Maybe the new D.C Schools Chancellor said more than this, but here's how Washington Post reporter Thola Labbe portrayed Michelle Rhee's performance at a town hall meeting with parents on July 25.

Rhee said she has encountered employees who spend the workday largely pushing papers and workers who cannot explain their job duties.

"This is one of our fundamental flaws," Rhee told the audience at Kelly Miller Middle School in Northeast Washington. "We have to have every single person who's working in the District understand exactly what they're going to be held accountable for -- and not only what they're going to be held accountable for, but also how that links to student achievement."

Rhee also said she has seen employees get irritated when interacting with members of the public.

"I'm coming in and I'm asking a lot of questions and I've watched them operate," she said. "And for the most part, not all, but many of them consider the requests coming from parents and teachers - they think it's a nuisance."

Trashing your employees is rarely a good strategy for gaining their cooperation. Such a sweeping accusation can hardly endear Ms. Rhee to her civil service colleagues in the central office.

Even if what she said is true, the role of bomb-throwing critic should probably be played by someone else on Mayor Fenty's multi-player school reform team. The District's chief school officer can't be loved by parents, despised by her headquaters staff and expect to see much implemented. If the Mayor sees value in a "bad cop" it would make more sense for Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso to play the part and for Rhee to be the buffer. Thinking it would be better to have someone intervene between Rhee and her organization is clearly bass ackwards. This is precisely the kind of story - fair or not - that reinforce the truth that new ideas aren't all that helpful in the hands of those lacking the political experience required to see them implemented.
Schools chief Michelle A. Rhee spoke at a forum in Northeast.
Schools chief Michelle A. Rhee spoke at a forum in Northeast. (Dayna Smith - Dayna Smith/ftwp)

The picture the Post decided to pair with the story doesn't help one bit. Surely the Chancellor didn't hold that smug, maybe even arrogant, expression throughout the meeting, but it certainly reinforces the image of someone who holds her own bureacracy in disdain.  Imagine yourself as a central office employee reading the story and looking at the picture along with your morning coffee. It would be hard to leave the breakfast table feeling enthusiastic about your boss or your job.

(Looking at this article as the subject of content analysis, your editor has two theories for the editorial decision: the Post doesn't like Rhee that much and is not inclined to cut her any breaks, or the picture does reflect the image Rhee projected at the meeting. Neither bodes well for the Chancellor.)

Ms. Rhee is either inexperienced in projecting her image to multiple audiences simultaneosly and needs a great deal of help in public affairs, or actually believes what she says, intends to let people know, and thinks she can beat the bureacracy.  If it's just the first, the problem can be fixed - maybe. If it's also or only the second - she's doomed, and Mayor Fenty may be as well.

All this means for the school improvement business is what your editor wrote earlier: If you're already there, you will be for a while more.  If you have friends in high places, can do your job and recover your customer acquisition costs in one year, try. If you are a new entrant who requires a stable partner and several years to make an operating profit on your work, exhaust your other opportunities first.