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| Posted: July 29, 2008 |
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John Merrow Answers Questions |
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Over the course of the 2007-2008 school year, John Merrow, the NewsHour's special correspondent for education, reported on the challenges faced by two new superintendents in struggling school districts: Michelle Rhee in Washington, D.C., and Paul Vallas in New Orleans. |
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In 2005, Hurricane Katrina dealt a blow to an already struggling school system in New Orleans. Two years later, Paul Vallas -- credited with boosting school systems in Chicago and Philadelphia -- took charge of New Orleans schools. In 2007, Washington D.C.'s new mayor Adrian Fenty appointed Michelle Rhee superintendent of the city's schools. Rhee was a surprising choice -- the founder of a not-for-profit organization that recruited and trained teachers for underserved schools, she had never run a school district of any size before. But Fenty felt her outside perspective was needed to turn the city's troubled schools around. In an ongoing series of reports, Merrow followed the two new superintendents' fortunes over their first year in office. Merrow answered your questions on his reports. To learn more about the series, go to http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/leadership/ |
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