Jessica Puente

So today I miraculously heard something on the news worth reporting that wasn’t already being covered at work.

Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools, resigned this morning.

If you’re not from around D.C. you may or may not have heard. She is in the movie “Waiting for Superman.” She was praised by Oprah and Obama for being a hard-core education reformist.

She fired over 200 teachers and shutdown around a dozen schools that she found unfit.

The problem came when the soon to be ex-Mayor Adrian Fenty was beat out in the primary by Vincent Gray. Rhee was not pleased by any means and said the results of the primary were “devastating” for the children of D.C. She basically foreshadowed the event this morning the day she made those comments.

Anyways, besides watching adults be political and literally squirm at the idea of having to stand next to each other. I got to witness an actual event that wasn’t cut for t.v. I saw a lot of distress. Sadly, it was the teachers sitting next to me that were at a loss.

Now I don’t know much about Rhee and I know less about Gray. But why can’t we all get along?
Seriously, the numbers don’t lie. The reform Rhee started was revolutionary. But it was clear from the beginning she didn’t think much of Gray. Gray didn’t say much about her either.

They said they came to a “mutual agreement” to hire a new chancellor. It’s like when people say they have had a “mutual” break up. No one buys that. Someone always wanted to break up more than the other. It’s not like they were sitting next to each other and suddenly said “I think we should break up” at the same exact time.

It’s kind of disgusting watching people refuse to put aside their differences for the greater good. But I guess. I’m just a reporter.

Here’s the story I wrote.