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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Brookings Responds to My Blog about Being Terminated « Diane Ravitch's blog

Brookings Responds to My Blog about Being Terminated « Diane Ravitch's blog:


Brookings Responds to My Blog about Being Terminated

Grover 
On Monday, I posted a blog called “The Day I Was Terminated.”
In that blog, I recounted that I received an email on June 5 from Grover (Russ) Whitehurst of Brookings telling me that I was being terminated–after a 19-year association with Brookings–because I was “inactive.” That’s a pretty abrupt way to finish off a 19-year affiliation.
My first thought was that the termination might be related to my pointed criticism of Mitt Romney; Whitehurst is an advisor to the Romney campaign. I then went on to admit that I might be over-reacting by assuming a political motivation. As you will see in Brookings’ response, the decision was made in April, before I blogged about Romney (it should be noted that Russ, who served during the George W. Bush administration, was unlikely to be pleased with my ongoing critique of No Child Left Behind, the administration’s signature education program).
I reviewed whether I was “inactive,” and recalled that when I asked permission to present my latest book at