Educators and school boards in Tennessee continue to express their opposition to State Commissioner Keven Huffman’s policies and autocratic style of leadership.
The Marshall County board of education sent a letter of protest against Huffman to the governor and general assembly.
The linked article says:
““We want Marshall to be number one in the state, but we have to have time to do that,” Marshall County Director of Schools Jackie Abernathy said. “Rigor is not always more.”
“The resolution comes on the heels of a letter signed by 40 percent of the leaders of the 138 school districts in the state that publicly criticizes Huffman and his reform policies. Among those to sign the letter, are Williamson County Schools leader Mike Looney, Franklin Special School District Director David Snowden and Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Jesse Register.
“Tullahoma City Schools Superintendent Dan Lawson penned the letter, and a copy was emailed to the governor and members of the Tennessee legislature.
“Marshall County is about 50 miles south of Nashville and serves about 5,300 students. Nearly 80 percent of students there are on federal free and reduced-price meal programs, and they are in need of pre-kindergarten and career and technical programs, she said.”
Huffman has managed to alienate many of those he is supposed to lead. Perhaps it is his inexperience. He taught for a few years in Teach for America but was never a principal or superintendent.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The well-documented TFA ideology of arrogance + ignorance implanted into the common core of Huffman’s inexperience is a fail-proof recipe for the disaster currently being visited upon Tennessee. Tragic!
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Kathyirwin, “Arrogance + Ignorance” is an apt description of federal policy today.
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Diane,
I went into my local Barnes and Noble today and your book was front and center on display.
I just bought my fifth copy for a friend I am meeting for dinner tonight.
I spoke to the manager and thanked him for having this book in a prominent location. I told him he would sell out soon, so order more.
Love to you!
And Huffman, throw the bum out.
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What does it take to get rid of this joker, Michelle Rhee’s former husband who has custody of their children? How can you lead when you do not have the confidence of those you are supposed to lead? This is impossible so it is nothing other than an ideological game for power and money to be stolen from our public school system as usual directed now by Obama and Duncan under the orders of the billionaires who own them lock, stock and barrel.
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Yes, George, think of the gene pool of Rhee and Huffman. Poor kids seem doomed to lack of empathy, greed, and poor decisions.
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Huffman demonstrates narcissistic characteristics as he views students and teachers from his “perch.” Very similar to the behavior of Rhee –
Huffman needs to resign like his BFF, Tony Bennett. Tennessee parents need an investigative reporter like Tom LoBianco.
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BFF???
Boy Friend Fool???
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What does BFF mean?
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For the kids: best friend forever
For us: best friend fell
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It’s text talk for best friends forever. Anyone under 35 instantly understands bff
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JCG,
Well ain’t seen the underside of 35 in almost a quarter century. Not to mention I don’t have a cell phone.
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To JCGrim– I’m over 35 and I “instantly understood” what BFF meant. Ahem.
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Knowing portable device lingo says how comtemporary you are but not how overall intellgent and critically thinking you are. . . .
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“Knowing portable device lingo says how comtemporary you are but not how overall intellgent and critically thinking you are. . . .”
Absolutely, Robert. I only know this because my kids used it. They’re all older now. Sigh.
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kathyirwin1 & dianerav: Mark Twain put it a bit differently but made the same point:
“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”
Linda: I am hoping to buy my fifth copy today at my local Barnes & Noble.
And Michelle’s RADICAL just sits on their bookshelf next to REIGN OF ERROR, all forlorn and forgotten and dusty.
Am I just making this up?
Diane Ravitch, REIGN OF ERROR (hardcover), accessed 10:40 AM PST, 9-28-13:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#1 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy
#1 in Books > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Reform & Policy
#1 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Children’s Studies
Michelle Rhee, RADICAL (hardcover), accessed 10:43 AM PST, 9-28-13:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#32 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Educators
#84 in Books > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Philosophy & Social Aspects
#95 in Books > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Reform & Policy
Let me make a wild guess here: for you folks who believe in the infallibity of the High Holy Church of Testolatry and its Sacred EduMetrics, you can’t possibly disagree with one of your most revered theologians, Dr. Steve Perry:
“Men lie and women lie but numbers don’t.”
Sorry, too late to move the goal posts.
🙂
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I only saw one Rheeject book a few months ago.
I peeled off the 50% off sticker and stuck it on her face.
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Mean and brilliant!
I would have put her in the clearance aisle or maybe sell the individual pages on Etsy as trendy “modernist literary deconstructivist toilet paper”. . . . Rhee is worth at least that much . . .
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Linda, hahahha! You are my bff. When I see Rhee’s book on display I turn it over so the back is facing forward. Or, I pretend to read another book & return it on top of hers.
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“Sorry, too late to move the goal posts”
Hopefully, we’re getting closer to the “tearing down the goal posts” time. And lugging them to our favorite watering hole to celebrate a victory.
Still the high priest and priestesses of the HHCT SEM branch are conjuring all sorts of incantations and spells in an attempt to delay the inevitable crash of the Potemking SEM temple built with cards on an ever shifting foundation of sand.
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Duane…love the literary allusions. Especially Potemkin.
Makes you wonder at the TFA guidelines for acceptance into their society when Rhee and Huffman, cut from the same cloth, are their ill-trained, overbearing and arrogant, and profit-motivated grads. Hate to think about their mixed gene pool and the direction their offspring will take.
However, must give a plug to the best of TFA from the first class of 20 years ago…..Alex Caputo-Pearl, who teaches history in LA and is running to head UTLA. He is golden as a dedicated teacher, progressive union leader, and all around great guy.
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What is HHCT SEM?
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See KTA’s post five lines from the bottom.
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Gracias, amigo mio . . .
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Well, this is a start, but it will take more than a handful of Boards of Education and a minority of superintendents to turn this incredible tide against public schools in Tennessee. Still, I remain hopeful. This is going to take political muscle power the likes of which have not been seen in Tennessee for a long time. Who will run against Haslam and be able to win? Who will make education a real priority and give Tennesseans the right message and direction?
Huffman will eventually leave for greener (as in money) pastures. He will declare victory. Which of these will be his victory statement:
1) I moved these three data points in a positive direction, so education in Tennessee has been transformed
OR
2) I changed schools by increasing opportunities in the arts, P.E., civics and social education, and funding for schools in the state. I created a cadre at the State Department of Education that has depth so that they can support and assist districts’ INDIVIDUAL NEEDS, as each district has different growing points.
You tell me which will be the legacy of Huffman.
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While I don’t live in TN, here in PA we are dealing with a similar uphill battle. I changed my voter registration to the Green Party. I refuse to participate in the manufactured consent of a democracy that the current duopoly charades. I will be participating in the local and national level Green Party and suggesting to everyone to switch asap. Get the money out of politics and education policy before it is too late for my children.
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Huffman was grilled by the TN Senate Education Committee about the CCSS and a tenacious Momma Bear managed to grab one of the few seats left in the room filled with CCSS lobbyists and SCORE. (I know, SCORE & lobby are redundant.) Even non-expert, know-it-all Mike Petrilli flew in to cover Huffman’s back. He offered up the same bromides of rigor & competition & achievement gap-filling magic packaged in the CCSS marketing.
Huffman was clearly feeling the heat of his hubris ‘casue he’s made the good ole boys upset. These legislators must be getting some serious heat from the locals and if Huffman is still on his throne in Jan when the lege is back in session, I think they may curb some of his & the TN school board’s power. It’s clear that the members of the committee are especially suspicious of the federal govt data mining kids info.
Mamma Bear blogged about it here: http://www.mommabears.org/blog.html
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Remember this, ““As you grow up in this world you realize that people really don’t give a shit about what you feel or what you think… it is rare in a working environment that someone says, ‘Johnson I need a market analysis by Friday but before that I need a compelling account of your childhood.’ That is rare”
I call it absurd histrionics that is only possible with the dangerous combination of ignorance and arrogance.
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Just to add the essence of ignorance and arrogance=
According to the dictionary…
Histrionic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people act in a very emotional and dramatic way that draws attention to themselves.
Oh, I thought the attention was for the children???
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To Mr. Coleman, may we point out to him, the vast majority of us really don’t……………… Nor should we! He and his ilk may soon care about what a whole bunch of us think; about him and his bosses. Be militant, protest loudly. What can they take? Your job? It is time for us tenured old farts to help push these people over the edge, a few more years won’t add enough to my pension for me to worry about, and I can keep the respect of my children and my dignity. I love watching my school board cringe every time I show up for a meeting to ask them how their “reform” program is working since our turnaround schools haven’t. My young son attends school in a different district so I get to be a real pain there, he also does not take tests. My son tells them his name is Nate, he isn’t a number, and his teacher knows what he needs to learn. This fight will be long, but people like Huffman are wearing out their welcome, let’s send them packing.
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Watch for these folks in Tennessee; Bill and Emily Hassell at an August conference brought the model in along with others ; they would put a teacher in charge of a room full of computers and then justify her salary by the number of students at the computers. They call it “Opportunity Culture”
quote ” using new school models that extend excellent teachers’ reach makes achieving this new vision possible.”
It was offered at a collaborative type forum and Bill Frist evidently opened it up as keynote or something. I will look through the agenda for the Tennessee conference to locate other models that were presented as “the way to go” of college and career etc. etc. you know the lingo
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When they start saying they can make learning individualized, personalized, customized, watch out. That means they want to put your child in front of a computer without a teacher.
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Speaking of Huffman and his two years as a (long term substitute) teacher, did anybody see the TFA Happy Hour? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4tOuRpV46U&feature=youtu.be
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Who allowed TFA to use public school space and resources to promote drinking? Tennessee parents need to file an open records request to find out if these “teachers” were on school time when the video was made. Parents need to know the locations of the public school classrooms used to make the happy hour video.
Register complaints with the state legislators.
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