DCist caught up with film director Spike Lee this morning at Pepsi’s Refresh the World Symposium at Howard University, where he had lots to say about D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

“I had never heard of the woman before that magazine cover,” he told us, referring to her Time profile, “but she has it. Whatever she says, I’m behind. We need radical thinking, the same okie-doke isn’t going to get it. For kids, no education, and you’re dead.”

Lee was the master of ceremonies at the event, which featured a series of panels on issues from the economy to hip hop. The panel also included the superintendents of the New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans school districts, and was moderated by Obama’s former professor and notable, Charles Ogletree.