Stories broke this morning in the Los Angeles Times and in the Examiner reporting that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee took an active role in investigations of her fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Allow LL to explicate a little more fully what this is and what Rhee is alleged to have done.

Rhee's involvement in Johnson's dealing has been revealed as part of an investigation by two congressional Republicans into the firing of Gerald Walpin, who had served as inspector general for the federal AmeriCorps program until June. Republicans allege that Walpin was fired by the Obama administration for political reasons---in particular, for pressing his investigation of mismanagement of federal funds by St. Hope, the nonprofit founded by prominent Democrat and Obama ally Johnson. The Republican report [PDF], released today, concludes that the White House's decision to fire Walpin was "based on incomplete and misleading information"; that a White House lawyer's explanation for the firing is "not credible"; and that the firing "is likely to have a chilling effect on the IG community." In other words, there's a lot of political posturing going on here.

But along with their report, the Republicans also released Walpin's IG report on St. Hope, which includes interview notes indicating that Rhee got involved after a St. Hope employee reported being "touched inappropriately" by Johnson.

Rhee's involvement in the probe stems from the statements of Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, a former St. Hope staff member, to federal investigators. According to an interview report, Wong-Hernandez told an investigator that Rhee was well known as someone who filled several roles with Johnson's St. Hope organization and would use Johnson's office when she was in town. Wong-Hernandez said that Rhee 'played the role as "Damage Control". When there was a problem at St. HOPE, Ms. Rhee was there the next day taking care of the problem.'

When the sexual misconduct allegations were raised, Rhee contacted Wong-Hernandez to figure out what had happened, telling her "she was making this her number one priority and she would take care of the situation." Subsequently, Wong-Hernandez found out that Johnson's lawyer had contacted the accuser, after which the accuser dropped the complaint.

Disgusted with how the incident had been handled, Wong-Hernandez quit St. Hope, and it was Rhee who conducted the exit interview. She told Rhee the reason she was leaving was the way St. Hope had handled the sexual misconduct allegation. According to the interview report, "Ms, Wong-Hernandez also informed Ms. Rhee that she didn't trust the management at St. HOPE. Ms. Rhee documented the interview in her daily planner and responded to Ms. Wong-Hernandez by thanking her for bringing it to her attention how disorganized the program had become. Ms. Rhee didn't try to talk Ms. Wong-Hernandez into staying."

The L.A. Times further reports that Rhee spoke directly to Walpin, having discussions "in which she made the case for Johnson and the school he ran in Sacramento" and described Johnson as "a good guy." Still, the paper reports, "Rhee's position had little effect on [Walpin], who filed a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney on Johnson....But both the Sacramento police and federal attorneys declined to pursue charges."

When Walpin's report had to say regarding Johnson's sexual misconduct was a relatively minor part of the report, which focused on misappropriation of federal funds and other serious-but-less-salacious charges. But allow LL to share what Walpin turned up---the first instance related in the report is what was described to Rhee by Wong-Hernandez; it's unknown if Rhee was aware of the other allegations below:

G. Improper Sexual Physical Conduct

Our investigation disclosed evidence of sexual misconduct towards young female Members by Mr. Johnson. One Member, [REDACTED] (Ex. 19 hereto), reported that, in the February/March 2007 time frame, she was entering grades into the SAC High database system per Mr. Johnson's instructions at the St. HOPE office at night, purportedly as part of her AmeriCorps service. [REDACTED] contacted Mr. Johnson to inform him that she had completed the grades and wanted him to review them. About 11:00 pm, Mr. Johnson arrived at St. HOPE and instructed [REDACTED] to gather her things and come with him. Mr. Johnson drove to [REDACTED] apartment, which is managed by St. HOPE Development and houses its AmeriCorps Members, purportedly so that they could review the students' grades. While in [REDACTED], in which another AmeriCorps Member had a separate bedroom, Mr, Johnson laid down on [REDACTED's] bed, [REDACTED] sat on the edge of the bed to show him the grades, at which time Mr. Johnson "layed down behind me, cupping his body around mine like the letter C. After about 2-3 minutes or so, I felt his hand on my left side where my hip bone is." Further, although not detailed in her written statement, [REDACTED], during the interview, demonstrated, while explaining, that Mr. Johnson's hand went under her untucked shirt and moved until his hand was on her hip. [REDACTED] immediately got up and stated she was done and left the room. When she returned, Mr. Johnson was still in her bed, but now apparently sleeping. Only after [REDACTED] sought to take a blanket to sleep elsewhere did Mr. Johnson exit to the living room of the apartment. [REDACTED] related that Mr. Johnson slept on the couch in her apartment living room that night and subsequently left the apartment at approximately 6 a.m. the next day.

After, as [REDACTED] put it, she "got the courage to tell... my supervisors," she reported the incident, which, she was informed, was communicated to St. HOPE Academy's Human Resources Department and the Chief Financial Officer. The night after [REDACTED] made her report, Mr. Johnson approached her and apologized. Subsequently, Kevin Hiestand, Johnson's personal attorney, met with [REDACTED], described himself only "as a friend of Johnson," and "basically asked me to keep quiet." Also, about one week after this incident, when [REDACTED] told Mr. Johnson she was going to quit because of financial and family reasons, Mr. Johnson "offered to give me $1,000 a month until the end of the program," stating that it would be confidential "between him and I." As [REDACTED] related that conversation, Mr. Johnson "said all he needed was my savings account number," he would make the deposit and "no one needed to know about it." [REDACTED] did not accept this offer by giving Mr. Johnson her account number.

Another former Member, [REDACTED] (Ex. 20 hereto), reported that, while attending a St. HOPE sponsored trip to Harlem, NY, from June 26 to July 16, 2006, Mr. Johnson, on three occasions, "brushed [her] leg with his hand," including once "flip[ingj up the edge of her skirt. Other times, she stated, Mr. Johnson kissed her cheek, brushed up against her as he walked past, and massaged her shoulders. ([REDACTED] reported another incident that occurred in Sacramento, CA, in which Mr. Johnson touched [REDACTED's] inner thigh with his hand while enroute to a restaurant. [REDACTED] said she did not report the incidents to AmeriCorps officials at that time because she feared she would be terminated from the program and because Mr. Johnson was assisting her in obtaining acceptance into the United States Military Academy, where she subsequently enrolled.

In addition, former SAC High teacher Mr. Erik Jones (Ex. 12 hereto) reported that a former AmeriCorps Member, [REDACTED], reported to him, sometime in 2007, that, while at SAC High, Mr. Johnson had inappropriately touched her. Mr. Jones stated that [REDACTED] had reported that Mr. Johnson started massaging her shoulders and then reached over and touched her breasts. (Attempts to interview [REDACTED] have been so far unsuccessful.) Mr. Jones related that, after he reported this incident to St. HOPE Academy officials, he was contacted by Mr. Hiestand, Mr. Johnson's attorney, but who identified himself solely as St. HOPE'S counsel, and stated he was conducting an internal investigation. Mr. Hiestand told Mr. Jones that [REDACTED's] "story" was different from Mr, Jones' and told Mr. Jones to change his "story" and then go back to work. Mr. Jones, realizing what he was being asked to do, elected to resign as a teacher and left SAC High.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Congress Heights on the Rise gives 7D police and Asst. Chief Diane Groomes an "A+." The blogger writes: "The Advoc8te sees the police out in full force in my neighborhood in  response to the carjackings this week. There are about 10 police cars on our street and we feel much safer!  This increased police prescence is MUCH appreciated!" Sure. But what about all the murders in 7D?

In Bloom posts a narrative of a beatdown in Bloomingdale:

"On Wednesday, at 5 PM, Brad was attacked by 6-7 young men, at the corner of 2nd and S Street, who wanted absolutely nothing other than to beat the utter crap out of him. Brad, aside from being a military guy, is also an urban-savvy guy, who said that his instincts never warned him that something was about to happen. On his way to the Big Bear Cafe, half the group rushed him from the front..."

Live in Mount Vernon Square reported bullets are flying in their neighborhood. This is from last week: "There was another shooting.  About ten feet away from my residence.  I dont understand this and why MPD and our political leaders can't stop this if they really wanted to. Are our lives worth less than the residents of Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Glover Park and MacArthur Park?"

Prince of Petworth reports that more cupcakes are coming to D.C. Ugh.

The Triangle reports that a deli at 3rd and K Streets NW will be closing and a soul food outpost will be moving in.

DC Teacher Chic has something in common with Michelle Rhee.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

The man whom we all have critiqued
Was in the news twice when it leaked
I'm sorry 'bout mama
But live tee-vee drama?
My int'rest could not be more piqued

The ante is upped on the feud
'Bout loopholes the bill should include
The bishops are wary
That if gays can marry
They'll have to comply or be sued

Unclear if he quit or got sacked
But Wepman now has his bags packed
The count under Rhee
Has risen to three
Can anyone work there intact?

The lane is now open for biking
But not quite to everyone's liking
To bike contraflow
Is causing some woe
And street markings...well...they are striking

So speaking of gear-heads and grease
Hizzoner says now he will cease
In future, while training
The man is refraining
From hauling 'round District police

The real cause of the anger with Ms. Rhee is her assault on the entrenched special interests that helped make District schools a national disgrace. How else to explain the extraordinary efforts of the American Federation of Teachers to demonize her? How else to interpret the total lack of interest among Ms. Rhee's critics on the council in hearing her examples of some of the bad teachers who were terminated as a result of the reduction in force? Why hasn't the council bothered to conduct a similar inquisition about the 2,500 other city workers who have lost their jobs in the past year?

Funny thing: The Post editorial board is about the only voice in town that can make you feel sorry for poor little Michelle.

The hallmark of a Robert McCartney column is care. Care not to push what the facts can justify. Care not to elbow anyone too hard. Care with grammar, syntax, and clarity. Yet in the lede of his latest column, about Rhee and the council, McCartney appears ready to throw care to the wind: "The future of the District's school system may well be decided by whether Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's forceful reform campaign becomes mired in a swamp of her own self-defeating hubris."

Oooh, sounds like the columnist is gearing up for a slam! Well, no, turns out just a mild slap on the wrist: "At the hearing, Rhee was poised and even conciliatory at times. She also sounded self-righteous, though, especially in her repeated statements that she acts only in the interest of children. That maddened some council members, who said they, too, care about children first."

The analysis McCartney should be providing is something along the following lines: As she sits before the council, dutifully spouting talking points about conciliation and so on, Rhee is really just acting. It's been reported in these pages that Rhee told an audience that cooperation and consultation are "way overrated."

But when the progress on standardized testing plateaus, or just falters a bit, then Rhee will pay for her ways.

For the best stuff on all things Rhee, go to Loose Lips columnist Mike DeBonis.

Man, those Giants are stinking it up.

Credit the Barras Report for this great little look at a dispute in Ward 3 about out-of-boundary students. Barras is focusing on a movement that's apparently taking root in this well-to-do region, in which parents are urging that Ward 3 schools educate exclusively Ward 3 kids, signaling frustration with the system in which kids from other parts of the city commute in to get educated at these Ward 3 gems. One trouble with the Barras piece: She uses Hardy Middle School as a case in point, yet Hardy is squarely within the boundaries of Ward 2. Sure, it has some Ward 3 "feeder" schools, but still.

LL will be following along on Channel 13 and live blogging the proceedings. (Actually, LL will be livetweeting and pasting those over here at City Desk.)

[Last update 7:05 p.m.]

# LL takeaway 10: LL is not sure if he can do this again tomorrow for the parks contracts hearing. 7 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 9: As every CM said, the tone is awful. Kwame was right; if the political games cont's, reform will crash and burn. 8 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 8: Council did establish that the process did evade its authority and is possibly illegal. That's a win for Gray. 14 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 7: Council did not establish beyond a doubt that this was done to fire bad teachers outside due process. That's a win for Rhee. 16 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 6: Rhee gave good reasons for the hiring of 900+ teachers ahead of the cuts. Her reasons for delaying the cuts were not as good. 18 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 5: Noah Wepman is not very good in hearings. Smart, sure, but Gandhi/Rhee need to keep this guy away from microphones. 21 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 4: Michelle Rhee is very, very good in council hearings. She keeps an even tone and knows when to call CMs on their BS. 22 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 3: Agency CFOs are supposed to be independent of agency execs and report direct to CFO. At DCPS, this seems not to be the case. 23 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 2: Once again, Peter Nickles made the decision that kept council out of advisory role. Add it to the list. 25 minutes ago

# LL takeaway 1: By shifting cuts from summer school to teachers, executive again ignored council directive. Add it to the list. 26 minutes ago

# Hearing is adjourned. Phew!32 minutes ago

# If money's been moved (per Wepman) to summer sch., that's illegal. If not moved (per Rhee), budget press. is less, and RIF was unnecessary.32 minutes ago

# Wrapping up, Gray says "a council budget action...was taken by you and taken by you as reason to expand the RIF."35 minutes ago

# Given reps of Nickles, Jim Sandman, Rhee says she "felt very confident of the legality" of RIF35 minutes ago

# Risk of lawsuits "far outweighed by the benefits" of doing subjective (not seniority-based) RIF, Rhee says.37 minutes ago

# "We've opened ourself to a lot more litigation." Rhee says "we can't sacrifice making the right decisions b/c we think we might get sued"39 minutes ago

# Rhee says "substantively we are very very close" but union is focused now on fighting RIF.41 minutes ago

# Wells is back on possible litigation. "Way to avoid this is to have an agreed-on labor contract. Where are we?"41 minutes ago

# Catania: "I think u needd a topflight govt affairs person whos a top Lt. of yours....We cannot have these surprises." Fenty needs the same.about 1 hour ago

# Catania: "DCPS as we knew it, if not for the reforms of you and this mayor, would be gone within 10 years."about 1 hour ago

# "On the road to reform," says Catania, "there are going to be occasions when there are injustices along that road."about 1 hour ago

# Man, talk about no respect. No one can get Wepman;s name right. Barry: "I've been very disappoint in Mr. Wem...Wepman."about 1 hour ago

# Has Spanish been eliminated at Ballou? Barry says yes; Rhee says no!about 1 hour ago

# Rhee tells Barry it's OK for a teacher to get fired by phone. Barry: "I give up on this one! That's absurd! That's just ridiculous!"about 1 hour ago

# Barry says he is against ineffective teachers but seems incapable of believing that any of the fired teachers were in that categoryabout 1 hour ago

# Lot of Seinfeld refs at this hearing. Rhee's wearing the puffy shirt; Gordon McDonald appears to be a high talker.about 1 hour ago

# MAB to Wepman: "You seem to be kind of out somewhere else...Dr. Gandhi didn't seem to know what you're doing."about 1 hour ago

# People who had been suspended for corporal punishment etc.; "not people you or i would want teaching our children."about 1 hour ago

# Rhee came armed with examples of bad teachers fired. "some people, if you saw what was in their file, you would be shocked."about 1 hour ago

# Rhee tells MAB: "I don't think it is a good idea in a blanket away to bring back all the people who were RIF'd"about 1 hour ago

# If MAB asks anything about UDC, LL is going to gag...about 2 hours ago

# HTJ "finds it hard to believe" that Rhee knows nothing about consulting contract. This apparently has nothing to do w/ the RIF.about 2 hours ago

# HTJ heard that someone from California is doing evaluations for a near-$1M contract. Rhee says there is consultant on contract.about 2 hours ago

# HTJ needs his own McKinley hearing.about 2 hours ago

# Let's talk AIDS! No, wait...let's talk aides!about 2 hours ago

# What is the Citywide Displaced Employees Program? HTJ wants DCPS to participate!about 2 hours ago

# Harry Thomas brings up recruitment letters that are still going out to potential teachers (more here: http://bit.ly/2vc3qI)about 2 hours ago

# Woo hoo! Last round! We could be done by 7!about 2 hours ago

# Rhee says this isn't the first time that she's talked about making a decision to shift cuts from summer school to RIF. Gray is skeptical.about 2 hours ago

# Rhee says once budget problem presented itself, "school needs" took precedence over spec-ed capacity building. Not her best answer.about 2 hours ago

# Gray's got a gotcha---why did you fire 29 special ed teachers if you were trying to hire many more? Rheeabout 2 hours ago

# LL is just noticing that Rhee is wearing some kind of poofy pirate shirt. Not ugly, just...poofy.about 2 hours ago

# She's now explaining what she chose to RIF and wqualize at the same time.about 2 hours ago

# Rhee says increased hiring this year was due to more ambitious school programs, plus a need for SpEd teachers to build capacityabout 2 hours ago

# Rhee disputes that DCPS hired many more teachers than average, cites 10-yr avg of 600 to 700. And in 1999, 1,121 were hired.about 2 hours ago

# Wells says anyone (cough, Nickles) advising an override of a council line item designation has "selective amnesia"about 2 hours ago

# Wells' take: When mayoral takeover was done, mayor didn't want line-item budget control, said should be "collaboration with the council."about 2 hours ago

# Tommy Wells: "I know that the schools in Ward 6 have improved."about 2 hours ago

# Catania to Rhee: "We are all grownups and we all have to get past our personality issues....I need you to be a better communicator."about 2 hours ago

# Catania: "I am frustrated by all the parties involved. We are fighting the old battle of the school takeover...this is the stalking horse."about 2 hours ago

# Catania's point: Rhee is free to underspend on teachers w/o council approval, then send the savings over to restore the summer school budgetabout 2 hours ago

# Catania pulls out home rule charter; seems to be trying to debunk this illegal reprogramming charge.about 3 hours ago

# Rhee says she had seen budget pressures develop, but she expected that she'd be able to make central office cuts to avoid teacher layoffs.about 3 hours ago

# Rhee calls notion she packed the DCPS teaching corps in order to force RIF "absolutely incorrect."about 3 hours ago

# Of 934 teachers hired, more than 900 had been hired by end of July, when budget pressure was supposedly discovered, Rhee says.about 3 hours ago

# Graham having real trouble remembering Noah Wepman's name.about 3 hours ago

# Graham: "Well. Hasn't this been an interesting day." He apparently had been anticipating "harmony and camaraderie."about 3 hours ago

# Kwame tells Wepman: "You should be fired."about 3 hours ago

# Rhee says "when i weighed those two things out, keeping the summer school program intact was in the best interest of children."about 3 hours ago

# Kwame: "I'm jumping off the train. I'm not going to let my kids crash and burn." What does that mean?about 3 hours ago

# "we have to take a different tone. you have to take a different tone," says Kwame. "because the tone you're using isn't working."about 3 hours ago

# Kwame: "The way that we're going about this school reform, we're gonna crash and burn."about 3 hours ago

# Barry: "I'm a supporter of the RE-form. I mean, I didn't sign up for this, but I voted for the RE-form."about 3 hours ago

# Barry tells Rhee he "resent[s] this attitude we can make change the way we want to, to hell with the council"about 3 hours ago

# Then Wepman says, even though there was no reprogramming, he followed the law.about 3 hours ago

# Gray does a smart thing here; brings Gordon McDonald from CFO's office, who testifies that DCPS didn't do reprogrammingabout 3 hours ago

# Wepman says that his "interpretation of the UPSFF, this action did not necessitate a reprogramming," which would've gone for council reviewabout 3 hours ago

# Principals are "terrified," Barry says. Also says "parental involvement in Ward 8 is even lower than where it was when you came."about 3 hours ago

# It's Barry time! He wants to talk "atmosphere, the toxicity, the atmosphere of disrespect"about 3 hours ago

# M Brown presses Rhee on "intimidation factor." Says principal told him, "If I ask about a maint. issue, I could lose my job."about 3 hours ago

# M Brown: "Maybe we can get some NAEP officials in here..."about 3 hours ago

# MAB and Rhee are bickering over test scores! "Everyone's wrong but you!" says MABabout 3 hours ago

# Rhee smacks MAB for saying NYC reform isn't working, noting, inter alia, that mayoral control was renewed. MAB cites NYT as saying otherwiseabout 3 hours ago

# M Brown says there has been "unbelievable disrespect and lack of dignity" for labor. "Reforming the reform"!about 3 hours ago

# Michael Brown starts by noting that he didn't vote for Rhee confirmation. Calls a "crutch" when she says she acts in best interests of kidsabout 3 hours ago

# "What you described is different from what actually happened at McKinley" says Thomasabout 3 hours ago

# Ah yes! Peter Nickles! DCPS GC Jim Sandman, too. No written opinion was rendered.about 3 hours ago

# Rhymes with "Neter Pickles"about 3 hours ago

# HTJ is pointing fingers. Literally. He wants to know who advised her to ignore council spending directive. LL thinks he knows the answer!about 3 hours ago

# Harry Thomas Jr. says Rhee "defied, broke, and did not follow the law." Oh yeah, "disrespected" it, too.about 4 hours ago

# Rhee says she'll play nice in the future.about 4 hours ago

# Evans: "We cannot continue to have this kind of craziness."about 4 hours ago

# "The cuts could have been made in a way that could have caused less acrimony," Rhee says, but that would not have been as good for kidsabout 4 hours ago

# It is Rhee's "professional opinion" that RIF was done in such a way that was in the best interests of children.about 4 hours ago

# Evans is flinging some softballs here.about 4 hours ago

# Evans says to Rhee it "would have been better to let us know" that she had ignored summer school directive. I'll say.?about 4 hours ago

# Evans felt school cuts "were something we had to do"; he's long been proud of his willingness to cut any agency in govtabout 4 hours ago

# Rhee: "was within my authority as agency head" to move cuts from summer school to RIF. Gray: "Maybe we should just disband this council."about 4 hours ago

# Rhee remembers time when she tried to get Gray on the phone to talk RIFs, and he wasn't available.about 4 hours ago

# Rhee tries asking Gray a question. Says Gray: 'If you want to ask questions, run for the council and come up here.'about 4 hours ago

# Gray is losing it a bit. Rhee has come loaded with good talking points, pointing out that July budget decisions weren't open to gen publicabout 4 hours ago

# "In times when you make difficult decision, that things don't happen in the best manner." Throws it right back at Gray!about 4 hours ago

# Gray is going off on the council-blaming. Yikes. "no question in my mind" that intention was to lay resp. at council doorstepabout 4 hours ago

# Smart line from Rhee: compares her move to council's "hard decision to cut city budget rather than use reserve funds"about 4 hours ago

# link to McCartney column: http://bit.ly/Wm1F1about 4 hours ago

# She points out that the Post retracted the main conclusion of the column---that private money could have filled the budget gapabout 4 hours ago

# Oof, Rhee goes hard after Bob McCartney column suggesting that private money could have covered the RIFabout 4 hours ago

# Powerpoint: "Officers were not instructed to escort staff from the building, stand at doorways, or implement the RIF."about 4 hours ago

# Having cops in schools was an "unfortunate coincidence" with demise of Hawk One, Rhee says.about 4 hours ago

# Rhee says that "disruptions" were "not widespread"about 4 hours ago

# Rhee on "misunderstandings"...only 7% of those fired had 25+ yrs experience; 54% had 10 yrs or lessabout 4 hours ago

# Rhee is now going through the RIF process.about 4 hours ago

# Rhee says cutting summer school would have "dramatically affect[ed] graduation rates."about 4 hours ago

# To wit: 'the av. age of the District's teachers is 42, the av. age of those who were [fired] is 48. The av. age of the 934 new hires is 32.'about 4 hours ago

# Bill Turque has a story up on pre-hearing protests http://bit.ly/3GL79Y interesting tidbit on RIF'd teacher demographicsabout 4 hours ago

# There's a Powerpoint!about 4 hours ago

# "I take full resp for my management decision" to cut teachers rather than summer school, Rhee says.about 4 hours ago

# Here we go! Rhee starts her testimony blaming controversy on "natural tensions after a staff reduction plus some misconceptions"about 4 hours ago

# Also Gray's absolution of Gandhi was telling. He wants to crucify Wepman, but it looks bad for Gandhi to have an agency CFO freelancingabout 5 hours ago

# LL halftime thoughts: Gray needs to cut the demagoguery. He's scoring his points, but if this is seen as inquisition, the less that mattersabout 5 hours ago

# Five minute break, then Rhee is up. So far so bad for her side. Council got Wepman to admit summer school directive was ignored.about 5 hours ago

# Gray says, "Mr. Wepman, why don't you stay?" He didn't want to hear that.about 5 hours ago

# Gray wants a private meeting w Gandhi ASAP, saying testimony "raises some questions about all the actions that have been taken"about 5 hours ago

# Barry is back: "this CFO team is not as independent as it ought to be." Tells Gandhi to "pay more attn to this situation." He has a point.about 5 hours ago

# Gray lays it out: 'This gov't need to find a way to bring these people back to their jobs.' Calls testimony 'unbelievable.'about 5 hours ago

# Picture emerging: that DCPS was in its own little world when assembling its budget, that Wepman was more loyal to Rhee than indpndt CFOabout 5 hours ago

# Gandhi says he was not aware of $13M in spending pressures when certifying the 2010 DCPS budgetabout 5 hours ago

# Gray is trying to nail Wepman on DCPS ignoring council directive to cut summer school, not teachers. And he does.about 5 hours ago

# Wepman won't say who first proposed RIF; mentions "conv's with the chancellor and members of her mgt team."about 5 hours ago

# Now Mary Cheh is digging into Wepman. He says, besides RIF, options were central office cuts, athletics, summer school, after-schoolabout 5 hours ago

# Before Rhee starts testimony, LL is going to grab lunch. Back in 10!about 6 hours ago

# Catania is trying like hell to bail Rhee out from the hole she dug by blaming the cuts on the council rather than "spending pressures."about 6 hours ago

# Gandhi says that it "is not so" that DCPS has overspent. Generates great laughter, given that that was rationale for RIF...about 6 hours ago

# Jim Graham doesn't know Wepman's nameabout 6 hours ago

# LL would feel more sorry for Wepman if didn't know very well that this sort of inquisition was comingabout 6 hours ago

# Gray says Wepman 'gives further credence to the theory that there were people who were unwanted & this was a great opp to get rid of them.'about 6 hours ago

# Gray calls Wepman evasions on why fire old rather than new 'disingenuous' and says it 'doesn't do service to the position that you hold.'about 6 hours ago

# Gray quite relishes making Wepman queasy. He's doing it with a basic question: If 990 were hired and 300 were fired, why not just hire 600?about 6 hours ago

# Wepman not very good at this. Needed some "murder boards" or something....about 6 hours ago

# Rumble when Wepman admits that new teachers were offered jobs when a hiring freeze had been put in place. Not going too well for him.about 6 hours ago

# Wepman on mentioning RIF to Gandhi's shop: 'In retrospect, I probably should have done it earlier.'about 6 hours ago

# Gandhi says that comms between DCPS CFO and him "should have been better."about 6 hours ago

# Gray tells Wepman to cut out the "extraneous rhetoric"; most of that, however, seems to come from the other side of the dais.about 6 hours ago

# Wepman says multiple options were on the table to deal with budget issues. There were 10 to 15, he says.about 6 hours ago

# In response to M Brown question, Gandhi says his information "is as authentic, as objective, as correct as we know."about 6 hours ago

# Wells asks if Gandhi gave opinion to Rhee whether RIF was necessary. Nat: "We don't advise the chancellor whether to RIF people or not."about 6 hours ago

# Wepman says DCPS spent $40M in stimulus money on teacher salaries; that without it, the problem would have been doubled.about 6 hours ago

# Wells is also concerned about possible liability, which he places at potentially $80M or moreabout 6 hours ago

# Tommy Wells shows up, says he's a reform supporter, etc, but "I do not want reform...to be undermined by unnecessary and costly litigation."about 6 hours ago

# Yvette says she "doesn't want to beat a dead horse"; Gray tells her, "it's been beaten for 2 mos already. Keep beating it!"about 7 hours ago

# Graham to Gandhi: "I have the impression that you don;t want to answer this question" on how much of $$ gap can be attributed to councilabout 7 hours ago

# Graham says layoffs "should not have been laid at the doorstep of the council."about 7 hours ago

# Catania's point: Did RIF reflect spending pressures from prior year(s)? That would be a more palatable explanation than council cuts.about 7 hours ago

# Ooh, Catania vs. Gandhi---always a fun time.about 7 hours ago

# "Any good manager," Gray says should to find money to cover a 1.6 percent cut without mass layoffs. Barry calls the RIF 'diabolical.'about 7 hours ago

# Gray volunteers an answer: "The answer to me is, no, it didn't have to be done this way."about 7 hours ago

# Barry wants Gandhi to say that DCPS would have been facing same budget pressures without council cuts. Gandhi won't say it.about 7 hours ago

# Wepman says, given the fiscal pressures, that he "advised that chancellor that we had to take some action."about 7 hours ago

# Barry wants to know about Wepman's comms with Rhee b/c "Michelle Rhee has been using different numbers at different times."about 7 hours ago

# Thomas says, "I won't follow that line of questioning," as though he could. Much laughter!about 7 hours ago

# Is Gandhi digging the hole deeper for Rhee and Fenty?about 7 hours ago

# Evans is confused by CFO explanations of why there was a supposed $8M "decrease" in per-student funding, when council froze the formula.about 7 hours ago

# Says Jack Evans: 'I'm starting to understand what happened here...' Wants more detail on summer school spending.about 7 hours ago

# Gandhi stipulates that there was no cut in the per-student funding formula, that it was held constant from last year.about 7 hours ago

# Gandhi is asked a question by Gray; Gandhi turns to Wepman, says 'Do you want to answer that?' Says Gray, 'Is that a punt Dr. Gandhi?'about 7 hours ago

# "What does [a cut to] summer school beginning in the middle of June have to do with RF'ing teachers?" asks Grayabout 7 hours ago

# Gandhi says stim guidelines "encourages seemingly contradictory decisions"---between saving jobs and avoiding short term spending commitmentabout 8 hours ago

# "Cuts to local funds cannot always be replaced by stimulus funds," Gandhi says.about 8 hours ago

# Now he's describing possible uses of stimulus funds in the D.C. Public Schoolsabout 8 hours ago

# Nat Gandhi is reading off a lot of numbers now. What it all means, we will soon find out.about 8 hours ago

# With Gandhi: Budget chief Gordon McDonald; David Hines, budget deputy in charge of education; and DCPS CFO Noah Wepmanabout 8 hours ago

# It's Gandhi time!about 8 hours ago

# Bowser tells union folks what she thinks they want.about 8 hours ago

# Bowser's up. She wants to know: "Why were so many hired?" And "was there a pattern in who was let go?"about 8 hours ago

# "collaborative community of success for our students and our teachers" is what Yvette wants. Expect to hear "collaborative" a lot, too.about 8 hours ago

# Yvette's turn. "what has frustr. me the most is that my integrity as a CM has been challenged." refers to "mistruths" in DCPS explanationsabout 8 hours ago

# Catania smacks up the unions a bit.about 8 hours ago

# LL is trying to livetweet and finish LLD at the same time. Please bear with him.about 8 hours ago

# But Catania is "not about to organize the school system around the mortgages of adults"about 8 hours ago

# "there certainly have been missteps in the path of reform," says Catania, and says there are "legitimate concerns" about the RIFabout 8 hours ago

# David Catania steps up. "What I'd like to talk about is how illiteracy really will kill you...due...to our failed school system"about 8 hours ago

# Jim Graham would have appreciated a little heads upabout 8 hours ago

# Jim Graham wonders about the geographic breakdown of layoffs "does it way something about where qualified teachers were located?"about 8 hours ago

# Jim Graham starts out: "We got a big problem here." He refers to cops in classrooms, escorting teachers out.about 8 hours ago

# Kwame wants "true reform by any means necessary!" UNITEabout 8 hours ago

# Kwame: "I'm gonna move some legislation, cause we're gonna do something about these absent minded parents!"about 8 hours ago

# Kwame wants "some level of respect." Respect count is now 3.about 8 hours ago

# Kwame's problem: That good teachers were let go, not bad teachers.about 8 hours ago

# Kwame Brown starts out on a hard-line reformist note: Bad teacher "need to go!" Don't expect this to last.about 8 hours ago

# Barry says he doesn't want Rhee out; "I want this chancellor to stay right here and reform this system for real"about 8 hours ago

# Barry says Rhee, Fenty "set this system back at least 10 years," generates applause. Gray warns them to "applaud in your head."about 8 hours ago

# Barry calls the firings "inhumane...uncompassionate" And "none of us should have signed on to this."about 8 hours ago

# Ohh Marion. Decries "piss poor planning" leading up to layoffs.about 8 hours ago

# Oct. 2 was "the day justice died...compassion was killed," says Barry.about 8 hours ago

# Barry: "I never ever seen it so bad...never ever seen the level of disrespect from" Fenty and Rhee. Says teachers are "terrorized"about 8 hours ago

# OMG, M Brown going on again about how UDC and DCPS don't work together. Save it for another hearing!about 8 hours ago

# "There is a compassion issue," Michael Brown says. Shoulda given teachers a chance to find new jobs!about 8 hours ago

# M Brown says there is a "level of intimidation that if you raise a question your job is on the line....That is not democracy."about 8 hours ago

# Barry ticked that Vince skipped over him for Michael Brown. "Mr Chairman, I was here first!"about 8 hours ago

# Thomas wants "fairness, dignity, and respect to those we serve." Expect to hear "respect" a lot today. LL will try to keep a count.about 8 hours ago

# HTJ: "If we're going to put children first, then we should listen to the children sometimes." In ref to McKinley protests.about 9 hours ago

# PLEASE GOD NO. Says Harry Thomas Jr: "All I can say is, here we go again, 18 more hours, whatever it takes."about 9 hours ago

# Also: Were they illegal? Could this have been done "in a less disruptive fashion"?about 9 hours ago

# Evans asks: Were the actions necessary? Were they taken in students' best interest?about 9 hours ago

# Here is the Sun editorial: http://bit.ly/4i4Hs1about 9 hours ago

# Gray: "Stop scapegoating!"about 9 hours ago

# Oh boy, Gray is already pulling out the "native Washingtonian" card. I don't more at this from an academic or purely spectator perspective"about 9 hours ago

# Gray mentions Balt Sun editorial that compared reform efforts in that city with here. Says he "just happened upon it." Perhaps in LL Daily?about 9 hours ago

# Gray describes "summer hiring frenzy of over 900 teachers"about 9 hours ago

# Gray cites "multiple inconsistent explanations by the executive"about 9 hours ago

# Vince fairly spits when he says he wants to knwo why the council was blamed for layoffs.about 9 hours ago

# Michelle Rhee is in the house, so that's good! Also there: Nat Gandhiabout 9 hours ago

# LL is prepping to liveblog/tweet Michelle Rhee's appearance before the D.C. Council. Stay tuned!about 9 hours ago

Rather, the intent was to keep its recruitment database up to date in order to "address normal resignations and retirements."

The school system, Calloway says, "will absolutely consider" the pool of teachers let go earlier this month. The list is maintained "in case a vacancy arises in a subject area or specialty in which no teacher was RIF'ed....We do not want to be in a position where human resources is forced to scramble in order to make a potentially critical hire."

ORIGINAL POST: On Oct. 2, 229 teachers employed by the D.C. Public Schools were laid off, along with 159 more support staff. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee claimed that budget cuts made by the D.C. Council forced the system to shed the staffers.

And yet, yesterday afternoon, a DCPS recruiter sent a message to candidates for teaching jobs in the system, telling them: "If you are still interested in teaching for DCPS during the 2009-2010 school year, please let me know. We will resume the selection process next week." The e-mail contains a link to a Web page where recruits can indicate their intentions.

LL asked DCPS for an explanation of the e-mail earlier today and is awaiting a response. The manner in which the layoffs had been done---after hiring an unprecedented number of teachers earlier in the year---raised sharp questions about the motives behind it all; was it done, many asked, as an end-around the teachers' contract? This e-mail, if genuine, is certain to amplify those concerns.

The Washington Teachers' Union has issued a statement calling the e-mail "yet another example of questionable management practices—or malevolence—on the part of DCPS."

"Any effort to hire additional teachers while claiming a need to cut staff due to budget constraints raises serious questions," says President George Parker. "What positions need to be filled? Why didn’t DCPS wait until these vacancies were filled before issuing layoff notices? Why didn’t DCPS assign certified teachers to these vacancies instead of terminating them?"

LL awaits answers to them. Full e-mail is here:

Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Subject: DCPS 2009-2010 Candidates

Dear Candidates, If you are still interested in teaching for DCPS during the 2009-2010 school year, please let me know. We will resume the selection process next week and will only contact you if you have indicated to me that you would like to remain in the pool of applicants. If you would like to only be considered for 2010-2011 vacancies, please withdraw your application and reapply in January. If you have already found a position with DCPS and we have sent you this email in error, please submit your school information. Your response is requested by Wednesday, October 21st. If you have any questions, please let me know. DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL. Please click on the following link to complete the two minute survey: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEF0Vm5hdTRpUjhOTzNiR2VHbldXN3c6MA
Thanks, Morgan Gieseke TeachDC, Recruitment and Selection

Here's a sampling of the education jobs the Obama administration says have been saved or created by federal stimulus plan dollars, according to "media reports and anecdotal accounts to the U.S. Department of Education" over the last nine months.

Los Angeles: 6,326
New York City: 4,000
Miami Dade County, Fla.: 1,944
Las Vegas: 1,100
Boston: 370
Indianapolis: 242
Richmond: 72
Rochester, Minn.: 62 (teachers rehired)
Akron, Ohio: 60 (layoffs averted)
Sand Springs, Okla.: 46
Scottsbluff, Neb.: 18

As noted in the Washington Post, the report "does not address how many education jobs have been cut this year because of the recession, nor does it project how many are in jeopardy in the coming year." But forget that. And forget D.C. And anywhere else schools are hurting. Just celebrate!

Ideas? Comments? I'm at eniedowski@washingtoncitypaper.com, and on Twitter.

"The accompanying story by June Kronholz is, as the picture suggests, almost uniformly admiring. Although it doesn't address what happened to the real Braveheart, Scottish rebel William Wallace, who was hanged, disemboweled, beheaded and quartered in 1305 for rising up against the British crown."

One commenter brings the discussion back into the current millennium: "I don't want Rhee to be beheaded, I just want her to resign."

Since Rhee took office in 2007, it's become quite trendy to follow the fiery Chancellor around for awhile and then write a breathless profile about her crusade to fix D.C.'s schools. C'mon, Education Next, all the cool kids are doing it. For interested readers, here's a sampling:

September 2007: "Can Michelle Rhee Save DC Schools?" Washingtonian.com.

October 2007: "A hard road to hoe: teaching poor children." The Economist.

August 2008: "An Unlikely Gambler." Newsweek.

November 2008: "Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge." TIME.

November 2008: "The Lightning Rod." The Atlantic.

January 2009: "Is Michelle Rhee the new face of education reform?" Christian Science Monitor.

March 2009: "Education's Ground Zero." Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times.

(Note: Most of them are "almost uniformly admiring.")

Spoke to Wapo ed board folks about you today. Told them you are the most qualified person possible, that you have amazing capacity and that everything you do has your hallmark of excellence. They'll write a good piece for tomorrow.

Et voilà.

So how will the layoffs go down?

According to the memo, principals have already identified on a "Budget Reduction Worksheet" the positions they plan to eliminate; this week, they're going through the elaborate - and time-consuming - process of rating each person who holds one of those positions (not all of them will be let go). Principals do this at a previously scheduled appointment at the Office of Human Resources, where they are given a laptop and encouraged to rely on notes and "supporting documentation."

Using a scale of zero to 10, principals must rate each potential RIF employee according to the following criteria: 1. "Office or school needs" (75 percent of the total score) 2. "Significant relevant contributions, accomplishments or performance" (10 percent) and 3. "Relevant supplemental experience demonstrated on the job" (10 percent). Human Resources adds a "Length of service" calculation as well (5 percent).

Principals then prepare a detailed narrative to support the scores. (A sample narrative for Jane Doe: "Doe has consistently underperformed for the five years she has worked at Gibbs Elementary and does not address the needs of our school. While I expected to have a fresh start with her this school year, she immediately began the school year with a very negative attitude. Ms. Doe arrived late for three of the five days of the teacher training week.")

Here's the "Notifying staff members who are being separated" part:

• Human Resources will use your ratings, add the length of service calculation, and then issue a final ranking for all employees within the competitive level being reduced or eliminated
• Based on this final ranking, Human Resources will generate a notice for each employee being separated
• Human Resources will deliver these notices to you one business day before you are to deliver them to the employees
• On the date printed on the notice, you should call the employee to your office after school, hand them the notice, and ask them to sign for it on the signature line that Human Resources will provide to you
• Return signed signature pages to your staffing specialist
• Please feel free to contact the Director of School Operations if there are unique security issues that you believe need to be addressed
• Human Resources will also FedEx the notice to the impacted employees

Teachers are protesting the layoffs (and the evaluation system) at a 4:30 p.m. rally today outside DCPS central offices.

An announcement posted on The Washington Teacher's blog:

Rank and file educators will gather outside of the DCPS central office on Thursday, September 24, starting at 4:00 p.m. to protest teacher layoffs. We request that other laid off and terminated government employees, parents, students, city workers, residents, community activists, local leaders and the media join us in taking a stand for our teachers, students, and schools. We are baffled that Chancellor Rhee hired over nine hundred new teachers this summer, and that only one month into the school year announced that — due to a budget shortfall — she will make imminent teacher layoffs prior to the start of the fiscal year. Please join the rank and file this Thursday as we protest Rhee: The Teacher Terminator.

The site reports that "most of the lay offs will impact DC teachers and other school based staff including instructional coaches, custodians and even some principals and vice principals, etc."

In a Huffington Post piece on Friday called "Mass Teacher Layoffs One Hell of a Power Play by Michelle Rhee," teacher Dan Brown offers thoughts on how Rhee's "latest gambit might be her wildest. How can someone hire nearly 25% of their work force over the summer and then less than a month into the school year throw up her hands and move to lay so many off? Here's how."

Comments? Ideas? I'm at eniedowski@washingtoncitypaper.com, and on Twitter.

DCPS, the agency she lords over, has impeded every attempt to find out what really happened on that Allegany County football field last Sept. 19, 2008.

At least, that's what school officials in Allegany County and Maryland athletic overseers say about Rhee's handling of the matter.

Rhee won't say anything. So why not believe everybody else?

(AFTER THE JUMP: Why didn't Michelle Rhee cooperate in the Dunbar/Fort Hill investigations? Why won't Michelle Rhee explain why she didn't cooperate in the Dunbar/Fort Hill investigations? How did we reach a point where Michelle Rhee feels she doesn't have to explain why she didn't cooperate in the Dunbar/Fort Hill investigations? Redskins fans are racist? Dinosaurs and Indiana and preseason hockey trump postseason Mystics? )

Though everything that took place will never be agreed upon, this much is inarguable: Jefferies ordered his Dunbar players off the field in the third quarter of a game at Fort Hill.

Another apparent certainty: Ever since Jefferies said he pulled the team because his players were being racially taunted by Fort Hill's players and turned a football game into a national debate about race and sports, Rhee has behaved as if DCPS is her own private trust, not a government agency with some obligation to transparency.

"We know what we know, but we sort of only know from one point of view,"says Ned Sparks, head of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, the group which governs high school sports in the state and investigated Jefferies' allegations. "I never did hear from the DC folks. We heard from Fort Hill, watched all the video, talked to referees, and police. We have not found anybody to [back up the charges that Fort Hill players used racial slurs]. But we turned the Dunbar portion over to [DCPS] people to handle. We tried to facilitate some meetings. But we never did hear back from them."

Going on what it found, MPSSAA awarded Fort Hill a forfeit victory. No sanction of any kind was issued against any Fort Hill player or coach.

Fort Hill and Allegany schools administrators also told me attempts to reach out to DCPS after the Dunbar/Fort Hill game were ignored.

The U.S Department of Justice attempted to mediate the situation, and did organize a meeting that included representatives from DCPS and Allegany County schools to talk about Dunbar/Fort Hill.

After that gathering, officials from Allegany County filed a written report that the DOJ mediator requested.

Rhee, however, did not file any report with the federal government.

And with only one side of the story, the Department of Justice did not issue any report of its findings. The mediation effort quietly died.

Because of the Dunbar/Fort Hill incident, Sparks says, MPSSAA added passages about racially charged language to the handbook it has just distributed to every team captain in the state.

But Sparks remains frustrated by DCPS's repeated failure to participate in the investigations. He says DCPS's failure to cooperate with Maryland is one thing; Rhee's failure to work with the federal mediators is a whole different ballgame.

"If they had just given their report (to the DOJ), that would have been fine with us," he says. "But..."

So, what is DCPS's official version of what took place at Fort Hill? Who knows?

"The [DOJ] proceeding was confidential, therefore we cannot disclose our presentation," said Rhee's spokesperson, Jennifer Calloway, via email after repeated requests for information about the Dunbar/Fort Hill matter.

"Confidential"? Who says? Allegany officials have talked about it and told their version: They found nothing to back up the charges that racial slurs were used.

So why hasn't DCPS said anything, either to back up Jefferies or confess that they found nothing to support his charges? Who can't handle the truth?

Calloway confirmed that no written report was issued.

Why?

"At this point we do not have any further comment," was the only response from Rhee's office. Subsequent emails went unanswered.

The bottom line: Rhee's stonewalling has left everybody looking bad.

Rhee obviously wishes the whole Dunbar/Fort Hill mess would just go away. Before it does, she should explain her behavior. She is a civil servant, right?

***

Speaking of hate speech: If you want to learn to hate Redskins fans but don't have time to spend halftime in the concourse of FedExField on Sunday, just mosey over to Dan Snyder's message board, extremeskins.com, and read what the hardcores are saying about the petition a group of American Indians filed recently asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court's decision to save the team's trademark protections.

A sampling:

TK, the bulliest of Snyder's moderators still hanging around after all the originals jumped ship, calls the plaintiffs "[s]even people that have nothing better to do then continue to make theirselves look silly for 17 years and counting." And TK's the brains of the outfit.

The poster LAXPCK weighs in with: "isnt there some firewater or beads we can give these people to make them be quiet...How about if we give them a casino?"

And the big winner among the Skins class of clowns is the poster known as ThePreciating, who, in response to a commenter who says he has "many relatives who are Native American who despise the name," writes:

Speaking of your relatives, I'm so sick of these redskins invading our neighborhoods with their high crime rates and gambling and drugs. I swear, pretty soon they'll be teaching injun talk to our kids in school.

Blasting their tribal chants out their car windows, smoking their peace pipes all over the place, scalping innocent children. It's just unbelievable.

Sorry - I guess some of that Washington Redskins racism is rubbing off on me.

Wowee.

***

Last weekend's performance of the St. Louis Rams offense makes the Skins offense look like the Saints offense.

Or something like that.

But as bad as his team is, this weekend's game at FedExField will be new Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo's "grudge" game. You know he's got it in for Dan Snyder. Shortly after crushing Gregg Williams in the last offseason with dirty leaks about him disrespecting Joe Gibbs, Snyder et al sold some folks in the DC media on a tale that the reason Spags didn't get the Skins head coaching job was because the job interviewer (Snyder) and the interviewee (Spags) agreed that the interviewee (Spags) wasn't ready to be a coach.

Nobody outside this market ever bought that story, not after all those interviews at Snyder's Maryland estate, the one with the good view of the river.

But Spagnuolo surely didn't have any trouble staying awake for an extra couple hours of film watching this week in hopes of getting his first win as a head coach -- or at least scoring his first points -- against the owner who slimed him.

***

Finally, a poll where the Redskins DON'T finish last: The Skins are in fourth in opensecrets.org's ranking of NFL teams based on the amount of political contributions made over the last 20 years. Skins owners and officials have donated a total of Washington Redskins $323,000 over that time, a mere $8,550, or about 3 percent, to Democratic Party candidates.

The clubhouse leader by almost a full zero is the San Diego Chargers, who according to opensecret.org's data have given $2,455,200, all but 2 percent to the GOP or its candidates.

***

The Mystics opened the playoffs in a college gym because "Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular" got dibs on their regular home, the Verizon Center. Playing away from the treasured "Attendance Champion" banners, the Mystics lost, 88-79. The T-Rexes will be gone in time for Game 3* of the Best of Three series. But the Caps are scheduled to play the Buffalo Sabres at Verizon.

And, as everybody knows, preseason hockey trumps postseason women's basketball EVERY TIME!

***

Story tips? Wanna Play the Feud? Tube amps for sale? Send to: cheapseats@washingtoncitypaper.com

"I can assure you that no rules were broken," Rhee said. "We have a number of provisions that allow kids to go to out-of-boundary schools and all of those things were followed."

It's not a complete explanation by any means, but it's something. Rhee seems to grasp in some way what Fenty has not: That questions about his kids' schooling concerns the integrity of a process relied upon by many parents in this town, and that they are questions that have implications for his grand project of school reform.

Since Fenty has made it quite clear that he will answer no questions about this issue, LL will not be asking him any further questions about the matter for the time being, barring further developments and the results of several records requests. But here's a rhetorical question for Hizzoner: Why do this?

His communications strategy seems to be a Sarah Palin-esque attempt to cast reporters as villains for broaching the sacred privacy of his children. Informed by reporter after reporter that no one has any intention of discussing details of the kids' schooling beyond the enrollment process---that the questions center on his behavior, not his children's---he has vigorously stuck to his no-comments. What it has gotten him is a week's worth of text, audio, and video showing him at his most dense and stubborn. (Today, reporters from WJLA-TV and WTTG-TV joined the gaggle.)

There's another way this could have worked.

To cite a couple of recent examples, similar questions arose when the children of both Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso ended up in the highly coveted Oyster Bilingual School. In Rhee's case, a mayoral spokesperson immediately provided an explanation, and LL never wrote about it. In Reinoso's case, he cooperated with a previous LL's efforts to learn the process; again, no article was ever written.

On Monday, LL asked by e-mail for a full accounting of the enrollment process. He received nothing aside from a boilerplate statement. And here we are.

The fact is this: If an explanation had been furnished early on, it's likely that neither LL or any other reporter would have made a major issue of it.

The questions here are basic accountability exercises---Did you follow the rules? If not, why?---and to expect to simply evade them as mayor is the definition of arrogance. Fenty might think that playing the martyr on his kids' privacy will prove sympathetic---and certainly it has to some folks, judging from comment threads here at City Desk and elsewhere---but it also plays into another narrative that's developed over the course of the last year: the mayor as arrogant, opaque, stubborn, and unaccountable.

You can hold that his children don't deserve to be dragged through the political mud. And you'd be right: Certainly no nine-year-old kid deserves to be under such undue scrutiny. But, Mr. Mayor, answering questions about your participation in the government that you run, that's part of the price of entering politics. And that's a price that you yourself has to pay---not your kids.

Yet Fenty, strangely, did not go out of his way to advertise that fact at a press conference early this morning. In fact, Hizzoner was quite terse in addressing questions about his kids, saying he would not discuss the matter out of respect for their "private life." This evening, mayoral spokesperson Mafara Hobson doubled down on her boss' silence, releasing this statement: "This morning Mayor Fenty and his wife, Michelle, officially enrolled their boys in DC Public Schools. Out of respect for the boys' privacy, he has declined to comment further."

But the fact is that his desire for privacy is caught up in a sticky political situation: Lafayette isn't the Fenty family's neighborhood school---that would be the somewhat lower performing West Elementary, at 14th and Farragut Streets NW. And the question is, how did the Fenty kids come to be enrolled at high-achieving Lafayette, across Rock Creek Park?

The Hobson comment above came in response to a request from LL for an accounting of the process by which the Fenty kid(s) ended up enrolled at Lafayette.

To be sure, there is a process: Plenty of District parents every year enter a lottery to get their kids out of poorly performing neighborhood schools and into better schools that are often across town---especially those, like Lafayette, that are west of Rock Creek Park. This involves identifying as many as five potential schools, filling out an application early in the year, submitting the paperwork, and crossing your fingers. The process is highly competitive, with few slots available in the most desirable schools for transfer students (including Lafayette).

Fenty very well could have entered that lottery and won. The chances, however, are slim. It is unclear whether Lafayette even accepted any transfer students this year.

Another transfer possibility exists if a student has special needs. In that case, each student has an "individualized education plan" which spells out what those needs are. DCPS then places the student in a location appropriate to those needs. More dramatic cases that DCPS is not equipped to handle are famously placed in private facilities at public expense.

There is one additional option: Chancellor Michelle Rhee, pursuant to an emergency rulemaking published in January, has the power to allow a transfer when it "would be in the best interests of the student" and "would promote the overall interests of the school system."

Make no mistake: In the absence of an explanation from Fenty, the questions and theories are already flying. And they will continue to fly among a constituency that Fenty is counting on for political support: parents in demand of better schools.

If Fenty did in fact have his kids placed in non-neighborhood schools through extraordinary means, not only would such a move have the lousy appearance of taking unfair advantage of his office, it would hardly constitute a signal of confidence to the hundreds of parents thinking about taking a chance on their local DCPS school---as recent advertisements have suggested they do.

"Go public and get a great free education," the ads urge. But what if you're not the mayor?

Iris Toyer, a DCPS parent and schools activist who helped draft the out-of-boundary lottery process as part of a 2003 task force, says that Fenty's silence thus far is telling: "If he went though the process, I would say, 'Yes, I did.' To me, by not saying anything, you are making a statement."

Toyer points out that much as Fenty might insists that this is about his children, and thus off limits as a matter of public concern, this really isn't about the kids: "The question is," she says, "did the mayor get special treatment because he was the mayor?"

"I understand not wanting to talk the children," she adds, "but what they want to talk about is the process. Did you follow the same process?"