Anonymous wrote:Because she was an asian in a predominantly black city?

Ugh, no! DC is no longer predominantly black. 2010 Census numbers:

50.7% Black or African American, 38.5% White (34.8% non-Hispanic White), 3.5% Asian, and 0.3% Native American. Individuals from other races made up 4.1% of the District's population while individuals from two or more races made up 2.9%. Hispanics of any race made up 9.1% of the District's population.

The school system, on the other hand, is predominantly black b/c whites - including limousine liberals - and Asians segregate themselves.

Anonymous wrote:Because she was willing to say what many parents think: that waiting for schools to get better isn't good enough.

Most kids get ONE shot at education, and "working with" a failing teacher short changes the students. Rhee made it okay (for me) to voice the fact that I don't want someone teaching my child if the only thing that's keeping them in their job is a UNION and not good job performance.

Yeah, too bad she didn't get fired for her poor job performance - such as getting Gandhi to hire, against his better judgment, her choice for CFO who then went on to wrongly calculate the DCPS budget, which led to unnecessary cuts and turmoil in the school system. An experienced and competent leader doesn't thrash about making unnecessary cuts.

We all knew the schools sucked. We wanted someone who was competent at fixing them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She and the former mayor were actually making real progress in dc, but the residents seem to prefer poorly equipped leaders who bring the drama.

No, she didn't. That's what you bought. In actuality, Ward 3 did great (like it always does) and the rest of the city did poorly (like it always does). She had a lot of people completely snowed. I had lunch with someone yesterday who is in a powerful ed position and it was refreshing to know that people who are actually in the know, are all in agreement. I give her credit for bringing attention to the schools and making them a priority. That's all she did. Tests scores didn't actually rise and she spent a TON of money.

Some of which went to her friends whom she hired in the central office.