Big names draw a large crowd at education forum
The Guild Theater in Oak Park was host to a forum attended by some of the biggest and most controversial names in education reform Friday evening.
The event was organized by Stand Up Sacramento, a non-profit group chaired by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, and featured speakers such as Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of public schools in Washington D.C., her boss in that position, former Washington DC mayor Adrian Fenty, and Richard Whitmire, former editorial writer at USA Today and author of “The Bee Eater”, a book which chronicles Rhee’s time as chancellor.
The speakers focused on the need to change teacher retention polices nationwide, and in particular the abolishment of the “LIFO”, or last-in-first-out practice of layoffs that most public school districts currently follow.
One after another, the speakers emphasized to the standing room only crowd that this policy does not encourage teacher retention based on student achievement, but rather it protects ineffective teachers with
