Government

All politics is local in the most political city in America.

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December 16, 2010 | 3:15 PM | By

Rhee: “Lack of Experience” isn’t so bad

Kaplan101

Cathie Black. Three lawsuits regarding the legality of her state-issued waiver for a lack of education credentials are pending, in New York.

This little article caught my eye when I read my New York Post, this morning:

Former Washington, DC schools chief Michelle Rhee said her appointment to the post three years ago was met with nearly identical opposition to that being faced by incoming New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black.

“People were [effectively] rioting in the street, saying, ‘How can somebody who’s never run a school, who’s never run a school district, do this job?” Rhee told The Post at a Manhattan Institute event in Midtown yesterday.

“And I think what I showed is that you don’t necessarily have to have been a superintendent before,” added Rhee, who launched the Students First advocacy group earlier this month.

“She’s shown in her experience in business that she can run a multibillion-dollar organization, that she can turn something around, so I don’t think her lack of experience in education disqualifies her.”

FILED UNDER: Education, Michelle Rhee
December 15, 2010 | 1:44 PM | By

Kaya Henderson to “smooth things out”

Perhaps the city residents who miss Michelle Rhee shouldn’t worry so much? Here’s the Washington Examiner on interim D.C. schools chancellor, Kaya Henderson:

“People keep asking me how I’m different from Michelle Rhee. I’m different than her because she’s a petite Asian woman and I’m a large black girl,” Henderson told The Washington Examiner.

But the style of leadership that was necessary in June 2007 is different than what people crave now, Henderson says. “Rhee had to come in and break some china,” she says. “We’re tired of breaking china.” Rhee’s job was to create a revolution of reform; Henderson’s job is to smooth things out.

So she smiles more than Rhee, and she meets with skeptical education boards in the various wards, broaching topics like “healing” and “acknowledging missteps.”

But as Rhee’s deputy chancellor, Henderson was silently pulling the strings of the most high-profile, and most controversial, reforms that Rhee — and Mayor Adrian Fenty — took the public hit for.

Henderson was D.C. Public Schools’ chief negotiator of the union contract, which allowed Rhee to fire 165 teachers rated ineffective during classroom observations. Henderson led the team that developed Impact, the teacher evaluation tool that determined those firings.

FILED UNDER: Education, Kaya Henderson, Michelle Rhee, Schools
December 8, 2010 | 1:29 PM | By

Who broke up with whom?

DDOTDC

Gabe Klein

I apologize, readers. A few hours ago, I wrote that Gabe Klein “has announced that he will leave his post on January 1, rather than stay on under a Gray administration”…well, it looks like he wasn’t exactly given the option to stay (via WaPo):

Several city officials have already announced they are leaving the Fenty administration, including transportation chief Gabe Klein, who on Wednesday became the first Cabinet official to publicly say he is not being kept in his post by Gray.

With his advocacy of bicycle and pedestrian amenities, promotion for public transit, and unorthodox approach to traffic and parking, Klein developed a devoted following among advocates of “smart growth,” who have emerged as a potent political force. But he was also at the center of a significant political headache for Gray during his campaign: the city’s streetcar program, which was canceled then restored under pressure during council budget negotiations.

Klein, along with several other agency heads, was delivered a termination letter Tuesday. Retaining Klein, along with planning director Harriet Tregoning, had been the goal of broad campaigning among some planning and neighborhood advocates. But other groups called for Klein’s ouster, criticizing him and his department for inadequate planning and community outreach.

FILED UNDER: Government, Politics, Vince Gray
December 7, 2010 | 12:48 PM | By

Tax Yoga, Help the Poor?

istolethetv

Double-taxes for this well-groomed, flexible Frenchie!

No one enjoys higher or additional taxes, but judging from some of the pleas for support I’ve received from various groups that are worried about how budget cuts will affect the poorest, youngest, most vulnerable residents of our city, I wonder if taxing yoga and sweet-smelling dogs is preferable (or more ethical). Via the City Paper:

Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry wants to extend D.C.’s sales tax to include: pet grooming, health clubs, armored car services, private investigations and admission to live performances.

You’ll recall that similar measures were considered last budget go round, but the all-powerful Yoga lobby put a squash to them.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, City Council, Fenty, Marion Barry, Politics
December 7, 2010 | 10:20 AM | By

About those Charter Schools…

rockcreek

Charter School in NE

After consuming some tasty morning bytes, I’m reading this interesting listicle from Smart Money: “10 Things Charter Schools Won’t Tell You”. Here’s the first “thing”:

1. We’re no better than public schools. For all the hype about a few standout schools, charter schools in general aren’t producing better results than traditional public schools. A national study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford found that while 17% of charter schools produced better results than neighborhood public schools, 37% were significantly worse, and the rest were no different. (Not that public schools are perfect, as many parents know. See our earlier story, “10 Things Your School District Won’t Tell You,” for more.)

A host of other studies on charter school outcomes have come up with sometimes contradictory results. As with traditional public schools, there are great charters – and some that aren’t so great. “There’s a lot of variation within charter schools,” points out Katrina Bulkley, an associate professor of education at Montclair State University who studies issues related to school governance. “In fairness to organizations that are running high-performing schools, many of them are very frustrated with the range of quality, because they feel that it taints charter schools as a whole,” Bulkley says…

And here’s a bit of #4, “Students with disabilities need not apply.”:
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FILED UNDER: Education
December 6, 2010 | 4:01 PM | By

Ganging up on Food Trucks

DCentric

Fojol Bros, a popular D.C. Food Truck.

This is disappointing, short-sighted and a few other words I’m not allowed to type; Councilmember Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) is thinking about emergency legislation to prohibit new food trucks while taxing the existing mobile nom-purveyors who got in while the getting was good. But, wait! There’s more (via WCP)!

Indeed, D.C. Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Janene Jackson confirms that she’s teamed up with the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and the Apartment and Office Building Association to ask for the cap, as well as a 10 percent sales tax, since proposed regulations that would govern food trucks are unsatisfactory.

“It’s not that we don’t want mobile food vendors,” Jackson said. “We’re in a deficit, and if bricks and mortars have to pay up, then we all have to pay up.”

My colleague Alan Suderman is also hearing that the issue could come up as soon as tomorrow’s Council legislative meeting, where members will be voting on a plan to close the budget shortfall.

I’m reminded of Love Bites, the truck I profiled here which is run by a local, African-American, mother-daughter team, who are using family recipes to create something delightful. It’s unfortunate that the City Council would bow to pressure from the Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Association to bully entrepreneurs. Yes, we need to address the budget– but if that’s all this were about, then they’d be talking about just taxes (which is understandable), not taxes AND a moratorium (which is not).

FILED UNDER: Government, City Council, Food Trucks, Politics
December 6, 2010 | 1:00 PM | By

Rhee’s Next Project: a National Advocacy Group, “StudentsFirst”

D.Clow - Maryland

Michelle Rhee

If you were wondering what Michelle Rhee is up to, head to Newsweek’s abundantly-titled “What I’ve Learned: We can’t keep politics out of school reform. Why I’m launching a national movement to transform education“:

The purpose of the teachers’ union is to protect the privileges, priorities, and pay of their members. And they’re doing a great job of that.

What that means is that the reform community has to exert influence as well. That’s why I’ve decided to start StudentsFirst, a national movement to transform public education in our country. We need a new voice to change the balance of power in public education. Our mission is to defend and promote the interests of children so that America has the best education system in the world.

From the moment I resigned, I began hearing from citizens from across this country. I got e-mails, calls, and letters from parents, students, and teachers who said, “Don’t give up. We need you to keep fighting!”…

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Education, Michelle Rhee, School Reform
December 2, 2010 | 9:12 PM | By

PGC: D.C.’s new BFF?

Rushern Baker, the incoming county executive for neighboring Prince George’s county, thinks that his jurisdiction and the District of Columbia should forge a stronger bond– because it’s mutually beneficial and because both areas have much in common (via The Washington Informer):

“We need to work together for regional cooperation between our county and the city and that can be done whether it is in public safety or economic development.”

Baker said that border municipalities such as Fairmount Heights, Seat Pleasant, Capitol Heights and Forest Heights look just like the city’s Wards 7 and 8.

People often compare D.C. to NYC, but maybe that’s the wrong city to look at…

While Fenty went to New York City to consult with its mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials there, Baker went to the Atlanta area to look for similarities and best practices.

“The cities and regions in the Atlanta area are similar to Prince George’s County,” Baker, a native of Valdosta, Ga., said.

“A lot of the same firms do business in both the D.C. and Atlanta areas and DeKalb County, which is located outside of Atlanta, is the second wealthiest majority Black jurisdiction in the country, next to Prince George’s County.”

FILED UNDER: Government
December 1, 2010 | 6:38 PM | By

Gray has Lunch with a VIP Constitutent

The White House

Long tables are more Presidential!

It sounds like Mayor-elect Gray’s lunch with President Obama went well (via The Hill):

Speaking alone to reporters outside the White House, Gray described his lunch with the president as “delightful” and said that it was “Even better than I could have hoped for.”

“One of the most important things to me was that the president really wants to work closely with our city,” he said. “We’re going to — in the days and weeks ahead after I’m sworn in — are going to work very closely together.”

I had a feeling D.C. schools would come up, after that infamous interview the President did with Matt Lauer for TODAY, which referenced his daughters attending private school…

Gray said that the president and he spoke about improving public education and early childhood instruction in Washington, as well as funding for infrastructure around the proposed new Department of Homeland Security headquarters in impoverished Southeast Washington. They also discussed solutions to the city’s high unemployment rate.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Obama, Politics, Vince Gray