The story that keeps giving

The dogs are howling as Rhee-Gate gets closer to the White House.

Plus the DC teachers union WTU- loses in court.

All at Norms Notes. Rhee/Johnson/Huffner (Rhee ex)/White House

Photoshopped by David Bellel.

How Long Before Rhee Proclaims, "I'm Not a Crook?"

Five years ago I wrote that one day Joel Klein and his ilk would be taken out of Tweed with coats over their heads. Maybe they'll never catch up to the NYC guys, but they are closing in on some of the ilk.

We have 2 more reports on the growing Michelle Rhee/Kevin Johnson/Obama admin scandal surrounding Johnson's St. Hope charter school franchise, which Rhee was St. Hoping to bring Johnson's St. Hope franchise into the DC schools.

There's nothing like a sex and money scandal to get one's blood boiling, and while the accusations of inappropriate behavior towards students by Johnson may seem to be the more serious charges, the guessing is that the misuse of federal Americorps funds by Johnson and Rhee's attempts to aid the cover-up, are the real buttons to push (though here are details of Johnson's actions with the girls/women). Also bet that we are just scratching the surface. Johnson better hurry up that wedding to Rhee so she can't testify against him.

Watch the tea baggers seize on this issue to further undermine the Obama administration for firing the investigator.


Gary Imhoff, at themail@dcwatch.com titles today's post Damage Control

Michelle Rhee did damage control for her fiancee, Kevin Johnson, when she was a board member of the charter school he founded in Sacramento and he was accused of improper sexual behavior with a student, according to a congressional staff report issued Friday (http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Reports/20091120JointStaffReport.pdf). The story was broken in the Washington market by Byron York in the Washington Examiner (http://tinyurl.com/yzobtur), with detailed follow-up stories by David Lipscomb in the Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/21/hill-report-names-dc-schools-chief/), Mike DeBonis in CityDesk (http://tinyurl.com/yj2eshr), and Bill Turque in DC Wire (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/11/report_says_rhee_interceded_wi.html).

Rhee's only response so far has been through a DCPS spokeswoman, who essentially dismissed the story as old news. It's not old news to me, and I assume it's not an old story to most people in Washington. It's a serious allegation, against both Rhee and Johnson, that deserves a real response. Parenthetically, it's also a big enough story that it should have appeared by now in the print edition of the Washington Post, and not just on its web site — unless the Post is deliberately intending to position its web site as the primary news source, and downgrade the importance of the newspaper itself.


Candi Peterson, whose blog has been a major source in following the Rhee shenanigans, has another follow-up post today, which I'm including in full.

She reposts some great stuff from conducting the inner light blog, which has some interesting tidbits, which are worth highlighting:

Excerpt from CTIL blog:

I think that there is much more damning evidence in the IG report than sex.
I cannot recommend enough reading the entire report right down to the interview of Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, the former employee of St. Hope Academy Charter Schools. Your jaw will drop, your eyes will pop out of your head. No matter how you try to play this report it looks stinky. Just a for instance: Michelle Rhee was listed as a board member of St. Hope. Simultaneously she was listed as: the consultant for the New Teacher Project, the consultant for the reconstruction bridge span, the consultant for the reconstruction of the HR department, while on another memo she was listed as the COO. In yet another letter she was listed as the President and Johnson as the CEO. So many hats for one person and absolutely no conflict of interest, is there, in being both a board member and a consultant for the very board of which you are a member. Sarcasm in that last sentence. The discrepancies are legion in this report. Just read the summary of charges. According to these charges Johnson used Americorps money and Americorps volunteers in complete violation of the government contract and volunteer contract.

The CTIL author, in another post worth checking out from Oct. 31, charges the Washington Post with Rheeism, cancelling his/her subscription in response.

I'll let Candi do the rest of the talking.

visit: http://thewashingtonteacher.blogspot.com/

Nov 23, 2009

Due Diligence Has Been A Long Time Coming For Some In DC Schools

This is a reprint from an education blog titledconducting the inner light (below). Even though it was posted on November 21, I think it deserves a' look see' by my readers as it provides yet another perspective into the Michelle Rhee, Kevin Johnson and St Hope story. Many DC parents thank their lucky stars that KJ didn't get to take over DC's Eastern Senior High School here as Rhee might have liked due to their own due diligence . Here's to DC parents who were pro-active in protecting their community.

As critical thinkers, it is imperative that we review the Inspector General's report and transcripts and not simply take the word of Rhee's spokesperson or others who want to sweep the details of this story under the rug. Conducting the inner light blogger has done an excellent analysis of what's wrong with this story as it more than just a sex scandal. I implore you to judge for yourselves by reviewing the Inspector General's report, transcripts and other links from the Sacramento Bee in detail by clicking on the respective names within the body of this story below. After all, isn't it time for all of us to exercise due diligence ? It's been a long time coming.

Definition of due diligence:

1. An investigation or audit of a potential investment. Due diligence serves to confirm all material facts in regards to a sale.

2. Generally, due diligence refers to the care a reasonable person should take before entering in an agreement or transaction with another party.

Investopedia Commentary

Due diligence is essentially a way of preventing unnecessary harm to either party involved in a transaction.

Reprinted from education blog conducting the inner light

"It is interesting to me how the Michelle Rhee/Kevin Johnson situation is playing out in the newspapers and blogs. For those of you not keeping up suffice it to say that in a congressional investigation it has been revealed that Michelle Rhee acted as a fixer/damage controller for her fiance when he was accused by three girls of inappropriate touching. I won’t go into the allegations but refer you to the articles via The Washington Teacher’s Blog. Candi Peterson has aggregated all the newsources beautifully and this allows you to read each and come to your own conclusion.

Personally, I think the sex part of this scandal is somewhat of a misdirection. Not that I think the charges are groundless – read not only the Inspector General’s report but also the transcripts, as reported by The Sacramento News and Review , of Johnson’s phone conversation with another girl (not one of the accusers but a girl from 10 years before when Johnson was still a player on the Suns) and it will be hard to avert your eyes or find any excuse for him – but I think that there is much more damning evidence in the IG report than sex.

I cannot recommend enough reading the entire report right down to the interview of Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, the former employee of St. Hope Academy Charter Schools. Your jaw will drop, your eyes will pop out of your head. No matter how you try to play this report it looks stinky. Just a for instance: Michelle Rhee was listed as a board member of St. Hope. Simultaneously she was listed as: the consultant for the New Teacher Project, the consultant for the reconstruction bridge span, the consultant for the reconstruction of the HR department, while on another memo she was listed as the COO. In yet another letter she was listed as the President and Johnson as the CEO. So many hats for one person and absolutely no conflict of interest, is there, in being both a board member and a consultant for the very board of which you are a member. Sarcasm in that last sentence.

The discrepencies are legion in this report. Just read the summary of charges. According to these charges Johnson used Americorps money and Americorps volunteers in complete violation of the government contract and volunteer contract. These volunteers are supposed to be used for the community and as tutors for students in schools. According to the report none of the volunteers did a single hour of tuturing for their time at St. Hope. What they did do was wash KJ’s car, clean his place (Johnson told one employee that the Americorps volunteers were there for “grunt work”), worked as clerks in the St. Hope store, canvassed the neighborhoods for candidates for local political offices, used them to solicit funds for St. Hope – even traveling to NYC on the Americorps money to do so. Johnson also misappropriated Americorps funds to pay SHA staff.

Here was one of the most incredible things I found in this report: the volunteers, who were on a stipend of around $4000 plus dollars, were charged rent for their housing. The housing was owned by (wait for the drumroll please) The St. Hope Development Corporation – they were charged $300-$350 a month. SHA never revealed to federal authorities their relationship to SHD (you would think, though, that they would change the name of their corporation just a tad so that no one would notice – you know, like Enron).

The sex allegations are here, as well. I don’t see how anyone can dismiss them as groundless nor as the accusations of people who hold a political motive. It is obvious throughout this report that there was a culture of abuse. The culture of power that Johnson practiced (one person describes him as micromanaging every thing right down to the position of all the office furniture) is one in which abuse is the predominate factor.

Here is what disturbs me after reading this report: Michelle Rhee tried to bring St. Hope Charter schools into our school system to take over some schools. She tried to do this AFTER this report had been filed. It was only due to the due diligence on the part of the parents of those schools that would have been overtaken (deliberate use of word here) and their objection to SHA coming in because of what they found out in their own investigations.

Due diligence in regards to Ms. Rhee has been missing in DC from the very beginning. From the vetting process on down she has been given a free ride by Adrian Fenty, the Washington Post, many on the city council, and a host of other people who believe she is “doing what has to be done.” Discrepencies in what she says and does have been ignored or explained away at almost every turn. She contradicts herself, denies, changes facts to suit her need and all of this is dismissed as quibbles on the part of those of us who have had worries about her methods and the true nature of her plans. OK, fine, than read this report and explain to me how anyone could think to bring in this corrupt, unethicial organization to run any of our schools? She knew about the charges in that report. Given her status as one of the three main operators of St. Hope – again read the report and Ms. Wong-Hernandez’ interview to see the number of titles Rhee held – there is no way she can claim ignorance to these charges.

That is the real scandal that should be on the front page of every paper. Diligence is now due."

Posted by The Washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence, story courtesy of conducing the inner light, definition/commentary courtesy of dictionary.com

Will Kevin Johnson/Rhee Scandal Be Obama's Whitewater?

Wow! The GOP right wing gang ganging up on the kind of people who should be their darling. Rhee, our own ed version of Sarah Palin. With the Swift boaters on the case, can you imagine them turning this into the Obama Whitewater? My goodness, where do we root here?

There's lots to report on this breaking story, but I'll let others do it.

The NY Times reports is here, with this perfect photo of the Rhee personna.

Candy Peterson from DC has this up on her blog.

Visit: http://thewashingtonteacher.blogspot.com/
Nov 21, 2009

Michelle Rhee, The Fixer Did Damage Control After Sex Charges Against Kevin Johnson

If you haven't read this already it is a 'must read' Examiner Exclusive by Byron York with Bill Myers contributing to the report. It reads like an episode from Dominick Dunne's TV show Power, Privilege and Justice. It confirms my belief that no 'reign of terror' lasts forever. I'd be interested to hear how you think this drama will play out. I have posted this Examiner story in its entirety.

Randi and Rhee, Two for Tea

Leonie Haimson wrote at nycednews:

Michelle (Take no prisoners) Rhee, head of DC schools and former media darling, is now in hot water, given her mismanagement of the budget, teacher layoffs, and the like. Rhee also recently announced her engagement to Kevin Johnson, former NBA player, charter school head and current mayor of Sacramento. See http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/11/michelle_rhee_kevin_johnson_pu.html

In today's WaPost, Jay Mathews, education columnist, nominates Randi Weingarten to replace her if Rhee decamps for California. Excerpt:

From the pen of Jay Matthews (who will be writing the ICE/TJC campaign lit):

She [Randi] is a practical and imaginative leader who likes to defy conventional wisdom herself. She endorsed Republican George Pataki for re-election as governor of New York in 2002. She set up union-run charter schools in New York despite many union members distaste for that reform. She even signed a contract with the New York City school system allowing payment of teacher bonuses if students's test scores rose, another no-no to many unionists.

Most importantly, running the D.C. schools would give her a chance to demonstrate in the most visible way her oft-expressed view that teacher unions are just as committed to raising the achievement of students as anybody. She has already accepted money from big charter school supporters many of her members do not like, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, for her union's new program to encourage teacher innovations.

Read it all at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2009/11/dcs_next_schools_chief_how_abo.html


One commenter was astounded:
Are you sure you're feeling ok Mr. Mathews? Because I can't remember reading anything filled with so much tortured logic and deluded thinking in my life. Of course Randi Weingarten will never be the Chancellor of the DCPS but thanks for letting all of us know that she's a lesbian. That's always an important consideration in matters like this. Certainly it's an area where Michelle Rhee is want.

Matthews, who is so often laughed at by educators, may be onto something as he lays out the full sellout of the AFT/UFT. Aside from the sexual orientation issue, the ideology of Rhee and Randi is not as far off as some people might think.

By the way. How could Randi do all these things so many teachers in her own union don't want? The answer is the Unity Caucus dictatorship that makes people like Putin jealous. Can he match 100% of the Exec Bd endorsed by one party?

Cornell Students Protested Rhee's Speech On Campus

I'm cross posting this important piece from Candi Peterson's blog as the Rhee blowback continues. Ok, I do disagree with this point:

"I bet that special teacher of yours loves his or her union because it empowers him or her to fight to improve the quality of your education. Teachers unions are democratic expressions of teachers and their values. Each teachers union is not comprised of external forces but is instead comprised of the teachers themselves. As such, the goals of teachers unions are the goals of teachers."

Not in NYC or most teacher unions under the thumb of totalitarian dictators who make Putin jealous of their power.


visit: http://thewashingtonteacher.blospot.com/

Oct 15, 2009

Cornell Students Protested Rhee's Speech On Campus

This opinion article appeared in the Cornell Daily Sun and explains why students from Cornell University protested Rhee's speech.

Cornell Students Explain Why They Protested Rhee's Speech on Campus

link: http://www.cornellsun.com/

Teachers Unions Protect Teachers: Will Chancellor Rhee '92 Listen?
October 14, 2009
By Andrew Wolf

"Everyone remembers that special teacher who touched his or her life. We all have had that teacher who would go the extra mile to help usindividually - a teacher who dug into his or her own pocket book to buy colored pencils for our art projects.

We remember this teacher because he or she did not just make us feel cared for, but also made us feel capable. Due to his or her skill, we were empowered; we were motivated. This teacher clearly did not become a teacher for fame, for glory and certainly not for fortune. This special teacher picked his or her profession because of a desire to help our
country reach its full future potential.

In public schools in most states that special teacher was probably in a union. Furthermore, I bet that special teacher of yours loves his or her union because it empowers him or her to fight to improve the quality of your education. Teachers unions are democratic expressions of teachers and their values. Each teachers union is not comprised of external forces but is instead comprised of the teachers themselves. As such, the goals of teachers unions are the goals of teachers. That special teacher used his or her voice in his or her union to fight for you; teacher unions fight for small class sizes, for more computers and for the right of every American to receive a high quality education.

What does that teacher expect in return? As we all know, teachers have never been paid at a level that matches the amount and quality of their of work, so clearly pay is not their motivation. Basically, in return for their service, teachers ask for a basic degree of fairness. They ask that if they are laid off or fired, that it be for a just cause and not because of discrimination.

Above all, they ask for respect and the right to be included the shaping of their classroom. Who would know better how to improve the delivery of education than those who do just that day in and day out? People become teachers because they want to improve students' lives and they use their unions to help them accomplish this goal.

The Cornell Organization for Labor Action, of which I am a member, protested Michelle Rhee's '92 talk last week because it does not believe she respects the important role teachers and their unions play in shaping the future of education in this country. We feel that Chancellor Rhee, instead of working with teachers to fix the problems afflicting our education system, has presupposed that the problem is teachers themselves. Our quarter card, which was criticized in The Sun last week in both a column and editorial, outlined the ways in which Chancellor Rhee denies teachers the right to participate in the education reform debate.

First, my fellow members of COLA and I take issue with the fact that Rhee wields layoffs as a key component to education reform. While layoffs are an unfortunate result of our current economy, Rhee often uses layoffs to fire experienced teachers based on the unfortunate assumption that youth and vigor is always better than experience.

Second, COLA disagrees with Chancellor Rhee's belief that standardized tests hold the key to education reform. Furthermore, we disagree with Rhee's attempts to evaluate teachers based on these standardized scores. In a 2008 report "Grading Education" by the Economic Policy Institute found that measuring teacher and school performance by these tests was an utter failure. The study found that these tests forced teachers to "teach to the test," stifling creativity and vastly under serving top-performing students. It found that such programs result in teachers fighting with each other to keep successful techniques hidden instead of encouraging cooperation. Overall, the study found that these tests narrowly focused on reading and math, while ignoring the whole growth we should expect from our students. Perhaps most horrifying, though, the EPI report found that schools, fearing that under-performing children would drag their schools funding down, often stuffed these children into special education classes or falsely suspended them on the day of the standardized test. The EPI report concluded that measuring performance solely on standardized test scores can in no way properly evaluate the success or failure of schools or their teachers. Yet, Chancellor Rhee wanted to institute this type of policy and she tried to do it unilaterally without anyone else's input. COLA disagrees with these actions.

Third, COLA, myself included, disagrees with the arbitrary nature of Rhee's policies. In 2008, the US Congress, worried about Rhee's approach, asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate her practices. The Government Accountability Office found Rhee at fault and criticized her for instituting policies without clear guidelines and without consulting teachers, parents or the community. COLA joins in this criticism as we find the exclusion of teachers, parents and the community in shaping education reform counter-productive.

Fourth and finally, I demand more accountability from Rhee in regard to her policies. Last year, Rhee fired numerous principals without explaining her criteria or evaluation process. This was troubling because many of these principals were from the District's top-performing schools including the Oyster-Adams Bilingual Elementary School where Rhee's children attended. My fellow members of COLA and I worry that without transparency, Rhee abuses her authority to silence her critics.

These were the four points outlined on COLA's quarter card, which I helped to compose last week. COLA believes these issues directly relate to the future of education reform. We believe that Rhee denies teachers their right to participate in the process of reform where their voices and commitment are so deeply needed. Instead, she silences them and vilifies them through firings. COLA believes this is counter-productive and we again ask Chancellor Rhee to include teachers in the process of education reform.

Every year, Cornell sends more students to Teach for America than any other university, often including a COLA member. These students enter TFA excited at the prospect of making a difference in young peoples' lives. Hopefully, many of you who join Teach for America will become teachers in the long term. I know that those same values that drove you to service will drive your efforts in your union and in reforming our education system. The only question, then, is: Will Rhee listen?

Andrew Wolf '10, a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is a member of COLA."

Posted by The Washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence, opinion article courtesy of Cornell Daily Sun, picture courtesy of Education Next

Rhee Orders Imminent Layoffs of DC Teachers Starting Next Week !

Michelle Rhee hired 900 new teachers and then claimed she didn't realize there would be cuts. Guess who she is getting rid of?

Candi Peterson reports at TWT:

According to an inside source, DCPS instructional superintendents met this Saturday at a breakfast meeting and got their marching orders from Chancellor Rhee. They were advised to meet with DC principals on Monday to inform them that the DCPS reduction in force will start next week for DC teachers. It has been reported that other DC staffers have already received their lay off notices. Principals will be advised to lay off teaching staff as early as next week. Most of the lay offs will impact DC teachers and other school based staff including instructional coaches, custodians and even some principals and vice principals, etc.

It is reported that Rhee will pay DCPS employees their salary for 1 month in lieu of the 30 day notice required when implementing a reduction in force. RIF'd staff will all be exited prior to September 30 and before the new fiscal year begins. So it seems Rhee is anxious to get teachers and other DC staffers out as quickly as possible.

Posted by The Washington Teacher

Make sure to read Dan Brown's critique of Rhee at Huffington Post (also posted at Norms Notes.)

Candi is Dandy in DC But Will Rhee Have All the Glee?

Bill Turque in the Washington Post reports:

Rhee, Union May Be Close to Deal

While making it appear that Rhee has backed off on some of her more radical proposals, we in fact see this as a win-win for her due to this provision:

Under a proposed "mutual consent" provision, principals would have more power to pick and choose teachers. Teachers who failed to find new assignments would have three options. They could remain on the payroll for a year, accepting at least two spot assignments as substitutes or tutors or in some other support role. If they can't find a permanent job after a year, they would be fired. Teachers could also choose to take a $25,000 buyout or, if they have at least 20 years' service to the city school system, retire with full benefits.

This is the Chicago model of getting rid of ATRs after one year. What needs to be understood here is that Rhee will find reasons to close as many schools as necessary to create large numbers of ATRs who will be gone in a year.

This is what BloomKlein want for NYC where there are still over 1600 ATRs. With a UFT/DOE contract imminent, people will be looking for some kind of wedge that will be disguised as something innocuous in the contract that will allow them to cut into the ATR pool. Maybe a buyout offer of some kind this time.

Some people at the ICE meeting yesterday thought Bloomberg is focused on getting elected and will wait to try to get the hammer out in two years, at which point the charter school movement will be beginning to have a greater impact and the UFT will be even weaker than it is today. There might even be an agreement (under the table) that the UFT will back off on stopping the growth of charters. One idea floated is that even if the charter cap is not lifted, charters under a management group will be counted as one. Thus the 5 KIPP schools and the 4 Evil Moskowitz schools would count against the cap as 2 schools. Then it's Katy bar the door.

Turque gives a shout out to our favorite DC teacher, Candi Peterson, who has revealed provisions of the supposedly secret talks on her blog, The Washington Teacher. (I borrowed Candi's hangman graphic.)

The proposals have triggered new tensions within the union's leadership. Executive Vice President Nathan Saunders, a longtime critic of Parker's, said the proposals all but eliminate job security for teachers.

"This contract looks to be another approach to diminishing teachers' employment rights," Saunders said.

Peterson's decision to publish draft documents from the contract negotiations drew an unusual public rebuke from Parker, who sent a letter and a voice mail message to members denouncing her for having "maliciously undermined" the confidentiality of the talks.

Peterson, who said she is not bound by any confidentiality agreement, said teachers have grown frustrated with the lack of information available about the protracted negotiations.

"He's promised to tell members about the contract, but he never follows through," she said.

Of course, Randi Weingarten and the AFT have been up to their ears in these negotiations, tutoring Parker with their hand crafted best selling manual "Slick Sellout Tactics for Union Leaders: Or how to sell a sellout to your membership while making it look like a great victory."

How does this relate to us here in NYC? The UFT 3 million member negotiating committee, by estimates 75% dominated by Unity Caucus members (who don't advertise their ties) has a cone of silence over it, so that even the two ICE people who are on the committee cannot talk about what is going on so we as a caucus can take action to forestall the sellout aspects of the contract. As you will read in my upcoming post, there is a possibility we there may be a contract voted on this Wednesday. Back later.

Related

Accountable Talk also deals with this item

More on Rhee from DC

I posted themail's editor Gary Imhoff's insightful editorial on Rhee over at ed notes last week and there were some interesting comments. One of the insightful comments is from a parent activist in Oakland.

The Perimeter Primate said...

I have yet to meet, or read any commentary by, a "Skinner-type" who has been a classroom teacher for more than a few years.

People with that mentality seem to leave the classroom about the time that the Truth is starting to dawn on them.

Sometimes they leave it before that point because their two-year commitment has come to an end. Then they slink off and wash the challenges of those "nasty" children off their hands, feeling superior as they proceed into law school, educational-reform management, or administration.

It's too bad the usual TFA-type commitment for baby teachers isn't seven years because great insights would be gained. Of course, the organizationa probably know that few of those somewhat arrogant, but disillusioned, youngsters would be able to hack it.

Perimeter Primate doesn't post often, but when she does she brings an insightful parent perspective from the perimeter.

Here is some follow-up from at week's themail posted at Norms Notes – More on Rhee in DC from themail.

Ira Socol's (Who's Behind the Curtain?) makes some great points (see the ones on interest-based reading which are so similar to my thoughts in this morning's post) on why Rhee is being pushed and by whom. Here's an excerpt but go read the entire piece here.

Which brings us back to Michelle Rhee. Who's marketing her, and why?

Rhee is part of a broad push by America's true "old guard" to ensure that education doesn't really change. The same folks at Harvard and Penn who offer our minorities the lowest educational expectations possible through Teach for America and KIPP Academies, are selling you Rhee, and lowered expectations for all schools - except of course, for the schools attended by the children of those elites.

There is a reason the television networks and New York Times and Time-Warner love TFA and Rhee. These organizations are run by people with power, and by people who would rather not share power.

So they have adopted the ultimate in reductionist standards. "If we had even decent education - or even enough teachers of any kind - in most of the places it places its students, then [TFA] would be a step down," a commenter on this blog said yesterday. Right, so here's the standard: Teach for America, or Michelle Rhee's DC school system, is better than not having schools at all.

Rhee's own words: '"People say, 'Well, you know, test scores don't take into account creativity and the love of learning,'" she says with a drippy, grating voice, lowering her eyelids halfway. Then she snaps back to herself. "I'm like, 'You know what? I don't give a crap.' Don't get me wrong. Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job."'

No, she doesn't give a crap. She wants her African-American students prepared for the lowest possible jobs on the economic ladder. That way (perhaps, in her unconscious thinking) they will not threaten the success of her small minority group - a group which has found itself accepted by the powers-that-be because it isn't big enough to be threatening.

Of course I have a different view of reading than Rhee, and of language itself. First, I know that there are lots of ways "to read," and second, I know that when children are inspired to learn about things, they tend to want to learn to read (in one form or another). As opposed to the Joel Klein-Michelle Rhee-KIPP Academy-George W. Bush notion that reading is a skill which should be learned outside of the context of interest-based education.

But then, my goal is opportunity, and my belief system - not being market-capitalist in nature - doesn't think an underclass is a good idea (to hold down upward pressure on wages).

Rhee is not important, of course. She's racist in her expectations and racist in her strategies, she's not an educator at all in the real meaning of that term, she talks a great deal but has little actual impact in her job. But Rhee being hailed as the educational messiah is important.

Like those who favor TFA solutions - the Rhee idea is to NOT change US society. Yes, we'll make impoverished minority groups marginally more competent - thus improving profits at the top and reducing the cost of the dole. But no, we will not empower those groups by empowering their children. Teaching them to be creative 'will have to wait' (forever). Teaching them to find their own learning styles - thus accepting cultural change instead of social reproduction - is dangerous (as it always is for those at the top).

We lower expectations. We test meaningless things (Time: "The ability to improve test scores is clearly not the only sign of a good teacher. But it is a relatively objective measure in an industry with precious few. And in schools where kids are struggling to read and subtract, it is a prerequisite for getting anything else done." Really? Anything? You can't teach the physics of a bouncing ball to a non-reader, or the love of literature?). We strip time away from what is precious to children and force them into chanting. We enforce white majority cultural norms and deny identity. We argue that teachers should be paid according to the "short term gain" rules that worked so well for traders at Citigroup and AIG.

And this is all brought to you by the wealthiest people, and the largest old-line corporations in the country. Because, I'll say it again, they have no incentive to allow those below them to succeed.

COMING SOON: Ed NOTES' EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE RHEE

DC POV on RHEE

You can't say this any better.

From Gary Imhoff
Editor
themail@dcwatch.com

Practice Makes Imperfect

Dear Practitioners:

I’m reluctant to disagree with Jay Mathews, the Washington Post’s national education reporter, because his years of experience have given him a deep knowledge of his field. But on Monday he wrote an article that I have to challenge, “New DC Principal, Hand-Picked Team Make Early Gains,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113001929.html. This article is yet another link in the Post’s chain of articles prompted by Michelle Rhee’s national public relations campaign. This public relations blitz explains why Rhee’s school “reform” remains popular with those who are untouched by it, though it is viewed with deep skepticism by the teachers, students, and parents whom it affects. Mathews’ article praises the work of the principal whom Rhee hand-picked as a shining example for Mathews to interview, Brian Betts at “Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson,” as the combined schools are clumsily called.

I’m sure that Betts is as enthusiastic and energetic as Mathews describes him. In addition, Betts was given the opportunity that Rhee wants to give all her principals, to replace almost all of the teachers at his school with new hires. In the most telling paragraphs of the article, Mathews quotes what Betts thinks was the key question in his interviews with prospective teachers: “‘Shaw and Garnet-Patterson have proficiency rates in both math and reading in the low 20 percents. To what do you attribute this poor performance and what do you plan to do or do differently next year to improve test scores and student achievement?’ A young teacher from New Jersey named Meredith Leonard was hired after saying: ‘Every kid can learn, and we all say that, but what is missing is the last part of the sentence: every kid can learn given the motivation, given the supports, given the expectations. I will be motivating my kids, I will be giving my kids the support and I will be expecting them to do it.’ Many more applicants, including experienced teachers, blamed the bad test scores on undereducated parents and impoverished homes and suggested that those social ailments would be hard to cure. They weren’t hired.”

In one way, Betts’ and Rhee’s emphasis may be right. Teachers aren’t social workers who can solve their students’ home and social problems. That’s not their job. They should concentrate on what they can accomplish in their classrooms. They also should have the attitude that teaching their students is not hopeless. In another, more important way, Betts and Rhee are very wrong. Teachers can make all the difference for some students, but it is naive and foolish to think that they can be the most important factor in the education of most of their students. Meredith Leonard is simply wrong in thinking that the motivation she provides will be the most important thing determining the performance of her students; she’s setting herself up for disappointment, disillusion, and an ultimate fall. Betts rejected the teachers who correctly recognized that most students are much more influenced by the attitudes of their parents and peers, and that if their parents and peers do not value, or are even scornful of, education, that will be more important to them than any single teacher’s enthusiasm and energy. Betts chose to hire the teachers who gave the answer politically and ideologically approved by Rhee, not the right answer.

The Washington Post shares Rhee’s faith that the path to improvement is to get rid of older, experienced workers in favor of younger, inexperienced ones, assuming that the new workers will have an initial burst of energy and enthusiasm that will make up for their lack of background and knowledge. Malcolm Gladwell, in his new book Outliers, argues “that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice,” and that “researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours,” http://tinyurl.com/6jsvo7. It’s a commonsense notion, long ago distilled into three words: “practice makes perfect.”

Rhee rejects it; she thinks teachers are best at the beginning of their careers, and that practice at teaching makes them imperfect. Similarly, over the past few years the Post has used repeated worker buyouts to rid its newsroom of many of its best writers and editors, those with years of experience and depth of knowledge in their fields. As readers of the newspaper, we’ve seen how well that is working out. As one of the rare survivors, Mathews should know it better than we do. Now the Post is urging the same road to perdition on DC’s school system.

With A Cast of Thousands

graphic by david b

Union Busting 101

[The] Mayor and Chancellor are considering restoring the District's power to create nonunionized charter schools and possibly seeking federal legislation declaring the school system a "state of emergency" , a move that (the Post) reports would eliminate the need to bargain with the Washington Teachers' Union. Could their strategy be union busting ? Before you answer, here are some of the tactics of typical union busters. Sound vaguely familiar to what's happening in DC?

More tactics of union busters at The Washington Teacher.

The Next Line of Attack on Teacher Unions: TFA Slates Run in Union Elections?

The Detroit News is urging support for a group of pro charter school teachers who are running a slate in the Detroit Teacher Union elections. Under the title of "Reform-minded Detroit teachers deserve help" - you know the drill: "Reform Minded" is code for "the union and teachers are the problem" – the article goes on to say

[Teachers] Crowley and Turner have organized the Detroit Children First slate. Made up of 19 diverse classroom teachers, it faces the current union President Virginia Cantrell and a host of other candidates.

The Children First slate's goal is two-fold: First, to begin a reform conversation among teachers who too often are ignored by the district's dysfunctional, bloated bureaucracy. Second, to create its own charter school. Its model: the Green Dot Schools, a Los Angeles nonprofit network of unionized charter high schools that is proving poor, urban and minority students can reach the same academic heights as their white and suburban peers do.

Children First? Sound familiar to Joel Klein's "Children Last" initiatives? Think there's a chance there is some connection to Teach for America?

You can read all about Green Dot's contracts with teachers in Michael Fiorillo's excellent post on ICE-mail: "The UFT and Green Dot Schools : Pragmatic Unionism or Trojan Horse?"

Is this the next level of attack – run in union elections. If we see this popping up in other cities, what organization is capable of mounting such an effort? It starts with a "T" and ends with an "A." Of course it would be surreptitious, but don't be surprised to find some high end political consultants giving such slates advice.

Will we see a pro-Rhee slate in union elections in DC? We saw lots of blog chatter this summer from some of these teachers ("Oh, my car is packed in July so I can run into school early to get ready.") One of the most vociferous pro Rhee ("I love her outside the box thinking. She has thought of a new way around the stubborn WTU - just eliminate the need to work with them altogether!") anti-union bloggers recently announced she had had it and was quitting, never to go back to teaching again.

My guess is they are wasting their time because even newer teachers who last beyond 2 or 3 years see the anti-teacher handwriting on the wall. We are beginning to see that happening in NYC was some of the TFA and Teaching Fellows are emerging from their years of learning and intense studying for their Masters to begin to want to learn more about the union.

As a matter of fact, I'm giving a presentation to a group of these teachers tomorrow at the Justice Not Just Tests group.

Of course in NYC we won't see such a slate run in the UFT elections since the UFT is in proper alignment with so much of the Joel Klein/Michael Bloomberg program. Mayor Mike is showing his appreciation by introducing Randi Weingarten at a big shindig in DC.

Randi watchers are sitting back to see how Randi, with her speak-out-of-5-sides-of-her-mouth tendencies," handles the Rhee situation. A recent NY Times article on Rhee by Sam Dillon, talked about a confrontation between Randi and Rhee.

In May, hundreds of people at a convention of educational entrepreneurs here watched spellbound as Ms. Weingarten, a commanding presence onstage, and Ms. Rhee, challenging her from the floor, clashed over what should happen to tenured teachers whom no schools hire.

Randi? A commanding presence on stage? And Rhee challenging her from the floor? Reminds me of my old days at the Delegate Assembly.

I'll bet Randi's response to Rhee wasn' t much, though she can throw the words around to make it appear so. Appearance over reality. One thing we can expect: there will be some militant rhetoric from the AFT, but not much action.

I posted the complete Detroit article on Norms Notes.

Rhee in DC: Foxes in the Chicken Coop

Susan Ohanian offered this comment at her site on another article on Rhee in DC.

As usual, Sam Smith offers a concise, on-target critique.

One of the worst ideas floating around Washington is to give some high federal position to Michelle Rhee, DC school chancellor. Rhee, who has accomplished little of substance, is the media protected product of an area business community that would like to undermine public education as much as possible. Hence DC has an exceptional number of effectively unmonitored charter schools and Rhee is going after teacher tenure - not to mention teachers themselves - like a Blackwater mercenary dealing with Iraqis.

Rhee's master plan includes bribing teachers to give up tenure with a promise of raises of as much as $40,000. Sounds good until you realize the money is coming from unsecured grants from private foundations and Rhee could be gone in a short while, either through misguided promotion to the federal level or being dumped. In any case there's no tenure in the alternative to tenure.

You can find much more of this sorry story on our local site (DC City Desk) and searching for Rhee.

— Sam Smith
Undernews
2008-11-15

Paul Moore (and More) on Rhee in DC

Miami teacher Paul Moore lays one into Rhee in DC. But before you get to Paul, connect to this on the AFT - and I'll use the term very loosely - "support for the DC teachers union by providing counseling to teachers threatened with firing.

From the Washington Post
The teachers union is gearing up to respond. In a letter to members earlier this month, WTU President George Parker said the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) will join the Washington local to "provide support and strategies" to instructors designated for the 90-day plan.

I posted the full article at Norms Notes

What? Legal strategies? That's it? The AFT should be ringing a permanent picket line around Rhee headquarters. But Randi Weingarten in charge will perpetuate the "carry a twig, squeak like a mouse" strategy which hands victory to the Joel Kleins and Michelle Rhees of this world.

Is it all about the AFT/UFT cutting their losses and grabbing whatever bucks are out there to grab? Or is there maybe a hint of underlying support for the neo-liberal agenda? [ie. Read our review - Ruthless Neoncon - of Kahlenberg's "Tough Liberal" - link in the sidebar.]

Globalization Spits Up Michelle Rhee

by Paul Moore


D.C. students, their parents, teachers and public school workers need only hold on. When you have Alan Greenspan disowning Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand in congressional testimony it is a sign great change is on the way. One of those changes will be the end of the tyranny of Bill Gates' and Eli Broad's attack dog Michelle Rhee.


Lacking any discernible qualifications, her shocking appointment, can be understood only when you realize that Rhee was brought in to inflict maximum damage on the district's public schools. And as a cultist (Teach For America, New Teacher Project) and true believer she came at a bargain basement salary. Real superintendents were courted (Fenty visited Miami with several members of the D.C. commission to interview Dr. Rudolph Crew) but those candidates could not be counted on to mindlessly take a club to D.C.'s public schools. The havoc and disruption that Rhee has caused was no accident. It was the plan!


But Michelle Rhee appeared in your lives because and when the "global economy" was riding herd on this planet. Globalization was at the very foundation of business model for schools, charters, vouchers, data driven instruction, merit pay, standardized testing, and most perversely of all, paying students to consume their version of education. It was the reason the Business Roundtable and Bill Gates were interested in public education at all. The CEO's wanted a profit
making private school system and Gates wanted visas for Indian and Taiwanese tech workers he could pay lower wages to.


An economic earthquake has now cracked the foundation of the model that spits up a Michelle Rhee. The superstructure will collapse in time. The global economy is history.


Soon it will be every private school and charter school investor for himself. Private school students are being moved to the public schools by their debt ridden parents in significant numbers already. In the scramble to survive the privatizers will throw their tool Ms. Rhee to the wolves. Stripped of her powerful patrons, Michelle Rhee will stand alone as a petty, vindictive, insecure bureaucrat who had no business pretending to care about children. And she will leave. Hold on!

Michelle (Take no prisoners) Rhee Swings the Ax

Michelle Rhee appoints a principal over parent objections in July. Then fires her on October. There's stability for you. It seems the principal fought for resources for the students and parents. Fighting for kids? A no-no in Rheeland.

For more on Ed in DC read union Exec Bd member Candi Peterson's blog The Washington Teacher. In the DC teachers union, an exec bd member can actually disagree with the leadership. Unike the Unity monolith here in NYC.

Update: - http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/561119.html


Posted by Leonie Haimson:

Michelle (Take no prisoners) Rhee swings the ax – and removes a principal that she had just hired in July. It’s beginning to sound in DC like the last stages of the French Revolution.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/10/rhee_swings_the_ax.html

As is customary with personnel matters, Rhee did not explain her reason for the abrupt move, which sparked a torrent of e-mails and phone calls to The Wire from angry parents.

BenZion was not the first choice of a school community panel that screened principal candidates this summer. But Rhee chose her nonetheless.

"Dr. BenZion took her job seriously and believed it was her job to advocate for the resources we needed, said PTA president Earl Yates. "You have to speculate there was some head-banging."

BenZion did not respond to an e-mail request for comment. In a message she sent to the Shepherd listserv, Friday afternoon, she said:

My Dear Parents,

You have heard by now, that the Shepherd school community has lost its principal today.
According to the Chancellor I am not the right fit to this community and it is best for the children that I am replaced.

I feel as if the flower has just began to bloom and was just stepped on. It has been a privilege to get to know each of you.

Where is our new leader in the AFT in defending teachers in the nation's capital?

My response to Michael's question is: Weingarten is busy helping Bloomberg/Klein continue running NYC schools for another 4 years.

Michael Fiorillo comments on Rhee in DC on ICE-mail:

One of the things that's remarkable about the whole Rhee/DC situation is the failure of the union to call her out on her presumtuousness and statements that cannot be backed up by her beloved "data." The woman had a cup of coffee in the classroom ten year or so years ago, and claims that her students made tremendous strides. However, she is unable to document any of this, claiming that the "data" is unavailable. [See Daily Howler excerpt below.]

Additionally, the DC local, with help from the AFT should be demonstrating every day in front of the Washington Post. The Post, agitating so militantly for the de-professionalization of teaching, is also the owner of Kaplan, which along with other test prep factories, stands to gain from the corporate education regime. Kaplan is currently the largest single source of profit for the Washington Post Corporation.

Where is our new leader in the AFT in defending teachers in the nation's capital?

Best,
Michael Fiorillo

The Daily Howler (excerpt July 11, 2007 - Read full piece and also do a search for more on Rhee on his blog.) I heard Rhee claim she raised scores from the 15% to somewhere in the 85% in one year.

Note: Howler Bob Somerby taught in the Baltimore schools for many years so he brings a teacher perspective to the issues.

For years, Rhee has been telling a pleasing story. She performed an educational miracle at Harlem Park—and she “earned acclaim” in the national media for this brilliant success. Our reaction? Speaking frankly, her claim about test scores is so extreme that we would regard it as suspect on its face. Now, there also seem to be a question about the “acclaim” which she says she earned. But once again, the big problem here is the Narrative of the Miracle Cure—the pleasing tale that routinely takes the place of serious talk about low-income schools.

Let’s get serious for a minute; if you know much about standardized test scores, Rhee’s claim about those miracle scores should invite healthy skepticism. It’s amazing that DC’s city council—and Washington’s newspapers—have allowed that claim to stand without evidence. But let’s just say it: That’s what happens, quite routinely, when the interests of black kids are at stake.

One last time, we’ll restate our view. The Washington Post and the Washington Times should insist on getting those musty old test scores. (They only date back to 1995, for God’s sake.) We know, we know—it’s only black kids! It’s much more pleasing to tell cheerful tales—and let the data sleep with the fishes.

Dr. Art: Fired in DC

Back in August I received this email from a supporter of fired Wash DC teacher Art Siebens and posted it here: "You Don't Fit" - Fired in DC by Rhee

Hello - I just found your website and wanted you know about this website, www.reinstatedrart.com, sponsored by students and parents in support of a highly successful DC teacher [Art Siebens] who was dismissed from his 18 year post under [Michelle] Rhee's regime, with the explanation "you don't fit." I'm alerting the Daily Howler as well.

Eduwonkette outdoes herself today

All along the Eastern corridor, folks are buzzing about firing teachers. In New York City two weeks ago, the New Teacher Project once again called for the district to put excessed teachers who have not been hired after a year on unpaid leave. Last week in his Washington Post column, Jay Mathews also sang a paean about the virtues of principals firing teachers at will. And in Michelle Rhee’s proposed contract, teachers would give up tenure in exchange for performance pay. Now, she’s moved to “Plan B,” which involves giving “bad teachers” 90 days to improve, or else face dismissal.

In all three cases, the assumption is that principals know best, that they make decisions based on the best interest of students, that “kid issues” will be put before “adult issues” in hiring decisions, and that concerns about fair treatment are retrograde - even passé.

Yet right under Michelle Rhee’s nose, her own theory of action – that principals will always pick the “best teachers” – has been tested by the case of Dr. Art Siebens.

Read Eduwonkette"s full post on Siebens and Rhee. Make sure to read the comments.
(I put a choice selection below in comment #1.)

Rhee Bypasses Talks, Imposes Dismissal Plan

Have a contract? Negotiations broke down? Just ignore it all and forge ahead.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee made good yesterday on repeated threats to bypass labor contract negotiations by imposing her own program to fire ineffective teachers, including a measure that gives poorly performing instructors 90 days to improve or face dismissal.

Details from the Washington Post at Norms Notes.

For our NYC colleagues, one of the reasons Randi has been so collaborative is her fear that BloomKlein will pull the same stuff. "See, we broke the contract, do something about it." So Randi makes deals to give up the arm and half the leg and brags to the membership how they still have their thigh bone while leaving enough loopholes that allow BloomKlein to whither it away. But you still have your hip.

"You Don't Fit" - Fired in DC by Rhee

Hello - I just found your website and wanted you know about this website, www.reinstatedrart.com, sponsored by students and parents in support of a highly successful DC teacher who was dismissed from his 18 year post under Rhee's regime, with the explanation "you don't fit." I'm alerting the Daily Howler as well.

Who doesn't fit?

More on Dr. Art Siebans

From The Examiner

If there is a central spine that runs through all the changes and creates the dogma of the new day in D.C. schools, it is a sharp focus on the classroom, teachers and students. Listen to Rhee’s many speeches and pronouncements, and you will hear her dismiss any extraneous matters that would stop her reformers from getting great teachers who will improve test scores.

Keep this in mind: Great teachers; improved test scores.

Which brings me to the curious case of Art Siebens.

Siebens has taught biology and other science courses at Wilson Senior High for decades. My daughter took his AP bio class last year. They didn’t get along. Siebens accused my sweet daughter of insubordination and called me in for a meeting. Hardly shocked, I negotiated a detente.

To call Siebens quirky is an understatement. Do you know any other teacher who hauls out his guitar on “back to school” night and has parents sing “It’s a Water Water World,” his song about H20, to the tune of “If I Had a Hammer?” Siebens has recorded a collection that teaches science through song. His students sing and learn — even my unruly daughter.

By any statistical measure, Siebens is a success. His students consistently score well on the AP bio test. His Wilson classes are filled with high-performing students headed for top colleges, but minorities learn and score high as well. Numbers do not lie.

So, Art Siebens is by all accounts a great teacher, and his students score well on tests. So why was he fired? Neither Rhee nor Wilson’s new principal, Pete Cahall, has offered a complete explanation to Siebens’ fans, including 560 who have signed a petition to bring him back.

“Dr. Siebens was one of those rare teachers at Wilson who really, truly cared about his students,” wrote Devorah Flax-Davidson, 2005 valedictorian now at Michigan. She was “horrified and incensed” that Siebens got the gate.

Siebens isn’t talking — or singing. His supporters are appealing to Fenty and Rhee, but neither will make a move. Clearing up the Siebens debacle falls squarely in the lap of Pete Cahall.

It’s a no-brainer — bring him back, to suit Rhee’s dogma: great teachers and high test scores.

E-mail Harry Jaffe at hjaffe@washingtonian.com

Help Reinstate Wilson High School Teacher Art Siebens
Barbara Somson

You may have heard about the unsupported firing of one of Wilson’s most beloved teachers, Dr. Art Siebens, who taught Anatomy and AP Biology among other science subjects. He was, without a doubt, one of the very best DCPS teachers Becca ever had, and his dismissal has stunned us and many others.

Students and families who know Art Siebens have created a grassroots campaign to get Dr. Siebens reinstated. If you are or have been a Wilson student or parent of a student and if you would like to help support Dr. Siebens, the students have created an online petition that just went up on July 17 at http://gopetition.com/petitions/reinstate-dr-art-siebens.html.

You can read more about the situation and Art’s very creative and inspirational teaching at the petition web site as well. I encourage you to join the campaign and help spread the word so we can get Dr. Siebens back where he belongs!

http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2008/08-07-20.htm

EEP Marches to Denver

The true agenda of the EEP revealed: It's all about politics, not education. Children First, indeed.

Schools in Washington and NYC are about to open. A major contract issue exists in DC. Yet the leaders of those school systems are in Denver trying to get the Democrats to endorse their program:

credit recovery
false graduation rates
over crowded buildings
rote learning
inflaming racial tensions

(thanks to Voice for the list and to David B for the graphic)