Michelle Rhee, the newly nominated city schools chancellor, met with District Council Chair Vincent Gray on Monday, hoping to calm fears about her ability to run the city’s stricken schools.
She was accompanied by JoAnne Ginsberg, a former Board of Education member who is now Mayor Adrian Fenty’s top lobbyist.
Gray has been an outspoken critic of the secrecy surrounding Rhee’s selection. Her nomination was scheduled for a hearing today, but Gray rescheduled it for July 2.
The law that allowed Fenty to take control of the $1.3 billion school system requires him to involve parents, teachers and politicians in the choice of a schools chancellor.
Fenty introduced Rhee to Gray just hours before he publicly announced the hiring.
Holding the hearing on July 2 leaves little margin for error. If Rhee is to be in place when classes start, the District Council must vote on her nomination by July 13, the beginning of its summer recess.
The council won’t reconvene until after school has begun in September.
“The meeting [with Gray] went very well,” Fenty spokeswoman Mafara Hobson wrote in an e-mail to The Examiner. “They discussed the problems Rhee has encountered thus far and how she’s approached them.”
Last week, Rhee and Fenty visited several council members hoping to overcome concerns about her inexperience and the way Fenty picked her.
