Departing D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee offers tough advice in Tampa
By Tom Marshall, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, October 22, 2010
Michelle Rhee, the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools, speaks to urban school administrators during a panel on teacher evaluations at the Council of Great City Schools conference in Tampa on Thursday. |  |
TAMPA — Call her a one-woman wrecking crew, a miracle worker, or the quintessential "mean girl" in American education reform. Call her what you want; Michelle Rhee doesn't mind.
"Be prepared to be Ms. or Mr. Unpopular," the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools told an audience of urban school administrators here Thursday. "I am really good at this one right now."
Three years ago, Rhee launched a whirlwind of change: a tough evaluation system and teacher contract that resulted in 241 firings this spring, and ultimately may oust 25 percent of the district's teachers from their jobs. Those forces led to her resignation last week, following the election defeat of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. But they brought applause from her audience at theCouncil of Great City Schoolsconference.
On another panel in the adjoining room, Hillsborough County superintendent MaryEllen Elia was describing a kinder, gentler strategy to reach what is rapidly becoming a