Today WTOP’s Mark Segraves asked, “School’s back in session. Do you have questions about your child’s education?” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was a guest during this special on-air Education Summit. Rhee kicked off the program by reporting that the first day of school opened without a hitch. But I wondered how smoothly the first day of school was for the 216 D.C. public school children whose Opportunity Scholarships were rescinded earlier this year by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. So I asked Chancellor Rhee, and unlike the Obama Administration, she answered. Rhee first noted that Congressional “wrangling caused this situation. Next she stated that both she and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty support the “tri-sector” system, namely, the District’s funding mechanism that supports district and charter public schools as well as the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Still, there were no specifics about how the D.C. 216 are coping with being essentially forced back into schools that weren’t working for them.
