Mayor Gets Go Ahead to Clean House!

My photographer and I had a great discussion during the ride back to Channel 9 after covering the DC Council session Tuesday and a press conference that followed with the Mayor and new Chancellor of schools.

The legislators by Voice Vote with Barry, Mendelson and Thomas objecting, had given tentative approval to a bill that would allow Mayor Fenty and School Chancellor Michelle Rhee to dismiss several hundred employees, all of them Non Union, with no rights to appeal or use their seniority to bump newer workers.

"I agree with everything she said". That's what Alija my cameraman insisted more than once about Michelle Rhee's comments. "I am sick and tired of these workers who do nothing and think they have a job for life".

It's a compelling argument and how could I not agree with him. We work hard for Channel 9 and when we stop producing at a high level we get fired!

I reminded him however that there could be abuses in the DC schools Central Office where most of the affected workers are employed.

Would Rhee have final say on every dismissal and personally look into each workers case before showing them the door. That would make me feel better; but I doubt she'll have the time to review every single case. The Councilmembers were saying 488 school employees are covered by the bill. At least 150 will be fired with the savings used to pay for other needs.

What about situations where the system that has let down the students.. might also have shortchanged the workers? Should the low level employees be blamed when there has been no job training--no effort to make them better-smarter employees?

Will managers also be held accountable; but not penalized just because they have been in the system for many years?

We've seen what happens when a new team arrives to take charge and immediately begins pointing fingers at everyone and anyone who was there before them.

Finally I am reminded of what happened when then Chief Financial officer Tony Williams fired a large number of employees when he arrived on the scene. Many of them were single women, with children and grand children. They had been given great reviews for their job performances only to learn the grades were bogus, like a lot of grades given our children;

Mayor Tony Williams later told me it was a mistake to let those people go that way.

Michelle Rhee said on Tuesday there will be no one time layoff. This is about changing the culture; holding people accountable, she said.

As we were nearing the TV station, I told Alija that changes are needed, bad employees should be shown the door to find jobs they can appreciate and work harder to keep.

For others...I said people have a tendency to change really quick when they no longer have guaranteed jobs for life. Shouldn't people who can still contribute at least be given that chance with the new leadership in the Schools.

Alija said "Okay, that would be alright, but I still agree with everything she said".