Erasing the Rhee Miracle
Dear Erasers:
Was the Rhee miracle — the rapid rise in standardized test scores
in at least some DC public schools — in fact a miracle? Or was it a
scam? Was it systematic cheating? Was there a scheme to erase incorrect
answers on multiple choice questions and replace them with the correct
answers? A well researched and well documented article by Jack Gillum
and Marisol Bello in USA Today on Monday leads to the inescapable
conclusion that DCPS, or at least several people who held power in
positions within DCPS, told students and parents about improvements that
students didn’t really make, told the people of this city about
achievements that DCPS didn’t really make, and got paid bonuses from
the DC and federal governments and private foundations on the basis of
test scores that didn’t really improve.
Or at least that conclusion is nearly inescapable. DCPS is disputing
it. Current Chancellor Kaya Henderson and past Chancellor Michelle Rhee
are disputing it (though Henderson has now agreed to refer the matter to
the Inspector General). They say that their internal investigation and
the investigation by their paid consultant, Caveon, didn’t support the
charges. So only the thing that supports the charges is the facts.
Mayor Vince Gray hasn’t taken a stand on this scandal yet, but he
should soon. This isn’t his scandal. It happened under Mayor Adrian
Fenty, Rhee, and Rhee’s deputy Henderson. Gray doesn’t need to claim
it as his own and accept responsibility for it, though by hiring
Henderson Gray has already associated himself closely with Rhee’s
claims for the effectiveness of her so-called “reform” of DCPS. It’s
not the initial scandal that causes the most damage to a government or a
politician; it’s the attempt to cover up the scandal. Gray can choose
to defend Fenty’s and Rhee’s administration of DCPS over the past
four years or to put some distance between them and him. He would be
smart not to try to pass the investigation on to others, but instead to
demand that his Deputy Mayor for Education and the State Board of
Education conduct thorough independent investigations. (The city council
and the State Board of Education have committed to hold hearings, but
single hearings by either body will not be sufficient.) Besides, it’s
the Deputy Mayor for Education who has the power and authority to
supervise the Chancellor. Then the mayor needs to fire anyone in the
DCPS hierarchy who is proven to have altered test scores, countenanced
altering test scores, or known of the alterations and not reported them.
Rhee fired teachers while making false, unsubstantiated accusations
against them; the Gray administration should not duplicate that cruel
carelessness. But the Gray administration should also not allow this
scandal to be diminished or whitewashed. Let the die-hard Fenty and Rhee
supporters try to excuse and explain away this scandal; it’s theirs.
USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-28-1Aschooltesting28_CV_N.htm?csp=hf
USA Today follow-up article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-29-dcschools29_ST_N.htm
DCPS response: http://www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/110328.htm
Caveon Test Security’s response: http://www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/110328b.htm
Rhee response: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/73991-day-three-documents#document/p76/a13060
Politico article, Ben Smith, “Rhee, DC
Defend Test Investigation,” http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0311/Rhee_DC_defends_test_investigation.html?showall
New Yorker profile of Rhee, March 20 issue, http://nymag.com/print/?/news/features/michelle-rhee-2011-3/
Salon article, “Paranoid Michelle Rhee Blames Her ‘Enemies’
for Cheating Report,” http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/rhee_cheating
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
Given the swirl of controversy and ethical challenges that have
arisen in the District government in recent weeks, I was curious when I
learned that on Monday, March 28, Council Chair Kwame Brown had
scheduled a training session on ethics for all councilmembers and city
council employees. In a press release, Brown’s office indicated that
he was initiating a “series of training sessions designed to
familiarize employees with ethical standards, foster integrity, promote
government efficiency, and renew public trust and confidence.”
I tried to attend the training session on Monday, but Brown’s chief
of staff, Nicole Streeter, and his deputy chief of staff, Karen Sibert,
objected, claiming that the meeting was closed. I questioned why
training in ethics should be secret, and insisted that Brown himself had
to tell me why the training session was closed to the public. Shortly
thereafter, Kwame Brown arrived, along with two security officers. He
claimed that the reason I could not observe the training session was
that attendees were uncomfortable with having any outsider present and
wanted to be able to ask questions. I told Brown that the only people
who raised any objection to my presence were his chief and deputy chief
of staff. We then agreed that I would stay for the presentation on
ethics in the District government, but would leave before the question
and answer session.
The ethics training session was conducted by Thorn Pozen, whom Mayor
Fenty had appointed as his Special Counsel and Ethic Counselor in the
Office of Attorney General Peter Nickles. The ethics training session
was held during Pozen’s final week as a District government employee.
The substance of Pozen’s presentation was captured in a PowerPoint
slide show on “Government Ethics and Values,” http://www.dcwatch.com/council19/110328.htm.
While the ethics training was designed to be given principally to
councilmembers, the only councilmember who attended was Chairman Brown
himself.
Footnote: on Monday evening, Vincent Gray delivered his State of the
District address at Eastern High School, http://www.dcwatch.com/mayor/110328.htm.
The only statement he made about the ethical controversies that have
enveloped his administration’s first three months was brief and late
(on page twenty of his twenty-two page speech): “What you will see in
the months to come is the government you deserve — one that takes
seriously the notion of public trust and accountability. If that trust
is violated, you can expect swift action.”
###############
All the city’s residents are my neighbors and we all need to
support each other. I have met wonderful Washingtonians from all
neighborhoods and wards of the District. We all share one important
characteristic — we are all disenfranchised and do not have the same
democratic rights as other Americans. I hope all District residents, no
matter where they live or their background, will help us regain the
rights taken from us 211 years ago and join us in working for statehood
for the District of Columbia.
###############
Shifting DC Demographics — For Some
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@verizon.net
The decline in black population in DC was predicted by NARPAC fifteen
years ago, but its impact on DC’s embarrassing statistics with regard
to poverty, health, education, and crime will probably be small. In a
straight swap, Census data suggest that incoming Whites would probably
bring 60 percent higher per capita income than the outgoing
Blacks. And those Whites who stay in the near suburbs would still have
one-sixth the poverty rate of the Blacks remaining in DC. But whereas
the average urban White is 25 percent wealthier and better educated than
the average white suburbanite, the average urban Black is 30 percent
poorer, less well educated and less gainfully employed than the average
black suburbanite.
So each relocating cohort is “moving up” from its current base,
and “leveling” the urban/suburban contrast. But the population that
isn’t shifting is more important to DC’s image as our national
capital. As DC’s better-off Blacks are “skimmed off” to the
suburbs, the “de-gentrification” of the remainder can be
significant. Working black males may drop from 56 percent to 48 percent
of their employable total; those with some college education may fall
from 45 percent to 34 percent, and the overall Black poverty rate may
climb from 25 percent to 34 percent. Our capital city’s problem isn’t
what to do about those who go — or their wealthier replacements. It is
what to do about those who can’t go but stay behind, to become more
marginalized in their present schools, communities, and lives. This is
the deepening “second-city truth” behind the “mirage” that
plagues Mayor Gray — and should concern our entire metro area.
###############
Change in Racial Composition of DC
Velva Spriggs, velvaspriggs@gmail.com
Unfortunately, racism still thrives in America. The shift in the
racial balance, with the increasing numbers of whites and the decreasing
number of blacks in the population, probably means the following, from
my point of view: increased property values and taxes, more safety
measures to protect white lives, improved city maintenance of
infrastructure, fewer cultural expressions of Afrocentric lifestyles,
increased presence of businesses like Yes Supermarket and Whole Foods,
increased criticism of blacks’ ability to govern; less infrastructure
and programs to assist vulnerable populations, i.e., poor people,
homeless, people returning from prisons (mostly black); more police
presence; more devaluing of black life (e.g., Councilmember
Mendelson declaring that he is only holding 2012 property tax assessment
meetings in Tenley Town and Capital Hill for homeowners. Most of those
residents are white. Do we not count in Ward 8? Probably not except for
initiatives to remove us from the cityscape.) Of course, no one would so
boldly say “black removal, white inclusion,” but behavior says it
all!
Someone once said to me, Oh, you’re too sensitive, as I expressed
my observations about this phenomenon in black and white terms. “Cities
go through a metamorphosis periodically; that’s what they do!”
###############
Brookland Heartbeat
Spring Issue Now Available
Abigail Padou, brooklandheartbeat@yahoo.com
Articles in this issue include “Former Ward 5 Councilmember Runs
for At-Large Seat,” an interview with Vincent Orange about his
priorities if elected. Other articles and features include: “Public
Transit Problems for Ward 5 Wal-Mart,” “Ward 5 Awaits Outcome of
Investigation of Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.” “Ward 5 Business
Owners Voice Opposition to Wal-Mart,” “Pizza Boli Franchise Revoked
Amid Dispute,” and more. Click here for articles: http://www.brooklandheartbeat.org.
To receive a copy electronically, send your E-mail address to brooklandheartbeat@yahoo.com.
Brookland Heartbeat is mailed to approximately the thousand homes
in the greater Brookland area. Brookland Heartbeat is a nonprofit
community newspaper.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
HIV/AIDS Awareness and Education Workshop in
Ward Five, March 31
The District of Columbia State Board of Education and the Office of
the State Superintendent of Education is hosting the second of eight
HIV/AIDS Awareness and Education Workshops in Ward Five. The event will
take place on Thursday, March 31, at 6:30 p.m. at the Northeastern
Presbyterian Church Auditorium, located at 2112 Varnum Street, NE.
Parents and teen students who live in Ward Five are invited and
encouraged to participate in this highly informative session with
experts and stakeholders within the District of Columbia on the subject
of Education and Awareness of HIV AIDS.
The workshop will include presentations from the Office of the State
Superintendent of Education, the Department of Health, HAHSTA, Community
and nonprofit organizations that are committed to the fight against the
HIV/AIDS epidemic among the youth in the District of Columbia.
DC State Board of Education Ward Five Representative Mark Jones will
be the host for the evening and ANC Commissioner Shirley Rivens Smith
(5A09) will be facilitating the workshop. The workshop is one in a
series of eight workshops sponsored by the National Association of State
Boards of Education, in partnership with the DC State Board of Education
and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. For additional
information on the upcoming workshops in your ward, contact the Office
of the DC State Board of Education at 741-0888.
###############
YouthPAC At-Large Candidates Forum, April 2
Joseph Kitchen, josephkitchen@gmail.com
On April 2, from 2:30-4:30 p.m. at Martin Luther King Memorial
Library, YouthPAC, a youth-led political action committee founded to
support, fund, advocate, and volunteer for local candidates who put
emphasis on issues facing youth in the metropolitan area, will partner
with DC Students Speak to host a At-Large Council Candidate Forum on
Youth Issues. Join young people and youth groups from across the city
and ask candidates the hard-hitting questions that matter most to young
people in the District. Whether your issues be the public education
system, truancy, gang violence, youth-friendly businesses, or civic
engagement, this is the forum for you to attend.
Candidates who have confirmed for the forum so far: Councilmember
Sekou Biddle, Joshua Lopez, Alan Page, Bryan Weaver, and Patrick Mara.
For more information on how to participate in the YouthPAC endorsement
process for At-Large and Wards 4 and 8 State Board of Education
vacancies, go to http://www.youthpacdmv.org.
###############
2011 Charles H. Atherton Memorial Lecture,
April 7
Stacy Adamson, sadamson@nbm.org
Jan Gehl, Danish architect, planner, and author, focuses on how
Washington, DC, can become a more sustainable and human-scaled city in
the context of his work making cities across the United States more
walkable and bikable. In this original presentation, he examines how
Washington, DC, can help transform the historic L’Enfant plan to
create more successful urban spaces while encouraging more walking and
biking and less driving. Gehl’s work and influence includes advising
closing Broadway in New York City to traffic at Times Square and Herald
Square; mobility planning in Guangzhou, China; advisor concerning the
reconstruction of Christchurch, New Zealand after the 2011 earthquake;
assisting in making Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the most people friendly
cities in the world; park planning in London; and a bicycle mobility
plan in Mexico City.
Gehl believes that “caring for people in the city is an important
key for achieving more lively, safe, sustainable, and healthy cities,
all goals of crucial importance in the 21st century.” He writes that
for years cities have “put a low priority on public space,
pedestrianism, and the role of city space as a meeting place for urban
dwellers” (Gehl, Cities for People). Market forces and related
architectural trends have begun to value city space as an economic
asset, health benefit, and essential social forum. A book signing of
Gehl’s Cities for People (Island Press) will follow the
presentation.
At the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW (Judiciary Square
Metro, Red Line), Thursday, April 7, 6:30-8:00 p.m. $12 members; free
students; $20 nonmembers. Prepaid registration required. Walk-in
registration based on availability. Register at http://www.nbm.org.
###############
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.
