Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s missing consensus
Richard Whitmire’s Aug. 5 Local Opinions piece expressing nostalgia for former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee [“What if Rhee had stayed?”] missed the point, which should be a lesson for all school leaders.
Whatever opinions one might have about Ms. Rhee’s impact, she unnecessarily created the dynamics of her own demise.
Mr. Whitmire suggested that “kinder and gentler” is incompatible with Ms. Rhee’s scorched-earth approach to school reform and that D.C. public schools would look different if Ms. Rhee had stayed. Well, we will never know because Ms. Rhee wasuninterested in bringing along her public.
No matter how good the ideas and