Dive Brief:
- Michelle Rhee was named the interim board chairwoman at a network of charter schools in Sacramento called St. Hope Schools.
- Rhee's husband, Kevin Johnson, is the mayor of Sacramento as well as the founder of St. Hope.
- Rhee plans to continue leading her advocacy group StudentsFirst.
Dive Insight:
Michelle Rhee's approach to education reform has always been contentious. When she was chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, she was vehemently opposed for tactics that included laying off a number of veteran educators and placing new emphasis on test scores and teacher evaluations. However, critics really seem to be laying it on thick as of late, pointing out her overarching lack of success.
StudentsFirst has recently dropped out of Florida, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, and Maine, indicating some discord within the group. A recently published Salon article by Education Opportunity Network Director Jeff Bryan posited that Rhee's time in the education reform spotlight may be waning, and that journalist-turned-activist Campbell Brown appears to be swooping in. As one veteran teacher wrote on his blog upon hearing about Rhee's new position, "With luck, this means she’ll have less time to damage public education elsewhere."
