241 teachers have just been fired by The District of Columbia public school system. They were fired because of poor performance under the education assessment system; IMPACT. Chancellor Michelle Rhee of the District of Columbia public school system also announced that another 76 employees will be terminated because of licensing issues. This is one part of the issue I agree with. If a teacher is not certified or certifiable in what they teach they should be given a specific amount of time to become certified.

Chancellor Rhee states, "Every child in a District of Columbia public school has a right to a highly effective teacher - in every classroom of every school, of every neighborhood or every ward, in this city." This statement sounds almost as good as naming a program, "No Child Left Behind". Of course looking into Chancellor Rhee's remarks the statement is as hollow as her concepts.

I don't understand how you can hold accountable a algebra teacher whose students can't add or subtract. I don't understand how you can hold accountable an American Literature teacher whose students can't read. I don't understand how you can hold accountable an American History teacher whose students don't give a damn. Finally I don't understand how you can hold accountable elementary school teachers whose students come from drug filled homes if they have a home in the first place. It is common knowledge The District of Columbia is plagued by massive drug abuse, broken homes, and extremely high unemployment.

Chancellor Rhee goes on to explain, "We have graduated a generation of Washingtonians who don't have the skills and knowledge that they need to be a productive members of society because our schools have failed them." Simply put Chancellor Rhee is blaming all the ills of society on teachers. She obviously doesn't place any blame on the parents for after all why should they be given any responsibility.

So, how does a district set up their teachers for failure and thus loss of job. Under this IMPACT program, teachers were judged on five classroom observation visits by principals and outside education experts. I wonder how many education experts ever spent a moment of their time in the classroom. I also wonder how many administrators lost their jobs because of how poorly their schools performed. As far as I can see; none. The teachers are the only ones to blame.

Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker stated, " that even though the union has no say as to how teachers are evaluated and by contract teachers can be let go for low evaluations. The union ran a survey that clearly demonstrated that their members agree that IMPACT is a flawed instrument with many loopholes. The union also claims there needs to be clearer communication on expectations.

So, where does Chancellor Rhee go from here. She now has to hire 241 teachers. Do you thinks she will be concerned with how long the new teachers have taught or even if they have ever taught before. It is common knowledge the less experience a teacher has the lower amount of compensation they will receive. It is also common knowledge that everyone who teaches gets better with time and gets better with experience. I wonder which way Chancellor Rhee will go? By the way, Chancellor Rhee announced it has notified 737 employees that if their performance doesn't improve , they will be terminated after the upcoming school year.

As far as I can find Chancellor Rhee taught in Baltimore, Maryland as a recruit of 'Teach for America' for three years. I don't see any other experience in the classroom. Even Chancellor Rhee's education shows little to no education background. She graduated from Cornell University in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in government and earned a Master of Public Policy from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. I assume if Ms. Rhee ever needs heart surgery she will find a good mechanic with outstanding references.

Chancellor Rhee is very good at firing people without regards to how well they are doing. She fired several administrators and school principals including Marta Guzman, the principal of the high-performing Oyster-Adams Bilingual Elementary School, that by the way, Chancellor Rhee's children attend. She also fired a principal she had hired seven weeks before in Shepherd Elementary - another performing school in the upper Northwest neighborhood. I am sure her actions will stabilize one of the worse public school systems of our nation.

This is just the beginning of a failed education policy going viral. In Sommersworth, New Hampshire teachers were fired to force them to break their own contract. There are reports of multiple cities across the United States firing whole schools of teachers because, after all, they are to blame for everything that goes wrong in society. What troubles me most is the leaders of our nation's public education system have little to no experience in the classroom. They are simply bureaucrats whose future is more important than the future of our children.

As I've stated before we have to take our schools back and reinstall the concept of local control. If we don't I am afraid there will be little public education left for our children to enjoy.

Jim Fabiano is a teacher and writer living in York, Maine
Maine Publisher's Association Best weekly column award for 2004
Recipient of Theodore William Richards Award by the American Chemical Society for excellence in teaching secondary school chemistry for 2007.

Email Jim: james.fabiano60@gmail.com