Richard Whitmire’s account of Michelle Rhee’s schools tenure
The most chilling episode in Richard Whitmire’s biography of Michelle Rhee occurs near the end, when Rhee says to a PBS camera crew, “I’m going to fire somebody in a little while. Do you want to see that?” Of course they did, and they taped the chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools firing a principal. The victim’s face was not shown, but the episode revealed a woman who relishes humiliating those who have the misfortune to work for her.
‘The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation's Worst School District,’ by Richard Whitmire (Jossey-Bass. 270 pp. $24.95)
“The Bee Eater” is a worshipful portrait of Rhee, who is best known for the Time magazine cover in which she is portrayed broom in hand, ready to sweep clean the filthy stables of the school system. And sweep she did, as nearly half the district’s teaching staff and a third of its principals resigned, retired or were fired during he
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