Strange interview with Michelle Rhee in the NYT. Odd questions.

[madfloridian]

17. Well, read these excerpts....they will depress you more.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/01/rhee-talks-romance-and-ca-politics-in-new-autobiography.html

"On crafting the idea to form StudentsFirst over dinner at a restaurant in Sacramento:

"I flew to Sacramento on September 24 to spend time with KMJ and his mom, Mother Rose... As soon as I walked into Mulvaney's restaurant, KMJ took one look at me and asked, 'What is it? You're contemplating something, I can tell.' ... My frustration came from the perspective of an education reformer - from the top. I figured that the right superintendent who was willing to make changes and had political backing could accomplish bold reforms. I was proved wrong, because I didn't figure in the power of the unions. KMJ was plotting and jotting notes. 'If we are going to make a difference, we need to start a movement. A movement of everyday people who are fed up with their kids getting a subpar education. We need to create a vehicle through which they can take action and drive change,' he said... KMJ kept jotting. We kept talking. Finally, he turned over his notes for Mother Rose and me to see. He had sketched out our new organization. We settled on a plan to create a national advocacy group that would raise money and build membership with the goal of providing political muscle to leaders who stood for change."

SO...we learn that KJM, her hubby, Kevin Johnson, created Students First during a dinner with Rhee and his mother. Wow.

Here she goes again blasting unions. There's real hate there in her mind for unions. Well, I don't like her at all. So there.

On StudentsFirst's strategy as a lobbying organization:

"The power of StudentsFirst is not in playing the inside game. The Teachers unions have a thirty-year head start on walking the halls of state capitols, bonding legislators to their causes and meting out retribution to those who cross them. We are not going to beat them at that game. We have to play and win in the outside game... We will have to put pressure on legislators they have never felt from anyone other than unions. We will need to counterbalance the unions' money with our members."

And she tells why her group gave CA such a bad report grade grade. She's not done there in that state. Californians beware!

That's where the Obama administration and StudentsFirst came in. We worked with our members and reform organization partners across the state to educate the opinion makers, legislators, and general public about how poor the bill was and how it would be a step backward for California. Our members emailed and called legislative offices for days leading up to the vote... While we were successful in scuttling this bad piece of legislation, the lesson is stark. Not only are we nowhere close to trying to craft meaningful evaluation policy in California, but we're having to pull out all the stops to try to defend against legislation that would move the state in the wrong direction. Had StudentsFirst and the reform community failed to mobilize quickly, in all likelihood this bill would have swept through the legislature, moving the state's public education system backward, without any pushback or opposition. This is the dynamic that we're up against in California and the reason why it
.will take a massive grassroots movement to achieve education reform in the Golden State."

Grassroots, my hind foot. Corporate bullies.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/01/rhee-talks-romance-and-ca-politics-in-new-autobiography.html#storylink=cpy