-to-bottom changes are needed. Detailed audits of where the money's going, outside analysis of what's going on, careful examination and evaluation and reinvention of EVERYTHING that DCPS does.

[Anonymous]

Several schools saw major improvements when the deadwood was cut loose by Rhee. Much more of that was and still is needed in many of the other schools. So if you want to say there were failings, IMO it's that it didn't go far enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was teacher in a low performing DCPS school for several years prior to Rhee. Had she come into position while I was there I might have been able to stay. The culture of dysfunction is deeply ingrained. Trying to buck it at any level is suicidal. Teachers who sleep on the job, leave early every day, don't teach ONE. SINGLE. BIT. of the curriculum, teachers who sleep with students... my stories could go on and on. One biology teacher refused to teach the class and instead preached Christianity the entire year. No biology.
I never once had enough text books.
I bought ALL of my own chemistry supplies.
I was out sick with the flu for a couple of days and no sub ever covered my classes- they just roamed the halls.
The librarian locked the library and would only allow teachers she liked to come in and socialize and eat lunch. Students were not allowed in there.
The counselors routinely lost students' transcripts. I was contacted for 2 years after I left to recreate grades for kids.
The athletic director changed a failing student's grade so she could play basketball.
We had a homeless kid live in the stockroom for a month of two because he broke in every night.
We had a couple of building service personnel who pimped out a couple of girls in the chorus room in the evenings and weekends.
The principal embezzled nearly a hundred thousand dollars from a technology grant from AOL, held a gospel concert that lost nearly all the money and NOTHING happened to him- even after being investigated and the involvement of the mayor.

I have hundreds of other stories of the culture of dysfunction. I was told early on when I went to that school that I landed the perfect job where everyone wants to end up because it is the easiest place to ride out your last years teaching. And so it was for 2/3 of the building. The rest of us got so burnt out from picking up the pieces that we couldn't last for more than 5 or 6 years. It would have been nice to have someone, ANYONE look at the school and notice just how bad and useless most of the adults were in that building.

Interesting to me that you were a teacher and only found problems with other teachers. So the admin was fine? Parents fine? Thats amazing... and BS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was teacher in a low performing DCPS school for several years prior to Rhee. Had she come into position while I was there I might have been able to stay. The culture of dysfunction is deeply ingrained. Trying to buck it at any level is suicidal. Teachers who sleep on the job, leave early every day, don't teach ONE. SINGLE. BIT. of the curriculum, teachers who sleep with students... my stories could go on and on. One biology teacher refused to teach the class and instead preached Christianity the entire year. No biology.
I never once had enough text books.
I bought ALL of my own chemistry supplies.
I was out sick with the flu for a couple of days and no sub ever covered my classes- they just roamed the halls.
The librarian locked the library and would only allow teachers she liked to come in and socialize and eat lunch. Students were not allowed in there.
The counselors routinely lost students' transcripts. I was contacted for 2 years after I left to recreate grades for kids.
The athletic director changed a failing student's grade so she could play basketball.
We had a homeless kid live in the stockroom for a month of two because he broke in every night.
We had a couple of building service personnel who pimped out a couple of girls in the chorus room in the evenings and weekends.
The principal embezzled nearly a hundred thousand dollars from a technology grant from AOL, held a gospel concert that lost nearly all the money and NOTHING happened to him- even after being investigated and the involvement of the mayor.

I have hundreds of other stories of the culture of dysfunction. I was told early on when I went to that school that I landed the perfect job where everyone wants to end up because it is the easiest place to ride out your last years teaching. And so it was for 2/3 of the building. The rest of us got so burnt out from picking up the pieces that we couldn't last for more than 5 or 6 years. It would have been nice to have someone, ANYONE look at the school and notice just how bad and useless most of the adults were in that building.

Interesting to me that you were a teacher and only found problems with other teachers. So the admin was fine? Parents fine? Thats amazing... and BS

Defensive teacher, perhaps, used to blaming others, poverty, society...the list above looks scary, and real. Rhee may have been wrong on several things, but at least tried to address huge pre-existing WRONGS.

[Anonymous]

8:51 - I'm not the PP but it seems pretty clear to me that most of her testimonial, i.e. not having the textbooks, not having the supplies, no subs, tolerance for teachers who are retired on the job, embezzling principal and so on speak QUITE LOUDLY about huge problems with the administration. Reading proficiency clearly isn't your strong suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been in DC for about 15 years, and in that time, DC has had about 6 superintendents. Rhee just seemed like all of the rest: they came in talking about "reforms", none of which had been empirically tested, and left after a few years for greener pastures.

There are programs that do work to raise achievement among children who are from low SES backgrounds. These programs, like KIPP or AVID in San Diego, generally keep kids in school longer ( longer days and longer years), and they teach kids study skills explicitly. Unfortunately that's expensive, so no one wants to do it.

Janey did not choose to leave for greener pastures. When Fenty took over the school system, he got rid of Janey and brought in Rhee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Several schools saw major improvements when the deadwood was cut loose by Rhee. Much more of that was and still is needed in many of the other schools. So if you want to say there were failings, IMO it's that it didn't go far enough.

Yes, and Rhee also created disorder by removing people who were doing their jobs so at the very least her judgment was not consistently good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe you and I know of many other examples of this kind of responsiveness.

However she did nothing to make sure that the staff at your child's school had the ability or the means to get textbooks. Michelle Rhee ran a great help desk. She did nothing though, to put systems in place to address these sorts of issues. And then she quit.

But yes, she was really, really good at email.

That is plain untrue. For anyone who's had children in the system since before Rhee, the difference in service - from getting textbooks, to ordering extra chairs from the warehouse for an event, to getting a building use permit, to getting a boiler fixed - couldn't be starker!! There was too long a period in which one had to email her directly to get things done. That's no longer the case. And she deserves credit for getting that accomplished.
That certainly doesn't make her perfect and I'm not sure I'd wish her back because that kind of cleanup came a a huge price. And it also doesn't mean that everything is running perfectly. But the distance she traveled is tremendous and not acknowledging that or denying it is absurd. There are more valid criticisms of her tenure than this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a DCPS parent of a foster child. Our elementary child
Was forced to share a History(social studies) text AND workbook With another child. All the children had to share books.
I went to the teacher, school principal, school social worker and our council member about this with ZERO response. I gave them two months to supply our child with his own book.

Response was "we are on this".... Two months of nothing.

One night after midnight, I found Michelle Rhee's email address and gave it a shot-- I sent her an email about the situation at 12:37am. I figured I'd hear nothing. I received a detailed response at 12:50am. My son and his class had
Sets of text and workbooks by weeks end.

Say what you will it Rhee was the only person to get those books after months of begging.

I believe you and I know of many other examples of this kind of responsiveness.

However she did nothing to make sure that the staff at your child's school had the ability or the means to get textbooks. Michelle Rhee ran a great help desk. She did nothing though, to put systems in place to address these sorts of issues. And then she quit.

But yes, she was really, really good at email.

Yes, she deserves some credit for things like getting the pp's child the textbooks so quickly but she is supposed to be a high-level manager who is skilled at putting systems into place so that overall textbook delivery works better because she can't be everywhere all the time. And I think this is why it's hard for some folks to see her flaws - because she was very responsive over email and that was something new. After she removed Patrick Pope as principal of Hardy Middle School, she responded promptly to my email complaint about her move. It was nice that she responded via email but the fact is that this move was quite disruptive to the school and removed a highly competent principal from active duty in the school system for a year to supposedly create a middle school arts magnet program - which everyone knew there was no money for. Today there's no magnet arts middle school and Pope is back leading Savoy Elementary School and just won a highly competitive arts grant from the Federal government for the school. I'm glad to see he's back. But Rhee wasted a year of his time and ours as parents and taxpayers to accomplish nothing.

I'd rather have someone in charge who was more effective in deploying staff and resources and less prompt about answering emails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was teacher in a low performing DCPS school for several years prior to Rhee. Had she come into position while I was there I might have been able to stay. The culture of dysfunction is deeply ingrained. Trying to buck it at any level is suicidal. Teachers who sleep on the job, leave early every day, don't teach ONE. SINGLE. BIT. of the curriculum, teachers who sleep with students... my stories could go on and on. One biology teacher refused to teach the class and instead preached Christianity the entire year. No biology.
I never once had enough text books.
I bought ALL of my own chemistry supplies.
I was out sick with the flu for a couple of days and no sub ever covered my classes- they just roamed the halls.
The librarian locked the library and would only allow teachers she liked to come in and socialize and eat lunch. Students were not allowed in there.
The counselors routinely lost students' transcripts. I was contacted for 2 years after I left to recreate grades for kids.
The athletic director changed a failing student's grade so she could play basketball.
We had a homeless kid live in the stockroom for a month of two because he broke in every night.
We had a couple of building service personnel who pimped out a couple of girls in the chorus room in the evenings and weekends.
The principal embezzled nearly a hundred thousand dollars from a technology grant from AOL, held a gospel concert that lost nearly all the money and NOTHING happened to him- even after being investigated and the involvement of the mayor.

I have hundreds of other stories of the culture of dysfunction. I was told early on when I went to that school that I landed the perfect job where everyone wants to end up because it is the easiest place to ride out your last years teaching. And so it was for 2/3 of the building. The rest of us got so burnt out from picking up the pieces that we couldn't last for more than 5 or 6 years. It would have been nice to have someone, ANYONE look at the school and notice just how bad and useless most of the adults were in that building.

Interesting to me that you were a teacher and only found problems with other teachers. So the admin was fine? Parents fine? Thats amazing... and BS

What in the world are you talking about? A principal embezzling money is not an administrative problem? Not having sub teachers is not an administrative problem? A homeless kid is not a problem with his parents? Not sure why you're jumping on the PP here, but your criticisms are silly.