Former parks director and gay rights activist Clark Ray has been named the first district-wide athletic director, in a bid to unite D.C. Public Schools and charter schools on the playing field.
A spokesman for the Office of the State Superintendent for Education, which will house the bridged program, confirmed Ray’s appointment (which The Washington Blade first reported). We’ll speak with Ray shortly about his plans for school sports.
In the meantime, however, a cursory backround check: Ray was the director of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation under former Mayor Adrian Fenty, but was abruptly fired in 2009. (Ironically, his replacement was a DCPS employee with no parks experience.)
From an Examiner report at the time:
Ray also ran (unsuccessfully) in 2010 for the at-large D.C. Council seat retained by incumbent Phil Mendelson. He worked as Tipper Gore’s chief of staff during the 2000 presidential campaign, and she returned the favor by supporting him at at least one fundraiser during his council bid.
Mayor Vincent Gray announced the districtwide AD position a couple months ago, explaining that it would enable charter schools — which enroll 40 percent of the city’s public school students — to compete alongside DCPS in events like the Turkey Bowl.
The new position is also likely to make charter school sports run a little more smoothly. Under the current system, charter schools must apply for a sanction to play any team outside the D.C. Public Charter School Board’s purview.
That has become an issue, charter leaders say, when teams are set to play in an out-of-state tournament but DCPS’ computers go down — or DCPS loses the papers — and the team can’t play.
