Henderson Accepts Reform Challenge

(Washington Post) — As Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee winds down a turbulent 31/2 years in the District, she leaves in her wake a question that will be largely Kaya Henderson’s to answer: Can school reform continue with the same velocity and ambition under a leadership that values consensus and collaboration over blunt force and broken crockery? Henderson’s charge from presumptive mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), who wants her to be his interim – and possibly permanent – chancellor, is to make sure that the answer is yes. “I’m totally confident we can come together and push reforms with the same urgency,” she said in a phone interview Thursday (a request for an office visit was declined). She sounded upbeat but a little frayed from her Wednesday unveiling and a trip to Bahrain last week for an international education conference.

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