what you didn't hear about that is we didn't fire teachers to be mean because we were call luus didn't care, we wanted to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom because our students depp serve better. >> you talk about accountability. but you said you shouldn't be deem news demonized but you sued the district when teachers got fired. is that the constructive respon response? >> the last sue we did was trying to find out the basis upon which some of the teachers were fired. and ultimately we're still waiting to get the request and things like that. the information request. but at the bottom of this, david, and michelle? we changed the contract to make it more transparent and cohesive, to give michelle and the district more tools on teacher quality. we gave the teachers more tools. we gave the district more tools. the issue in terms of us is to make sure that teachers get the

the tests as opposed to teaching and learning. accountability is essential as a tool, not as a goal. the goal is how do we help 50 million school children in the united states of america get a great education? so ultimately, we have to have a couple of other tools, like engaged, robust curriculum. like a real focus on teacher development. like a real overhauling of the teacher evaluation system. and if we look at what the countries that have outcompeted -- that outcompete us do is that there's a huge investment in teachers as well as looking at accountability. accountability essential. accountability to the bottom to the top. but not the whole story. >> be specific then, michelle. in washington, d.c., you closed schools, you fired teachers. a lot of controversy around that. randi, do you believe in accountability, what happened in washington, michelle, you start, when you did fire teachers and close down schools that weren't performing? >> we got a tremendous amount of pushback. i...