Mayor’s Schedule

Comments

1. Dennis Moore DCICC June 27th, 2007
   7:45 pm
   #1

   D.C. Council’s Low Expectations

   As many thinking Washingtonians and newcomers have noticed, District government has affirmed our growing local culture of low expectations. Leadership and experience in D.C. is now defined as anyone who is successful at getting elected or appointed to public office. Proven expertise, exceptional credentials and comprehensive plans that are truly open to the public are no longer the standard.

   Testimony at the D.C. Council’s confirmation hearings for education officers Victor Reinoso, Allen Lew, and Michelle Rhee prove this point. On one hand Mr. Reinoso’s relatively minimal credentials for Deputy Mayor for Education are hyped, yet he is excused at this stage and his age for not understanding the lack of professional integrity and competence behind plagiarism. All responsible parents and teachers struggle to hold our children to a higher standard of honesty and accountability.

   Education is our most critical tool for socioeconomic development. Mr. Fenty and the Council’s minimal standards and practices regarding Mr. Lew indicate another example of low expectations and dubious credentials. Remember, this is the same Allen Lew who’s been one of the chefs cooking the books regarding the Washington Nationals baseball stadium development. Yes, the same person that angered the Council and numerous public observers by his tactics of misinformation, disinformation and delayed information to the Council last year on stadium construction financing.

   At the very least, Mr. Lew’s appointment to be executive director of the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization represents a new low in governmental incest, administrative inbreeding, and sole source corruption. I pray that we all vigilantly follow the money if he’s confirmed.

   Then there’s Ms. Rhee, a truly likeable and attentive individual whom I had the opportunity to meet and talk with recently. Despite her seemingly fabulous façade of professionalism and background in education, her bottom line credentials and expertise as a chancellor candidate have major experience holes. We can do better. You can’t fake managing a multibillion-dollar urban school system. The leadership and logistics required to effectively manage any major city system is not like amateur night at the Apollo Theater. Far more talent and technique is demanded, and justifiably expected. Acting like you know just won’t cut it.

   The common agreement among most proponents and opponents of Mr. Fenty’s appointees is that we need systemic and measurable improvements in our public schools. No doubt, I fully agree. However, unquestionable excellence at every level should be our standard. Sacrificing quality at the top, and in the beginning of a long process for systemic improvement, has previously proven to have disastrous results.

   We can no longer academically or fiscally afford another series of untested and unfulfilled experiments on our children. We suffer from serial superintendents, and the expense to buyout their contracts. I’m not willing to gamble my most important investment, my child, on a stage full of dancing amateurs possessing no rhyme, reason or rhythm. It’s show time, and the D.C. Council needs to get its act together regarding higher standards and genuine best practices.

   Dennis Moore, Chairperson
   District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control - DCICC