Newly minted District Mayor Adrian Fenty launched into his inaugural address Wednesday at the Washington Convention Center with a pledge to work “steadfast” to make the city the nation’s 51st state: “None of us can, or should, rest easy until we all have the opportunity to participate fully in our great democracy.”
He closed the 1,300-word speech, which he had worked on since early December, squarely focused on education, his first priority.
Fenty, whose joint public inaugural with the D.C. Council Wednesday followed Tuesday’s official swearing-in, is expected to unveil his long-awaited schools reform plan today.
His proposal involves stripping the Board of Education of its power and having the superintendent report directly to the executive.
“To those who question whether this city can ever boast a world-class school system, I join my former colleagues on the council in saying that this government will settle for nothing less, that this will no longer be the jurisdiction that spends the most and gets the least,” Fenty said before several thousand supporters.
Robert Bobb, the new Board of Education president, called Fenty’s words “inspirational.” But Bobb and Fenty are expected to clash over education reform.
Fenty was sworn in, for a second time, by Chief Judge Eric T. Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals. He was joined on stage by his wife; Michelle, his parents and his twin sons.
Noting “miserable health statistics,” Fenty pledged to improve access to medicine.
He said his team of agency directors is “one of the most experienced and accomplished group of managers a first-term administration has ever started out with.”
A private sector mind-set, he said, “will yield responsibility, accountability, transparency and efficiency,” while a new community policing model will put officers back on the streets where they belong.
The District’s new chief executive won all 142 precincts in both the primary and general elections, but much of the cavernous ballroom, which seated 15,000, was empty.
Swarmed by supporters after leaving the stage, Fenty took on all comers.
“We’re not turning down any hugs today,” he said as his aides tried to pull him away.
