In a surprise announcement given after a "hastily called" school board meeting, D.C. school superintendent Paul Vance announced his resignation. When pressed for details about why he was leaving so abruptly, he cited several reasons, including the move by D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams to try to gain control over the beleaguered school system, the system's financial problems, and the D.C. voucher program now before Congress (and, which yesterday cleared a major hurdle and is now embedded in a omnibus appropriations bill that the Democrats have said they will not filibuster). "To be very candid with you," Vance sighed, "I just don't want to be bothered with it." Give him points for honesty. The response to his exit has been mixed, with many D.C. officials saying that he had "fought the good fight" but that the lack of progress on his watch made it time for him to go. Vance noted that his three-and-a-half year tenure was a "modern record" for the D.C. system, which has seen 16 chiefs in 36 years. But his departure will only be good news for D.C. students if the school board manages to appoint a leader "who [will stick] around for more than a brief visit" and who will "insist on real authority." Of course, since the mayor is currently vying to control the system himself, it seems more likely, as Marc Fisher of the Washington Post predicts, that there will be "a long struggle for control of a system from which good managers and teachers flee at their first opportunity, a system that is still hemorrhaging students and failing to educate."
"Vance resigns as chief of D.C. schools," by Justin Blum and David Nakamura,
Washington Post, November 15, 2003
"Foolishness isn't centralized, it's all over the map," by Marc Fisher,
Washington Post, November 18, 2003
"Republicans reach deal on D.C. voucher bill," by Spencer S. Hsu, Washington
Post, November 20, 2003