OP-ED: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee— Whee! Maybe?

OP-ED: Michelle Rhee — Whee! Maybe?:

OP-ED: Michelle Rhee — Whee! Maybe?

February 29, 2012, 05:00 AM By Gene Mullin

Gene Mullin Michelle Rhee, the founder of the organization Students First, spoke two weeks ago Wednesday night as part of the Peninsula Speakers Series. Her speech was one of five she has scheduled throughout California and which have been met with some mild and generally orderly protest by teacher groups. Ms. Rhee was the chancellor for three and one-half years of the Washington, D.C. public school system, a tenure that catapulted her into the ether of educational change and reform, and all the attendant controversy. She was selected by one-term mayor Adrian Fenty and left when he lost his reelection bid. She came to her job after a three-year teaching career in Baltimore, self described as being challenged as a teacher, and as part of the Teach For America program. From this modest experience and with no administrative credential, she attracted much attention from her prolonged battles with the unions, many parents and other community members. She successfully tackled one of the more difficult tasks in any district, closing schools, and eventually closed two dozen under enrolled and underperforming schools. This was clearly needed for better budgeting and much reduced enrollment. Beyond that, her credentials as an agent of change are somewhat slender, and her tactics subject to scrutiny. Some of her worthy ideas are submerged by her tendency to use an anecdotal evidence approach rather than verifiable results. She’s not a fan of tenure and would like to be able to hire and fire without regard to length of service in the profession. She bemoans the “last