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[quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]

Spring 2006 -- Candidate Fenty campaigns in Ward 3, promises that if elected Pope will be removed as principal at Hardy.
January 2007 -- Fenty sworn in as mayor
June 2007 -- Mayor given authority over schools
July 2007 -- Michelle Rhee confirmed as Chancellor
February 2009 -- Rhee meets with Key parents
December 2009 -- Rhee announces that Pope will be leaving Hardy in June 2010
September 2010 -- Fenty defeated in primary by Vincent Gray

The pizza order was placed long before the driver was hired. By the fall of 2009 Fenty was getting heat from his Ward 3 supporters to carry through on his promise from 3 1/2 years earlier. By then Fenty's re-election prospects were starting to dim and he realized that he needed to shore up support in Ward 3.  I won't take anything away from Rhee's capability to cut corners and leave messes, but I believe it was Fenty who rushed things at Hardy, with disastrous results. [b]If you talk to anyone who worked for the city in the Fenty years that was totally his MO[/b], pushing his subordinates to rush things out before they were ready, usually with an ensuing fiasco.[/quote]

You will get no argument from me about Fenty's MO. I saw enough of it myself. But, a couple of things I'll note about your timeline. If you are correct, Fenty was making a commitment about Pope at the same time he was opposing mayoral control of the school system. How did anyone expect him to be able to keep his commitment? By February 2009, Key parents had to have known that Rhee was a bull in a china shop. She had already been on the cover of Time the previous November with her famous broom. It would be ironic if Fenty had Pope removed in order to help his reelection bid. That move ultimately was very detrimental and had the complete opposite effect. If nothing else, it illustrates why the school system should not be as politicized as DCPS has become.

As the saying goes, "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan." Since things at Hardy have not gone well, I can understand the desire of the families that pushed for Pope's removal to put the blame elsewhere. Had things gone better, those families probably would be happy to take credit. I guess they should have been careful what they asked for.
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