Angry Fenty evades questions about sons' schooling
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
August 28, 2009
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| Lafayette Elementary School in D.C. (Examiner) |
Mayor Adrian Fenty on Thursday dodged more questions about the education of his sons, growing visibly angry as reporters pressed on how his twin boys gained entry into one of D.C.'s top-performing public schools.
Fenty, a resident of the Crestwood neighborhood, on Monday enrolled his 9-year-old sons, Matthew and Andrew, in the fourth grade at Lafayette Elementary School in Chevy Chase. The 615-student school is one of the most difficult to gain entry to for out-of-boundary parents, like the Fentys, most of whom must enter their children in a lottery and hope for one of the few available openings in each grade.
But Fenty has steadfastly refused to say whether he went through the lottery process, or enrolled his boys through some other means. Chancellor Michelle Rhee, for example, has the authority to enroll a child in whatever school she pleases.
"Please respect that my kids' private lives have to be respected," Fenty told reporters on the steps of the Wilson Building, following a news conference celebrating the Washington Kastles' World Team Tennis championship.
Twice Fenty told the media to "stop," at one point telling reporters, "I'd like for you to excuse me to leave."
"Please just stop asking me these questions," he said.
Fenty spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said there was a "clear out-of-boundary process," but there also were "special circumstances that the chancellor can look at that make it personal." She did not say, however, that Fenty's children were a special circumstance.
"I don't think where the mayor sent his children to school is the issue," said D.C. watchdog Dorothy Brizill, co-founder of D.C. Watch. "It's the process that people are concerned with. He doesn't seem to get it."
Sekou Biddle, Ward 4 member of the State Board of Education and father of two, said the matter should be private.
"We should consider at what point we're intruding on a person's private life," Biddle said. "It's a funny situation, but I'm glad the mayor's children are in a public school, in a place that they're happy."
Lafayette last school year made Adequate Yearly Progress, a standard under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, in reading, math and attendance. Fenty's neighborhood school is West Elementary, a school formally "in need of improvement" that did not meet AYP in reading.
Before his election in 2006, Fenty pledged to enroll his boys in public school once they reached the fourth grade.
