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Friday, August 19, 2011

Michelle Rhee: Former DC Schools Chancellor Target of Criticism

Michelle Rhee: Former DC Schools Chancellor Target of Criticism

Michelle Rhee Challenged at Martha's Vineyard Forum

Michelle Rhee Challenged at Martha's Vineyard Forum
Michelle Rhee (Getty Images)

Former District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was a frequent target at a forum on education on Martha's Vineyard last night. Rhee, who resigned as head of district schools after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his re-election bid last year, took shots from both education historian Diane Ravitch and Harvard sociologist Lawrence Bobo. The Massachusetts forum is an annual event organized by The Root's editor-in-chief, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. It took place just miles from where President Obama and his family were vacationing.

Rhee's tough approach to education reform in D.C. schools earned her the emnity of the teachers' union and many District residents, and some experts say that Fenty lost because of black animosity toward Rhee's