A turnover in the mayoral office in Washington, DC has all eyes on DC schools chief Michelle Rhee, who says that education reform is always going to leave some people very unhappy.

By Tory Newmyer, writer

Michelle Rhee, the District of Columbia schools chief who earned national renown as a tough-nosed reformer, struck a defiant tone Tuesday at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Conference in the wake of an election that pushed out her boss and sponsor, Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Fenty's resounding loss last month was in large part a repudiation of his crusade to shake up the school system by giving Rhee a free hand to make sweeping changes. That she did, closing schools and firing hundreds of teachers. Advocates of aggressive reform cheered rising test scores and graduation rates, but others bristled at Rhee's style, complaining she was autocratic and insensitive. More