Jersey jazzman dissects John Merrow’s report on the Case of the Missing Memo.
Why won’t DCPS release the memo?
What secret does it contain?
Will John Merrow keep digging?
How many doors closed on him when he asked questions about the cheating scandal?
How many people refused to talk to him?
Why?
Why did he not include any of this stonewalling in his documentary?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Someone, I wonder who that could be, either paid him and/or threatened him to write and edit a certain way. This is how it works now. As Rhee is sending out their siren song.
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It’s stunning. It really is. I’ve never seen anyone in public life—especially someone so young, who doesn’t even hold any sort of elective or appointive public office—be so protected and shielded from any sort of scrutiny or criticism.
Michelle Rhee is too important to too many people of power and influence. They’ve invested too much in her, directly and indirectly. They just “CAN’T” let her fail.
Why? Because at this point in time, Michelle Rhee has become the very symbol of “Education Reform”. The carefully crafted, mythological narrative that her and her backers all constructed together—culminating in “Waiting For Superman”, one of the most egregious propaganda films ever made—has been very potent.
But that carefully constructed—and very dubious—narrative is becoming increasingly fragile.
However, John Merrow appears to understand, at least to some extent, the inherent danger in probing too aggressively when it comes to Michelle Rhee. Everyone knows that Arnie Duncan “has her back”; Bill Gates “has her back”; even…Barack Obama “has her back”? (Maybe.)
Look what happened to Michael Winerip, the “former” education reporter for the “Paper of Record”. People are very aware of the power and the money behind Michelle Rhee and almost everyone is too intimidated to really do the investigation that is so clearly required here.
The ONLY ones who can stop Michelle Rhee are the same people who took her down in Washington DC: Parents and citizens. Only we “average Americans”, standing together, have the bravery and the focus to demand Rhee answer some vital questions.
And the time to ask those questions is now!
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If you guys are serious about the “citizens” part… It’s probably a good idea to recognize that not all of us have been hip deep in the Rhee saga for years.
And that the Frontline episode was an EXCELLENT PRIMER FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME.
I didn’t think it was soft at all. I think it was just enough information to get my attention.
(After all how can anyone expect to teach calculus to someone who just learned long division?????)
But what’s not going to keep it is when people seem to indicate that if I’m not a parent, and especially if I’m not a teacher, and I’m not in-the-know and I’m not willing to accuse PBS & all of being in the pockets of for-profit education… then what I say is worthless…
Well, what I see here is a marketing & advertising problem.
If you can’t do the marketing & advertising yourself. And you can’t pay for it. Then don’t knock the only mainstream media (PBS) who’s trying to reach people like me AT ALL about this topic.
(ORDINARY CITIZENS (with no school age children) WITH NO PERSONAL DIRECT LINK TO PUBLIC EDUCATION,,, who just had other issues very much directly effecting & didn’t know how crazy this had become…)
I may not have children, but I can vote. And I do regularly write to my representatives.
But I need a clear message that I can understand and relay.
Not dramatic criticisms.
Just a tip.
More information. Less complaints about the information not getting out.
START MORE BLOGS. And welcome the general public not in the education clique to express their opinions (even if they’re not 100% the same as a teacher’s might be), and get a chance to ask questions.
(Btw, I know I hit reply, because of your comment about “citizens”, but the rest of my thoughts expressed were in general, at the community here at large, and not at you individually FYI.)
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You are correct, many of us have utterly failed to get the word out to the greater community about what is happening in education.
Please understand that some of us teachers, like the frog in the heating up water, may have failed to notice the gathering attack on public schools until recently, some of us saw the warning lights early for various reasons, but either way we are the boots on the ground and most of us are angry, hurt, upset and see dire consequences ahead resulting form the destruction of the public school system.
In short, we are a bit stressed and cranky.
😉
At any rate, here are some talking points on Rhee with supporting links:
Please let people know why many public school teachers have a problem with Ms Rhee,
1. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about her students’ achievement as a TFA intern;
2. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about the alleged media attention she claimed on her resume;
3. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about the DCPS budget;
4. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about the reason(s) teachers were fired without due process under her watch;
5.She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about any and all educational research;
6. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about test scores under her watch (they went DOWN during her 3rd year after shrinking during her 2nd, after nearly two decades of steady increases. The more she “reformed” the worse the student’s performance, IF you accept test results as a measure. Look at the trends.);
7. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about cheating on these tests.
Now remember… SHE PERSONALLY BEEFITED for each of these misstatements, in fact, HER VERY IDENTITY as an “education expert” is her SACRED STORY based ENTIRELY on these falsehoods.
Rhee is a self promoting huckster….Not the savior of public education.
For support of all of these please see the following:
http://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/ http://www.thefrustratedteacher.com/search/label/michelle%20rhee http://www.rheefirst.com/ ]http://www.rheefirst.com/
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Ang,
Thank you for posting and for providing links.
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Thank you: we need your advice. We do a lot of preaching to the choir. But please also understand our position as teachers: we have to tread lightly when sharing our concerns about “rheeform” to parents because our jobs are on the line. My principal has already talked with me about the information I am sharing with my colleagues. Many of us are anonymous for good reason.
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This is what education has become. If you want to say educate people about Rhee you lose your job. This is real education, isn’t it? Teachers must be the proper clones or they must leave and we can have no dissenters in our ranks whether right or wrong.
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This is what Michelle Rhee has apparently been able to get away with—thus far:
1) A deceptive resume. Claiming “years” of experience as a public school teacher who met standard requirements for teaching for both the state and district.
2) A major cheating scandal—and a whitewash/cover-up to boot.
3) Publicly and stridently defending a husband with an extremely checkered past of his own—including very serious allegations of sexual misconduct with minors and misappropriation of federal funds.
4) Illegal firings and school closures. Beyond just “arbitrary” or “capricious” or “dictatorial”, there are several people who’ve argued that Rhee broke the law, on several occasions, while running the DC Schools…but, once again, no one had the fortitude and determination to go after her.
5) An outright refusal to reveal anything about the amount of money she’s making off of “Education Reform”. Rhee’s level of compensation for what she insists is sacrificial, selfless work—“all for the children”—is a complete mystery. You’d assume she knew enough to file a tax report. Why won’t she come clean with it?
Is Rhee implicitly acknowledging that there IS something to hide here? Is Rhee silently admitting that it would be an embarrassment for her to admit she’s been making well in excess of one million a year for the last few years? (Or is it over $2 million, as some have charged?)
Does Rhee think she can simply stonewall, and neither deliver—or even acknowledge—these looming issues?
However, I sense the tide is turning. People want to know what’s behind the public persona of Michelle Rhee, the “amusing” stories from “mouth taping” to “bee eating”; the “perfect mom” with young daughters living 2000 miles away; the “Democrat” who has spent the last two years forging very close, personal relationships with the most execrable conservatives around the country while pushing for “reform legislation” that is literally right out of the Koch Brother funded ALEC “education” file.
It’s up to us. Each one of us, to push past the fear and demand that the truth be told about Michelle Rhee.
Contact your congressional representatives. How much federal money—directly or indirectly—is Rhee receiving? Contact your state legislators. Contact your local school boards—in those places where Rhee and her cohorts haven’t taken them away from you. Contact your local, regional and national reporters. Talk to everyone—particularly other parents.
Let them all know who this person is and what she is getting away with in the name of “education reform”. It’s absolutely outrageous and WE are the ones who must end it.
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I was right – YOU need a blog. :o)
You need to go somewhere not hidden just in comments here.
And links. You need links that support these stories – so others can follow along and learn what you have.
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The research on her is quite easy. As usual everyone is lazy and does not do the simple work. It does not take much. She is a sham and is a front and nothing more than a puppet for the puppetmasters. Big money on the line and lots of power and control of young minds with exposing them to their ideology and training to be automatons.
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That’s not true. The union just assures that they get due process, that they don’t get railroaded. Unless you assume that all teachers are always guilty because, well, they are teachers and the accusers and administrators are always perfect and without fault. You really sound like an anti-union troll.
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Joe—if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, squawks like a duck, struts around like an arrogant duck, sneers and smears like an edubully duck…
Chances are it’s a duck. And not one that casts the best light on the species.
Just sayin’…
🙂
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Because Terry F is. Check all the posts…all the same anti-union blabber. Nothing of importance.
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Rhee bears responsibility for the conditions and conduct of the district under her tenure. Just as she said when she was firing the principle, this falls on your shoulders, or something to that effect.
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Surely that must depend on a case by case basis.
Unions, of course, it’s their job to make sure teachers don’t just get fired willy-nilly on a whim or for an inappropriate reason.
And of course there are some places where unions may wind up causing what you’re describing.
But I think too often in recent times… it’s like people forget. Just like anything else. Just like some government officials can be corrupt, some people can be corrupt, some business people can be corrupt… yes, some union officials can be corrupt. But it seems like lately, when it comes to unions, just one case gives people the feeling they can and should paint all unions & everyone in unions, with the same brush. The problem isn’t with unions. The problem is that people are people, and sometimes crappy ones get power, and sometimes crappy people get away with crap.
We don’t paint the U.S. Presidency as useless and terrible just because of Nixon.
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And Terry F … Your argument is? Seems you’ve backed yourself into a corner.
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Vete al diablo, mi hijita/o
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Sigh
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