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Monday, August 29, 2011

The Transparency Wars: AFT and StudentsFirst - Teacher Beat - Education Week

The Transparency Wars: AFT and StudentsFirst - Teacher Beat - Education Week:

The Transparency Wars: AFT and StudentsFirst

And now an item for the "something to offend everybody" category!

Just when you think we're all ready to move on from the AFT's Randi Weingarten vs. (former) D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee narrative, Politico's Ben Smith reports that an anti-Rhee website was allegedly created on computers registered at the American Federation of Teachers headquarters.

Rhee's fundraising group, StudentsFirst, which generally favors strong teacher evaluation and changes to pay and tenure, issued an affronted-sounding press release:


"Unfortunately, this is just the latest report of an ostensibly organic, grassroots voice attacking reform proponents that has in fact turned out to be secretly backed by the teachers' unions. There are a number of disagreements between teacher-union advocates and student advocates about the future of our schools that deserve serious consideration, but there's no room for these kinds of