Michelle Rhee is a figurehead of the school “reform” movement. After her stunning abuses of power in the Washington D.C. system and organizational efforts to sell out public education, karma has come to say hello. For once, thank you Florida.
Florida is central to this story (like oh so many stories it seems as of late.) In case you missed the news, Education Commissioner Tony Bennett resigned amid controversy after a school grading controversy that the AP broke due to some excellent reporting.
Bennett and his staff members in Indiana changed test scores to ensure that Christel House Academy, a charter school founded by Republican-donor Christel DeHaan, received an “A” rather than have the school’s final grade lowered by the “C” earned by its 10th grade Algebra class. Those low grades from the recently added 9th and 10th grade classes were eventually excluded from the higher scores of the middle school, allowing the Christel House to keep its “A” ranking. “This will be a HUGE problem for us,” Bennett wrote in an email last September to Heather Neal, his then chief-of-staff and the current chief lobbyist for Indiana Governor Mike Pence. “They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work.”
Oy.
This actually occurred in Indiana, not Florida, but the problem is Bennett essentially got this job because of his sterling experience leading education in Indiana.
So what does this have to do with Rhee?
Instead of distancing herself from Bennett, Michelle Rhee embraced him instead because you know, charter schools and standardized testing above all else. She wasn’t alone, Jeb Bush also praised Bennett in a file that will become known as “things I should not have released a press release about”. We have to be wary of these pay to play scandals, cheating charter school scandals, any school cheating scandals because it undermines integrity and we have to ask ourselves, why are they cheating, what are they cheating for, and how can we stop it.
Bob Sikes has an excellent piece on his blog and even more details- a highly recommended read.
AntoinetteMarie, Modern Pencil
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