Presumptive D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray said the deputy school chancellor who stepped in after Michelle Rhee resigned would be a candidate for the permanent chancellor position under his reign.
“It is an opportunity for her to demonstrate her fitness, suitability and desire to be in the chancellor job,” Gray told TBD Monday morning.
However, Gray did mention that Interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson had not yet expressed any desire for the permanent position.
Mayor Adrian Fenty appointed Henderson after Rhee resigned on Oct. 13. Gray said the school system is “blessed to have her on an interim basis.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Kaya is there and agreed to do it,” he said. “It wasn’t something she sought, to say the least.”
Gray continued to insist that Rhee’s resignation was a “mutual decision.” When asked if he or Rhee pulled the trigger, Gray replied, “Neither of those is true.”
“She wanted to do this … There are probably things she wants to do at this stage as well,” he said.
Gray also said that the teachers’ contract, negotiated by Rhee and Henderson over the summer, indicated to him “that there is flexibility in the teachers’ union” — however, he said “there ought to be fairness” in how teachers are let go, a potential allusion to the Impact evaluations fought by the unions.
Using the evaluations, Rhee fired 165 teachers rated highly ineffective during classroom observations, a move that pushed the national teacher’s union to funnel $1 million into Gray’s campaign.
