Public Education as Michelle Rhee Resigns

Public education lost a leader on October 13 as Michelle Rhee resigned as the Washington, D.C. School Chancellor. Rhee's resignation came weeks after her appointer, Mayor Adrian Fenty, lost his Democratic primary. In an interview with NPR following her announcement, Rhee stated "as Chairman Gray and I announced yesterday, we've made the mutual decision that it makes sense for me to step aside. And I do think that is in the best interest of the city, for him to be able to have his own team." At this time, Rhee's team will remain working for D.C.'s public education system, but Rhee, often seen as the bull in public education, will not be working with the new mayor. Fenty was an avid supporter of Rhee, and the ending to this part of his political career is probably directly related to Rhee's controversial actions.

Not all educators and parents involved in the D.C. public education system championed Rhee as the movie "Waiting for Superman" or Fenty did. Many questioned her leadership style. Rhee was quick to dismiss teachers if they did not show improvement, but was also quick to pay them well if they did. She fired her own daughter's principal and numerous other administrators. She helped create IMPACT, a controversial teacher evaluation method. What Rhee often dreamed for public education was that angry adults in large numbers would push for change, but she dismissed the notion when the crowd came after her.

Rhee's resignation could signal the return to status quo, which was failing schools in D.C. Her team remains behind, but fearing for their jobs, may follow the new leadership quickly. Some see this as a 'win' for teacher unions, as Rhee outspokenly aired her beliefs that they are often part of the problem in public education. Others fear that with Rhee, the education reform movement exits as well. The movement is gaining momentum, and Rhee's resignation cannot be a halt.

Rhee brought forth a business-like mentality to the public education sector. If administrators or teachers did not produce results, she terminated them. She had a strict and hard approach to modernizing public education. She made parents, educators and politicians angry with her tactics. Rhee hopes that the Washington, DC area is able "to learn from the mistakes that we made, learn from the course corrections and then also take the positive things that we did that went very well and use those moving forward, also." Even in their anger toward her, D.C. residents should follow Rhee's final ideas. Ignoring the three and a half years Rhee held office because of her divisive leadership style is unwise, and exactly the backward movement public education too often sees, and does not need.

Photo Credit: Flickr