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.

Former superintendents have cut the central office before, but employees were reassigned to other jobs. "What we're looking to do is create a system where that doesn't happen," Rhee said in an interview.

The central office problems have included lost book orders, misplaced student files and a disorganized system of keeping 4.6 million personnel documents. What Fenty called "decades of mismanagement" has forced parents and educators to work around such problems.

In a news conference at which Fenty announced the changes, Rhee said she has started negotiations with the Washington Teachers' Union and is looking to "reward and recognize" high-performing teachers while weeding out instructors who are not serving children well.

"We have to be able to remove ineffective teachers from their positions," Rhee said. "Absolutely."

At the news conference, five D.C. Council members voiced support for Fenty's proposal, and the mayor said three other members support it. That would give him a majority of the 13-member council.

Union leaders said they will carefully examine the bill, although it would largely affect nonunion workers. "We are prepared to work to come up with a fair and efficient process," said Joslyn Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington AFL-CIO, "but we are not supporting a process that gives the chancellor carte blanche authority to fire individuals at will."