At least two D.C. Council members are wondering whether District Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee will stay in the city, regardless of the outcome of the mayoral race.
The questions come as Rhee prepares to marry Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson on Sept. 4. Last month, Rhee all but said she might leave her position as leader of the ongoing D.C. school reform effort if D.C. Council Chairman Vince Gray defeats her current boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty.
But while Rhee has indicated a Fenty victory will mean she’ll stay on until the job is done, she hasn’t been able to convince everyone that she’ll follow through.
“She’s getting married to the mayor of Sacramento,” said Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas during a breakfast with reporters Thursday morning at City Diner. “Is she going to have a bicoastal marriage?” At-large Councilman Kwame Brown, who is campaigning to be the next D.C. Council chairman, expressed a similar sentiment during a meeting with The Washington Examiner’s editorial board Thursday morning.
“Is Michelle Rhee prepared to stay?” Brown asked. “If she’s not, then we’ll have to go through a new chancellor and the implementation of a new philosophy.”
Both councilmen stressed that the possibility of Rhee’s leaving calls for the need to institutionalize reform.
Gray called for the same when pressured by Fenty during joint public appearances to state whether he’ll keep Rhee on as chancellor if elected. The link between Rhee and Fenty is a key part of the mayor’s platform: Fenty’s hoping the chancellor’s strong reform stance will push him over the top in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
Rhee has kept herself in the spotlight this summer, in part by announcing the firing of 241 teachers and staff members who were found to be underperforming in evaluation tests.
Brown said “teachers should be held accountable,” although he did voice concerns over the evaluation tests. The Washington Teachers’ Union shares those concerns and is planning to file a lawsuit against the schools, claiming the tests were unfair.
Former D.C. Councilman Vincent Orange, who is challenging Brown in the council chairman race, said he supports holding teachers accountable. But, he said, it’s also the school system’s job to help teachers who are “on the bubble” to improve so they can better educate the city’s children.
Orange also told The Examiner that, if elected chairman of the D.C. Council, he would form a committee dedicated to education to “build a working relationship with the chancellor.”
Orange added that he would support a voucher system “by any means necessary.”
Brown said he wants to ensure students currently in the voucher program can finish and that he’s open to funding the program for future students.
