The impending resignation of Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is a great loss for that troubled school district and a stark illustration of the rough and tumble nature of school reform.
Rhee had the subtlety of a bulldozer in how she took on an entrenched bureaucracy, making no small number of enemies along the way.
Despite rising student test scores, she became the lightning rod in a contentious mayoral election, which concluded with her patron losing.
Rhee fought the good fight, and absorbed the sort of shock and anger that is to be expected when you upend a recalcitrant organization.
We hope her three-year tenure provides both inspiration and lessons for those who see what is wrong in education and go all-out to fix it.
FCC on the right track — finally. We were thrilled to see the Federal Communications Commission last week announce an industrywide investigation into cellphone billing practices.
The action came after Verizon admitted charging 15 million subscribers more than $50 million for services they didn’t ask for.
It’s about time the agency, best known for trying to regulate the Internet and chasing celebrities who drop on-air F-bombs, did something truly of use to consumers.
Talk about multitasking. Adams County Treasurer Diane Christner got caught using a taxpayer-funded copy machine to print at least 2,000 fliers for her re-election bid. She has since paid for the printing costs, and admitted her mistake, which is only right. Electioneering should never be conducted on the public’s dime.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
