We are at a crisis point. Either we are going to step up and demand the truth about Michelle Rhee and the Washington, D.C. cheating scandal, or we're going to sweep this entire thing under the rug and pretend that Rhee's vision of the world is valid: that our nation's massive inequity can be laid at the feet of a few "bad" teachers.
It is time - once and for all - to have an honest conversation about the legacy of Michelle Rhee.
For Rhee to dash around the country pushing ed deform policies like they actually worked for her and appearing on Morning Joe and Oprah and elsewhere to be feted as a "warrior woman" putting "students first" against the greedy, lazy tenured teachers who just want to hold onto the failed status quo is no longer tenable.
There are major indications a whole lot of cheating took place at DCPS schools while Rhee was chancellor, Rhee was informed of this cheating and did NOTHING about it.
She disciplined one teacher for alleged cheating while firing over 600 for low test scores.
That there is now a memo showing DCPS brass were alerted to the cheating and instead of looking into it, they fired hundreds of teachers for low test score results puts her in Beverly Hall indictment territory.
If the powers that be - Obama, Duncan, her media shills, Gates and Broad and the Wall Street/hedge fund crooks that pony up the money for Rhee's lobbying group - want to continue to back her despite the now deafening evidence that something funky took place under Rhee, she knew about the funkiness, and did nothing about it, that's fine.
But they can no longer pretend that the ed reform character Rhee portrays during the day bears any semblance of reality with who and what Rhee really is.
How can the Rhee memo and Rhee record be swept under the rug? The memo is powerful supporting evidence for wrongful terminations, for massive fraud with a large monetary payouts to cheaters, it points to an entire career and ideology built on fraud. How is even possible that more memos and whistleblowers do not emerge with other incriminating evidence. The memo is evidence and a powerful document that builds support for a massive financial fraud and injustice.
ReplyDeleteWhen the entire privatization movement, along with the Obama administration and many in the media, have been complicit in looking the other way on Rhee, you'd better believe that they have reason to continue to sweep this under the rug. I'm not so sure they'll get away with it completely, but you can bet that a lot of evidence has been destroyed by Ms. Rhee, Ms. Henderson, and their compatriots in and out of the DCPS brass and even if an independent investigation is done, the powers that be will try very hard to make sure the outcome does not parallel Atlanta and Rhee does not follow Beverly Hall into the docket.
DeleteWish I weren't that cynical about this, but it's hard to be with her.
As always, hope to be wrong about this!
Maybe RBE, but there ar too many people involved in the cheating and too many people affected for this crime to be swept away. It seems very unlikely that Rhee will remain untainted; rather it is likely she will be thoroughly disgraced. I hope I am being realistic.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right!
DeleteKeep an eye on the race card -- Beverly Hall and almost every Atlanta teacher indicted was black. See Bruce Dixon at Black Agrenda: Why Was Atlanta's Beverly Hall Indicted For Racketeering While Michelle Rhee Won't Be?
DeleteMaybe she will be waiting outside the door of whatever agency does any investigating with a giant roll of duct tape.
ReplyDeleteOr Arne and Barack.
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