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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

How Oprah’s Love Affair With Michelle Rhee Misleads | The Atlanta Post

How Oprah’s Love Affair With Michelle Rhee Misleads | The Atlanta Post

How Oprah’s Love Affair With Michelle Rhee Misleads

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"Charing Ball"What is it with Oprah’s love affair with Michelle Rhee?

After anointing Rhee as the second coming of Educational Christ during the episode featuring the “Waiting for Superman” documentary, Oprah invited her back to her holy grail of platforms once again, this time, to announce the launching of an organization called Students First, an interest group that will lobby for her brand of education reform.

But of course this will not be any regular special interest group but one that will “take the lessons, which Rhee has learned in D.C. and imply it to the rest of the nation.” Hmm, and what would those lesson be? Not quite sure but according to the video clip, it involves the word “change.”

For some reason Rhee, who has about three years of actual teaching experience and another three years of leadership experience, has become the face of school reform in America. Beside her reoccurring stint on Oprah, she has also graced the cover of Newsweek magazine.

She is even the face of her own Students First movement. Check out the website and you’ll see

Antonio Villaraigosa: It is Time for Teachers Unions to Join the Education Reform Team

Antonio Villaraigosa: It is Time for Teachers Unions to Join the Education Reform Team

Read my Education Reform Strategy here.

Read the text of my keynote on Education Reform at the Public Policy Institute of California here.

In the 60s, when I was in school, the California public school system was the gold standard--a national model that complemented our State's image as a land of opportunity.

Today, our schools rank in the bottom third among all states, we are out-spent by $2,400 per pupil, and we fail to graduate a full quarter of our students. What happened?

Well, I've spent an entire career fighting to fund and reform our public schools--first as a teacher union organizer, then as an Assembly Member and Speaker, and now as a Mayor.

In the past five years, I've partnered with students, parents, non-profits, business groups, higher education, charter organizations, school district leadership, elected board members, and teacher

DPS: After Ruling, No Program Will Be Changed - Education News Story - WDIV Detroit

DPS: After Ruling, No Program Will Be Changed - Education News Story - WDIV Detroit

DPS: After Ruling, No Program Will Be Changed

Ruling Says Financial Manager Overstepped His Authority

POSTED: Monday, December 6, 2010
UPDATED: 6:03 pm EST December 7, 2010

The Detroit Board of Education says they are not planning on changing any programs implemented by emergency financial manager Robert Bobb, even though a judge recently ruled against him in a lawsuit.

The district held a press conference Tuesday evening to announce their future plans.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Baxter ruled Monday that Bobb overstepped his authority by seeking academic control of the district.

Bobb was appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in March of 2009 to help the district dig out of a more than $200 million deficit.

Bobb wanted to implement a five-year, $530 million academic plan and close dozens of schools

California's Parent Trigger - Page 1 - News - Los Angeles - LA Weekly

California's Parent Trigger - Page 1 - News - Los Angeles - LA Weekly

California's Parent Trigger

How McKinley in Compton became the first school taken over by parents under a radical new law

On a recent afternoon in Compton, Mary Najera of Boyle Heights is making a sale in the peach-colored dining room of a tidy home. But she isn't selling cosmetics or Tupperware. She's pitching to a young mother a radical new tool of school reform in California — the Parent Trigger.

"If we get 51 percent of the parents to sign a petition and favor a transformation," Najera tells the mother, Carolina, in Spanish, "you can create a change."

Compton parents and Parent Revolution organizers Zarah Sique, Shirley Ford,Mary Najera and Shemika Murphy.
Photo by Ted Soqui
Compton parents and Parent Revolution organizers Zarah Sique, Shirley Ford,Mary Najera and Shemika Murphy.
McKinley Elementary School in Compton becomes first the failing U.S. school petitioned for takeover under the Parent Trigger law.
Photo by Ted Soqui
McKinley Elementary School in Compton becomes first the failing U.S. school petitioned for takeover under the Parent Trigger law.

Najera shows Carolina the petition. It presents parents with the power to take over and open a charter school at Compton’s McKinley Elementary School.

Carolina regards Najera with a serious expression. On a nearby wall, a colorful ceramic mural depicts Jesus and his apostles at the Last Supper. Najera says: "This is going to be historic. It's never been done anywhere before. And we want you to take full advantage of your rights. But we need to work together. Power comes in numbers, and we need parents to join to make the