Michelle Rhee needs an image consultant. A marketing manager. A junkyard dog press agent. Something!
First it was Rhee on the cover of Time magazine with the broom. She looked mean. Uncompromising. Ready to sweep away anything in her path.
For that cover story in the news weekly, the photographer snapped images of D.C.’s school superintendent helping students, teaching, consulting with staff. And a few shots with the broom — which winds up on the cover. Didn’t Rhee get the memo that media stars should be careful about how they appear on the cover of a national magazine?
Time loved it. Probably sold a few magazines. It also created the image of Rhee as a too tough lady. That has its value in that it shows strength; the downside is that it cements the expectation that she’s a mean witch with heels and a title — which is far from the truth.
That was early in her reign as schools chancellor.
Now we read in Fast Company, another national magazine, that among the 266 teachers Rhee dismissed in October, there were some bad actors. “I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of school.”
From Rhee’s perspective, this was old news. She had said much the same in testimony to the city council last fall in a full day’s hearing over the firings. But her mentions of teachers hitting kids and the alleged sex acts came at the end of a day’s testimony. No one blinked.
But seen and heard as a sound bite in the midst of a 200-word article, Rhee’s comments blared across the media, especially the phrase about “sex with children.”
Council members who don’t like Rhee licked their chops and demanded answers! Are these accusations true? Who knew? Did Rhee report them to the authorities? Did anyone investigate?
The anti-Rhee set was hoping that she was shooting her mouth off with no basis. She may be brusque, but she ain’t dumb. She had the goods. She answered their questions immediately. But the damage was done. She had come off again as negative and dismissive toward teachers.
Rhee’s problems lie not with the city council members. They are rather irrelevant, since they gave Mayor Adrian Fenty control of the schools. The folks who can kick her bold reforms to the curb are teachers. Ultimately, rank and file teachers will vote on the contract she’s now negotiating with the Washington Teachers’ Union. They go thumbs down on merit pay and changes to job security, and she’s toast.
Rhee has to start making teachers feel they can play a positive and crucial role in her grand design. More carrot, less stick. Rhee gets this. She’s been meeting twice a week with teachers for the past few months.
Time for an image makeover. Can Rhee do warm and fuzzy?
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
