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Condi Rice: Rhee Departure 'Sad Day' for Schoolchildren
Newsmax ^ | 10/13/10

Posted on 10/13/2010 2:14:54 PM PDT by truthandlife

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice staunchly defended outgoing Washington, D.C., chancellor of schools Michelle Rhee on Wednesday morning, saying her departure in the face of union-motivated political attacks marks "a sad day" for school children in the nation's capital.

During her controversial tenure as head of Washington's school system, Rhee shook up entrenched bureaucratic interests. Fox News reports she closed 24 schools and let go 98 central office employees.

michelle,rhee,condi,rice,fenty,teachers,union,resignation,mayor,race,waiting,for,supermanHer reforms helped boost students' test scores, and narrowed the gap between white and African-American students. But it also earned her the enmity of the teachers' unions, which reportedly spent over $1 million in the city's recent mayoral campaign in an effort to have her ousted.

When City Council chairman Vincent Gray defeated Mayor Adrian Fenty in the Democratic primary for mayor in September, Rhee's days were widely believed to be numbered.

In fact Rhee blamed her pro-student activism for the defeat of Fenty, who never wavered in his support for her aggressive education overhaul.

Rhee had been hailed as a "superstar" of U.S. education reform. Her fate will be noticed by education reformers nationwide, given her efforts to weed under-performing teachers out of the school system.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: dc; hero; rhee; schools
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1 posted on 10/13/2010 2:15:02 PM PDT by truthandlife
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To: truthandlife

2 posted on 10/13/2010 2:15:53 PM PDT by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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To: truthandlife

Keeping BLACKS on the plantation....


3 posted on 10/13/2010 2:19:49 PM PDT by Hojczyk
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To: truthandlife
Having voluntered my time to some DC Schools, I can tell you that they are really bad. The schools were falling apart and most teachers just did not care. I am not familiar with Rhee but anyone who is willing to shake things up there I would support.
4 posted on 10/13/2010 2:22:50 PM PDT by HOYA97 (twitter @hoya97)
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To: truthandlife
Keeping the public schools in chaos has worked well for the ‘Rats for decades. They aren't about to let anything stop it now.
5 posted on 10/13/2010 2:22:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This post is not a statement of fact. It is merely a personal opinion -- or humor -- or both.)
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To: truthandlife
I recall an interview with this woman shortly after she assumed office. She admitted with disgust that when she took over, no one could even tell her how many employees the system had. Grotesque illustration of metastasized unionism.

She wanted to clean up the mess and haul out the trash. Naturally the trash fought back and apparently, have won.

6 posted on 10/13/2010 2:24:02 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: truthandlife
To avoid reducing graduation rates, Rhee laid off 388 school system employees -- including 229 teachers.

...and, student test scores improved. Of course the unions can't stand her.

7 posted on 10/13/2010 2:24:17 PM PDT by blueplum
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To: truthandlife

The simple fact that she has been as successful as she was, and the fact that the unions oppose her, prove that the unions no matter what they blather about don’t give a damn about true education.


8 posted on 10/13/2010 2:25:03 PM PDT by djf (OK, so you got milk. Got Tula???)
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To: truthandlife

Nice witch shoes...


9 posted on 10/13/2010 2:25:51 PM PDT by rahbert
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To: truthandlife

In the event of an all-out nuclear war, the only survivors to emerge will be cockroaches and the teachers’ unions.


10 posted on 10/13/2010 2:26:42 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: truthandlife
She was on PBS Newshour a couple of times and obviously excellent for the job, she had to go, the unions would have nothing to do with raises based on merit.
11 posted on 10/13/2010 2:29:48 PM PDT by Jolla
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To: BenLurkin

Don’t let anyone try to convince you that the Dems are proponents of ‘education’.
This is further proof that they practice ‘indoctrination’.


12 posted on 10/13/2010 2:30:08 PM PDT by griswold3 ('Regulation and law without enforcement is no law at all)
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To: hinckley buzzard
Naturally the trash fought back and apparently, have won.

No, not necessarily. Her policies are still in place and that is why the teacher unions are so mad. She has done her job there. She will go onto bigger things and make a big impact on a national scale on student's educations. The teacher unions should be very afraid in the future....

13 posted on 10/13/2010 2:31:38 PM PDT by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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To: hinckley buzzard
If you haven't seen the movie Waiting for "Superman", go see it! It started playing in select theaters on October 1st. A must see and Rhee is in it.
14 posted on 10/13/2010 2:35:36 PM PDT by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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To: truthandlife

Disband teacher unions!


15 posted on 10/13/2010 2:40:26 PM PDT by databoss
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To: truthandlife
This is typical, sadly. Old time DC sees government, especially the school system as a "jobs" program for the unemployable. Fenty didn't subscribe to this patronage system, and what was more, he didn't bother to appeal to it. Rhee was the highest profile example of people he brought in to do something about it.

Needless to say, the old guard in DC (re: People who thought Marion Barry was a good guy), backed Grey and the new incoming Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, is liked by the usual suspects, that being the unions, and the former members of the school board. Also, race, I hate to say it, was a factor. Many in the old guard weren't happy Fenty chose a lot of Whites and Asians to run things...they felt they were losing their "chocolate city". I've seen a lot of writing to that effect on local blogs.

Sadly, the "joke" will be on the children of DC. It will also be on DC as a whole, as the folks that moved into DC on faith that a corner had been turned? They're gonna leave.

16 posted on 10/13/2010 2:42:43 PM PDT by Braak (The US Military, the real arms inspectors!)
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To: truthandlife

Was it just two weeks ago that Obamao took a slam at the D.C. schools. Not good enough for his daughters.

This was an attack on Fenty and Rhee.


17 posted on 10/13/2010 2:43:39 PM PDT by Carley (For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.)
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To: truthandlife
Her reforms helped boost students' test scores, and narrowed the gap between white and African-American students.

Can't have that. An entire race of perpetual victims is essential to collectivist/progressive goals. If public schools start to raise everyone up to a certain standard as opposed to tearing them all down to the lowest common denominator, "progressivism" fails.

18 posted on 10/13/2010 2:44:36 PM PDT by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: truthandlife

This was just the other shoe dropping after the rat scum did away with the charter schools in DC.


19 posted on 10/13/2010 2:54:31 PM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: Jolla
Good story on what she did. This is a CBS News story back in 2008 ( D.C. Schools Face Overhaul)
20 posted on 10/13/2010 3:05:31 PM PDT by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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