How do I wind up with this stuff anyway? Ah well, in any case, Kent State University in Ohio recently hosted Michelle Rhee as a guest speaker for the paltry, “discounted” sum (read: discounted) of $35,000. Inasmuch as the private sector is largely a threat to free and equitable public education, I have to say that running a big foundation that apparently puts Students First ain’t too shabby. I mean, $35K, that’s more than a lot of new teachers make in one year. And, as I said, this is the discounted rate from the original $50K.
The contract that I have, which you can access here, also stipulates these fantastic items:
- A first class plane ticket
- VIP hotel suite
- Coverage for all “incidentals”
- And a “town car” driven by a “professional”
I’m not an attorney, just a simple education professor. But I will say that the proceeds, excessive as they are, are apparently going to something called Rhee Enterprises, LLC and care of a creative artists agency. So, like a talent agent? I mean, I get it: you make huge bank on the road as some hard-ass former education czar whose ideas have been debunked on numerous occasions. I guess you’re going to need someone to manage your “talent.” But, this whole LLC thing: it’s operated by her brother. So then Rhee Enterprises, which is really funny by the way, needs to pay her brother for managing the whole show. What’s his cut? Hey, wait, what are the students getting out of this? I thought they were first? I don’t know, reeks of nepotism to me, but I don’t know the family situation there.
Ultimately, the feelings of anyone opposing Rhee and her ilk won’t be shattered or surprised by this information. It just confirms what they’ve always suspected: she and her management style are more important than the ideas she brings to the table. There are no ideas, they’ve all been discredited. It’s more of an attitude than substance, and Kent State just wasted thousands on a circus sideshow.
A lot of privateers and corporate reformers would like to punch meek little educators right in their mouths. And Rhee sort of did that, minus the actual punching. Rhee’s proponents, alternatively, likely won’t bat an eyelash because they themselves want to make money out of education. Big money, and that’s what Rhee is essentially doing. When she was booted out of DC on a rail, Rhee retreated to the open arms of the private sector so that she could bypass the democratic process to push all sorts of reforms that seem to have little to do with actual students’ lives (for instance, collective bargaining).
As an educator, collective bargaining, teacher evaluation, standardized testing, and other draconian measures would not be the first places I’d turn to improve the lot of students. Abusing the ones tasked with the work of education seems counterproductive. But, this contract shows that it’s not really about students, their lives, or well-being. It’s about money and power. And just for a frame of reference here, I’m an educator, a college professor, who has taught and continues to teach in public schools. I supervise student teachers. As a public state employee in a right to work state, I had to beg and plead to get a few hundred dollars to travel to a professional meeting. And this charlatan Rhee gets $35K to give a speech. I hope Kent State, and all who are graced with her presence, are better off for it.
For what it’s worth, I’m a superintendent and a new teacher in my district makes $30,000. A 30-year veteran gets just under $50k. I make $75,000 per year.
You should see our luxury sedans gleaming in the school parking lot. It’s obscene.
And not only do we get these Benjamins, but we also enjoy the undying adulation and respect of media types and political leaders. Plus, teaching today’s motivated American student is such a cakewalk. I mean, they basically teach themselves. I’m totally with Rhee on this. I’m glad she’s putting students first and kicking the daylights out of selfish lazy teachers. She is so selfless! We could all learn from her.
That says principals, nitwit, not teachers. There is no chance that an average teacher in DC makes $80K, but for what they have to put up with, it should be at least $100K.
@ Don Whiteside
See paragraph 2: “After watching the teachers they oversee get a five-year, 21.6 percent increase in base pay—boosting average annual salaries from $67,000 to about $81,000, along performance bonuses adding up to another $25,000–the principals are getting their own pay day.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/raises-for-principals-zip-for-assistant-principals-other-staff/2011/10/17/gIQAFvx5uL_blog.html#pagebreak
That help?
Even if that were true, and it isn’t, does that still justify paying Rhee $35K-$50K to speak? Is that really the market rate for someone whose ideas have been proven totally incorrect?
I don’t know where you’re getting this 80k number, Anonymous, but my guess is that it was extracted from your rear lower torso. http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Teacher-l-Washington,-DC.html
Nothing in the rider about refraining from asking her about inadequate investigation into the standardized test cheating scandals?
@ Don Whiteside
See paragraph 2: “After watching the teachers they oversee get a five-year, 21.6 percent increase in base pay—boosting average annual salaries from $67,000 to about $81,000, along performance bonuses adding up to another $25,000–the principals are getting their own pay day.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/raises-for-principals-zip-for-assistant-principals-other-staff/2011/10/17/gIQAFvx5uL_blog.html#pagebreak
That help?
I’m not talking averages, I’m talking starting salaries. A lot of states start teachers at around $35K with just a BA degree. States like North Dakota start their teachers in the mid 20′s. Question: why on earth would an education reform superstar, one who’s done no research, written nothing of note, was basically thrown out of DC in barely three years, and duct taped a bunch of kids’ mouths shut when she taught be given $35K to give a speech?
What school district starts its teachers below $35K? In her former school district, a teacher averages over $80K.
What the hell does it say: they’re charitable or something? I mean, I guess you could make that argument, but that’s pretty weak.
It still says something if the person could have taken 50K and chose only 35K.
Yeah, it says that she’s giving a discount to her old school. Big deal. She’s not worth 35 cents.
umm, no on that Mike. Rhee attended Cornell U. She grew up in Ohio, in Toledo, so maybe she had a soft spot for the particular institution. She was born in Michigan, attended public schools in Toledo thru 6th grade, went to school in Korea for a year, and graduated from a private school (Maumee Valley Country Day School) before Cornell. She also has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard.