The case for keeping Michelle Rhee
By Raymond Coleman,
Rockville
With all due respect to Colbert I. King [“Time for Rhee to go,” op-ed, Sept. 11], Michelle A. Rhee should be retained as D.C. schools chancellor.
She has effectively tackled the issues of infrastructure and school supplies, made headway in the evaluation, retention and compensation of qualified teachers, and has stabilized enrollment. For the first time in decades, parents have been given reason to hope that the schools will come through for their children.
That she inserted herself into the Democratic primary campaign may have been impolitic, but D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s ambivalence about her tenure only injects instability into a system that does not need uncertainty. Ms. Rhee’s style — as well as that of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) — may rub people the wrong way, but she is