D.C. Mayor-elect Vince Gray on Tuesday announced two of his top education officials, including one who is a senior adviser to the mayor of Newark, N.J.
De’Shawn Wright, who is currently with Newark Public Schools and has been an adviser to Cory Booker since 2006, will be Gray’s deputy mayor for education.
| More Gray picks |
| Department of Employment Services director: Rochelle Webb. She has been the administrator for the Arizona Department of Economic Security. Webb also is president of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. |
| Office of Human Rights director: Gustavo Velasquez. He served as director of the Office of Latino Affairs during Mayor Anthony Williams’ administration. |
| Office on Aging director: Clarence Brown. He served as director of the Multidisciplinary Gerontology Center in the School of Social Work at Howard University. |
Hosanna Mahaley, who was formerly with the school systems in Chicago and Atlanta, will head D.C.’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Both appointees have extensive backgrounds in urban education policy and management.
“I wanted to find people who knew what these challenges are,” Gray said. “These are top-notch professionals that are going to move it forward.”
Wright is known for school reform work he did in New Jersey. He was also the founding partner of the Newark Charter School Fund, an $18 million education fund to support charter schools in the city.
Mahaley is a former classroom teacher who was Arne Duncan’s chief of staff when the now federal education chief was the head of Chicago’s school district. There she executed a school reform initiative, which included replacing underperforming schools.
Wright and Mahaley were both contacted by Gray’s transition education team, and then introduced to the man who will be sworn in the national capital’s mayor on Jan. 2.
Wright said he talked to Gray “long enough to realize we were both philosophically aligned.”
Gray said in a statement that the education team will work under interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. Gray has previously said Henderson will stay on through the remainder of the school year. She followed Michelle Rhee, who had a national reputation for being a champion of education reform, but resigned in September shortly after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost the Democratic primary to Gray.
