Severance Pay
Dear Payers:
Michelle Rhee resigned today. See her resignation letter at http://www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/101013.htm.
This, of course, leaves us with the top question on our minds: how much
are the taxpayers on the hook for; how much do we have to pay her to go
away? Bill Turque, the Post education reporter, says he’s
trying to find out. Is there anything we can learn from her contract, http://www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/070703.htm?
Not much.
Rhee was hired on July 3, 2007, at an annual salary of $275,000 a
year. She was guaranteed an annual cost-of-living raise, so her salary
is now considerably higher than that. Paragraph 6 of her contract says
that, “should you choose to terminate your appointment for a good
cause, you shall receive a severance payment of up to 12 weeks of your
base salary, plus any accrued leave, as well as an additional 12 weeks
of administrative pay.” That’s about a half-year’s salary, give or
take. So has she terminated her appointment “for a good cause”? Does
her not wanting to work with Gray count as a good cause? If Peter
Nickles really wanted to protect the taxpayers from being fleeced —
which is the excuse he uses for fighting so hard to deny equitable
settlements to DC citizens who have been mistreated by the city — he
would argue that her contract doesn’t call for her to be paid any
severance allowance, and he would fight hard against paying her an extra
dime. But Rhee is part of the Fenty team; Fenty will determine what she
gets paid in severance; and Nickles will rubber-stamp whatever Fenty
wants, even above the contractual ceiling.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
District Elections, Part 2
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
On Monday, October 18, DC voters will return to the polls to vote in
the general election. The early voting center at One Judiciary Square,
441 4th Street, NW, will be open from October 18 through November 1.
Four satellite early voting centers — Chevy Chase Community Center,
5601 Connecticut Avenue, NW; Hine Junior High School, 335 8th Street,
NE; the southeast Ennis and Learning Center, 701 Mississippi Avenue, SE;
and the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Avenue, NE —
will be open from Saturday, October 23 through Saturday, October 30. The
hours for all early voting centers will be from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.,
but they will be closed on Sundays. The early voting center at One
Judiciary Square will close at 4:45 p.m. on November 1. On November 2,
election day, all 143 polling precincts will be open from 7:00 a.m. to
8:00 p.m.
As opposed to the September primary, the general election is open to
all District voters, regardless of their party affiliation. Moreover,
voters can cast a ballot for any candidate on the ballot, again
regardless of party affiliation, or can write in the name of any
qualified individual. DC residents who are not currently registered may
register in person at the DC Board of Elections’ office, 441 4th
Street, NW, until 4:45 p.m. on November 1, at an early voting center
from October 23 through October 30, or at their neighborhood polling
precinct on election day.
In the November 2 general election, voters will elect the delegate to
the US House of Representatives; the mayor; the chairman of the city
council; two at-large members of the council; members of the DC council
from wards 1, 3, 5, and 6; a US shadow representative; members of the
State Board of Education from wards 1, 3, 5, and 6; and 286 advisory
neighborhood commissioners. In addition, the “elected attorney general
charter amendment” will also appear on the ballot. If approved,
instead of the mayor’s appointing the attorney general, district
voters would elect the attorney general for a four-year term of office,
beginning in 2014. Further information is available on the web site of
the DC Board of Elections and Ethics at http://www.dcboee.org.
###############
DCPS’s Out-of-Boundary Lottery
Alvin C. Frost, alvincfrost@msn.com
DCPS’s out-of-boundary lottery allows parents to apply for a DCPS
school different from their assigned school. Educational reform in
America takes essentially the opposite approach, as reformers seek to
insinuate themselves into every aspect of locally controlled public
education. Reform is using the ideology, strategies, and tactics that
they can control everything, even things that can’t or shouldn’t be
controlled by them, such as the communities that have the ultimate
responsibility for making sure that their children are prepared to be
educated.
After the Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision
in 1954, the country turned its back on public education, especially in
communities with large numbers of nonwhite students. This was not
necessarily the result of a cabal that decided to “flee to the suburbs”
or to initiate “massive resistance” to the desegregation of public
schools, or the creation of the rapid increase of “so-called”
private schools, such as Christian Academies, and the rise of home
schooling. One result of this turning away from publicly educating our
children is that, while parents with resources can make sure that their
kids obtain a “reasonable and proper” education, parents of limited
means and resources are ever more dependent upon public education as a
way for their children to break out of the generational cycle of
poverty.
Reformers use seed money and capital to essentially control the
governance structure, resource allocation, teacher evaluation, and
instructional methods. This is done in spite of the fact that education
is a local responsibility that requires the committed, and respected,
involvement of parents, students, teachers and their unions, the school
systems, and the local, county or state governments. How has this
happened? By carefully selecting school districts, such as DCPS, where
the belief is that it cannot possibly get worse. The results of the
reform approach includes numerous school closings, a massive
school-building and modernization program; large firings of teachers,
administrators, and staff; a radical new teacher’s contract; a deeply
flawed IMPACT teacher’s evaluation tool, and the exclusion of parents
and the community in the goal-setting and decision-making process.
Nationally directed and funded reform is an out-of-boundary
interference, and must, in the future, include all of the local
stakeholders in the public education issue, and not just nationally
known wealthy and influential individuals, families, foundations, and
organizations. And, by the way, both Mayor Fenty’s and Chancellor Rhee’s
children are enrolled in out-of-boundary schools. It seems that power
and control entitles some parents to privileges that many in the poorer
neighborhoods can only dream of, or they are forced to play the DCPS
lottery.
###############
Accountability, Hardy/MetroTeen AIDS, and
Parental Input
Eric Woods, ewbushdoctor@gmail.com
Did you experience the breath of fresh air that swept across the
District on October 13? It was surpassed in magnitude only by the bright
sunlight that erupted on the morning of September 15. With Rhee’s
resignation, I hope people can now begin to look very critically at true
educational reform and move past simplistic media sound bites when
discussing programs and results. The latest fiasco at Hardy Middle
School is an excellent example of the reformists’ inattention to
detail and, later, attempting to dismiss valid public concerns.
As reported by the GeorgetownDish.com on October 12, Hardy’s new
administration, in conjunction with MetroTeen AIDS (MTA), conducted an
extensive and graphic survey about sexual behavior and alcohol and drug
use by seventh-graders and collected personal information about each
student without the consent of the parents, http://tinyurl.com/2da6mrp.
As the prelude to a twelve-week program, MTA’s own letter to parents
called for prior approval by parents and their ability to opt out of
either the survey or program. Sadly this went home after the survey was
conducted. The DCPS and MTA response to the news report gives only token
reference to the serious offense of trashing parental rights while
leaving unaddressed several other glaring issues raised by the report
including: 1) why are twelve and thirteen year olds subjected to the
identical survey that is presented to much more mature college and
postgraduate young adults? 2) Why is MTA collecting personal information
(names, age, birth date, zip code) while telling parents that no
personally identifiable information can link the student to the survey?
3) How many parents at other schools have experienced such a breach of
the public trust? How many other twelve or thirteen year olds have been
subjected to images conjured up by questions like asking your sexual
partner about using a “dental dam?” 4) Why couldn’t MTA provide a
response that demonstrated how collected information from prior years
serves as evidence that their program is achieving any level of success
in the schools? 5) Why is DCPS transferring the responsibility of sexual
education to a bunch of seventeen to twenty-four year olds instead of to
health professionals with degrees? 6) Shouldn’t we be “opting-in”
if we would prefer unqualified people, instead of health professionals,
teaching our children about human sexuality and the risks related to
drugs and alcohol?
I am comforted by the fact that this latest episode shows the power
of democracy. Without parents speaking up about privacy rights, parental
rights to protect their kids from inappropriate guidance and
misinformation from nonprofessionals on sensitive issues, and holding
the government accountable for the trust we place in it, we would not
know about the problem at Hardy. It may be widespread, so I hope readers
will ask your own children about any MTA materials or programs they have
been subject to. We cannot count on DCPS or MTA to reveal their own
missteps — they could have mentioned their efforts in their official
responses. Going forward I expect educational reformists to ask tougher
questions about the value and validity of programs they are considering
bringing to our children. Similarly I expect DCPS to exercise far
greater oversight over the contracted services provided in the execution
of the program.
###############
Nothing to Worry About — Is There?
Gabe Goldberg, gabe at gabegold dot com
“DC Voting Pilot Program Filled with Security Holes,” http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2073741:
“The team found the default password in an owner’s manual. Halderman
could then monitor the network from his computer in Michigan and see
BOEE administrators working in real time. The team also gained access to
a pair of publicly accessible security cameras in the BOEE data center
that could be used to watch employees typing in passwords. Halderman and
his team also made another discovery. ‘While we were in control of
these systems, we observed other attack attempts originating from Iran
and China,’ Halderman says.”
###############
Now Catania Wants Notaries to Perform
Marriages
Richard Urban, independent candidate for DC Council
At-Large, rurban@rufordc.com
In July, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied the right
of DC voters to vote on the definition of marriage. In response, Mr.
Catania wrote, “I believe that it is time for the leaders of these
efforts to return to their home states and let the residents of the
District live their lives.” I believe that we, the residents of DC,
have a right to vote on this issue, and that Mr. Catania’s attitude is
condescending to those who have lived here all or a substantial part of
their lives and believe that marriage is defined as the union of one man
and one woman only, as I do. I am the only candidate for DC Council
At-Large that is for defining marriage as between a man and a woman
only, and for letting DC voters vote on that definition.
The way that same sex unions have been pushed upon DC residents
without real community input is very telling as to the way that the DC
council sometimes operates. Now Councilmembers Catania, Cheh, and Evans
want notaries to perform marriages. The bill is cosponsored by
Councilmembers Graham and Wells. This seems to be a way to push through
more same sex “marriages” and to further weaken the institution of
marriage. Communities that are having success in reducing the rate of
divorce are taking just the opposite approach; they are adopting
Community Marriage Policies, which encourage couples to take a
premarital inventory and receive marriage preparation classes. Having
notaries perform marriages is a bad idea. After already weakening
marriage by redefining it, now the council wants to reduce even further
the thoughtful preparation that is needed to help make more marriages
succeed. DC voters should reject Mr. Catania’s effort to change the
definition of marriage, and now to render meaningless the significance
of the marriage ceremony. A vote for Richard Urban on November 2 is a
vote to rebuff Catania’s efforts to redefine and weaken marriage.
In addition, you can also testify on the bill on Thursday, November
14, at 2:00 p.m. before the Committee on Public Safety and the
Judiciary. You can contact the committee at 724-7808.
###############
Missing from the discussion is the top-heavy cadre of highly paid
administrative staffs of these sub-performing districts. They are often
hired because they are friends of the chancellors/superintendents or
friends of other staff members. They often move from district to
district extracting top salaries for their so-called expertise. What
most parents do not realize is that the superintendents in their
districts are the highest paid members in public service. Their tenure
is less than three years, after which they move on to the next “problem
district.”
###############
I read the “How To Fix Our Schools” article [themail, October 10]
and first was struck by the word “Manifesto” that preceded its
title. First thought: Karl Marx, where is this going? Then I read the
article in full, which led to my second observation.
This piece, which I suppose is 500 or more words long, contained by
my count only three references to “parents,” and these meager
references, in my view, included parents only as part of a group of “adults”
merely involved in education of children; their income status had no
bearing on educational success or failure; and the education system
should give them a “better portfolio of school choices.” Otherwise,
as the piece stated as its essential thesis, “the single most
important factor determining whether students succeed in school . . . is
the quality of their teacher.”
So, by the lights of these educational worthies, my wife’s and my
contribution to the educational success of my college graduate son and
my soon-to-graduate daughter is reduced to what? giving them life, three
squares, and a place to lie their heads? This brings me back to my first
observation about Karl Marx and my now knowing where this article is
going. Who said this recently, “We are all socialists now”? I
thought at first that Gray should perhaps give Rhee a chance in his
administration, but with this article and Rhee’s continued endorsement
of this claptrap theory, she should be shown the door.
[“We Are All Socialists Now” is the title of an article by Jon
Meachem that was the cover story in Newsweek on February 7, 2009.
— Gary Imhoff]
###############
“One City” a
Pipe Dream, or Is Another DC Possible?
David Schwartzman, at-large city council candidate, dschwartzman@gmail.com
Our presumed mayor-elect Vince Gray has inspired us with his vision
of “One City” and his renewed commitment to fight for DC Statehood.
As a DC Statehood Green Party candidate and long-term activist, I was
just as delighted with the defeat of Mayor Fenty as with my own primary
win. I look forward to an elected government which moves on from the
policies rejected by a majority of Democratic voters. Vince Gray
impresses me as someone who in his heart takes seriously what his
Christian religious tradition preaches about social and economic
justice. However, his best intentions may be frustrated by increasing
signs that the regional corporate agenda will continue to be imposed on
our elected government, unless a countervailing power from below is
mobilized.
But how can we achieve “One City” while tolerating such high
levels of income inequality and poverty, especially among children (40
percent of African American children), that persist in the District?
Consider, as well, the reality of socioeconomic cleansing, as Sam Smith
aptly described the ongoing process of gentrification, loss of
affordable housing, and the impact of mass incarceration and continued
discrimination against ex-offenders (see his incisive analysis at http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2010/10/school-reform-is-about-class-not.html).
HUD defines affordable housing as costing no more than 30 percent of
household income, yet some 100,000 District households pay more than 30
percent, with 48,000 paying more than 50 percent (Bob Pohlman, Coalition
for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development). I note Vince Gray’s
commitment to continuing educational reform. But, given the ongoing
glaring disparities between student performance in affluent versus
low-income communities under the Fenty/Rhee regime, are we going forward
with the corporate-invented delusion that effective reform is possible
with the mass unjustified firing of experienced teachers and staff and
without sharply reducing poverty at the same time ? The removal of Rhee
is a necessary first step, but not sufficient. Real bottom-up governance
by parents and teachers is imperative to insure effective educational
reform.
Yes, we are facing a real fiscal challenge when Gray takes office,
whether or not our Chief Financial Officer Gandhi’s projection of a
$175 million shortfall for FY 2011 is correct or not (recall his
continual bloated estimates of shortfall in the past). Our survival
budget for child care, affordable housing, adult education, and other
programs serving low-income residents is woefully underfunded, with new
cuts in place, over and above the fifty million dollars in cuts for last
year’s budget. For example, the FY 2011 budget is one third ($41
million) lower than in FY 2008, before the effective depression for so
many of our residents, especially in Wards 5, 7 and 8. Child care is 20
percent lower than in FY 2008, even though the need is greater than
ever. Even staffing for social service centers has been reduced in spite
of greater unemployment (DC Fiscal Policy Institute). And the shame is
that at least the new cuts could have been avoided had not the council
rejected the Graham amendment for a very modest tax hike for the
wealthy. This 8 to 5 vote, with my opponent David Catania voting as
usual to protect the income of our top 5 percent bracket, his own
bracket, translated into raising the misery index in our community.
So what will be our Mayor Elect’s plan? I am not particularly
encouraged by his choice of the leadership of the financial transition
team, namely former Mayor Anthony Williams and former Control Board
member Alice Rivlin, key architects of the Urban Structural Adjustment
Program that balanced our budget on the backs of our poor, while
favoring the wealthy with tax cuts (Tax Parity Act). The Control Board
regime closed DC General Hospital, privatized municipal functions, cut
the so-called safety net and increased our income gap to record levels,
while setting the course for Mayor Fenty’s agenda that brought this
assault on our working and middle class majority to a new level.
Is there an alternative? The burden of balancing the budget should
not be once again placed on those least able to bear it. I am
campaigning on a platform to confront the crises of everyday living
faced by a majority of our residents. At the highest priority is a
determined and comprehensive program to eradicate child poverty. Let us
begin with tapping into revenue sources that exist but have been
protected heretofore: the real tax base of wealthy DC residents and
curbs on corporate tax exemptions and abatements, especially for big
developers who deliver little or no community benefits while
disregarding First Source and Living Wage requirements. In the last
twenty years, DC taxpayers in the greater than one hundred thousand
dollar bracket increased in number from twelve thousand to over forty
thousand (in 2007), in spite of a lower tax rate for those in this
income bracket in suburban Virginia. In 2007, the year with the most
recent data, DC taxpayers with incomes over two hundred thousand dollars
had a taxable income of $8.8 billion (IRS statistics). A recent survey
revealed that DC ranks tenth in the nation in percentage of millionaire
households, numbering 14,533, surging because of the stock market
rebound (The Examiner, October 5, p.4). A modest tax hike on the
top 5 percent bracket could deliver over one hundred million dollars in
additional revenue while still providing tax relief to working class
residents and others in need.
The two main opponents of a progressive tax approach on the council,
Catania and Evans, have argued that wealthy DC residents will leave the
District if they are required to pay slightly higher rates, thereby
eroding our tax base. This claim is highly misleading, given the
advantages that wealthy residents enjoy living here, especially the
lower commuting costs and especially time. And who will buy their
high-priced homes if they move? As a further step to help prevent a
small fraction from moving as well as to fully capture the income tax
owed by cheaters who pretend not to be DC residents, the council should
seriously consider hiking the property tax for homeowners who do not pay
DC income tax. Reducing the income gap and “misery index” in the
District would benefit the wealthy as well as everyone else by reducing
crime, stimulating the neighborhood economy and reducing class/racial
polarization.
And here is one legislative step that could make a big difference:
our incoming mayor and council should act to establish a DC municipal
(state) bank, that could leverage billions in DC taxes and fees for
local green economic development, living wage jobs, and truly affordable
housing, instead of continuing depositing this revenue into Wall Street
banks. The North Dakota State Bank shows this approach works to support
its local economy. And additionally, our mayor and city council should
lead a campaign to get PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) from the World
Bank/IMF, Fannie Mae, and other tax-exempt institutions, that should
contribute hundreds of millions of dollars, just like in other cities.
Revenue sources can be found if there is the political will to break
with years of subsidizing the very wealthy and big corporate sector.
Positive social investments are preventative medicine to avoid much
greater costs in the future, the costs of more incarceration and
needless suffering (see Money Well Spent, Justice Policy Institute, at http://www.justicepolicy.org/content-hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=104.htm)
We should take a lesson from the outcome of the defeat of the
criminal Bush regime just two years ago. There were great expectations
following the historic election of Barack Obama. However, too many of
the previous administration’s policies have been continued, especially
what Harry Belafonte called the “immoral, unconscionable, and
unwinnable” wars (his October 2 speech at the Jobs Rally at the Mall).
What has been missing is a large enough mobilization of those most
negatively affected by corporate-serving policies. Hopefully that is
changing, but we need the same mobilization in the District to make
Vince Gray’s inspiring vision of “One City,” with DC statehood, a
reality.
Once on the city council, I pledge to use my energies and the
resources of my office to support such a mobilization led by groups that
have been fighting for your interests: DC Jobs with Justice, Empower DC,
One DC, TENAC, and others. I look forward to a more just DC working in
collaboration with our new mayor and city council.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
National Building Museum Events, October 17-18
Johanna Weber, jweber@nbm.org
October 17, 8:00-9:00 p.m., Ghost Tour. Explore the haunted past of
the National Building Museum. See a different side of the Museum on this
lantern-light tour led by a “ghost.” Who are the irritable rider on
horseback and the footless figure? Why are there mysterious faces
swirling in the 75-foot Corinthian columns? And, why do these ghosts
(and more) call the Museum their home? All will be revealed on this
behind-the-scenes tour. Additional tours on October 31 and November 2
and 11. $12 for members; $20 for nonmembers. Prepaid registration
required. Recommended for ages ten and older. Registration begins on
September 3. Tickets available for purchase at http://go.nbm.org/ghosttours.
October 18, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Palladio is My Bible: Thomas Jefferson
and Andrea Palladio. Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor’s
Chair in Architectural History at the University of Virginia, and
William L. Beiswanger, director of restoration for Monticello, consider
Andrea Palladio’s influences on the architecture of Thomas Jefferson,
as seen at the University of Virginia and at Jefferson’s home,
Monticello. National Building Museum curator Chrysanthe Broikos
moderates. $12 for members and students; $20 for nonmembers. Prepaid
registration required. Walk-in registration based on availability. Both
events at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary
Square Metro station. Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
###############
WISH Archives Opening, October 19
Parisa Norouzi, parisa@empowerdc.org
Empower DC invites you to the grand opening of the Washington
Innercity Self Help (WISH) public archives. A Leader in Affordable
Housing, 1978-2003. Archives training, Tuesday, October 19, 4:00-5:30
p.m.; learn about the contents of the archives and how to use it in your
affordable housing related research. Archives opening celebration:
6:00-8:00 p.m., featuring discussion and sharing from former WISH staff
and members, and short film screening.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW (Gallery
Place Metro), Washingtoniana Division, third floor. Refreshments will be
served.
WISH worked for the empowerment of low-income communities in
Washington, DC, from 1978 to 2003. Among its accomplishments was the
building of at least fifteen limited-equity affordable housing
cooperatives. Help commemorate the history of this important
organization. Made possible through support from the Humanities Council
of Washington, DC. For more information or to RSVP, contact Linda Leaks
at Empower DC, 234-9119 or Linda@empowerdc.org.
###############
Washington Post
Town Hall Series, October 20
George Williams; George.Williams2@dc.gov
The Washington Post and the DC Public Library are hosting a
town hall meeting, “The Path Forward: Will a Change in Leadership
Signify a New Narrative for Washington, DC, and its Residents?” on
Wednesday, October 20, from 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m., at the Watha T.
Daniel-Shaw Branch Library, 1630 7th Street, NW, across from the Shaw
Metro station. The panel will discuss life in the District and what
might be on the horizon under new political leadership. From
infrastructure investments to economic development efforts, several
areas of life in the District will be explored by staff writers Henri
Cauvin, Jonathan O’Connell, Elizabeth Razzi, Nikita Stewart, Bill
Turque, and Robert “Dr. Gridlock” Thomson. Attendees will also hear
from Post pollster Jon Cohen as he explores the twists and turns
of public opinion in the city. The town hall will be moderated by Metro
columnist Robert McCartney and will feature an introduction from The
Post’s Local Editor, Emilio Garcia-Ruiz.
A question and answer session will follow the discussion. If you have
a question you would like answered by the panel, or if you plan to
attend, please E-mail the spksbureau@washpost.com.
###############
themail@dcwatch is an E-mail discussion forum that is published every
Wednesday and Sunday. To change the E-mail address for your subscription
to themail, use the Update Profile/Email address link below in the
E-mail edition. To unsubscribe, use the Safe Unsubscribe link in the
E-mail edition. An archive of all past issues is available at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.
All postings should be submitted to themail@dcwatch.com, and should
be about life, government, or politics in the District of Columbia in
one way or another. All postings must be signed in order to be printed,
and messages should be reasonably short — one or two brief paragraphs
would be ideal — so that as many messages as possible can be put into
each mailing.
