Some animals are more equal than others
The mayor of Washington, DC, Adrian Fenty, took offense at reporters asking questions about how the mayor’s children got access to one of the better schools according to the Washington Examiner;
Fenty, a resident of the Crestwood neighborhood, on Monday enrolled his 9-year-old sons, Matthew and Andrew, in the fourth grade at Lafayette Elementary School in Chevy Chase. The 615-student school is one of the most difficult to gain entry to for out-of-boundary parents, like the Fentys, most of whom must enter their children in a lottery and hope for one of the few available openings in each grade.
But Fenty has steadfastly refused to say whether he went through the lottery process, or enrolled his boys through some other means. Chancellor Michelle Rhee, for example, has the authority to enroll a child in whatever school she pleases.
“Please respect that my kids’ private lives have to be respected,” Fenty told reporters…
Um, what does political maneuvering have to do with his kids’ “private lives”? DC pays about $13,000/year/child and churns out morons. Although this mayor has taken steps to reform education in the district, that still doesn’t make it right that he can pick and choose where his children get educated while thousands of others are mired in an unproductive and corrupt education system.
Lafayette last school year made Adequate Yearly Progress, a standard under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, in reading, math and attendance. Fenty’s neighborhood school is West Elementary, a school formally “in need of improvement” that did not meet AYP in reading.
I commend him for being one of the few politicians who subject his children to the public school system in DC, but this is a bit of elitism. The mayor’s reaction to questions doesn’t help him much;
Twice Fenty told the media to “stop,” at one point telling reporters, “I’d like for you to excuse me to leave.”
“Please just stop asking me these questions,” he said.
The rest of us who want to put our kids in different schools have to move.
Category: None
Well, as the old saying goes “Don’t do as I do; do as I tell you”, which is the star mantra of the elitist left.
$13,000 a year to turn out a moron, gee that is cheap. I think here in Atlanta it is up to $21,000 a kid, but they have the extra benefit of being rap stars/thugs.
I’m not sure about this. Not at all.
I have done everything legally possible to get my kids out of a crappy school district. (including homeschooling until I took in more than I could adequately educate.) I’ve got 1 that is stuck, and I’m tempted with stepping over those lines.
I totally agree with your premise, in theory.
But in practicum, wouldn’t he be a worse peice of shit if he sacrificed his kids to be a politician?
On the ground, I just don’t know.
I think the real point here, Boo, is that this jagoff and others like him see no disconnect between denying vouchers and other incentives for getting their constituent’s kids out of poor performing schools (to appease the unions that deposit voters and cash into their elections), yet they’re more than willing and able to make sure their own kids are well situated for an education superior to that they force on those they’ve disenfranchised.
What’s tht old saying…er, um, is it: “oh what tangled web we weave…” No,no. That’s not right. Is it: “What’s good for the goose..” Nope. That’s not right, either…Yep. It is: “do as I SAY, not as I do.”
In plain politicianspeak that means “you voted for me, but fuck you, very much, I don’t give a shit about webs and geese. *I* am the elite. I just pretend to like you for a vote.”
Sorry..not at the personal computer…Anonymous was me.
Claymore and then by default, Jonn: you’re right. I had not even thought about the vouchers, which are an issue here in N. Ohio. We also have charter schools which are public-funded private-run and Gov. Strickland continues to threaten to eliminate them.
So, yes, I get the issue now. lol
To his credit, Fenty has been good on vouchers, just like his predecessor. It was Dick Durbin who stripped vouchers out of DC’s school system. Vouchers were (unsurprisingly) working here, which is probably why Democrats took them away from the District.
But that doesn’t give Fenty cover to pick and choose where his kids go to school in public school system if the rest of the residents don’t get the same consideration. The rest of us have to physically move our families to a neighborhood to get to a good school – which come at a price, too.
In the article, he avoids the question when asked if he took part in the lottery system that the rest of the families from outside that particular district used to get into the better school.
And if he did use this lottery, he would claim it, and play up it’s workability.
What the hell would make city schools better? Even small cities, like the one I live in. Competition, yes. What else?
It just seems to me to be another example of where the folks in charge get “head of the line” privileges, and the rest of us have to wait and see if there’s anything left.
Like healthcare, where the Congress Critters and the Prez all get the golden star level, but want to force everyone else onto a 3rd-world level. with rationing and no progress.
Politician! Thy name is Hypocrisy!