ugh - michelle rhee on daily show tonight

[Anonymous]

She was in the NYT Sunday mag Q and A article this past weekend. Her answers were arrogant and flippant. She's a narcissist. No wonder the politicians love her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I miss her. If we can forgive and forget Marion Barry we can welcome back Michelle with open arms.

Lets have Fenty and Rhee back! Like Gray was a good decision. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

AnonymoTote=Anonymous wrote:11:39 : shout out to rhee? got the ball rolling? Wrong, not realizing it would kill his promise and lead to early demise, Fenty got the ball rolling by taking DCPS away from a dysfunctional school board and separating DCPS Ed. from DCPS Facilities, and his greatest success was hiring Allen Lew for buildings. His worst failure and undoing was annointing Rhee and then standing by her no matter how idiotic her actions were. She is literally a piece of garbage, stepped all over people to get her way and today has the nerve to show up with a book acknowledging she maybe could have done somethings differently, but will never apologize for firing -- indiscriminately -- and ruining the careers of -- numerous talented and wise principals and teachers. No, I'm not a teacher. I'm now a private school parent who can't stomach Kaya either.

Wow, there's a lot going on there.

Another big shout out to Rhee for unlocking the gears.

Quick history lesson. Fenty voted AGAINST mayoral control when he was on the council and GRAY pushed it through. Lew, Rhee, Tata and others were pretty much sanctioned by the real behind the scenes powers in this town. I don't doubt Rhee's intent, but she needed a boss who could guide and mentor her to stop cutting off her nose to spite her face. Fenty did her, and the city, a great disservice by drinking the kool aid.

Regardless, much of Impact and sweeping change Rhee gets credit for were developed by Henderson. But that's another story.

[Anonymous]

Jon Stewart really checked her on her BS, though.

finally got around to watching the repeat last night...holy cow! jon stewart actually DID call her out...on incessant testing, on changing requirements for teachers, etc...he was nice about it, but no doubt he held her to the fire.

she's garbage and now that she has her own PAC, she's all about electing REPUBLICANS. ha! most of her staff/admirers are long gone. she's a twit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate for Michelle Rhee? Thanks to her we have good charter school options in our city. She didn't cheat -- the cheaters were lazy, bad teachers who should have been fired.

Rhee wasn't a big supporter (or opponent) of the charters. I think you are not remembering her record correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's hawking her book because there's no way she'll get a billion dollar PAC going.

Why doesn't she just open her own damn charter and then she can show the rest of us how it's done.

Only half joking. Seriously, I wish she could use her celebrity for some practical use.

She's the Sarah Palin of school reform.

Ouch! I can't stand Michelle Rhee but that's pretty low, pp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I miss her. If we can forgive and forget Marion Barry we can welcome back Michelle with open arms.

LOL! Speak for yourself! I haven't forgiven Marion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She's the Sarah Palin of school reform.

i love this! totally true! she was all style, no substance. tolerated a culture of cheating to goose scores. she has no resume to speak of, yet people act like she is the 2d coming. she QUIT before grey fired her (rather than compromise any of her dogmatic beliefs) then boo-hooed about how much she loved DC. she's a phoney. glad i missed that episode.

+1.

Oh please, give up the ghost... everyone failed the kids. Boo-hoo, blame her predecessors too and the teachers AND the parents.

I actually think Janey was on the right track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

11:39 : shout out to rhee? got the ball rolling? Wrong, not realizing it would kill his promise and lead to early demise, Fenty got the ball rolling by taking DCPS away from a dysfunctional school board and separating DCPS Ed. from DCPS Facilities, and his greatest success was hiring Allen Lew for buildings. His worst failure and undoing was annointing Rhee and then standing by her no matter how idiotic her actions were. She is literally a piece of garbage, stepped all over people to get her way and today has the nerve to show up with a book acknowledging she maybe could have done somethings differently, but will never apologize for firing -- indiscriminately -- and ruining the careers of -- numerous talented and wise principals and teachers. No, I'm not a teacher. I'm now a private school parent who can't stomach Kaya either.

Wow, there's a lot going on there.

Another big shout out to Rhee for unlocking the gears.

Quick history lesson. Fenty voted AGAINST mayoral control when he was on the council and GRAY pushed it through. Lew, Rhee, Tata and others were pretty much sanctioned by the real behind the scenes powers in this town. I don't doubt Rhee's intent, but she needed a boss who could guide and mentor her to stop cutting off her nose to spite her face. Fenty did her, and the city, a great disservice by drinking the kool aid.

Regardless, much of Impact and sweeping change Rhee gets credit for were developed by Henderson. But that's another story.

I was angry at Fenty about the mayoral takeover at first. He never mentioned it when he ran in the Democratic primary. He only brought it up when he ran in the general election - which of course was an after thought. In this city, whoever wins the Democratic primary is going to be the next mayor. I was very angry about Fenty running around the voters like that and I was opposed to the mayoral takeover. However, I later became convinced that it wasn't a bad idea after all EXCEPT that Fenty went and hired Rhee, who was a novice at administrating large bureaucratic systems. Maybe if he had hired an effective leader (who knew how to hire other competent people) his story would have been different. But his support for Rhee completely poisoned my feelings towards Fenty, who I felt had betrayed me as a voter - especially because anyone who criticized Rhee was painted as someone who loves bad teachers and bad schools. (Wow. She screws up and I'm a bad person for wanting to hold her accountable? Talk about irony.) But I am no longer opposed to the mayoral takeover of the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's hawking her book because there's no way she'll get a billion dollar PAC going.

Why doesn't she just open her own damn charter and then she can show the rest of us how it's done.

Only half joking. Seriously, I wish she could use her celebrity for some practical use.

She's the Sarah Palin of school reform.

Ouch! I can't stand Michelle Rhee but that's pretty low, pp!

Hmm, let's compare:
Maverick/Radical
Young Female (relative to predecessors)
"Stylish" (unlike frumpy female predecessors)
Media Magnet
Foot-in-Mouth Disease
Thrust onto national/international spotlight
Establishment (Republican/Democrat) failed to support her once she got too uppity
Mama Grizzly/Woman Warrior
Quit Local Job (Governor/School Tsar) when Old Boys wouldn't do what she said
Book Deals

Reality Show...OK, maybe not for Michelle

This was not meant as an insult to either woman. I may not have agreed with Palin (on anything) but there are some interesting similarities in how our culture perceives women in powerful positions. But I digress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's hawking her book because there's no way she'll get a billion dollar PAC going.

Why doesn't she just open her own damn charter and then she can show the rest of us how it's done.

Only half joking. Seriously, I wish she could use her celebrity for some practical use.

She's the Sarah Palin of school reform.

Ouch! I can't stand Michelle Rhee but that's pretty low, pp!

Hmm, let's compare:
Maverick/Radical
Young Female (relative to predecessors)
"Stylish" (unlike frumpy female predecessors)
Media Magnet
Foot-in-Mouth Disease
Thrust onto national/international spotlight
Establishment (Republican/Democrat) failed to support her once she got too uppity
Mama Grizzly/Woman Warrior
Quit Local Job (Governor/School Tsar) when Old Boys wouldn't do what she said
Book Deals

Reality Show...OK, maybe not for Michelle

This was not meant as an insult to either woman. I may not have agreed with Palin (on anything) but there are some interesting similarities in how our culture perceives women in powerful positions. But I digress.

You forgot "Both were completely unqualified for the job they were asked to do"

That's pretty much the bottom line, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

11:39 : shout out to rhee? got the ball rolling? Wrong, not realizing it would kill his promise and lead to early demise, Fenty got the ball rolling by taking DCPS away from a dysfunctional school board and separating DCPS Ed. from DCPS Facilities, and his greatest success was hiring Allen Lew for buildings. His worst failure and undoing was annointing Rhee and then standing by her no matter how idiotic her actions were. She is literally a piece of garbage, stepped all over people to get her way and today has the nerve to show up with a book acknowledging she maybe could have done somethings differently, but will never apologize for firing -- indiscriminately -- and ruining the careers of -- numerous talented and wise principals and teachers. No, I'm not a teacher. I'm now a private school parent who can't stomach Kaya either.

Wow, there's a lot going on there.

Another big shout out to Rhee for unlocking the gears.

Quick history lesson. Fenty voted AGAINST mayoral control when he was on the council and GRAY pushed it through. Lew, Rhee, Tata and others were pretty much sanctioned by the real behind the scenes powers in this town. I don't doubt Rhee's intent, but she needed a boss who could guide and mentor her to stop cutting off her nose to spite her face. Fenty did her, and the city, a great disservice by drinking the kool aid.

Regardless, much of Impact and sweeping change Rhee gets credit for were developed by Henderson. But that's another story.

I was angry at Fenty about the mayoral takeover at first. He never mentioned it when he ran in the Democratic primary. He only brought it up when he ran in the general election - which of course was an after thought. In this city, whoever wins the Democratic primary is going to be the next mayor. I was very angry about Fenty running around the voters like that and I was opposed to the mayoral takeover. However, I later became convinced that it wasn't a bad idea after all EXCEPT that Fenty went and hired Rhee, who was a novice at administrating large bureaucratic systems. Maybe if he had hired an effective leader (who knew how to hire other competent people) his story would have been different. But his support for Rhee completely poisoned my feelings towards Fenty, who I felt had betrayed me as a voter - especially because anyone who criticized Rhee was painted as someone who loves bad teachers and bad schools. (Wow. She screws up and I'm a bad person for wanting to hold her accountable? Talk about irony.) But I am no longer opposed to the mayoral takeover of the schools.

OP here. sorry, busy work week. I'm glad these PPs were here to hold it down. My sentiments exactly. Rhee was incompetent. And arrogant. Bad combo. Plus fame-hungry. I disagree with a PP that she was thrust into the public spotlight. She did the reality stuff - fired teachers on TV. What? Putting aside whether or not those teachers deserved to be fired, I'm gobsmacked that she did it on tV and thought that was okay. This is a role model involved in helping us bring up our kids? No thanks.

I didn't think Stewart asked her tough enough questions, it seemed clear that she'd vetted them all - had answers that were just TOO ready to go, and she consistently side stepped his quesitons in a not very subtle way and said her same old tired song and dance. Me me me, here's why I'm so great. I disliked her going in, and that just made my skin crawl. I was disappointed that Stewart, who can really make people defend their position in a way that is real, went so easy on her.

[Anonymous]

Yes, DCPS was a great school system before Rhee. It was just fabulous. Rhee totally screwed up everything....right?! Rhee haters are insane. DCPS was and STILL is dysfunctional, unless you are in Ward 3 and can pump large amounts of money into your PTA/HSA. Beyond DCPS, No Child Left Behind has just narrowed down what teachers must teach -- teach your kid how to take a standardized test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, DCPS was a great school system before Rhee. It was just fabulous. Rhee totally screwed up everything....right?! Rhee haters are insane. DCPS was and STILL is dysfunctional, unless you are in Ward 3 and can pump large amounts of money into your PTA/HSA. Beyond DCPS, No Child Left Behind has just narrowed down what teachers must teach -- teach your kid how to take a standardized test.

Wow, what a great summary of the criticism of Michelle Rhee. That she ran a great school system into the ground! Yes, that's EXACTLY what was said.

Either you are being willful obtuse or your really have a reading comprehension problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - that was a new episode. And FWIW, I think Jon Stewart asked good questions, but then tolerated Rhee's super vague answers.

I just watched the extended interview online (Pt 2 and 3) and, you're right, he actually continues to push her on a number of things but he does also let her go on in her replies. I was actually pretty impressed with the extent to which he challenged her but it was done very diplomatically.

I was struck by how Stewart asked her if she were "king of the world" and could do anything she wanted, what was the first thing she would do. She went right back to her belief that we should make sure that there are good teachers in every classroom. Not that I disagree with having good teachers in every classroom but she did sound like a bit of a broken record lacking originality at that point. I suppose that's because Stewart obviously wanted her to talk about providing services to kids and families before kids even get to school. He clearly thinks that poor kids are way behind before they even get to school. And FWIW, this non-expert in education thinks he's right (but I defer to you experts in education). But she seemed to think that wasn't her concern. That social service agencies needed to address that. I was disappointed in that answer because I know there are schools where there is a lot of emphasis on reaching out to the whole family and providing services to the whole community.

Anyway, I found Stewart to be quite thoughtful. It's hard - being from DC and all, I want to jump through the tv screen and yell "liar!" but I think he accomplished quite a lot in his diplomatic approach. I was heartened because it's clear that Rhee can no longer count on all the media to accept her assertions without question.