Former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee appealed to both ends of the political spectrum in her visit Thursday to the Georgia Capitol, touting vouchers to provide low-income children with choices beyond failing neighborhood schools and a strong federal Department of Education to hold schools accountable.
Rhee’s theme throughout her marathon sessions with lawmakers, the governor and parents was the need to put students first. “We have been putting the system first for 30 years and look where that has gotten us,” she said.
And her new education organization — created she says to counter the influence of teacher unions, textbook publishers and other special interests focused on adult agendas — is called StudentsFirst.
Rhee’s off-with-their heads approach in her 3 1/2 years in Washington left a wake of ill will and cost her ex boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty, re-election. But her willingness to fire nearly 400 teachers for poor performance struck a chord with Georgia lawmakers, many of whom believe that educators are hostile to reform. (An arbitrator ruled last week that 75 teachers fired by Rhee must be reinstated because the dismissals were improper.)
As to her stormy tenure in D.C., where she was known as the “Dragon Lady” and “Teacher Terminator,” Rhee said she believed her tough policies would be accepted “if we just produced actual results ... I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
The dysfunctions within public education are not an accident, she said. “There are people who benefit by that dysfunction.”
Rhee recalled her own staff’s objections when she supported the takeover of a low-performing school under her authority by an independent charter school. “They said we can’t do that because the charter was then going to draw students from the three other D.C. schools in the area. I told them that my goal is not to protect and preserve the system. My goal is to make sure every child gets a great education.”
That’s why she supported Washington’s voucher program, she said. If parents didn’t win the lottery to enable their child to attend a high-achieving charter school, Rhee felt it was unfair to limit them to a failing public school, a school where she would never consider enrolling her two daughters. “Then who I am to deny them a $7,500 voucher to send their child to a great Catholic school,” she said.
Asked about social promotion, Rhee said it reflects a culture too concerned with self-esteem. Flashing her Tiger-mom stripes, she said, “We have become soft in America.”
In South Korea, her parents’ homeland, Rhee said even kindergartners are ranked academically, and the No. 1 students are always looking over their shoulders. Academic competition at such an early age would never be tolerated here, she said.
Rhee said her two daughters were terrible at soccer yet their rooms “are full of ribbons, medals and trophies. You would think I was raising the next Mia Hamms.”
“We are so busy making children feel good about themselves that we are not spending the time teaching them how to do good,” she said, to a sea of nodding heads.
Her message was just as well received by 50 parents at DeKalb’s Peachtree Hope Charter School. Frustrated with their experiences with traditional public schools, the parents applauded Rhee’s call for a priority shift to students.
“As chancellor, I would go to meeting after meeting, to city council meetings, and the number of times that people were talking about children was next to none,” she said.
“Adults are so concerned about how they all get along that they are willing to turn a blind eye to what is happening to children in our schools. They can call me all the names they want,” she said. “They can try to discredit me, but I am going to focus on kids first.”
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