Rhee's Firing Spree Of DC's Vice Principals Is Underway While More DC Principals Get The Axe !

UPDATE: Inside sources report the principal of Dunbar SHS informed his staff today that he received his letter of termination (aka non-renewal). In addition, it is also reported that principals from Coolidge SHS and Anacostia SHS will not be renewed. If you have additional information, please email saveourcounselors@gmail.com

In a June 1 email sent to me regarding the termination of Watkins ES vice principal Dr. Shanklin- here is a copy below of the email- members of the Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA sent to Chancellor Rhee expressing their concerns about this non-reinstatement of yet another DCPS administrator. So far this makes for 3 vice principals that I have learned about that have been terminated thus far, two at Jefferson middle school and one at Watkis elementary school.

Dear Chancellor Rhee,

"We write to express our shock and dismay with your administration's decision regarding the "non-reappointment" of Watkins Elementary assistant principal Dr. Sharia Shanklin, our considerable concerns regarding the uncertainty surrounding the Capitol Hill Cluster School leadership team, and the lack of engagement with the Cluster's PTA and SAB (nee LSRT) leadership as these decisions are made.

As elected parent leaders of the PTA and SAB, we represent the families of more than 1,100 students and approximately 150 teachers, staff, and administrators of the Capitol Hill Cluster School, which make up the three campuses of Peabody Early Childhood Center, Watkins Elementary School, and Stuart-Hobson Middle School.

Our community was stunned by Dr. Shanklin's announcement Thursday, May 27, 2010 that she had received a letter of non-reappointment from Instructional Superintendent Dr. William Wilhoyte with no apparent cause. We had not even considered such a possibility as Dr. Shanklin's record speaks for itself:

- Watkins students and teachers have met the Adequate Yearly Progress benchmark established by the No Child Left Behind legislation, which requires an annual standardized test score increase of 10%. The accomplishment ranks Watkins above the 80th percentile in DC-CAS test results among all DCPS elementary schools, according to the DC OSSE.

- This year's Watkins first graders met 14 out of 15 DCPS-mandated DIBELS end-of-the-year standardized test goals by the middle of the year. Moreover,test scores increased between 10% and 35% between the first and second tests.

- Watkins teachers are among the top-rated teachers in DCPS,according to the new IMPACT teacher evaluation system. Collectively, Cluster school teachers - Peabody, Watkins, and Stuart-Hobson - achieved "highly effective" status with collective scores 24% above the DCPS average.

- Watkins'"Responsive Classroom" method has provided a safe and positive learning environment for close to 535 children, resulting in self-regulated behavior and a minimum of instances requiring intervention.

Dr. Shanklin has a proud history with the Cluster, serving as one of it leaders for ten years as well as having deep roots in the Ward Six education community, acting as the Brent Elementary School PTA President as well as a supportive parent at Jefferson Middle School and Banneker High School during her three children's attendance there. Not only has Dr. Shanklin invested a lot into our community but we have invested heavily in her as well. And we feel that this investment has been richly rewarded. Indeed she is greatly appreciated by most parents and students alike. Thanks to Dr. Shanklin's efforts our children have prospered and been happy. To lose her would be a terrible blow to our community.

We strongly urge you to reconsider your Administration's decision not to reappoint Dr. Shanklin. Depriving Watkins, and for that matter the many DCPS elementary schools in need of strong and substantive leadership, is counter-intuitive to your goal of recruiting accomplished principals and teachers. You already have one in Dr. Shanklin.

Dr. Shanklin's non-reappointment also raises very troubling concerns regarding the status of the Cluster's entire leadership and places in jeopardy the many initiatives they have planned, in consultation with the PTA and SAB, for next year. We understand that Cluster Principal Brandon Eatman has yet to have his fate decided. The prospect of losing additional members of our administrative team is deeply troubling and runs the risk of undermining several exciting initiatives underway at the Cluster School. Cluster leadership, in consultation with the PTA, SAB, and Cluster Teacher Leadership Committees have embarked upon a very ambitious reorganization plan, a realignment that would seek to reinforce the Cluster concept of one seamless school with three campuses by re-evaluating teacher assignments and team placements. Parents and teachers, eager to hear and work through the specifics, are now in a state of limbo.

Aside from the loss of Dr. Shanklin's wealth of Cluster experience and knowledge serving as a crucial component of the re-alignment, theuncertainty regarding the future of each of our administrators, coupled with the hold on introducing the re-alignment have left the Cluster in a precarious position -- in a state of suspension when we require action.

Finally, this raises perhaps the most troubling issue: a lack of engagement and consultation by your Administration throughout the school year on your vision for the Cluster. While we have been heartened by the work your Administration has performed on the Ward Six Middle School plan, and appreciate the consideration our Montessori program expansion has received, there has been no other interaction regarding internal issues specific to the Cluster.

The only engagement we have had is the placement of an unqualified, RIF'd teacher at Stuart-Hobson, a brief presentation on Stuart-Hobson's renovation plan, and the termination of a high performing and highly valued member of our administrative team.

We are very disheartened to know that while your Administration launches very public processes to hire new principals at schools like Eastern, that our own Administrative team may be picked apart -- with individuals summarily terminated -- without even a whisper of consultation to the school's parent leadership.

We respectfully request a face-to-face meeting at your schedule's earliest convenience to discuss these issues:

- Why your Administration decided not to reappoint a proven administrator without any clear plan of succession.
- What is your Administration's plan for Cluster principal leadership.
- What is the status of the Cluster proposed re-alignment.
- What role the PTA and SAB leadership will have in shaping your Administration's plan and what role the PTA and SAB leadership will have in personnel decisions.
- Solutions to create a more constructive and engaged interaction between your Administration and Cluster leadership.

We look forward to hearing from you to confirm your earliest availability to discuss these issues."

Sincerely,

Amanda Bassow, President, Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA
Ed Lazere, Co-Chairperson, Capitol Hill Cluster School SAB
Philip Brady, Co-Chairperson, Capitol Hill Cluster School SAB
Marc Osgoode Smith, Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA liaison to SAB

Be Careful What You Write on Twitter !

This article below was written by Nikita Stewart of The WaPo on June 25. Somehow I overlooked it. I think it is interesting particularly since it is about a Dept. of Employment Services (DOES) summer contractor who regularly made disparaging comments about Anacostia SHS ( his place of employment) and loafing, on his Twitter page. I find it curious that many people think they have the right to publicly make 'racially insensitive' comments about Ward 8 where Anacostia SHS is located. DOES contractor David Le's comments are akin to the alleged statement made by Donald L. Hense of Friendship-Edison when Hense explained that the reason Anacostia SHS students can't learn is because their mother's are on crack cocaine (see 6/28/09 entry on this blog). Had this same type of offensive comment been made in a more affluent part of the city like ward 3 where residents are more politically astute, I believe that it would not have been tolerated by DC schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and would have resulted in an immediate investigation by the Rhee administration .

All I know is be careful what you say publicly out of your mouth. People are watching. Here's the story:

D.C. Summer Jobs Contractor Fired for Posts on Twitter

"The D.C. Department of Employment Services fired a contractor who was working with youths in the city's summer jobs program after officials became aware of messages on his Twitter site that Anacostia is "ghetto" and that he was loafing at work.

David Le, who was working as a participant service specialist, was terminated yesterday, said Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). "He no longer works for DOES," she said. "I can't talk about personnel issues."

The firing came a day after The Washington Post showed Hobson a month-long string of tweets from Le's page. "In america's ghetto anacostia... If I get scared i will just yell chinese carry out! They will not shoot me," a message read on June 22. On June 15, a message read, "thank goodness my boss is making things easy, he told me to pretend to do work so he can mark me down for hours."

Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), chairman of the committee that oversees DOES, called the messages "unprofessional, wrong and racist." "To do that, I don't think it represents the high standards of the Fenty administration," said Barry, who represents Anacostia. "You can excuse one [tweet], but he has a series of them. It's excessive."

Reached through Facebook, Le declined to comment. In a Twitter message, he said he is Asian. The profile photo shows him shirtless and in sunglasses. Hobson said he began working on June 10 and was paid $13 per hour to oversee participants in the Summer Youth Employment Program. His Twitter page was brought to the attention of the Post by David Hoffman, owner of an employment placement firm whose agreement to find jobs for 400 to 500 participants was terminated this week by the city. Officials said the firm improperly assigned some participants to go to development and construction companies to see if they were complying with a city law to employ District residents.

City officials said they knew nothing about the assignments. But Hoffman said the employment-services department endorsed the idea because the agency needed an activity that could employ large numbers of participants. When the city terminated Hoffman's agreement, Le was one of the employees who contacted participants to tell them they would be getting new work assignments.Hoffman said he found the tweets disturbing. "One of the schools I am in charge of is Anacostia [High School]. If you are from here, you know ANACOSTIA . . . about 100+ murders in one year," said a tweet from June 15."

Posted by The Washington Teacher. Story courtesy of www.washingtonpost.com

DC Parents Outraged Over Friendship Takeover of Anacostia High

A teacher known as 'Sad Anacostia Teacher' forwarded me a copy of an letter which an Anacostia senior high parent sent to Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. Anacostia Senior High is being reconstituted this year with the assistance of Friendship Edison charter schools. The high school is located at 1601 16th Street, SE. where Rodney McBride was the former principal. I featured concerns on my blog on June 25th from an Anacostia teacher which revealed that half of their teachers have been excessed. I have received other emails that allege that there have been discriminatory practices in excessing 50% of Anacostia's teachers. This outraged parent's e-mail to Chancellor Rhee suggests that like DC teachers, Anacostia parents feel disenfranchised by the Rhee administration, complain of the lack of transparency and have concerns about the way this school takeover is being conducted. Here's a copy of the letter as promised :

Dear Chancellor Rhee:

"Today is a sad day in the lives of students and parents of Anacostia High School, when you Mrs. Rhee want to turn over our school to people like Mr. Donald Hense of Friendship Edison. When the founder of Friendship Edison says that the reason the students of Anacostia can’t learn is because their mother’s are on crack cocaine this is a sad day. He made this statement at the Anacostia construction meeting. Again as a parent why would someone say this about our children’s parents this way? Is this the way you Mr. Lew, The Mayor, The Gates Foundation and members of your staff think about our students at Anacostia who belong to us ?

I attended a meeting today at Anacostia . I thought that we were going to talk about the construction of Anacostia, but it was not the case. For the first half or more it was about Friendship's programs and their history and not about Anacostia’s building. I talked to the staff of Mr. Lew’s shop before the meeting and Mr. Robinson told me they would have a few words in the beginning and that did not happen. Friendship took over the meeting. Again the lies that people tell us to get us in a room so that they can say they had a meeting with parents of Anacostia, so that they can get paid by The Gates Foundation. Friendship told the Gates Foundation that they had met their obligation as it relates to the DC Education Compact and the community, parents and students, when in fact they never met with the parent body and they gave out false information along with Mr. Justin Cohen a member of your staff . I have heard back from Andrea at the Gates Foundation and she has let me know that she has spoken both with Friendship Charter Schools folks and with Justin at DCPS regarding our concerns. At this point she feels that the project is on target as described in the plans as they have documented opportunities for parent and community engagement – among benchmarks they are responsible for. The parents of Anacostia did not know any of this and the cover up grows.

When people say things about our children I have problems with it, here is a statement made by a member of your staff:, Mr. Justin C. Cohen of the Office of Portfolio Management:

"The Chancellor asked me to respond to your last email. The DC Education Compact serves as the fiscal intermediary for grant funding to DCPS from the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation. Acting in this capacity sometimes requires them to disburse funding to organizations that support our work, and such is the case with the Friendship Schools. DCPS does not pay the DCEC any funds; rather they disperse grant funding on our behalf. To your other point, the No Child Left Behind act establishes targets for standardized test scores and attendance at individual schools. While it is one indicator of school performance, it is an imperfect and incomplete measure. Friendship's high school - the Collegiate Academy - has consistently outperformed every DCPS high school, except for our selective admission magnet schools. In addition, the Chancellor does not have control over the charter schools in DC, as those are overseen by the DC Public Charter School Board, a completely separate independent entity. We appreciate your concerns, and I encourage you to come to us with questions about these arrangements, as we want to make sure you have the appropriate facts. "

A member of Mr. Lew’s staff told us Mr. Lew did not care about this meeting, so writing him gets us nothing. He is not going to look at it any way. (He will just delete it). Mrs. Rhee the parents at Anacostia did not know about this meeting but the parent and staff of Friendship knew, and they came to a school that they do not teach at or their children did not go to. This tells me that this is about money not about making the city schools better. Mr. Cohen said it best in his e-mail that the test is an imperfect and incomplete measure, so why do we take the test and why did you change Anacostia school staff if it does not mean anything ? Our children are in trouble at Anacostia when Mr. Beck of Friendship follows the young ladies of Anacostia to the rest rooms with a video camera and films them going in and coming out. He told the young men of the building he was taking their pictures so when he took over he would put them out. What happened to the investigation on him because Mr. John Davis of your staff knew about it and did not turn it over to your security force unit? All these things have been going on since you made the move at Anacostia. It is time to remove Friendship Edison from Anacostia. If you don’t, you are looking at a war on your hands. I hope you can take care of this matter before it gets bad." - Signed an Anacostia SHS parent

visit: http://www.nclb.osse.dc.gov/aypreports.asp

*Anacostia SHS made Safe Harbor in reading in 2008 for Black/Non-Hispanic groupings. They went from 6.28% proficient in 2007 to 21.15% proficient in 2008. As a result of having 95% students tested and reducing those non-proficient students by 10% earned them safe harbor in this category.

Posted by The Washington Teacher

A DC Teacher Speaks Out From East Of The River ...

A DC teacher from Anacostia senior high school wrote me several e-mails about the inequities in excessing of DC teachers and school counselors at Anacostia senior high school which is located @ 1601 16th Street SE where Rodney McBride was the principal . This teacher's email parallels other emails that I have received about similar occurrences at reconstituted schools in DC schools. Here's a copy of the email:

Dear Candi:

"More than 50% of the staff were excessed at Anacostia SHS including all the school counselors. Initially it appears that the restructuring/reconstitution process consisted of weeding out the senior teachers. Interesting many of our colleagues who are Teaching fellows or Teach for America were selected to remain without all of the proper credentials. The grief in this crime is that our students and our schools are further being left behind. These issues are not just NCLB mandates, rather our students and teachers are being harmed. Where is the justice in this?

I'd like to suggest tracking the number of teachers being "EXCESSED' and terminated in our school system. The Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) should be keeping the data on this. I believe that DC teachers that are being excessed are tentatively scheduled to be fired in the near future. Yesterday, I was jogging on a Montgomery Co. school track where I met a young man who was just hired to teach in DCPS from Chicago. What's the sense in this if this new teacher will be terminated next year ?

My recommendation is to gather front line teachers to get together to collaborate this summer in a round table work discussion with a facilitator that will allow us to collect the data to build a case. " Signed an Excessed Anacostia Teacher

What's happening in DC public schools poses some interesting "Questions About the Future of DCPS" as written by Roger Scott in his June 24, 2009 piece in 'themail' (1 word) , an online magazine publication by Gary Imhoff .

"In response to “Chancellor Michelle Rhee Is a Terminating Machine” by Candi Peterson [themail, June 21]. I have three questions for Ms. Peterson, other DCPS teachers, and those in the know on DC Watch.

1) With all these mass layoffs, terminations, and retirements, who is going to replace these teachers? Is Chancellor Rhee only pulling teachers from the teacher prep programs? No disrespect intended to any individuals who completed such programs, but I doubt that veteran teachers from the surrounding area would want to enter our system at this point.

2) Are there any other examples of this kind of “teacher crackdown” in the nation as a baseline for such a practice? This kind of thing seems unprecedented.

3) It feels that Chancellor Rhee is plowing ahead with her agenda full-stream, with no checks, stays, or reviews. Is there anything that can be done to validate that this “slash and burn” process is actually good for the future of DC youth and the school system? Logically, it does not seem to be an effective way to achieve the end result. That is, assuming the end result is to improve the quality of education and create better and stronger public schools."

Posted by The Washington Teacher

Anacostisa High smells of Rat/Mouse Droppings and Urine !

Please Help ! Another plea from an Anacostia teacher colleague !

9/14.. Candi... I finally located the teacher's lounge which has been allocated for teachers at Anacostia SHS on Friday 9/12/2008. It is located in the new building, but one would not know that it was the new building, because it is run down, dull, major cracks in the walls, and worst than the "old building. I've concluded the "maintenance, engineering, plumbing, electrical, carpenters, and the custodial staff" are inefficient there, or they definitely need more help. The custodial staff needs training on how to clean a school building. The stairs have not been cleaned .....seems like in a decade. Anyway, I visited the teacher's lounge and it was appalling. It appears this place has not been cleaned in years. It smells of urine. Rat/Mouse droppings and roaches are everywhere. This place is unacceptable. I am shocked that the DCPS administration is announcing this "place" as a teacher's lounge. Who is responsible for our school buildings? How can this school be allowed to operate under these conditions? Where is the Chancellor and the Mayor on this situation at Anacostia? You should also see the business managers office, she is in and out (more out) due to complications of her pregnancy. I would spend time articulating this environment also in writing, but I am beginning to feel no one cares except for the teachers at Anacostia who nobody tends to listen to. Several teachers have echoed that they have sent emails to the Chancellor but no response has been given. Please publish on your blog and send to the local media. Thanks, anonymous teacher. Posted by Candi.