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Three Reasons to Cheer for Rhee's Fast Start

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Rhee was appalled: "I was like, lady, do not send those books to the warehouse. I said, 'Thank the parents, get the books in the car, and move them over.' " Whereupon the crowd roared with approval.

This is all rah-rah stuff, of course, and Rhee is already hitting some brick walls, in the form of insane union regulations that require the system to keep proven bad apples and give them plum jobs rather than hire someone good from outside.

At some point, Mayor Fenty and Rhee will need allies and soldiers in the system, but the new chiefs don't seem worried. Some people will rise to the new expectations, Rhee said, and some will simply have to move on.

"I am going to kick down the barriers," she said. "I will have a direct relationship with the principals."

Gone are the days when principals spoke to regional superintendents, who spoke to associate superintendents, who alone spoke to the holy of holies. Rhee will spend the next three weeks meeting individually with every principal in the city, 140-plus of them. Some will become allies. Some will be gone. All will get the message.

As I wandered outside an elementary school one evening last week about 8 p.m., a worker who was trying to get new windows installed scurried past me.

"Working late," I said.

"Clock's ticking, man," he said. "Whole new world now."

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