July 21, 2008
DC Digs Fenty/Rhee Reforms
Education Reform Now has a new poll out that finds voters in the District of Columbia are thrilled that somebody is finally doing something about the shame of the nation, otherwise known as DCPS. (Disclosure: I am the executive director of ERN.)
Seems Obama is onto something with the whole change/Yes We Can thing.
A lot of action along the Potomac, where some union leaders now are protesting plans to allow Chancellor Michelle Rhee to speak and answer questions about a proposed new teacher contract at rank-and-file discussion sessions. (The accusation is that Rhee and union president George Parker are trying to bypass the union's elected leadership and appeal more directly to actual teachers.)
The ERN poll shows that a convincing two-thirds of district residents indicated they approved of Mayor Fenty’s work to improve public education since officially taking responsibility for the district’s 65,000-student public school system in June 2007.
Upon gaining statutory responsibility for DCPS last June, Fenty moved quickly to hire Michelle Rhee as chancellor. Despite being a relatively unknown commodity in the city – and despite her controversial push to rid the school system of ineffective employees – a majority of respondents (55%) said they approved of the job Rhee was doing as chancellor.
In one of the most surprising elements of the poll, respondents were asked about the controversial March 6th firing by Rhee of 98 DCPS employees under her newly-won ability to classify non-unionized central office workers as “at will” employees. The change was requested by Fenty and Rhee and approved by the City Council.
Two-thirds of respondents indicated they supported Rhee’s argument that she was attempting to establish a culture of accountability in the school system – 28% of respondents were opposed to the firings.
A majority of the poll respondents described the overall quality of the DC schools as “poor,” said they believe that public charter schools are a good idea, and that working and poor parents should be given financial assistance in the form of a voucher to send their children to a school of their choice.
