Rhee Turns In Resignation At D.C. Schools
Michelle Rhee has resigned from D.C. Public Schools in the wake of a new mayor-elect. According to the Boston Globe, Rhee’s resignation had been a “mutual” decision made by herself and newly elected Mayor Vincent Gray. Rhee’s term could be served until at least the end of the current school year by Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson, indicates the Washington Post.
Rhee questioned the teachers’ union
Test scores in the public educational facilities of the District of Columbia tend to be pretty low. Michelle Rhee arrived and changed all that. Teachers that were not doing their jobs were either kicked out or had to improve which is how Rhee made educational facilities better. The number of teacher firings in Washington, D.C., schools earned Rhee many enemies, primarily those who supported the teachers’ union and tenure system. The Innovative Education Management said that teachers who had been within the system for over three years tended to be the teachers that could never leave the school. Getting teachers fired wasn’t very easy. Lots of proof had to be shown for these firings. Lots of the teachers didn’t worry about putting forth effort in the classroom. This was because there had been a significant amount of job security for them.
It would appear that ‘Unions can smell blood’
Now that Michelle Rhee has resigned, it could be up to Kaya Henderson to push her previous boss’s education reform agenda. “The unions can smell blood,” though. It’s this that the Globe explains. All of the teaching talent in the D.C. public educational facilities will likely go away easily when Tenure programs continue and Henderson should be “gone by Christmas” as well. Many of the D.C. educational facilities started to get donations from foundations because of Michelle Rhee’s passion there. This will probably all change quite soon. D.C. Schools may be on the road to recovery, however some critics say even Rhee’s drive and focus were unable to produce results, and if Rhee can’t do it, who can? Those who support education reform may need another hero, however Mayor Gray is reportedly a supporter of the D.C. teachers’ union. D.C. educational facilities are being told to be more about getting stuff done. The American public schools lost someone else who could have helped. She had been a good reformer.
Details from
Boston Glove
boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2010/10/_she_will_be_replaced.html
Innovative Education Management, Inc
ieminc.org/
