Starring: Michelle Rhee, DC Public Schools Chancellor
Hey folks, it's almost that time of year again when DC schools approaches its final days as the school year comes to an end. In the interim, some principals have already faced Chancellor Rhee's 'meat axe approach' to termination while others have announced plans this week to resign or retire under what many believe are threats of more soon-to-be terminations by Rhee and company.
As you may recall, last year some targeted DC principals on Rhee's hit list left many parents and community activists baffled and questioning Rhee's guidelines for termination of local school principals. Even in cases when principals had performed well, Rhee's unconventional actions to fire these principals without as much as an explanation left many wondering how could this be happening ?
So far here's the short list of departing DC principals and their affiliated schools:
My sources report the following:
Principal terminated @ Anacostia Senior High School (school reconstituted)
Principal terminated @ Dunbar Senior High School (school reconstituted)
Principal will resign under threat of termination @Garfield Elementary School
Principal terminated @ Hamilton Center
Principal terminated @ Luke C. Moore Academy Senior High School
Principal terminated @Spingarn Senior High School
An anonymous blogger posted that the principal at Janey Elementary School resigned.
Another blogger asked the following questions:
"Why is the principal at Walls remaining? Since his arrival, the number of scholarships received by the students has decreased. In fact he received a rating of 37.
"Why is the principal of Brightwood remaining too..She really needs to go! She is a control freak who has not made AYP since she has been there...and the hispanic student's don't have anything to doo with her incompentence. The principal shuffle has to do with keeping the bad principal's and eliminating the good ones, it has nothing to do with improving DCPS, but destroying it. "
Feel free to keep me posted about DC's soon to be departing principals or drop me an email @ saveourcounselors@gmail.com with your departing principal tip. (Posted by The Washington Teacher).
17 comments:
Candi, you gotta feel for these principals. Sometimes they make our lives even harder as teachers when they don't support us or back us or get on our cases over little things. But working for Rhee as an at will employee must be a very insecure way to go. I know some of them are dreading these few weeks hoping not to get pink slips. And the test scores aren't even basck yet.
Back before the US Civil War, standardized tests would have measured an "achievement gap" between white children and children of color. But the abolitionists would never have allowed it to be described in such absurd terms. The Quakers, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe would have put the blame for the testing disparity where it belonged, on slavery! That vicious racist institution made it a crime for a child of color to pick up a book and even attempt to learn to read.
In this day and time, those of us who seek to meet the corporate attack on the public schools should be very careful about fighting that battle on the enemy's terms. The slaveholders would have loved to debate over an "achievement gap" while the existence of slavery was ignored. Today, the masters of US public education oversee an apartheid-like system where teachers of color are steadily disappearing from the classroom. Little wonder they are so determined to make their stand on the "achievement gap" while the society's fundamental racism and the profound and disproportionate effects of severe poverty on children of color are ignored.
Look at the all-star line-up of public school bashers who revel in the "achievement gap" charade and pose as civil rights crusaders before deciding to play the game on their terms.
George W. Bush
Rod Paige
Margaret Spellings
Ruby K. Payne
Eli Broad
Joel Klein
Michelle Rhee
Arne Duncan
Bill Gates
Paul Vallas
Jeb Bush
Wendy Kopp
Newt Gingrich
Rush Limbaugh
Michael Bloomberg
Armstrong Williams
Did the election of Barack Obama change everything? Did the election of Abraham Lincoln end slavery?
Does racism still exist in the United States? Today we await the facts in the killing of NYC Police Officer Omar J. Edwards before a proper verdict is rendered.
Paul A. Moore
Teacher
I heard directly from a teacher at Garfield that the principal was CLUELESS and needed to go. Some say she is even worse than the previous principal, and that would be saying something.
Please keep us posted as there are firings. It's gonna get ugly, or shall I say uglier.
Be Like John Brown,
You forgot one: Al Sharpton.
Candi, Can you list next to each principal/school whether they are "leaving voluntarily" or "axed?"
The principal @ Janney Elementary School has resigned. She was not a good match for the school ... thank goodness Rhee was aware of that and made the right decision. I believe Rhee is doing the right thing ... We must get rid of principals who destroy our schools.
Really ... I think we must give rid of Michelle Rhee who hasn't really done anything for our schools but shuffle the deck. It's that her only MO, firing which is really just shuffling the deck. She gets the same thing everytime. So, she fired last year and hired to refire the ones that she bought in. Isn't the definition of INSANITY do the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Michelle Rhee doesn't have a clue. She's just full of blah, blah, blah and blah blah blah and blah blah blah. I'm really tired of listening to her spew nothingness.
Garfield has a history of bad Principals. I met this Prinicpal once but It's hard to imagine anyone being as bad as Garfield's last Principal.
Please continue to post information about principals as it comes in to you.
Why is the principal at Walls remaining? Since his arrival, the number of scholarships received by the students has decreased. In fact he received a rating of 37.
Why is the principal of Brightwood remaining too..She really needs to go! She is a control freak who has not made AYP since she has been there...and the hispanic student's don't have anything to do with her incompentence.
The principal shuffle has to do with keeping the bad principal's and eliminating the good ones, it has nothing to do with improving DCPS, but destroying it.
I want to clarify what I think was meant by the anonymous poster who mentions that Hispanic students have nothing to do with a certain principal's shortcomings. I don't believe a racist remark was being made, just to let you know if the comment sounded off. The school hasn't made AYP in several years and has a large number of English language learners in it, most of whom are Spanish speaking. The poster certainly meant that it wasn't just the large percentage of ELLs in the school that caused it to miss making AYP, but thinks it's the fault of the principal's lack of leadership.
Why was the principal at Janney not a good match? Was race an issue?
There are atrocious principals all over this district and as a young teacher who came into the district with high hopes and a lot of energy I will hopefully be exiting as soon as possible on account of the corrupt and lousy leadership I've experienced at my elementary school in southeast. This has been the most miserable school year of my life and I've never seen so many unhappy teachers in one place. Thanks but no thanks DCPS. "Attitude reflects leadership."
I just heard from several reliable sources that the long-time principal at Bancroft in Mount Pleasant is retiring and that the relatively new principal at Murch, west of the park, has resigned.
As a teacher here at Brightwood EC I believe Ms. Fox, our principal has done a tremendous job. We are on the verge of re-gainig our status as a school based on excellence and hard work. While we have not received recent test scores results, I believe they will prove that, under the leadership of our current principal, we are on the right track once again. I look forward to the the coming school year. The Hispanic students as well as the East-African, growing Asian, and Black population will all benfit from Ms. Fox' dynamic leadership.
Dunbar's principal was not terminated. He resigned because he didn't want to work with Friends of Bedford hovering over him and pulling his strings. Same thing with Coolidge. If someone else is in charge, why would anyone want to be the principal just in name. They are personal friends and they are very happy with their decisions. While they aren't principals, they are doing well and have peace of mind; as well as numerous options. Especially as strong black men in education, role models, and leaders.
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