Michelle Rhee fires 241 teachers, Kudos to her.

On Friday July 23rd Michelle Rhee fired 241 teachers. While a lot of Washingtonians are Flabbergasted and boiling mad, I give her kudos. It's about time some one has taken initiative and had the guts to start cleaning up the education system in D.C. The school system has been broken for as long as I can remember, and I'm 51. As a Washingtonian I have seen the school system and how poorly it works for its citizens. Luckily for me, my parents worked really hard to avoid putting me in the District's school system. I attended private schools and not because my parents had money to spend, but they believed in education and quickly realized how bad the school system was (and still is).

D.C.'s schools have always been poor and badly maintained. The school system mainly serves the poor, and even schools that are located in upscale neighborhoods have a history of kids being bused from neighborhoods in the inner city (thanks to vouchers). The public schools lack books and the books they do have tend to be outdated. The teachers who were just fired, simply didn't care. The ones that were in the system for 20 or more years, probably cared at one time. After a few years in the system and no help from the D.C. Govt. a lot of them simply gave up. Unfortunately the system for the most part is full of students who don't care and a lot of them are already in the criminal justice system. The teachers have been at the point where they are sick of having a bunch of thugs repeatedly in their class and so they resort to promoting these thugs just to get rid of them. They are tired of baby sitting. These teachers didn't bother to give assignments or encourage kids to study or lecture them about their future. Granted, they were probably fearful of their students. As far as the newer teachers, a lot of them were simply in it for the money (which is not much). But this is no excuse, as a teacher it's your duty to serve these kids, at least try to put them in the right direction, lead the way.

When you have teachers that can't renew their licenses because they haven't been keeping up with their own continuing education, or worse, pass the licensing test, you know the system is broken. The sad part is these teachers have been getting away with this for years, and finally Michelle Rhee came along and decided, enough!!! Clean up your act or else. These teachers obviously didn't take it seriously and probably laughed it off. Why ?? Because of their useless union. The Teacher's union is just as bad as the system. They protect these people knowing how bad these teachers are or were. They got their dues, so why not? I guarantee you these teachers couldn't remember some of their students names, but surely remembered to pay their dues.

In the teachers defense, it's not all their fault. We also have to blame the parents, the same parents who are asking; Who's going to teach my kids since they fired most of the teachers? When you have parents who can't read, or have to work 2 jobs to maintain a household, who is watching these kids or helping them, much less reading to them? Most of them end up in the streets and up to no good. When you have parents that are kids themselves, dropping out of high school and not bothering to take a GED, getting pregnant for a second or third time with a different daddy, what can we expect?

When you have families who migrated to D.C. and expect the public school system to take care, teach their kids to read and write but don't bother to learn the English language or try, we have a big problem. When you can't read or write in your native language and not care about learning the English language, what can we expect? You have to be held accountable. I believe that the parents should be held accountable as much as the teachers. Start fining or maybe jailing them for being negligent and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (granted, a lot of the high school students are already beyond the age of 18).

I'm going to end this story with a personal experience. When I moved back to D.C. after a military career, I was living in Glover Park, until I found a place in VA. My son Rafael attended the Hardy school on Wisconsin Ave. This school was so out of control, besides Raffie being picked on, getting his bike stolen and suffering a mild concussion, we were also ripped off by the system. I paid for a gym uniform, lock, towels and locker rental. Never saw the lock, towels or the uniform. We also paid for school pictures which we never received. Paid for school trips that were canceled or never happened. So where did this money go? I never received a straight answer, the third parties got the blame, and was promised a re-reimbursement, which I'm still waiting on today, 10 years later. Maybe D.C.'s leadership has finally awaken and seen the light. 

Lets keep it up and Kudos to Michelle Rhee.

Source;  PICTURE FROM GOOGLE PICTURES, RUDY

Restaurant review: Sushi Rock

1900 Clarendon Blvd

Arlington, VA 22201

Maura and I decided to stop in on a Saturday evening after walking by this place many times. After all, we live around the corner from the restaurant. The place looks luxurious and expensive, although the wait staff works in tennis shoes and jeans. The atmosphere was friendly with rock music playing in the background. They had several tvs on the walls behind the bar, mostly on ESPN. We sat at the bar and the bartender was friendly and helpful. She gave us a menu and asked if we needed anything explained she would be glad to help. I ordered the Jagger which are Lamb lollipops. They were very delicious and loved the way they were made, 3 very thin pieces of lamb on a bed of mashed potatoes, served with green onions. The mashed potatoes left you yearning for more. The bartender said you get five with your order, but in actuality you only get 3 ($11.95). 

Maura ordered the tuna nigiri, she actually had to get 4 orders since they were so small, $5.00 an order, which only included 2 pieces each (1 tuna, 1 salmon), minimum order 2 (specified on menu), so you're forced to spend $10.00 (total $20.00). We both had 3 Kirin ichiban (beer) each. We were told they were $5.00 each until the check arrived, they were actually $6.00. We questioned the price and the manager acknowledged he made a mistake and gave us the beer for $5.00 a piece. Total dinner $62.00 and change not including tip. We tipped 20%. Overall the atmosphere was fine. Management seemed to be micromanaging their employees and seemed they were trying too hard to please their customers. It's not the type of place you come back to right away, after all, how often can you have expensive sushi when it's usually the main entree? We had a good time and were happy to head home and have a nice meal to satisfy our hunger (yes, we left hungry). I give Sushi Rock 3 out of 5 stars.

Metro = Incompetence and the nightmare at Foggy Bottom

When will metro get it together? First DuPont Circle last week, now Foggy Bottom. Here is a picture taken this afternoon via unsuck metro;

 

The following picture was taken by me several months ago;

 

This is inexcusable, unforgivable, and shouldn't be tolerated. By the way, this is what your money is paying for, and don't forget, another fare increase is coming August 1st. I now pay $3.40 for a one way ride from Courthouse to Dunn Loring, 6 stops, an increase from $2.80. I wonder what it's going to be August 1st. Meanwhile metro has no explanation for all this. Half the elevators don't work, half their people are present but not doing their job. Their hiring practices are awful (they tend to hire criminals, including people with bad driving records or suspended licenses). Just last week they had a rapist who is now out of the country. What are they thinking? Ask a metro worker at the kiosk for help, and he gives you the look of death, as if you just interrupted his peace and quiet. I thought the DMV was bad, but metro, you just topped it.

Source; THE PICTURE FROM UNSUCK METRO

               RUDY

Arizona and the Jan Brewer Immigration Law

First let me start by saying, Jan Brewer, you need to retire and concentrate on a serious face lift.

Earlier this week Governor Jan Brewer lied on t.v. while doing an interview with her local affiliate NBC 12. She made a claim that her law enforcement agencies have found beheaded bodies in the desert, all related to illegal immigration. The news media quickly jumped on this and asked the local agencies about the claim. Their answer was, we haven't heard of such a thing or know of any officers or agents coming across any bodies.

A report released by the the Arizona Guardian disputes Jan's accusation or lies for a better word. Six medical examiners offices were contacted throughout the state, including the border, say they haven't heard of any such atrocities happening. Brewer's office agreed that she might have misspoken and is sorry that she didn't bring any evidence to back up her claim. But did not admit she had lied. Attorney General Terry Goddard who is the democratic nominee running against Brewer in November, jumped at the chance to discredit Jan.

"When she is asked for evidence of her untrue claims, she has nothing," Goddard said in a statement this week. "The list of untruths and misstatements grows every time Jan Brewer speaks."

Source; THE HUFFINGTON POST, INCLUDING THE PICTURE