InterimD.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson will remain in her post at least through June 30. Henderson said this school year will be a trial period to see if she and Mayor-elect Vincent Gray can work together to reform schools. “The worst possible thing is you commit to a high-level position like this one, and then you decide 15 minutes in, ‘Oh my God, this was not the right person,'” Henderson says. “We both have a very unique opportunity in that nobody has to make a decision either way until we are actually finished with the trial period.”
Gray is on the same page: A spokeswoman for the mayor-elect said that he and Henderson “are just getting to work closely together. Therefore, he needs time before deciding if he wants to conduct a search [for a new chancellor] or not, so there is no decision yet on a that.”
Gray asked Henderson, the deputy chancellor under Michelle Rhee, if she would step up as the interim chancellor shortly before Rhee resigned on Oct. 13.
“It was not something I wanted to do,” Henderson says.
But she heard her colleagues throwing around talk like “If Michelle leaves, I’m leaving too.” She saw mid-level employees updating their resumes.
“It became clear to me that by December, this place could be a ghost town,” Henderson says.
In a recent phone interview, Rhee said Henderson’s leadership provided “a seamless transition. My entire staff is literally moving forward as planned.”
