Michelle Rhee, the D.C. schools chancellor, was hot and cold on the Government Accountability Office report, delivered yesterday on Capitol Hill, on how well the clunker of a school system has done in the last two years implementing reforms.

Which is to say, she liked the part where it said she and Mayor Adrian Fenty were doing a good job and didn't care so much for the part where it said they weren't.

Read More "Congress’s D.C. Schools Report, and Cash for Clunkers" »

The AP has it: "D.C. officials say they are discussing public school options with President-elect Barack Obama's family for their two young daughters."

That's apparently gleaned from the following statement released today---which barely, glancingly implies that there has indeed been contact between the Obama family and DCPS:

The Mayor and the Chancellor believe that every parent, including the Obamas, should make the decision on where to send their children to school based solely on what school is in the best interest of the child. We've gladly discussed the many educational options at DCPS, encouraged them to explore all of the alternatives and in the end will fully support whatever decision the Obamas make.

Most of that is a rehash of what's been the DCPS party line since at least Friday. In a conversation Monday evening with LL, Rhee wouldn't discuss the Obamas' plans.

On Monday, Politico's Carol E. Lee penned a where-will-the-Obama-kids-go-to-school piece what started with this fun tidbit:

Someone called Lafayette Elementary in Chevy Chase late last week, wanting to know "what the process is for enrolling children who don't live within the school's boundaries.

"The caller gave an address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — the White House — and said there would be two children."

Principal Lynn Main told Lee she took it as a hoax, but the anecdote does raise the question: What exactly would the enrollment process be for the Obama kids, assuming they didn't want to attend their in-boundary elementary, Francis-Stevens Education Center in Dupont Circle the West End.

For instance, more than one person has suggested that Oyster-Adams Bilingual School---where DCPS Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee sends her kids---would be a strong choice. As would other high-performing DCPS elementaries such as Janney, Eaton, Shepherd, Murch, or, yes, Lafayette.

Would the Obamas have to go through the same out-of-boundary process as anyone else?

LL put the question to Rhee in an e-mail: "I have the discretion to assign kids to schools during the school year," she replied.

In other words, on the rare chance that Michelle Obama opts for DCPS, she can pick any damn school she wants.

Oh, my: Mayor Adrian M. Fenty muzzled one of his employees against her own advice.

Check Bill Turque's D.C. Wire account for the full back story, but the short version is that Turque was working on a story about Michelle Rhee's "Plan B" on how to get rid of bad teachers in the event that contract negotiations didn't work out. Part of that, Turque reported at the time, involved tying teacher licensing to classroom performance---which falls under the bailiwick of State Superintendent of Education Deborah Gist.

Before commenting, Gist told Turque she'd have to check with Fenty chief of staff Carrie Brooks. No response ever came from Gist, though Brooks later denied putting the kibosh on any comment.

Rather, the kibosh came from Fenty himself, after Rhee weighed in by saying that any comment could be "very messy": "Yes. Don't speak with him (and please don't tell him something like. 'the mayor has told me not to speak with you')," Hizzoner wrote. "Just don't pick up the phone."

Oof. This would be the best insight into mayoral communications strategy since LL laid bare the WaPo's inside track on announcing Rhee's appointment in June 2007.

Since then, the Post's honeymoon has ended, at least on the news-reporting side. (The editorial board is still perfectly smitten.) Since Rhee's appointment, the D.C. education beat has been fraught for Metro reporters. V. Dion Haynes and Theola Labbé-DeBose held the beat for the first portion of Rhee's tenure, but Labbé-DeBose was taken off the beat in late March, then Haynes departed for a biz-desk job. Turque, a veteran former Newsweek reporter who had been covering the Virginia suburbs for the Post, was brought in amid rumors that Rhee was at odds with Turque's predecessors.

Now today's revelation, plus the string of Rhee no-comments in recent Turque stories, can only be taken as a sign that the Chancellor isn't a whole lot happier with Turque's reporting.

Many of you City Desk readers, like LL, are probably fans of the Colbert Report, and many of you City Desk readers, like LL, probably pay through the nose for digital cable or some other television package with a channel-guide feature.

So LL is guessing that at least some of you were curious about why schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee was listed on Comcast's channel guide as a Colbert guest last night, even though she didn't actually appear on the show. Viewers were instead treated to hand-wringing conservative David Frum!

"Sorry to be a tease," e-mails Rhee spokesperson Dena Iverson, "we ended up not being able to make the schedule work."

That's not to say Rhee won't be augmenting her national TV portfolio (News Hour With Jim Lehrer, The Charlie Rose Show) sometime soon.

"Maybe we'll get to go on another time," Iverson says.

In its November 2008 edition,The Atlantic jumps onto the national trend of chronicling the wonders of D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. The lede of the story delves into an old story--that is, Rhee's astounding record of returning all e-mail that comes her way.

“Every e-mail a parent sends me, I answer,” she said, a boast that even her critics grudgingly concede.

And from there, author Clay Risen offers more of the same: Change-agent with sharp elbows alienates the school system's vested constituencies and tilts against old-time politicos, including Marion S. Barry Jr.

The only objectionable passage comes here:

And [Rhee] does not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise. When I asked her how she would characterize her ideal relationship with parents, she replied, “That’s a great question. So often reporters ask me stupid questions. I had one interview yesterday, and I was like, ‘Okay, you are not smart.’”

Let's unpack a bit here. A few notes on this terribly rendered moment:

1) It's not that great a question. Nor is it a complete dog. But think about it: You are a reporter and you're profiling someone, someone who has a vested interest in getting you to write favorably about them. Think you might overstate the case a bit when rating the questions coming at you?

2) The trait that this episode reflects is not that Rhee doesn't suffer fools; it's that Rhee is an operator, a really political person. It's clear that the author here, Risen, is very flattered by Rhee's boast. Why else include it in the story?

3) Another trait that the episode could reflect is that Rhee is mean and judgmental. What if that journalist who asked dumb questions the day before was just new, or perhaps a bit nervous about the interview? Is this kind of intellectual hard-linerism--nastiness--what we want out of a schools chancellor?

Perhaps not, but Risen just tucks it neatly into the established Rhee narrative--tough administrator doesn't suffer fools!

Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee spoke this morning with Fast Company's Jeff Chu (who profiled her this summer) about her turn in last night's presidential debate:

"I was trying to watch it," she tells Fast Company. "But it was so boring. Then, all of a sudden, my phone and BlackBerry start blowing up. Someone sent me a link to the transcript, and I saw what they said, and I was like, 'Oh, good Lord!'"...

Rhee’s office quickly issued a statement that said she “disagrees with the notion that vouchers are the remedy for repairing the city’s school system.“ But she reiterated to Fast Company that she has “not taken a formal position on vouchers,” and she said she won’t—because she’s more concerned about fixing the schools where nearly 50,000 kids arer still being educated.

Chu also reiterated Rhee's endorsement of the McCain education plan:

Rhee hasn’t shown much enthusiasm for either candidate, but told me earlier this year that McCain has the much stronger education policy from her point of view. "He isn’t great, but he hasn’t said he’s going to throw NCLB out—and now everyone who says I’m a right-wing wingnut is going to be like, 'I knew it!'" she said.

As for Obama, she said that what he might do on education policy "terrifies me," even though she’s a staunch Democrat. She criticized his stance on No Child Left Behind, which she portrayed as “an ‘NCLB is evil, sucking the life out of teachers’ angle. It’s a total victim mentality.”

Here's the official statement from schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee on D.C. schools and the debate, via spokesperson Dena Iverson, who graciously dealt with LL's badgering text messages for the past two hours:

Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee strongly believe that all families in the District of Columbia must have access to excellent public school options, and are committed to ensuring that students in every ward are afforded this opportunity. While Chancellor Rhee hasn't taken a formal position on vouchers, she disagrees with the notion that vouchers are the remedy for repairing the city's school system.

Following up on the earlier post about the the D.C. schools' moment in the national political spotlight, here's the exchange from the official debate transcript:

MCCAIN: I'm sure you're aware, Senator Obama, of the program in the Washington, D.C., school system where vouchers are provided and there's a certain number, I think it's a thousand and some and some 9,000 parents asked to be eligible for that.

Because they wanted to have the same choice that you and I and Cindy and your wife have had. And that is because they wanted to choose the school that they thought was best for their children.

And we all know the state of the Washington, D.C., school system. That was vouchers. That was voucher, Senator Obama. And I'm frankly surprised you didn't pay more attention to that example.

[...]

OBAMA: I'll just make a quick comment about vouchers in D.C. Senator McCain's absolutely right: The D.C. school system is in terrible shape, and it has been for a very long time. And we've got a wonderful new superintendent there who's working very hard with the young mayor there to try...

MCCAIN: Who supports vouchers.

OBAMA: ... who initiated -- actually, supports charters.

MCCAIN: She supports vouchers, also.

OBAMA: But the -- but here's the thing, is that, even if Senator McCain were to say that vouchers were the way to go -- I disagree with him on this, because the data doesn't show that it actually solves the problem -- the centerpiece of Senator McCain's education policy is to increase the voucher program in D.C. by 2,000 slots.

That leaves all of you who live in the other 50 states without an education reform policy from Senator McCain.

So if we are going to be serious about this issue, we've got to have a president who is going to tackle it head-on. And that's what I intend to do as president.

SCHIEFFER: All right.

MCCAIN: Because there's not enough vouchers; therefore, we shouldn't do it, even though it's working. I got it.

Still no reaction from Fenty or Rhee, but LL will say this: Though Obama never says that Rhee opposes vouchers, he raises charters as if to rebut the fact that she supports vouchers. Which she does, if you read not too closely between the lines of Rhee's quote that she "would never...do anything to limit another parent’s ability to make a choice for their child.”

And Obama's retort about leaving "all of you who live in the other 50 states without an education reform policy" didn't make a whole lot of sense. McCain can rightly claim a point on this one.

UPDATE, 1 A.M.: The official Rhee statement is out: "While Chancellor Rhee hasn’t taken a formal position on vouchers, she disagrees with the notion that vouchers are the remedy for repairing the city’s school system."

LL was sitting watching the third presidential debate tonight, drinking a brew or two, chilling out for the evening, pondering the tax liability of one "Bob the Plumber." And then those dimwits had to go talking about the D.C. schools, meaning LL had to get on the friggin' blog!

LL wasn't taking notes and no transcript is available yet, but the D.C. schools were first brought up by Sen. John McCain with regard to vouchers. McCain was critical of the fact that Sen. Barack Obama didn't stand up to preserve the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the fancy name for the voucher initiative. Later, Obama returned to the D.C. schools, mentioning Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle Rhee's efforts (not by name) to enact aggressive reforms with the D.C. Public Schools, also mentioning their support for charter schools. Then, as moderator Bob Schieffer tried to move to another question, McCain mentioned that they also support vouchers.

Where has the intersection between national politics and the D.C. schools been located in the past? For one thing, Rhee has said more than once that she prefers McCain's education plan for leaving in place the stringent accountability standards of No Child Left Behind. Of course, tonight, Obama, too, offered a roundabout endorsement of the program, mentioning how "they left the money behind," too. If there's any loser tonight, it's teachers unions, which both McCain and Obama mentioned in less than glowing terms---Obama going so far as to mention his support for charter schools as an example of him bucking his own party.

What's the truth on Fenty, Rhee, charters, and vouchers?

Well, Fenty, as a councilmember, had been critical of the original voucher deal, saying the city had "sold out cheap" to congressional Republicans. More recently, when it became clear that a Democratic Congress, at the behest of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, was content to let vouchers die, he essentially punted, not commenting to the Post at first.

He later expressed support for keeping the vouchers. An August Washington Post editorial said that Fenty "supports [the voucher program] now, and he needs to clearly explain his change of heart."

Fenty has been a supporter of charters, no doubt. As for Rhee, she, too, has been a strong supporter of charter schools as a way to provide urban kids with a quality public education. LL is not aware of her stance on vouchers, but he was sure to bother Rhee spokesperson Dena Iverson for an opinion on the matter as soon as the candidates started flapping their lips. He awaits an answer!

UPDATE, 12:05 A.M.: Still no word form Fentyrheeland, but check this quote Rhee gave to the Wall Street Journal last December: "I would never, as long as I am in this role, do anything to limit another parent's ability to make a choice for their child. Ever."

UPDATE, 1 A.M.: The official Rhee statement is out: "While Chancellor Rhee hasn’t taken a formal position on vouchers, she disagrees with the notion that vouchers are the remedy for repairing the city’s school system."

DENVER---This afternoon, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said there's a "Plan B" in place should D.C. Public Schools teachers fail to ratify the controversial two-tier contract currently under negotiations. Rhee told the crowd that she expects to have negotiations on the reform contract concluded within two weeks and ready for a vote by the Washington Teachers' Union membership, LL has been told.

Her comments came during a panel discussion on education reform here in Denver with Michael Bennet, superintendent of Denver's public schools, and other public education reform leaders. On a separate panel, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty spoke about his takeover of DCPS with New York City schools chief Joel I. Klein, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, and others. The event was sponsored by a coalition of more than three dozen education reform and charter school organizations.

LL, unfortunately, did not arrive in town in time for Rhee and Fenty's appearances. But two members of the D.C. delegation---alternate national committeeman Jim Bubar and voting rights scholar William Washington---attended and report to LL that Rhee and Fenty received a warm response from a overflowing auditorium at the Denver Art Museum, with over 100 in attendance.

Rhee's comments mark the first time that she's publicly mentioned the possibility that a reform contract might not be approved. Perhaps, LL speculates, she was chastened by the "Welcome Back" event on Friday, where hundreds of teachers jeered the prospect of such a contract even coming to a vote.

Rhee and Fenty, Bubar says, were very much the "centerpiece" of the program.

Washington, who recently graduated from Wilson Senior High School and will be attending Catholic University in the fall, says that Rhee and Fenty focused on the steps necessary to begin fixing a troubled schools system---energy and accountability.

Asked to predict the winner in November, all the panelists predicted an Obama victory in front of the partisan crowd. (Though Rhee, in the past, has expressed her preference for the McCain education plan.)

UPDATE, 9:28 P.M.: Nakamura, who was actually there, has more.

This morning, thousands of D.C. Public Schools teachers gathered at the Washington Convention Center for a second annual "welcome back" event, ahead of the first day of school Monday. The teachers took the opportunity to tell DCPS and Washington Teachers' Union leaders just how they felt about proposed contract reforms.

The most dramatic moments occurred when WTU President George Parker took the podium to address his members. Parker began by addressing the contract negotiations, acknowledging it has been a tough, protracted process. "When you go from point A to point B, you gotta go through some stuff," Parker said. "Sometimes that stuff is messy."

He moved on to decry incomplete or inaccurate media reports ("yesterday, in the Washington City Paper," he said, "I learned that me and Randi Weingarten are in a fight"), before, in a surprise move, asking teachers to take an informal vote on whether a two-tier contract should be offered to the membership for a ratification vote.

Teachers raised their hands. "I think this poll would be as effective as any other," Parker said. The poll revealed a definite split, with perhaps a few hundred more hands voting not to bring the new contract for a vote, with some of those teachers shouting in the process.

Given the split, Parker told the crowd he would schedule a general membership meeting for next week, allowing teachers to weigh in on the two-tier contract. "I hope you appreciate the challenge that we have," he said. "It is practically an impossible task."

Parker urged teachers to support the final decision, whatever it will be. "We must not split ourselves as a union," he said.

Meanwhile, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was seated next to Parker, not looking happy at all watching thousands of teachers jeer the centerpiece of her school reform package.

Earlier, things had taken on a more celebratory tone, with Rhee running an educational sweepstakes of sorts. Teachers, administrators, and staff at several schools were awarded well over $1 million in bonuses for being among the highest achieving on the yearly DC-CAS tests, funded in part by . Principals earned a $10,000 bonus, assistant principals won $9,000, teachers won $8,000, with instructional support personnel taking home $4,000 and all other employees $2,000. The schools all received lottery-style "big checks."

After the checks were handed out came another surprise. Earlier, teachers had been asked to sign an attendance card, which was collected by staffers---prompting some grumbling from the rank and file about Big Brotherish tactics. Then Rhee announced that the cards were for a drawing to win...a new car!---a Hyundai donated by Eastern Motors.

The winner, Larry Trower from Taft Elementary, took the stage The Price Is Right---style, as dozens of his colleagues broke into the Eastern Motors theme song.

Yesterday, teachers in the D.C. Public Schools were to report to work for the new school year. Many, however, didn't know where they were supposed to report.

That's because, as of yesterday, dozens of teachers had yet to be placed.

According to the current contract, teachers are supposed to be informed whether there will be "excessed"---that is, moved off the roster of their current school---by the end of the school year. The school system is supposed to find them a new placement by July 31.

By July 31 this year, however, an estimated 700 teachers had been excessed and had yet to be placed. As of yesterday, 68 had still not been given placements.

Mafara Hobson, a DCPS spokesperson, says the delays have to do with an unusually large amount of flux in the teaching corps, due to the fact that 23 schools were closed and 27 more were placed into "restructuring" status under No Child Left Behind, which means drastic changes to such schools' instructional staffs.

Under an agreement with the Washington Teachers' Union, Hobson says, the deadline was moved back to Aug. 15. But as of that day---last Friday---219 teachers had still yet to be placed, according to DCPS; 530 had been sent placements last Tuesday and Wednesday, just ahead of the new deadline.

WTU President George Parker says there was no such agreement on his part, but that DCPS informed the union in mid-July that there was no way to have all the excessed teachers placed by the July 31 deadline. "We did not agree to a moveback of the deadline," he says. "DCPS informed us that they would not be able to meet the deadline."

Parker says that every excessed teacher will be placed in a new job, thanks to an agreement negotiated before the end of the school year. Rather than push back the deadline, he says, "they should have just increased their capacity."

Earlier this week, the teachers still waiting for placements poured into the human resources department at DCPS headquarters on North Capitol Street trying to get their new assignments, says WTU General Vice President Nathan Saunders. Overflow rooms were set up to handle the activity, and the entire union field staff was on the scene to assist teachers, he says.

"I've never seen it this bad," Saunders says, calling it a "wonton wanton violation of the collective bargaining agreement."

Furthermore, Saunders says, teachers he's dealt with were still being excessed well into the summer and as late as this week. "They don't have their equipment; they don't know where they're going, they don't know where to get their stuff."

Hobson said this afternoon that HR employees were working with the remaining 68 teachers to find them their guaranteed placements. "It's a rolling process," she says.

The shuffle on the city org chart caused by the resignation of Department of Employment Services chief Summer Spencer earlier this week has now shaken out a little more completely. On Tuesday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced his current chief of staff, Tene Dolphin, will replace Spencer at DOES; communications chief Carrie S. Brooks takes over for Dolphin as chief of staff.

In a late press release, the mayor's office announced that Mafara Hobson, who had been press chief for schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, will replace Brooks as director of communications.

Taking Hobson's spot at 825 North Capitol will be Dena Iverson, who has been press secretary in the mayor's office. Says Iverson, "I'm really excited that the mayor has allowed me to take on this important role of speaking for the most important agency in the District government," Iverson says. ("Most important," eh? Aggrieved employees of other departments, please vent in the comments.)

Iverson became press secretary in January, taking over as the primary media contact for the Fenty administration, allowing Brooks to focus on strategic and policymaking concerns. Whether someone will fill the "press secretary" role is "to be determined," says Iverson.

All the shuffling takes place after Labor Day. Full release after jump.

Read More "Musical Chairs in Mayoral Communications" »

On Aug. 25, D.C. Public Schools will kick off another school year. As has previously been reported many, many times, Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 24 principals, and later 22 assistant principals in two distinct waves this Spring. (I must admit, I don't know the total numbers of administrators let go over the course of the year.) Now, today, twelve days before classes start, comes news that principals have been chosen for all of the systems 121 schools. Forty six people are new hires. Roughly 700 applicants, up from 200, were considered. The press release and a full list of principals is after the jump: Read More "Principals Selected for All DCPS Schools" »