Excerpts from;
The Activist Handbook. Second edition. 2013. Reprinted with permission.
Randy Shaw
Michelle Rhee, chancellor for Washington, D.C., schools from
2007-2010, is the front person for elite attacks on teacher unions and public
schools. Local school superintendents rarely become national figures, but Rhee
appeared on the cover of Time magazine holding a broom to signify plans to
sweep away teacher tenure. ..
By 2012 Rhee toured the nation promoting charter schools and
vouchers, assessing teachers based on their students’ test scores, and most
important condemning the evils of teacher unions. Rhee made more than 150 public appearances in 2011-2012,
reportedly getting as much as $50,000 per speech plus “first-class expenses.”
It’s a pretty good deal for an educational “reformer” whose reputation is based
on her controversial tenure as D.C. Chancellor. Rhee closed schools, fired over half of the teachers, and
tried to eliminate tenure….
Prominent educator Diane Ravitch has explained the Rhee
phenomenon:
“This formula which will be a tragedy for our nation and for
an entire generation of children, is now immensely popular in the states and
the Congress. Most governors
endorse it. The big foundations
endorse it. “
