Michelle Rhee Would Do It Again
The former head of D.C. Public Schools wants to run a school system again one day -- and has no regrets.
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When Michelle Rhee joined a panel of experts on Martha's Vineyard to discuss the achievement gap in public education, there was no doubt that she would be a lightning rod in the discussion. She shared the stage with education historian Diane Ravitch, Harvard sociologist Lawrence Bobo, Yale psychiatrist James Comer and Princeton sociologist Angel Harris, and soon enough she was taking fire from all sides.
The panel was sponsored by Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, which is headed by The Root's editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr. For the past 15 years, these summer seminars have been an annual ritual at President Barack Obama's favorite vacation island, and they draw a cross section of vacationing intellectuals -- black, brown and white. The president was a few miles away but, of course, did not attend.
Rhee's 3 1/2-year reign as chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools ended in controversy. She