Reflections on Teaching

Who says that Doug Noon gets to have all the political fun these days! You don’t have to live in Alaska to have the confluence of third world banana republic politics intersecting with first world government accountability.

First, let’s start with Dan Meyer’s crush. She’s a maverick educator, who started out with no more than an ivy league education, and no notion of education philosophy. She moved on from that disaster, teaching herself classroom management and pedagogy over the summer–hey, I hear that a good credentialing program can do that, but I digress (details), to form the New Teacher Project, and be involved in the teaching reform movement. She caps this of with the ascension as Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public school system. Let’s give it up for Michelle Rhee!

In dy/dan » Blog Archive » Michelle Rhee: Educrush Dan shared his hopes and enthusiasm for Chancellor Rhee and her two-tier contract, one traditional, and one that allows teachers to give up tenure, for a higher pay schedule. There was a big generational gap in the comments. A gap that has been noted elsewhere when these programs are introduced. Chris Lehmann probably best straddled the divide, and explained that there could be other reasons besides mediocrity and incompetence behind veteran teachers’ caution:

I think that older teachers who have lived through multiple superintendents in an urban system (three in the past three years in Philly) are wary of something like this. The devil is very much in the details.

It could be a great way to get and retain new teachers, but an older teacher who has stuck through some of the insanity of a district like DC, this can smack of feeling like “See… if only teachers worked harder, they’d get better results…” that seems to dominate a lot of the rhetoric these days. It’s also hard, if you’ve been through twenty years of your teaching career, to believe this stuff. A lot of urban teachers have been taking it on the chin despite their best efforts. I can’t fully articulate why, but I do understand why an initiative like this doesn’t quite pass the sniff test.

One commenter, Lori Jablonski, also shared why Rhee herself was suspect because of her associations with a local Sacramento charter operator, St. HOPE Academy. She headed up the high school, and when she was appointed to the Chancellorship, was on the Board of Directors (look how proud they are of her!). Ms. Rhee is not the only former St. HOPE leader looking to move up. Her boss, and the founder of St. HOPE, former NBA star Kevin Johnson (a local boy made good), is currently running for Mayor of my fair city.

Lori discussed one incident from when Rhee and Johnson were at Sacramento High,

Local Government – Investigation of girl’s allegations against Kevin Johnson raises questions – sacbee.com

After a Sacramento High School teacher’s report last year that a 17-year-old student told him she was inappropriately touched by Kevin Johnson, Johnson’s personal attorney and business partner investigated the complaint for the campus. State law requires that authorities be notified immediately when school officials learn of such an allegation. But – before police were called in by the teacher – Johnson’s attorney, Kevin Hiestand, questioned the girl during an internal investigation, according to interviews and e-mails obtained by The Bee. Following the school’s internal investigation, the student recanted. (The Bee is not naming her because of her age and the nature of the allegation.) Sacramento police investigators, who never interviewed Johnson, later found “no merit” to the allegation and declined to pursue the case in part because the girl recanted.

Now the girl did recant, BUT am I not the only one that finds the subverting of a proper investigation disturbing? Rhee was in charge of the school at that time.

In her comment, Lori hinted at a federal probe into St. HOPE, but, the story got really interesting this week, when the federal government barred St. HOPE and a former official (not Ms. Rhee), from access to federal grants and funds for up to a year. Here’s the lede from the Bee:

News – Federal probe accuses Johnson of improper use of St. HOPE funding – sacbee.com

The federal government Thursday released findings of its investigation into management of the nonprofit St. HOPE volunteer program founded by Sacramento mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson, citing violations that include having youthful participants run personal errands and wash his car. The findings from the federal probe followed by a day the government’s announcement it was barring Johnson, St. HOPE Academy and a former official from access to federal grants and contracts for up to a year. That, in turn, left city officials scrambling Thursday to figure out what it would mean if Johnson were elected mayor. Questions that the city attorney is looking into include whether Johnson would be able to vote on projects involving federal funds and whether his position at the helm would affect the city’s eligibility for federal money. Meanwhile, worried parents whose children attend Sacramento High and a K-8 school run by St. HOPE called its office Thursday wondering whether the suspension of federal funds would affect their students’ education.

So, we are about to elect a mayor, that could preclude the city from getting federal grants and contracts for the next year. I’m guessing since we have a “weak” mayor/strong city manager system, the feds will probably let it pass, but it has been suggested that Mr. Johnson get stronger mayoral authority, and perhaps some control over schools (impossible I would guess since the city and school district boundaries are not contiguous). Who needs the Palins when you have drama like this? Will the students get their lunch? Will the teachers get paid? Will the curb cuts for the handicap be done? Stay tuned for more!