Michelle Rhee revolution faces massive threat — and new accusations (Bridgeport schools)
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/04/how_bipartisan_antics_could_save_the_next_michelle_rhee_from_humiliation/
In Bridgeport, a quiet bipartisan scheme to protect ed reformers' favorite school chief is suspected by critics
By Josh Eidelson
Monday, Nov 4, 2013 07:30 AM CST
Michelle Rhee (Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Education reform lightning rod Paul Vallas who courted controversy helming school districts in Philadelphia, New Orleans and Chicago isnt on the ballot tomorrow. But a school board election in Bridgeport, Conn. the latest district to tap Vallas to oversee reforms could effectively spell his fate. Tomorrows vote will offer the latest referendum on the bipartisan, billionaire-backed mainstream education reform movement, and on a multi-year effort by local Democrats aided by the likes of Michael Bloomberg and Michelle Rhee to defeat or disempower labor-backed dissenters.
As Ive gone around the country, I always point to Bridgeport as one of the signs that the people can beat the power, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education and high-profile reform critic Diane Ravitch told activists on a conference call last month. Tuesdays election is the latest round in a long-running war over ed reform, and who should shape it, in the largest city in one of the countrys most unequal states.
For the sake of shielding Vallas and his agenda, activists allege that the citys Democratic machine has acted indifferent or even hostile to defeating Republicans tomorrow.
Whats at stake is the future direction of Bridgeport schools, said Connecticut Working Families Party executive director Lindsay Farrell, citing issues including testing and class size. And I think, in a broader sense, the direction of public education in this country.
FULL story at link.