Mayor Vincent Gray has chosen Interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson as the permanent head of D.C. Public Schools, according to sources who attended a luncheon he spoke at Tuesday.
“There was nothing informal about it,” a city government official told Washington Examiner reporter Freeman Klopott of the announcement, as he left the Metropolitan Club.
He also said the mayor planned to announce Henderson’s appointment at a press conference on Wednesday.
Leaving the Metropolitan Club, Gray dodged the question, laughing and saying, “No, I said I was having a, ahh, they asked me about the chancellor and I indicated – in fact the question was really about a national search and I talked about continuity and the importance about continuity and the fact that I’ve had a chance to work with the chancellor now for three or four months and she’s somebody who I have great admiration for.”
Gray convened a selection committee to find the new chancellor following Michelle Rhee’s resignation and in accordance with city law. However, he has never been shy in his support of Kaya Henderson. The Washington Post reported that her name was the only hat in the ring during the selection committee’s one and only meeting.
When initially appointed on an interim basis, Henderson waffled over whether she’d take on the long-term role. But on Feb. 16, she said in an e-mail, “Over the past 100 days, I have enjoyed my tenure as interim Chancellor, my relationship with Mayor Gray and the ongoing work to improve the education we offer to the children of the District. I have shared the same with the Mayor. We both know we have much more work to do and remain squarely focused on getting the job done.”
This announcement, although expected, is unlikely to please Washington Teachers’ Union President Nathan Saunders. The most vociferous critic of Impact, the teacher evaluation tool Henderson created, Saunders hasn’t had much along the lines of roses and sunshine to say when it comes to Rhee’s successor.
