SchoolNotes

DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee received rock star treatment Thursday from the third and fourth grade students at Scott Montgomery when she stopped by the library to read from one of her favorite children's books: Miss Nelson is Missing. The students were thrilled to meet the Chancellor in person and were eager to ask questions about her work. What they didn't expect was for the Chancellor to share a personal story about herself when she was an elementary school teacher and had to deal with an unruly class of students similar to those in the book she read Thursday.

Apparently, Rhee captivated the Scott Montgomery class and won them over when she shared with them that once while her own students were yelling and screaming and running out of control that a bumble bee flew into her classroom and Rhee caught the bee — and ate it. Once her students realized that Rhee would eat a bumble bee, they thought she was “crazy” and from that day forward approached her with respect and behaved themselves. Her personal story, whether bee-lievable or not, had quite an effect on the library students Thursday as well.

They students didn't even seem to mind being given a homework assignment from the Chancellor which she promised she'd review personally. Several of the students even asked for Rhee's autograph. [ View video clip ]

A photo team from the magazine Fast Company also happened to stop by. Their feature with Rhee and the Scott Montgomery students should appear in the August issue of that publication.