D.C. Schools Chief Wants Power to Fire Ineffective Teachers
As D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty proposed legislation yesterday that would grant schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee the power to drastically revamp the system’s central office, Rhee said she also wants more authority to fire underperforming teachers.
It was her first public statement that teachers could be ousted as part of what Fenty (D) called “wholesale changes” to the 49,000-student system
Within a year of enacting the legislation, Fenty said, “I would be surprised if we kept more than a small percentage” of the 934 central office employees.
“We’re not going to tinker around the edges,” he said in an interview.
The statements by Rhee and the mayor marked an escalation in their efforts to overhaul the bureaucracy. Their attempt to acquire broader personnel authority through legislation and labor negotiations is a key test of Fenty’s power as the ultimate arbiter of city education.
Fenty’s proposal would reclassify 754 nonunion employees as “at-will” workers, meaning they could be terminated at any time for nondisciplinary reasons because they would be serving at the chancellor’s discretion.
original post By Theola Labbé

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