Comments on: Loose Lips Daily

By: huh?

huh? — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:16:47 +0000

This sort of reminds me of what's happening among former McCain campaign staffers and Palin. Those staffers are totally trashing her. And of course yes, she is a horribly ignorant person. But these are the folks that wanted her to be V.P. It shows very poor decision making on the part of the Chancellor and her staff to hire someone if they are clearly not capable. If it was so easy to recognize that this woman was not fit to be principal (though I'm still not sure it's true) why didn't the Chancellor and her staff recognize this earlier? Don't they do any vetting or background check? On a side note, I heard that Rhee is in Sacramento on Kevin Johnson's transition team. Is that really true? If so, that is incredibly irresponsible. I hope she's not getting paid by DC residents while she's spending time out there.

By: jcherkis

jcherkis — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:48:02 +0000

I think Rhee is also at fault as well. But I also think the principal didn't handle her teachers and staff well--that's what I heard. That's what the Post story reported. If the Post brought to light problems at Hart and the principal got fired, that just means the story was true.

It also means that there was absolutely no way Rhee felt this principal was going to turn things around.

By: huh?

huh? — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:25:45 +0000

Why is the principal's termination justice? That's silly. She was there for a few months, didn't get additional resources, and was fired after a story in the Post. Do you really think it's a coincidence that she was fired after the article hit? If you heard bad things about her over the summer, and Rhee still hired her, then that says more about Rhee than about the principal. When I read the principal's quote about keeping quiet, I did not take it to mean that she wished she'd kept quiet. If you talk to any number of teachers in the system, they'll say that they are afraid of telling the truth about the promises that are being broken and the cover-ups that are taking place. If a teacher or administrator puts info out there about how their school doesn't have the funding for materials that were promised at the beginning of the year, then they will get canned and blamed for being a poor teacher or poor administrator. As I see it, that quote is more of an indictment about the way the Chancellor makes decisions (ie getting bad press means someone must go) and is trying to cover her own ass.

By: jcherkis

jcherkis — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:08:35 +0000

The Hart principal's response to the press coverage of her troubled school makes her termination seem like justice. Her talk of being "set up" and wishing all the bad news were kept quiet is ridiculous. I had heard bad things about her this past summer. This is not a shock.

By: Ryan Grim

Ryan Grim — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:47:05 +0000

Look, Hart has been an unmitigated disaster for years. What the Post described -- assaults on teachers, fights, kids roaming the halls -- is nothing new there or in most schools. You try to straighten that out in 10 weeks.