D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty proposed legislation Friday to give his newly-appointed schools’ Chancellor Michelle Rhee increased authority to fire previously protected employees.
“We have to have a way to get rid of employees who are not performing,” Rhee said in a press conference Friday. “What we have to do is change the mind-set, the culture and the way we operate the central administration.”
Under the new bill, Rhee would have the ability to dramatically trim the school system’s central office, which has 934 employees.
Under the plan, 754 of these employees would be reclassified as “at-will” employees. “At-will” employees can be dismissed at the discretion of the chancellor for nondisciplinary reasons. The legislation gives employees who object to the reclassification the option of separating from the service with a severance payment. The change will not apply to the 180 union employees of the central office.
A date has not been set for the City Council vote on the proposal.
Rhee has publicly criticized the culture of the D.C. Public Schools system, which serves 49,000 students.
“[I’ve seen] the day to day interactions that are so counter to the way that any good organization operates, that it’s just mind-boggling,” she said in her remarks at a Democrats for Education Reform event on September 17th.
Rhee said she is trying to improve the central office.
“The only way I can accomplish this goal is by obtaining the necessary tools to remove ineffective staff from DCPS’s central office,” she said.
Although the bill will affect nonunion employees, Rhee has stated that she would pursue similar authority over teachers during her upcoming negotiations with the Washington Teachers Union.
“We have to be able to remove ineffective teachers from their positions,” said Rhee in the same press conference at which the bill was announced.
Bernard C. Lucas Sr., president of the Council of School Officers, which represents some central office employees, said that how the legislation will actually be implemented remains unclear.
“I haven’t seen the actual plan yet,” he said. “We have some people who might be impacted, but we’re not sure who they are yet.”
