THERE USED TO BE A NAME FOR THOSE SORTS OF PEOPLE...:

Rhee's 'Plan B' Targets Teacher Quality: Strategy Might Include New Evaluation Process, Linking Licenses to Classroom Performance (Bill Turque, 9/08/08, Washington Post)

Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is preparing to bypass the Washington Teachers' Union in pursuit of the objective she considers essential to overhauling the District's public schools: the power to fire at will teachers she deems ineffective.

What she calls "Plan B" involves a more aggressive use of powers she already has and that are not subject to contract negotiations with the union. [...]

Since mid-July, Rhee has tried to sell union leaders and the rank and file on a proposal that would propel salaries to more than $100,000 annually in pay and performance bonuses for many teachers. But in exchange, she insists that they relinquish tenure and spend a year on probation -- risking dismissal. Instructors have the option of keeping tenure and accepting lower raises. New hires would have no choice, remaining on the probation griddle for four years, twice as long as the current requirement.

The pay proposal, along with a slew of other initiatives, has turned Rhee into a national standard-bearer for urban school reform and, in particular, a champion for those who regard teachers' unions as the most significant obstacle to progress.

...they used to be called rightwing whackos.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 8, 2008 12:43 PM