Rhee in Tampa boasts about unpopularity. Head of schools there threatens tenured teachers.

[madfloridian]

Michelle Rhee was at a conference in Tampa, and she was proud of how much she was disliked. It seems a badge of honor to her. They gave her a round of applause for that statement.

Then the county superintendent there in Tampa, Hillsborough County, says that she has communicated to the Gates Foundation that starting next year they will have to fire 5% of their tenured teachers annually for a while. That is a total of about 425 tenured teachers a year to be fired.

Since in most counties in Florida it takes years to get tenure, there will be some very alarmed and upset teachers there. Those in the know already are upset.

It's called union-busting, quite frankly.

The Hillsborough County superintendent said they will approach it another way, by working together. However since the county will be getting about 202 million from the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates will be playing a big role there. He is also playing a big role in deciding who gets merit pay. It's his money.

Departing D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee offers tough advice in Tampa


Michelle Rhee, the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools, speaks to urban school administrators during a panel on teacher evaluations at the Council of Great City Schools conference in Tampa on Thursday. (SKIP O’ROURKE | TIMES)

"Be prepared to be Ms. or Mr. Unpopular," the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools told an audience of urban school administrators here Thursday. "I am really good at this one right now."

Three years ago, Rhee launched a whirlwind of change: a tough evaluation system and teacher contract that resulted in 241 firings this spring, and ultimately may oust 25 percent of the district's teachers from their jobs. Those forces led to her resignation last week, following the election defeat of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. But they brought applause from her audience at the Council of Great City Schools conference.

Hillsborough County will try a "kinder, gentler" approach.

On another panel in the adjoining room, Hillsborough County superintendent MaryEllen Elia was describing a kinder, gentler strategy to reach what is rapidly becoming a national goal: boosting teacher quality and winnowing out those who can't make the grade.

..."Elia said her district's seven-year, $202 million reform effort with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation puts more emphasis on mentoring and collaboration to help low-performing teachers.

"Working together is what is going to bring results," she told U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan during his visit to the district last week. "We are going to feel stressed as we go through change, and we're going to work through it."

The Gates Foundation knows about the upcoming firings.

The district has told the Gates Foundation it might need to fire up to 5 percent or 425 of its 8,500 tenured teachers annually in the first years of the reforms, though officials say they hope intensive support for teachers will reduce that number substantially.

And that kinder, gentler approach? These are the words of the school superintendent to Arne Duncan who was also there.

"They're either going to leave or we're going to say, 'Let us help you leave,' " she said.

Interesting, and tough toward the teachers, following the national trend set by the DOE. Arne must have been proud.

[femmocrat]

1. Why is she stirring up trouble in FL?

Is she going to Tampa? (May God save you all if she is.) She is pure evil.

[Starry Messenger]

2. Maybe she's touring with Wicked.

:evilgrin:

[SnakeEyes]

37. Can't be, Elphie isn't actually wicked.

[madfloridian]

7. Well, she's job hunting. You just never know.

Last I heard NJ was interested.

[Dappleganger]

15. Because the republicans and blue dogs hate the teacher's union.

And they've found just the witch to bust them up.

[Blue_Tires]

34. she's just a shameless self-promoter...

[Catshrink]

3. What is the reason for firing the teachers?

It's like us saying "next year, I'm going to fail 5% of my students." Why? If they earn an F, they'll get the F but I certainly don't make that a goal. (Believe me, I bend over backward to help keeps not fail but, if a student insists on doing nothing, ditching on test days, etc., that student will fail.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Just another ridiculous mandate that doesn't make any sense

100% of our kids will be proficient in 3 years but we will be firing 5% of our teachers in the meantime. :crazy:

[madfloridian]

5. Didn't Arne mention that 5% rate? Something about failing 5% of schools each year?

I need to look it up....he said something about closing the lowest performing 5% of schools each year.

Seems to be a goal to close down schools and fired experienced teachers, 5% at a time.

[madfloridian]

6. Make that 1% per year, 5000 over next 5 years. Link

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30684025/

"WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama intends to use $5 billion to prod local officials to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals.

The goal is to turn around 5,000 failing schools in the next five years, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday.

..."Duncan said that might mean firing an entire staff and bringing in a new one, replacing a principal or turning a school over to a charter school operator. The point, he said, is to take bold action in persistently low-achieving schools.

"Our students have one chance — one chance — to get a quality education," Duncan said in a speech Monday to the Brookings Institution think tank.

"If we turn around just the bottom 1 percent, the bottom thousand schools per year for the next five years, we could really move the needle, lift the bottom and change the lives of tens of millions of underserved children," Duncan said."

[madfloridian]

18. That 1% figure is from May 2009. Looks like they upped it to 5%?

As I posted below. Trying to figure that out. Maybe they are changing the rules as they go along. Who knows.

[sulphurdunn]

27. Where oh where

is the data supporting the claim that the mass firing of school staff, school closure or characterized privatization is a means to improve educational outcomes even using the standardized test criterion of the the vulture philanthropists? :shrug:

[MedicalAdmin]

40. I just crunched the numbers on that.

Assuming that they fire / close the lowest performing schools every year, it will only take them 14 years to fire every experience teacher in the sytem.

Which begs the quetions, how long does one have to work before their retirement fund is vested or built up? I'm guessing a minumum of 20 years. Which means that this plan is a way to keep costs down and deny employees their retirement funds. I wonder where that money is going.

And to the lurkers / trolls on here who seem always to spring to Bill Gates foundations defense let me ask you this. WTF is Gates, a man NEVER known for his charitable giving until he "retired" getting out of this. Mr. Gates has ALWAYS been about the angle, the scheme, the plan to sucker some mark out of some more money. So why is he investing $200,000,000 in this scheme? Could it be that he expects to see profits for him, his kids, or his non-profits investors / "employees?"

Enquiring minds don't need to know - closed minds believe the corporate hype about him.

[madfloridian]

8. Gotta get rid of all those teachers with tenure.

Which in Florida is called Continuing Contract, and is negotiated with the union.

[Catshrink]

9. More like get rid of the union.

Do these fools really think TFA or rookies can do better than an experienced teacher? Where is the cry about the children?

[madfloridian]

32. And they are willing to pay hundreds of thousands just to recruit TFA

when they could hire locally for free. It's insane.

[madfloridian]

16. Found the reason for the 5%

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9375944&mesg_id=9378256

[bonnieS]

19. if 3 per cent

just happen to quit, including tenured and untenured, would they still have to fire 5 percent anyway? That would mean 8 per cent turnover right away--what would be the (good) reason for that?

[donco6]

10. Where'd that 5% come from?

They're just plucking an arbitrary number out of the air? Hell YEAH I'd be pissed.

[Catshrink]

11. It's probably from a business model

That seems to be the source of Arne's brilliant ideas.

[donco6]

12. It reminds me of Jack Welch of GE.

"If you're not the top three, you're not part of GE."

[Catshrink]

13. That's what I mean.

And what criteria will they use to figure out who is the bottom 5%?

[madfloridian]

17. The 5% is from Arne and Obama...link.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9375944&mesg_id=9378256

[madfloridian]

14. Here's where the 5% came from....Arne and Obama.

"President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have made “turnaround” a major priority of the administration, vowing to fundamentally reshape the nation’s worst performing schools. Duncan has targeted the lowest 5 percent of schools, stating that “we cannot continue to tinker in terrible schools where students fall further and further behind, year after year.” The administration has put both a reauthorization proposal and money behind this goal.

In March 2010, the president released a “blueprint” for the reauthorization of NCLB that would target meaningful interventions at the lowest 5 percent of schools. In addition, the stimulus package set aside $3 billion to begin this work. Some believe that President Obama and Duncan have taken a heavy-handed approach. But to move beyond tinkering to genuine reform, they’ll have to confront the sobering reality of NCLB implementation: When it comes to taking meaningful action on behalf of students trapped in schools like Markham Middle, the hard work has barely begun."

http://www.educationsector.org/publications/restructuring-restructuring

More...and a turnaround means a restructuring as a charter school, closing the school down, firing the principal, firing all or part of the teachers.

http://www.ksba.org/news/article/final-rules-set-for-school-turnaround-grants

"Final Rules Set for School Turnaround Grants

By Michele McNeil

The U.S. Department of Education has finalized its rules governing $3.5 billion in school improvement grants for states and districts, making only small changes despite criticism that its four models for turning around the nation’s worst schools are too prescriptive.

States have until Feb. 8 to submit applications for their share of the money, which comes from $3 billion of the federal economic-stimulus package and $546 million of the Education Department’s fiscal 2009 appropriation. The money will be spent over the next three years, although states can ask for a waiver to use it through 2013.

To get their money, states must target schools that rank in the bottom 5 percent in student achievement. In one change from the proposed regulations, the definition of lowest-achieving schools has been expanded to include high schools with graduation rates below 60 percent for a “number of years.”

[Matt Shapiro]

25. This seems to be a different 5%, and even worse, if that's possible.

If you look at the quote in your original post, the person said they will have to get rid of 5% of their TENURED teachers each year. Not specific to a low performing school. Just 5% of their TENURED teachers. Why would that be? Perhaps because they are more experienced teachers who earn higher salaries? Perhaps because they are more experienced teachers who know how to teach and are less willing to simply teach to the stupid test? Perhaps because they are more likely to be union members who believe teachers are professionals and should be treated with respect?

Getting rid of 5% of the teacher workforce each year is not the point. If I remember correctly, something like 50% of teachers leave the profession within the first five years of teaching. Most teachers who do not succeed weed themselves out. A good number are fired without cause since they have not achieved tenure. And many who could potentially become excellent teachers leave because they are not willing to put up with the lack of support in a very difficult situation. This has always been the case.

The "reform" goal is to get rid of teachers who cost too much, who support the union (even if it does not support them strongly enough), despite the fact that it means we will lose many of our best teachers. This is all about money, not education. Privatize the schools while funding them with public money, break the unions, pay teachers much less (even with "merit" pay), and rake those remaining dollars in for management (the new school CEOs).

The kids are irrelevant to these corporate "reformers." It's just a money grab. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.

[madfloridian]

28. You may be right. I have heard the 5% applied to both...

firing teachers and closing schools. And I also think Arne once mentioned closing lowest performing 5% of schools per year.

And you are most certainly right about the goal of it all being to get rid of experienced teachers who cost too much. They need to make teachers look inadequate in order to deprofessionalize teaching. They have to do that to make it okay to hire cheaper teachers and fire them whenever they want.

[Riley18]

20. Isn't it typical that someone like Rhee also quit her job just

like Failin Palin? I mean now she can go around the country spewing her garbage for anyone with money who wants to listen. Are there no rich people who give a shit anymore? This is very serious stuff when they are dismantling the middle class by breaking up unions. They are using our children as shields in their war against the regular people in this country who barely have time to go to their two or three jobs every week just trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. It is very discouraging to me because, as a teacher of young kids, I see first hand the toll this economy is taking on kids as young as seven. Moms and dads are splitting up over the money tensions. Their clothes are tattered and worn, and many do not even have a warm jacket. I remember when the first days of school were like a little fashion show, but now they are coming in with whatever they were wearing all summer. I know that is just the tip of the iceberg, but it is clearly an indicator of how tough it has become to live in this country. Hell, the teachers are all wearing older clothes now too since there hasn't been a raise in over three years. Every year we have to get by on less and less income while at the same time being subjected to evil propaganda against us.

We need to ask ourselves why the rich and powerful are so damned determined to end public education. Why are we not more agitated by their con? How many thinking adults can really be fooled into believing that people like Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee really do want to "improve" education? They want to privatize it so they can enrich their own pockets with government money. Also, how long before those fake (charter) schools are fee based?

Where is our voice in all this? Why are our unions so helpless? Perhaps it is just in the South, but I would like to see more action taken by the unions.

[madfloridian]

22. I think I know one reason why the unions are so helpless.

I think many of the union leaders came from or are sympathetic to the "reformer" movement, only when they were chosen teachers were not that aware of their backgrounds. Like Randi Weingarten, who came from the Eli Broad foundation.

Like the DLC sort of took over the Democratic platform before we realized it was happening.

[Riley18]

23. Then teachers need to organize together and threaten to

leave the union now before we are all out of a job anyway. Stop paying union dues unless the leaders get their heads out of their collective ass and do something about this propaganda war against educators.

[SemperEadem]

21. that woman is a joke

she has accomplished nothing while head of DC schools. NOTHING.

she had the nerve to say that she doesn't job hop and that she's not going to run out on the children. That's the very first thing she did--she didn't wait to be let go--she jumped ship with the rats and gave the finger to all the children she ran out on.

She should not be rewarded with anything because she has accomplished nothing.

[madfloridian]

24. Snidely talks about teachers putting on "dog and pony show"

when observations occur.

"Rhee won dramatic changes. Now every teacher gets observed five times by principals or trained master teachers.

"Four of those are unannounced, not the dog-and-pony show," she added, referring to the widespread practice of allowing teachers to prepare for the day they'll be evaluated.

She brags about making teachers be observed several times a year.

I was observed decades ago several times a year. And more, sometimes county folks as well. Some days interns from nearby universities would parade around our classrooms observing us and the students.

Who the heck does she think she is? This has gone on for years!!!

[Catshrink]

26. She wouldn't know

she spent so little time in the classroom that she has no idea how teachers are evaluated. She's a phony just like Failin' Palin so she got out just when the kettle started to boil beneath her. This reminds me of Bush's "Texas Miracle" where he got out just before the shit hit the fan and people found out what a crock it really was. Too bad that by the time people realize with this "reform" movement is really about it will be too late.

[soryang]

29. This wonan doesn't know what their dealing with...

...in Florida. If she thinks this was unpopular in DC the response will be more visceral in that part of Florida. Madfloridian can correct me if I'm wrong, but Hillsborough is repuke territory. Therefore the reaction may not be electoral, it may be on the streets.

[maryf]

30. K&Rnt

[LostInAnomie]

31. I see her turning into a caricature of herself in a few years.

She'll probably end up working to corporate speaker speaker circuit soon blasting unions and all those "ingrates" in DC. Probably will end up working for FOX.

[Jefferson23]

33. The Ann Coulter of public education...how charming.

I caught an interview on CNN recently, Davis Guggenheim the director Waiting For Superman movie. The director was on spewing that he
was a "lefty" but we have to tell the truth about teacher unions..disgusting lies.

K&R

[ibegurpard]

35. public education?

no, she's pushing PRIVATE eduation

[Jefferson23]

38. I get ya, but she is pretending she is not. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. Interesting he would call himself a leftie

His movie is full of right wing talking points.

[Jefferson23]

39. Exactly, and I believe he is framing it that way to try and legitimize

the truthiness he is spewing...which is disgusting.

In another interview I saw with him conducted by PBS, the woman interviewing him said, you sound Evangelical on
your position. He responded with, Yes, I'm a believer.

She also added that only 1/5th of the charter schools are successful...his response, oh yea, the top ones.
He brushed aside any relevance to her statement nor offered any reasoning why he was such a "believer" when there is an unproven track record for charter schools.


What a slimey guy imo.