Jan 24, 2010

Does Michelle Rhee Deserve To Be Named Person Of The Year ?


You Gotta Be Kidding Me
I received this email alert today which is worth reading and was also posted on The WaPo online site by Efavorite. (click on Efavorite to see the comment). The suggestion that Chancellor Michelle Rhee should even be considered for Person of the year is unbelievable in light of her recent statements to Fast Company magazine in which she stated that she fired DC's laid off teachers because they had sex with students, abused students as well as their leave. Check out this video which appeared on channel 5 news on Friday at 6 pm and 10 pm about Rhee's comments.
This email alert reads:
ALERT: "In today’s print edition of the Post on page B2 (Outlook) there is a big paid advertisement from the Federal City Council that starts out saying, "Michelle Rhee deserves to be named DC Person of the Year.” It goes on to list all the usual lies (Baltimore miracle, DCs academic achievement attributed to her, etc.). It’s signed by Frank Keating, President of the organization and former Republican governor of Oklahoma. The piece doesn’t come up on the Post website, I suppose because it is an advertisement and not an article. I also couldn’t find the ad poking around a bit on the Federal City Council website, but perhaps others here could take a stab at it @ http://www.federalcitycouncil.org/
Also, check out the “contact us” link for emails of people to write to in protest of the ad. I’d say this ad is total damage control in preparation for the next big FACTUAL article on the latest mess Rhee has made. It looks like a Post editorial, but isn’t, really, so it appears that even the ed board is laying low on this one for now, using a paid ad to stand in for its usual fawning defense of Rhee. The ad is also misleading in that it suggests Rhee is being nominated for an honor, when it’s actually just a paid ad trying to embed that idea in readers’ minds." Signed --- Efavorite
I know the thought of this makes me sick to my stomach. Excuse me while I regurgitate. You tell me in your own words does Chancellor Michelle Rhee deserve to be named Person of the year ? Should we take actions to protest this action ?

Posted by The Washington Teacher, featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence

23 comments:

Old School DCPS said...

Un-friggin-believable. And this, right after yesterday's outrageous comments coming to light?

NYC Educator said...

On the other hand, Hitler was man of the year in the late 30s, so it's not necessarily the honor it's cracked up to be.

Anonymous said...

"Best Pervert of the year" is more like it

AVParodi said...

I find it disheartening that every single misstep by Rhee is followed by such blatant, fawning support - whether the Post editorial board, Jay Matthews, or the FCC. The Post is the most disappointing. It has become a vestige of the newspaper that brought down a president by its honest and brave reporting. I do hope this is just a suggestion by the FCC and not an actual award. God help us if she were to receive it.

Anonymous said...

The mess that was the DC school system is being cleaned up slowly. Parents wish it were faster, but noisy unions of incom,petent and irresponsible teachers are holding up faster progress. Rhee is right to get rid of some of these "teachers".

DCPS Parent said...

I like a lot of DC parents are fed up with Miss Rhee Rhee and her exit won't come soon enough for our children. It is amazing what a million dollar public relations campaign can do for her but she is nothing but a liar. Rhee is a liability for the mayor and DC city residents. It is time to hold her accountable.Now Ms. Data Queen where is the data to support all of your allegations ? No wonder Miss Rhee hid behind her front door on camera when channel five news came knocking yesterday.

DCteacher said...

Are they kidding? Have any of these people spent a day in a DC school? Are they qualified to speak about education? How demoralized and brow beaten do DCPS teachers and students have to be? Teachers are so afraid of their principals who follow Rhee's directives that they are like zombies. Many are physically ill from the stress but if they miss a day of work, it is written up and placed on their record. Maybe Rhee should be named evil person of the year. I know many really effective teachers trying to get out of DCPS because of the harsh working environments their schools have become and it is heartbreaking because they love the kids.

Anonymous said...

Michelle Rhee isn't going anywhere. She is doing exactly what the Federal City Council wants her to do. This ad is just a "thumb in your eye" show of support for her letting all of us know that she can break laws (non-reporting of abuse to the authorities), resegregate schools (Hardy is for the white Ward 2 kids only) and improve only marginally in the testing realm, using reforms put in place by her predecessor, and nothing matters except that she does what the business interests mostly the Post and the FCC want her to do. When they are done with her, we will only get someone WORSE-another corporate shill picked out by the FCC! And so the decline continues.

Kings said...

Anon of 1:04PM. I'm more hopeful than that. I don't think Rhee's comment on having sex with children was part of the plan and I don't think the US Attorney's office is so easily compromised.

"They" want someone to do their bidding, but if that person screws up too much, "they" won't defend them anymore.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Kings comment, the powers that be will not keep her MR around much longer if she MR does not know her place,or how to "shut-the-F-up"! If the allegations were so true, we know Big Mouth MR would have spilled the beans months ago. This crazed incompetent so-called Baltimore Miracle is just a lot of hot-air. She is really a tool,a puppet, and a idiot. She is the perfect example of a 'educated fool'trying to appear as if she has a brain.

Unknown said...

"I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of school,"

If Rhee can show that at least one teacher from each category she mentioned--had sex, hit, missed 78 days--actually exist, then her words cannot be impugned; she would be grammatically correct.

Also, if there were teachers who hit and/or abused sexually, and those teachers were not reported as state/federal law demand, Rhee could be in trouble for that--lots of trouble I would think.

Unfortunately it seems there was a teacher who hit, as mentioned in Turque's piece.

Rhee still painted with a broad brush, and that was slanderous, but possibly factual.

Parent in DC Schools said...

More proof that this horribly dangerous witch has been endorsed and is being promoted by right-wing republicans because she is charged with forwarding their agenda.

Anonymous said...

Rhee must report to the City
Council tomorrow morning.
Would be intresting to see/hear
what other lies she is going to
say/share to worm her way out
of another mess she has created.

Anonymous said...

Makes you wanna holla - what's going on!

I guess Rhee would have to go stark raving crazy and go running naked through the streets before the powers-that-be would remove her from our midst.

Maybe not even then...H-mmm

Perhaps a good old fashion protest at her house might show the wimps at the WaPo how the people feel about Rhee.

Anonymous said...

Michelle Rhee deserves to be named DC's "Worst Liar or Biggest Thief" LOL! How much money will she cost the citizens of DC?

Sue said...

Hopefully, the City Council will tell MR, "You are FIRED!" She needs a PINK SLIP badly! What has she done lately for DC? EMBARRASS the residents of DC!

Anonymous said...

MR will perform her usual act when summoned by the city council. She doesn't show up.

I'm 99.99% sure she will not appear before the council tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

"He-- to the NO!!!"

The Advertisement should read, "Does Michelle Rhee Deserve to be Prosecuted?"

Rhee can run but she can't hide. Karen Gray Houston, Fox 5 is looking for her and Channel 9 reporter is on the look, too.
It's time for Rhee to say "Good Bye."

Kudos to Jeff Chu, Fast Company.

Lunch is on me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for quoting Rhee Rhee!!!!

Anonymous said...

We knew for sure that a couple of our High School colleagues had sex with students, but they have managed to remain in the system. One of the teachers is still in the same school, while the other got transferred to a nearby DCPS Middle School. Numerous letters were addressed to the principal but since these ladies were friends of madame principal (tennis buddy of Michelle Rhee) they both survived but the teachers who were very vocal about the incident were terminated.

Anonymous said...

First, it was HILARIOUS to see the wicked witch hide behind her door. She had the nerve to laugh/snicker as the reporter approached her. Did you ever think Michelle Rhee would wilt like a weed in front of a camera?

She in no way in HELL deserves to be anybody's person of the year. She has had enough fraudulent attention. As they say on Bossip, Hxx Sit Down!!

Sharon B. said...

Someone already has sugested what I was going to suggest: Go to her house and pickett to show her,her ardent supporters, and those rich, white folks who "want their city back", with schools being #1 on their list. Who's down?

Anonymous said...

I am ready lets go to her house!!!

Anonymous said...

For what??? Firing people??? That's a shame, that our standards of special recognitions, have now come to such a level of negative condescension.

A RIFFIE