Members of the panel who advised Mayor Vincent Gray on his selection of Kaya Henderson as the new D.C. schools chancellor were concerned that the process would “come off as a sham” as some said they would rather evaluate multiple candidates. “[A] panel member objected to a system where the mayor hand-picks a chancellor, the chancellor hand-picks the deputy chancellor, and the public’s opinion is not considered throughout all personnel decisions in the ranks of [D.C. Public Schools] leadership,” wrote Katherine Bradley, co-chairwoman of the Chancellor Selection Advisory Panel, in a report released Tuesday.
The 2007 Public Education Reform Amendment Act required Gray to convene a panel to advise him on the nomination of the chancellor.
Chief of Staff Gerri Mason Hall kicked off the Feb. 24 meeting by reading a message from Gray that “made it clear that the 2007 [act] did not anticipate our current situation … the committee is not starting from scratch to fill an open position,” Bradley wrote.
Bradley said the panel was not surprised to consider only Henderson’s resume, but Washington Teachers’ Union President Nathan Saunders “forcefully expressed” his “disappointment over having only one candidate,” citing a 71 percent union vote for a national search. “This view did gain some limited resonance among the panel, and several others agreed that they would rather have additional choices.”
Bradley consistently said that any move beyond providing advice on the mayor’s selections was outside the panel’s scope. She “impressed upon the room” that because Gray obviously favored Henderson, “a ‘national search’ could be seen as an insincere process.”
The panel discussed Henderson’s resume, starting with her background as a Spanish teacher and moving to highlight, “It is positive that Henderson is an African-American woman who lives in the District.” They lauded her master’s degree in leadership from Georgetown University and generally supported Henderson as a qualified candidate.
Local political analyst Chuck Thies recalled Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s January endorsement of Henderson. “I don’t think there’s a flaw in the process that resulted in Kaya Henderson,” Thies said. “She has the support of the president via the secretary of education, and that’s significant when you’re the mayor of D.C.”
Terry Lynch, a District education activist, said the search was “lacking.”
“This administration has had a serious number of problems with hiring, and that has not served the city well,” Lynch said. “To just name a handpicked person is not the kind of vetting that ensures confidence.”
