Not everyone's sold on Michelle Rhee.....

[FLAprogressive]

Florida's lawmakers were starstruck.

Before them stood Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., public schools chancellor recently featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, on a Newsweek cover and in the documentary film Waiting for Superman.

But as he watched from the audience, the spokesman from Florida's teachers union wondered why lawmakers were listening to her. "It's a little difficult to understand why she is given rock star status," said Mark Pudlow of the Florida Education Association.

Sure, Rhee might have the ear of the governor and the praise of the president. Sure, Rhee has made national headlines pushing through controversial measures relating to teacher tenure, evaluations and salaries in D.C.

But Pudlow noted that Washington, D.C., schools score at the bottom of the national Education Week Quality Counts ranking, while Florida rates close to the top. He observed that some of Rhee's controversial efforts to fire "ineffective" teachers have been overturned by an arbitrator after the Washington Teachers Union fought the effort tooth and nail.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/not-everyones-sold-on-michelle-rhee-gov-scotts-education-adviser/1151311

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I am so sick of this fucking lady....someone needs to let her know that she ain't the messiah.

[yurbud]

1. of course you're treated like a rock star if you carry water for the rich.

[Ken Burch]

2. She's given rock star status because the's the country's most charismatic unionbuster

Nobody would care about her if she WASN'T trying to destroy the NEA and, ultimately, reduce teachers to 19th century employment conditions.

It's part of the reality that nobody in the media anymore comes from anything remotely like a working-class background.

[Ken Burch]

3. Another reason for her "stardom" is that she plays into racial "divide and conquer" strategies

Because she's visibly Asian-American, it's easier for her to attack teachers in "low-income schools"(and we all know what "low-income" is a euphemism for in this country, despite the fact that most low-income people are actually white).

And some progressive whites probably feel intimidated about attacking her, for fear of being accused of "anti-Asian" racism.

All in all, she's a one-woman wedge issue.

[whathehell]

5. Good insights. n/t

[midnight]

4. In what seems to be a one prong approach-remove ineffective teachers,

I can't help but wondering why it hasn't been on removing ineffective programs ie. leave no child behind... What a money maker that is for someones corporation.... Why can't they just reduce the class size and help teacher become more effective... What is the big deal... just get it done....

[Dappleganger]

6. I suspect she will be run out of the state by the good old boys' network

in due time. Nobody will ever go to bat for her, either.

[CreekDog]

7. teachers are the "good old boys" network?

:wtf:

that's a weird thing to say.

[Dappleganger]

8. No, where did I say that???

The good old boys' network in FL which runs the state legislature.

[xchrom]

9. recommend

[Lorien]

10. if Florida's schools rate "near the top" the Country is in deep shit

Schools here are underfunded, overcrowded, and depend entirely on standardized testing for damn near everything.

[spanone]

11. it's the american idol syndrome....america loves someone who's been on the teevee

it doesn't seem to matter what they know