The Id, The Ego, and The Super-Rhee-go
Reformers have been obviously working on re-vamping their public images. People are tiring of their empty promises, their overly simplistic remedies, and their unwillingness to engage in an honest discussion about what is and isn’t working. So the reformer’s reformer, Michelle A. Rhee, my old acquaintance from when I worked with her at the 1996 TFA institute, announced that she would be holding three ‘Teacher Town Halls’ last month, one in Los Angeles, one in Philadelphia, and one in Birmingham.
I had read some first hand accounts from people who attended these, but I was compelled to also watch the entire video of the L.A. event which was posted on YouTube.
In Rhee’s opening statement she acknowledged the protesters outside and lamented that they would not come in a join in the dialogue. After suffering through the video of the nearly two hour event, I cannot imagine how frustrating of an experience it would have been for the protesters if they had taken Rhee up on that offer.
Everything about this event was carefully choreographed. The decision to have Rhee sitting between the other two panelists where Perry was the fanatical reformer and Parker was the