Ma’am, how do you define “good”?
The relationship between the chancellor of Washington’s troubled school system and its teachers has deteriorated badly over the issue of tenure, the Wall Street Journal reports. How troubled are D.C.’s schools? According to the Journal:
The chancellor of Washington’s school system, Michelle Rhee, is wrestling with one of the most expensive, worst performing school systems in the country. The dropout rate has hit 40%, and the cost per student is $14,000 a year. Buildings are crumbling and thousands of parents have abandoned the system, which serves about 45,000 students.
But fixing the system involves weeding out underperforming teachers — and that requires an end to the tenure system, which the powerful teachers’ union opposes. As a result, the standoff
… has turned into a grudge match between Ms. Rhee and Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, which has intervened directly in the local contract dispute. Ms. Rhee “has so poisoned the environment that I am not sure that we can ever get back to a good situation here,” said Ms. Weingarten.
Well, here’s Step 1: Focus on what’s best for students, not what’s best for teachers.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
The union only represents the teachers. Children do not get to vote for union officers and do not pay union dues. Only teachers do.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
and how about we focus on the students’ families, who need to encourage them to actually GO to school….get that 40% dropout rate lowered
November 20th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
This is the same D.C. that re-elected Marion Barry after his drug conviction, right? (Wikipedia says he actually got his start on the school board…)