Fenty's Plan to Take Over Ailing System Is Finding Foes

Fenty has not revealed specifics of how his plan would affect principals, teachers and parents. During a recent tour of Robert Brent Elementary on Third Street SE in Capitol Hill, Fenty assured parents that he would give successful schools more autonomy but vowed to reconstitute failing schools with new administrators and teachers.

Some D.C. residents, including Juanita Glover, 69, of the Woodridge neighborhood, whose grandchildren attend public schools, believe Fenty's aggressive approach would hold school employees accountable.

"There are a lot of problems with D.C. schools," Glover said after voting for Fenty on Election Day. "Mayoral control would be fine because he could oversee which people are not doing their jobs."

But other parents, including Gina Arlotto, 39, of Capitol Hill, who has three children, worry that Fenty's plan would set back initiatives begun by Janey, including $2 billion recently approved by the council for school modernization and plans to increase graduation rates.

A mayoral takeover could "add another layer of chaos, when we need continuity and stability," Arlotto said recently in the newly renovated library at Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Northeast Washington.

The Washington Teachers' Union remains undecided, according to President George Parker, who examined the New York model during a recent visit there with union counterparts.

The New York model "was a mixed bag," Parker said. "I came away feeling it wasn't all bad. But many sections were not working."

Fenty said he will be able to answer more specifics upon completion of the report, which will be overseen by James H. Shelton III, a program director in the education initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who turned down the job of interim superintendent of D.C. schools in 2004.

Shelton will be assisted by Victor Reinoso, a D.C. Board of Education member, and several consulting firms that specialize in areas such as curriculum, school maintenance and payroll. The consultants will be paid through private donations, Fenty said.

"Clearly, we need a new and different direction for our school system," said council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), who has two children in the school system. "As it relates to the mayor-elect's plan to take over the schools, I don't know what it is."

Staff writer Nikita Stewart contributed to this report.