The mess that is the Washingotn D.C. school system

There is no doubt by anyone who knows anything about public education in this country that the Washington D.C. public school system is in complete disarray, and has been for a long time. Now we learn that it is supposedly very common for D.C. staff to cancel meetings with special needs families and students. This has apparently created a major backlog:

"implementation of 584 hearing officer decisions is more than 120 days overdue. The consent decree calls for that backlog to be eliminated by the end of the year, which is unlikely to happen."

I don't know whether to believe the school administration or the teacher unions on this one, but no doubt, this is a injustice to the 11,000 students special needs in the D.C. area. For more information on D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, The Atlantic has written an excellent feature article on her. In addition to discussing Rhee, it also give a good description of the tension between the teachers and the Rhee, who is trying to reform the D.C. school system. Some might say "reform" is understating it. I don't know how practical some of her demands are, but something has got to change.

For other information on trying to fix D.C. public schools, check out the Washington Post's website on D.C. schools.