Arne Duncan Wants Michelle Rhee to Stay in D.C.

All this 'press' that Michelle Rhee have received over the past several months...to a parent of children who attend DC public schools, and am very closely related to public school teachers...is absolutely maddening. YES...I do agree that DCPS needed to have a complete overhaul. My husband taught Special Ed for four years within some of the toughest schools, as did my mother(Douglass Center) once Fenty and Rhee took over. My own children attended Langdon Elementary in NE DC until last year, when the changes byt Rhee and her administration created such chaos in that building by making it an Educational Center, Pre-K - 8. Please note, the school consolidation was not a 'novel' idea, brought into existence by the Fenty administration...or Rhee. In fact, a more 'civilized' plan had been in the works by the previous Superintendent. We were promised schools that would have more resources, more extra-curricular activites and first class schools. Last year, Langdon's budget was decreased, teachers were let go right after school started, and we were once again without a foreign language...YES, no foreign language. The atmosphere of that school...went down. Langdon had once been a 'Blue Ribbon' school...that I was proud and happy to send my children to. That Elementary school was not by any means suitable for an Education Center...not in that environment. The Rhee administration did not provide the financial support that is so desperately needed. As a result, I entered my children into the lottery, and all four are now students of John Eaton. DISPARITY STILL REMAINS IN DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

I take more of an issue with Rhee on her firing of teachers...and yes, I do agree that there were teachers that were not doing their jobs. The fact remains that there are far more issues with our inner city learners than teachers. Education begins at home; and there are decades of social ills facing the needy families in Washington, DC. The drug and gang epidemic have unleashed a generation of children for whom their most stable adult...is their teacher. There are students who come to school every day without the basic needs being met at home, or any sense of security...which makes it so difficult for them to learn. After these teachers are fired, are they replaced with seasoned teachers with knowledge of how to deal with urban learners?? No, they are replaced with very young (lower paid), inexperienced teachers who have no idea how to relate to urban children. Many teachers are shellshocked with our children, as I have heard reports of them crying in classrooms. What progress has this process made. She quotes higher test scores...but she isnt referencing the DC CAS results - WHICH DETERMINE WHAT SCHOOL MAKE AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress)! Only improvements were seen in schools in predominantly White areas. Rethink Rhee...and her 'Reform.' Its not what you think!

MCS0227 of DC 6:55PM September 30, 2010

achievement gap widened

DCPS ELEMENTARY TEST SCORES DOWN –

DECLINES IN READING AND MATH

Michelle Rhee, unaccountable & unqualified

‘chancellor’

(note: she is not legally eligible

to be a school district superintendent)

“The DCPS had lower math test scores

in grades 4 and 8 in 2009,

and District African-American

test scores went down” …….

read & view the

data =>

http://www.examiner.com/ward-5-in-washington-dc/rhee-fails-on-nation-s-report-card

————————–-------------------

“2010 DCPS Test Scores DECLINED”

see news article,

DCist website: =>

http://dcist.com/2010/07/2010_dcps_test_scores_decline.php

Look at the data, rather than the

24-7 mega-media hype manipulated,

funded & produced by the Hedge Fund boyz,

Kaplan Testing corporation,

the edu-profiteers/financiers clique

& their incompetent spokesmodel rabid Rhee

– with her ludicrous lack of proven

teaching or administrative experience,

her lack of academic certification to be a superintendent,

her lack of reasonable supervisory procedures,

her lack of basic managerial skills,

her lack of teambuilding to implement goals,

her lack of community development to facilitate progress,

her lack of professional tact, her lack of essential

communication insight,

and her abysmal lack of common sense.

——————————-

truthsayers parent of DC 5:49PM September 29, 2010

a concerned DCPS parent:

re: Michelle Rhee’s “mom friendly” comment, prepared specifically for the Oprah show, about moms not tolerating mediocre teachers being given time to grow and develop professionally. “Well. The unqualified, needing-to-grow-professionally, TFA principal that Rhee PUSHED on our school, despite protests from a panel of engaged, informed, truly progressive, professional educators and parents with advanced degrees in education . . . . . (this TFA principal) hired and protected even more inexperienced, unqualified teachers who will take YEARS to develop into true professionals. But the principal and those teachers all know how to say “yes” to their boss. Too bad they don’t know the basics of how children learn, or the nuances of curriculum and instruction. It is hard, hard work indeed to have to reprogram my kids every day after school, to get them to embrace and understand learning again. Rhee’s influential, BAD decisions and practices, more than ANY OTHER failure of the DC Public School system, has me on the verge of pulling my kids out of school. Rhee embarrassed herself mightily at the DC screening of this film (”Waiting for Wall Street Super-scammers”) with her comment insulting DC voters. My kids, and the

350 others in their school, will not be devastated at all when she leaves. We assume she will head to the business world for which she may have more

appropriate skills.”

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truthsayer parent of DC 5:31PM September 29, 2010

Michele Rhee's primary job is serving the children-- not the teachers, and not their union. She's there to protect those children.

She is highly capable, and she is doing that job.

Strong steps must sometimes happen in any business-- or school.

I applaud the Obama administration, and especially Michele Rhe, for re-organizing, including taking decisive action to remove non-performing teachers. If that work does not happen, the school fails. And the DC schools are an example of that failure.

Geoff of WA 2:47PM September 29, 2010