SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee were married over the weekend in a private ceremony in Tennessee.
The wedding came almost a year to the day after the couple's originally scheduled wedding date. Johnson's office announced Tuesday that the ceremony was held Saturday at Blackberry Farm near Knoxville.
The problem is a three way street. Yes the ADMINISTRATION has failed. There is a lack of structure for the most part. Many of them do not care about the kids and are more concerned about tenure, greener pastures, blah, blah, blah. The PARENTS don't even know who is standing guard over their children's futures. How about meeting with the teachers and being involved in your child's life? The CHILDREN recognize that they can get away with unruly behavior and suffer no consequence.
Look at all these adults complaining about her personaility like they are in high school. That's the problem with most american's we care more about our feelings than the education of our children. Very dissappointed by the responses I see. She's a know it all, she's smug lol this isn't a reality tv eposide it's a person in charge of making sure the person in front of your child is competent. Drill instructiors are assholes but they sure do a great job preparing people for war.
Lots of Asian countries have tests for kids to pass in order to go to high school. If kids know that it's a privilege instead of a right to go to high school, you bet they would try so much harder than they are now. So instead of placing all the responsibilities on the teachers, it's time for America to place responbility on kids. That's what will make a difference.
When you fired 1000 teachers, did you inadvertantly sabotage a thousand families and therefore create that amount of problem kids indirectly? Think from a whole picture point of vew instead of from your own ego-driven and hidden agenda.
@TheRyuya123 Obviously, this is the talk of a union propagandist. You're the one who's not looking at the whole picture.1. Those teachers wouldn't of had to be fired it they were doing their jobs right, which they obviously weren't. 2. There are new teachers graduating and joining education everyday, because education is one of the fastest growing job markets, and we need teachers to compete, or education will stagnate. 3. Who cares about her so-called ego? The fact is, she's right.
For social empowerment messages, educational quotes and inspiring proverbs, Follow Philadelphia Education Reform Advocate Flood the Drummer on Twitter @floodthedrummer. Check out Flood the Drummer's new video "TRX Cymbal Bells Ring, School Reform is in Session.
In the WAITING FOR SUPERMAN movie, Geoffrey Canada states, " I actually know how hard it is to be a GOOD teacher. It took me 3 years to become a DECENT teacher, BEFORE I really LEARNED my CRAFT. And then in about 5 years, I was a MASTER teacher."
Ironically, 50% of NEW teachers QUIT within 5 years.
Inner-city schools are innundated with NEW teachers, because once a teacher gains EXPERIENCE, she moves to a school in the suburbs. Schools where the kids actually listen to the teacher.
the "good, little children" would all go to the LIBRARY to STUDY and do their HOMEWORK!
They would also drink their milk and eat all their vegetables!
I'm still waiting for the T.V. reality show where Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, Davis Guggenheim, et al. attempt to teach Remedial Math at a junior high in the inner-city!
Having see Rhee lecture in person a few times, I can see why people in DC approved of the job she did, but not of her. She deserves a medal for her obvious dedication and efforts...and also a slap across the chops for being a total b***h about it. She is one of the most obnoxiously smug and rude people I have ever seen. For someone who cares so much about education, she could stand a few lessons in bedside manners.
@dkupke As a parent and aspiring teacher it pisses me off that we rank so low on an international scale and at the righeous attitude teachers with tenure adopt. If you are doing your job there is nothing to be afraid of, so why all of this opposition to being evaluated based on your performance (like on every other job in America)? So like Michelle says this is about the children and certainly not about stroking adult's egos or not ruffling feathers. Good for her!
@majica26 Don't get me wrong-I feel very strongly about education, and I applaud Rhee's obvious dedication and the genuine results. But I find her personality insufferable, because she is every bit as self righteous as those teachers you describe. I think its easy to applaud her from a distance, but I can only imagine how unpleasant she must have been for some of those parents and teachers to deal with.
@majica26 I actually agree with much of what she says, and I admire her obvious dedication-and you obviously can't argue with the results. But I feel like she, in particular, is becoming a prima dona, and I think the media coverage of her is very slanted. And I also think its easy for us to applaud her obvious toughness and blunt approach when we are not the ones who have to deal with it in person. And I've just never been able to stand a know it all, and she came across as one when I saw her
@dkupke If you had to deal with some of the children and parents in the school system that berate you and make your life a living hell, you'd become a bitch, too. The door swings both ways.
@DarthVengent I admire her passion about education a lot, I honestly wish more teachers showed her obvious convictions on the matter. But I just find her personality hard to swallow; there is a difference between the two. I've always believed there is no excuse for rude behavior under any circumstances, and I doubt she would be as graceful if she were treated the way she is alleged to have treated others in her time.
I would like to inform you of a job opening at McGavock High School in Nashville Tennessee.
An Algebra teacher, Mr.Donald Wood recently was let go . . . Perhaps, this is your opportunity to prove that you are just not an arm-chair quarterback. I want to see you do it! 3 months! That is all!
Hey, if you think you're qualified to evaluate teachers, then, you should be able to teach, right?
Get'em Michelle! You're doing a WONDERFUL job and I don't give a flip if youtube and gay google don't ever rate my comments with 10+ thumbs up. Liberals and labor union bosses can't stand discipline..but somehow it's okay to impose liberal social agendas and pop culture on our kids instead of actually teaching them how to be a real man and a real woman. Good unbelievably 'frickin' job Michelle! God is good all the time! I wonder how many hate comments I'll get for saying all of this...
Would you BLAME a police officer working in a high crime area?
Do you think a POLICE OFFICER working in Oakland, Compton, Watts, or East L.A. has the SAME LEVEL of STRESS and PRESSURE, as cop in Beverly Hills?
Do you think WALKING along RODEO DRIVE is EQUAL to WALKING ALONG 54TH AND CRENSHAW?
A policeman friend of mine went to his wife's Back-to-School-Night. Imagine his surprise when he realized he had PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED half of the parents in attendance!
@MsJanetWood ~ The area is bad, the parents suck, and so we pass the buck and leave the kids hanging high and dry? Any teacher who wants, thinks they deserve, and will get a classroom of willing participants should NOT teach. Teaching is not for the faint of heart.
Thank God this person in charge of DC's schools is female and asian as opposed to any gender 'White'. The fired teachers & media are unable to call her a racist (which I don't believe she is) & it must be driving them nuts!! I can imagine the racial slander names that the fired teachers are calling Michelle but they of course are allowed to use racist epithets.
There has to be a whole paradigm shift throughout society, not just in the school system. Try teaching in a low socio-economic classroom! Resources are almost non-existent because parents are too ignorant, stupid and poor to raise the money. The students are depressed, abused and they have serious inferiority complexes! I agree that there are many teachers that are incompetent, however, a mass education system will never have parity! It is impossible! There are too many of us and
@Misanthrope1121 What resources, exactly, are required for offering students a good education outside of providing qualified, hard working, and non-apathetic teachers (which we sorely lack)? If I recall, the very reason that we even HAVE a public school system is because most parents were in fact, historically, unable to provide their own children with a formal education. How is it any different for public schools to offer an education to those who otherwise would have no access now?
@Misanthrope1121 I hope you are not an educator. Calling parents 'stupid, poor, and too ignorant to raise money for the school' is not only crude but citing this as the reason teachers are failing to effectively teach children is mind blowing and quite frankly garbage.
I agree with her 95% concerning her stance, however as a former teacher myself, I highly doubt that all of the 241 teachers that were fired were properly professionally developed. This profession has many facets to it which make it very difficult for teachers to function well, from LONG hours, no clear mental space to dedicate their lives to other interests (that is if you really CARE about the children you teach) TERRIBLE pay, and and often times unsympathetic and treacherous administration.
@simone56 PART 2 - I'm telling you as a Math major and someone who truly cared about every child under my tutelage, you couldn't PAY ME to teach in the school systems again. If you have a child in the public school system, you would be better off homeschooling them. The two years I taught were a NIGHTMARE. Teachers are expected to perform with little to no training (I was a New York City Teaching Fellow) and evaluated on the most RIDICULOUS of standards. If you aren't willing to invest the time
@simone56 PART 3 - in teachers, either professionally, financially, and personally, then you WILL lose qualified ones. The ones with tenure for the most part are set and could care LESS about your children.
Did you read between the lines? They are CUTTING THE BUDGETS FOR EDUCATION! These are your children they are taking money away from, so teachers are forced to do MORE with LESS, but expected to perform BETTER? This system is stacked against good teachers, and most leave for other careers.
A lot of Big City Mayors could learn from what Mayor Adrian Fenty & Chancellor Michelle Rhee are doing in Washington as far a reforming Government including in Education. Mayor Tony Williams brought accountability to the Washington Government in the late 90's & 2000's & now Adrian Fenty & Michelle Rhee have done the same thing with the Education System. Teachers like all other Government Employees should be paid for the work they not by the time they put in & be able to keep their job by that.
They just want to get rid of all the older, experienced, but expensive teachers and replace them with cheaper, albeit clueless younger teachers!
"By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest;
and third by experience, which is the bitterest."
Confucius
MsJanetWood 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee were married over the weekend in a private ceremony in Tennessee.
The wedding came almost a year to the day after the couple's originally scheduled wedding date. Johnson's office announced Tuesday that the ceremony was held Saturday at Blackberry Farm near Knoxville.
matterh1 5 months ago
The problem is a three way street. Yes the ADMINISTRATION has failed. There is a lack of structure for the most part. Many of them do not care about the kids and are more concerned about tenure, greener pastures, blah, blah, blah. The PARENTS don't even know who is standing guard over their children's futures. How about meeting with the teachers and being involved in your child's life? The CHILDREN recognize that they can get away with unruly behavior and suffer no consequence.
downtimesj3000 6 months ago
Look at all these adults complaining about her personaility like they are in high school. That's the problem with most american's we care more about our feelings than the education of our children. Very dissappointed by the responses I see. She's a know it all, she's smug lol this isn't a reality tv eposide it's a person in charge of making sure the person in front of your child is competent. Drill instructiors are assholes but they sure do a great job preparing people for war.
mikelte 8 months ago
Lots of Asian countries have tests for kids to pass in order to go to high school. If kids know that it's a privilege instead of a right to go to high school, you bet they would try so much harder than they are now. So instead of placing all the responsibilities on the teachers, it's time for America to place responbility on kids. That's what will make a difference.
TheRyuya123 10 months ago 4
@TheRyuya123 The problem is most Blacks & Latinos do not value education like Asians.
UCSDEngineerDoctor 5 months ago
When you fired 1000 teachers, did you inadvertantly sabotage a thousand families and therefore create that amount of problem kids indirectly? Think from a whole picture point of vew instead of from your own ego-driven and hidden agenda.
TheRyuya123 10 months ago
@TheRyuya123 Obviously, this is the talk of a union propagandist. You're the one who's not looking at the whole picture.1. Those teachers wouldn't of had to be fired it they were doing their jobs right, which they obviously weren't. 2. There are new teachers graduating and joining education everyday, because education is one of the fastest growing job markets, and we need teachers to compete, or education will stagnate. 3. Who cares about her so-called ego? The fact is, she's right.
DarthVengent 3 months ago
A smug b*^#ch and now a test cheater. Goodbye Queen Rhee
mysummer43 10 months ago
@mysummer43 fire all the union scum teachers a bunch of ignorant trash
biggerturtle 10 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
For social empowerment messages, educational quotes and inspiring proverbs, Follow Philadelphia Education Reform Advocate Flood the Drummer on Twitter @floodthedrummer. Check out Flood the Drummer's new video "TRX Cymbal Bells Ring, School Reform is in Session.
FloodTheDrummer 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
In the WAITING FOR SUPERMAN movie, Geoffrey Canada states, " I actually know how hard it is to be a GOOD teacher. It took me 3 years to become a DECENT teacher, BEFORE I really LEARNED my CRAFT. And then in about 5 years, I was a MASTER teacher."
Ironically, 50% of NEW teachers QUIT within 5 years.
Inner-city schools are innundated with NEW teachers, because once a teacher gains EXPERIENCE, she moves to a school in the suburbs. Schools where the kids actually listen to the teacher.
MsJanetWood 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
If it weren't for the "evil teachers' unions",
the "good, little children" would all go to the LIBRARY to STUDY and do their HOMEWORK!
They would also drink their milk and eat all their vegetables!
I'm still waiting for the T.V. reality show where Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, Davis Guggenheim, et al. attempt to teach Remedial Math at a junior high in the inner-city!
Ha!
MsJanetWood 1 year ago
Having see Rhee lecture in person a few times, I can see why people in DC approved of the job she did, but not of her. She deserves a medal for her obvious dedication and efforts...and also a slap across the chops for being a total b***h about it. She is one of the most obnoxiously smug and rude people I have ever seen. For someone who cares so much about education, she could stand a few lessons in bedside manners.
dkupke 1 year ago
@dkupke As a parent and aspiring teacher it pisses me off that we rank so low on an international scale and at the righeous attitude teachers with tenure adopt. If you are doing your job there is nothing to be afraid of, so why all of this opposition to being evaluated based on your performance (like on every other job in America)? So like Michelle says this is about the children and certainly not about stroking adult's egos or not ruffling feathers. Good for her!
majica26 1 year ago
@majica26 Don't get me wrong-I feel very strongly about education, and I applaud Rhee's obvious dedication and the genuine results. But I find her personality insufferable, because she is every bit as self righteous as those teachers you describe. I think its easy to applaud her from a distance, but I can only imagine how unpleasant she must have been for some of those parents and teachers to deal with.
dkupke 1 year ago
@dkupke FUCK YOU FUCK THE UNIONS D.C. is full of INCOMPETENT LAZY SCUM ERASE THEM ALL
biggerturtle 10 months ago
@majica26 I actually agree with much of what she says, and I admire her obvious dedication-and you obviously can't argue with the results. But I feel like she, in particular, is becoming a prima dona, and I think the media coverage of her is very slanted. And I also think its easy for us to applaud her obvious toughness and blunt approach when we are not the ones who have to deal with it in person. And I've just never been able to stand a know it all, and she came across as one when I saw her
dkupke 10 months ago
@dkupke If you had to deal with some of the children and parents in the school system that berate you and make your life a living hell, you'd become a bitch, too. The door swings both ways.
DarthVengent 3 months ago
@DarthVengent I admire her passion about education a lot, I honestly wish more teachers showed her obvious convictions on the matter. But I just find her personality hard to swallow; there is a difference between the two. I've always believed there is no excuse for rude behavior under any circumstances, and I doubt she would be as graceful if she were treated the way she is alleged to have treated others in her time.
dkupke 3 months ago
Michelle Rhee claims that she took 90% of her students from the 13th percentile to the 90th percentile or above in less than 2 years!
Isn’t that statistically impossible? “Normal Distribution”? “Bell Curve”?
Why hasn’t anyone interviewed her former students? Or their parents? Or her former principal? Or her former co-workers? Her fellow teachers?
I’m sure they all will have plenty to say about those scores!
Where's the proof of her academic success?
MsJanetWood 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Why hasn't anyone interviewed Michelle Rhee's former students? Ask them what kind of teacher she was?
HBO documentary: "Hard Times at Douglass High."
Suggested Reading:
"Bad Students, Not Bad Schools” by Robert Weissberg
"The Dumbest Generation” by Mark Bauerlein
MsJanetWood 1 year ago 2
Who's going fire the dead-beat parents?
mom22many09 1 year ago 6
This has been flagged as spam show
Dear Ms. Michelle Rhee,
I would like to inform you of a job opening at McGavock High School in Nashville Tennessee.
An Algebra teacher, Mr.Donald Wood recently was let go . . . Perhaps, this is your opportunity to prove that you are just not an arm-chair quarterback. I want to see you do it! 3 months! That is all!
Hey, if you think you're qualified to evaluate teachers, then, you should be able to teach, right?
Sincerely yours,
Ms. Janet Wood
(no relation to Mr. Donald Wood)
MsJanetWood 1 year ago
Get'em Michelle! You're doing a WONDERFUL job and I don't give a flip if youtube and gay google don't ever rate my comments with 10+ thumbs up. Liberals and labor union bosses can't stand discipline..but somehow it's okay to impose liberal social agendas and pop culture on our kids instead of actually teaching them how to be a real man and a real woman. Good unbelievably 'frickin' job Michelle! God is good all the time! I wonder how many hate comments I'll get for saying all of this...
mrjames84 1 year ago
Would you BLAME a police officer working in a high crime area?
Do you think a POLICE OFFICER working in Oakland, Compton, Watts, or East L.A. has the SAME LEVEL of STRESS and PRESSURE, as cop in Beverly Hills?
Do you think WALKING along RODEO DRIVE is EQUAL to WALKING ALONG 54TH AND CRENSHAW?
A policeman friend of mine went to his wife's Back-to-School-Night. Imagine his surprise when he realized he had PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED half of the parents in attendance!
MsJanetWood 1 year ago
@MsJanetWood ~ The area is bad, the parents suck, and so we pass the buck and leave the kids hanging high and dry? Any teacher who wants, thinks they deserve, and will get a classroom of willing participants should NOT teach. Teaching is not for the faint of heart.
majica26 1 year ago
Guess who is behind Rhee in DC?
Maybe this is how Rhee was able to move
against the pervasive intrenched dead wood
in the DC school system. They think they can
out last or threaten her. I think Obama & Michele
Obama plus Michele Rhee will overcome
even Randi Wintergarten for the first
time in anyones memory.
danger0usknowledge 1 year ago
Thank God this person in charge of DC's schools is female and asian as opposed to any gender 'White'. The fired teachers & media are unable to call her a racist (which I don't believe she is) & it must be driving them nuts!! I can imagine the racial slander names that the fired teachers are calling Michelle but they of course are allowed to use racist epithets.
rleary1 1 year ago
Michelle Rhee is a very smart and sexy woman who obviously cares about American children. I hope she does a vid in some yoga-tights...
jimp4love 1 year ago
Rhee for President
jackofclubz 1 year ago 2
too many variables to accommodate!
Misanthrope1121 1 year ago
There has to be a whole paradigm shift throughout society, not just in the school system. Try teaching in a low socio-economic classroom! Resources are almost non-existent because parents are too ignorant, stupid and poor to raise the money. The students are depressed, abused and they have serious inferiority complexes! I agree that there are many teachers that are incompetent, however, a mass education system will never have parity! It is impossible! There are too many of us and
Misanthrope1121 1 year ago 2
@Misanthrope1121 What resources, exactly, are required for offering students a good education outside of providing qualified, hard working, and non-apathetic teachers (which we sorely lack)? If I recall, the very reason that we even HAVE a public school system is because most parents were in fact, historically, unable to provide their own children with a formal education. How is it any different for public schools to offer an education to those who otherwise would have no access now?
BandofSorensons 1 year ago
Comment removed
majica26 1 year ago
@Misanthrope1121 I hope you are not an educator. Calling parents 'stupid, poor, and too ignorant to raise money for the school' is not only crude but citing this as the reason teachers are failing to effectively teach children is mind blowing and quite frankly garbage.
majica26 1 year ago
I agree with her 95% concerning her stance, however as a former teacher myself, I highly doubt that all of the 241 teachers that were fired were properly professionally developed. This profession has many facets to it which make it very difficult for teachers to function well, from LONG hours, no clear mental space to dedicate their lives to other interests (that is if you really CARE about the children you teach) TERRIBLE pay, and and often times unsympathetic and treacherous administration.
simone56 1 year ago 2
@simone56 PART 2 - I'm telling you as a Math major and someone who truly cared about every child under my tutelage, you couldn't PAY ME to teach in the school systems again. If you have a child in the public school system, you would be better off homeschooling them. The two years I taught were a NIGHTMARE. Teachers are expected to perform with little to no training (I was a New York City Teaching Fellow) and evaluated on the most RIDICULOUS of standards. If you aren't willing to invest the time
simone56 1 year ago 2
@simone56 PART 3 - in teachers, either professionally, financially, and personally, then you WILL lose qualified ones. The ones with tenure for the most part are set and could care LESS about your children.
Did you read between the lines? They are CUTTING THE BUDGETS FOR EDUCATION! These are your children they are taking money away from, so teachers are forced to do MORE with LESS, but expected to perform BETTER? This system is stacked against good teachers, and most leave for other careers.
simone56 1 year ago
God bless this lady
BobThePatriot 1 year ago
Everything she's said is on the nose, esp. how to assess teachers on students' performance. The unions try to protect those unqualified teachers.
dumplingduckling2 1 year ago
Comment removed
dumplingduckling2 1 year ago
Comment removed
dumplingduckling2 1 year ago
A lot of Big City Mayors could learn from what Mayor Adrian Fenty & Chancellor Michelle Rhee are doing in Washington as far a reforming Government including in Education. Mayor Tony Williams brought accountability to the Washington Government in the late 90's & 2000's & now Adrian Fenty & Michelle Rhee have done the same thing with the Education System. Teachers like all other Government Employees should be paid for the work they not by the time they put in & be able to keep their job by that.
FrsBigeasy 1 year ago