Michelle Rhee

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Michelle Rhee
Michelle Rhee, 2007
Born	January 1, 1970(1970-01-01) Ann Arbor, Michigan^[1]
Nationality	American (of Korean ancestry)
Education	B.A. Government, Cornell University M.A. Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government
Occupation	Educator
Home town	Toledo, Ohio
Title	Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools
Salary	USD 275,000 annually ^[2]
Predecessor	Superintendent Clifford Janey
Spouse	Kevin Huffman (separated)^[3]
Children	Two daughters ^[2]
Parents	Shang and Inza Rhee^[2]

Michelle Rhee is the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools system, and founder and former-President of The New Teacher Project. Her parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea in the 1960's. She was raised in the Toledo, Ohio metropolitan region, graduating from Maumee Valley Country Day School in 1988. Rhee graduated from Cornell University in 1992 (B.A. Government) and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (M.A. Public Policy). She is a controversial figure in Washington, D.C. as she has terminated four bilingual principals, including high-performing administrators in schools such as Oyster Bilingual, and African-American principals without performance evaluations. In addition, Rhee identified several D.C. Schools for closure without holding public hearings. ^[4] ^[5]

1 Professional life
2 Personal life
3 External links
4 Notes

[edit] Professional life

She taught in Baltimore, Maryland as a recruit of Teach for America for three years before founding The New Teacher Project. The New Teacher Project is a non-profit organization which partners with high-need school districts to recruit and train new teachers. She founded the program in 1997, and it has since expanded to forty programs in twenty states, having recruited more than 10,000 teachers. On 2007-06-12 Washington, DC mayor Adrian Fenty announced that he had chosen her to replace Superintendent of DC Public Schools, Clifford Janey and become the schools' new Chancellor. Washington has had a New Teacher Project presence through DC Teaching Fellows^[6] for several years before this appointment. Rhee had initially rebuffed Fenty's offer, but relented when promised wide latitude and significant authority in decision-making as well as strong mayoral support for her proposed initiatives. ^[7] ^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

Rhee has additionally served on the advisory boards for the National Council on Teacher Quality, National Center for Alternative Certification, and Project REACH. In 2004, she was a special guest of First Lady Laura Bush at the State of the Union address.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

Rhee is divorced and has two daughters who attend DC Public Schools. Her former husband, Kevin Huffman, has indicated that he will live in the Washington region to be near his children. ^[3] Her father Shang Rhee is a retired physician and her mother Inza ran a clothing store; they are retired in Denver, Colorado. She is the middle child of three, with two brothers. The younger brother is an actor in Seoul.^[2]^[1]