Education Week - August 7, 2013 - 12

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EDUCATION WEEK AUGUST 7, 2013 www.edweek.org
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Bridgeport Schools Chief’s Future in Doubt
Ouster appeal slated
by Conn. high court
By Jaclyn Zubrzycki
A Connecticut judge’s order
that Paul G. Vallas, who has run
of some of the largest school systems
in the country, must leave
his post as the superintendent
in Bridgeport because of a lack
of formal certification highlights
some of the tensions in national
debates over superintendents’
qualifications and state interventions
in struggling urban
districts.
Though Mr. Vallas, a former
budget director for Chicago
mayor Richard Daley, has garnered
national attention as a
district leader in Chicago, Philadelphia,
and Louisiana’s staterun
Recovery School District, he
was never fully certified to be a
superintendent in Connecticut.
In a strongly worded June 28
ruling that is being appealed,
Superior Court Judge Barbara
Bellis said that a state board-approved
independent study taken
by Mr. Vallas at the University of
Connecticut’s Neag School of Education
was a course rather than
the leadership program he was
required to take under a state
law passed last year.
Judge Bellis also found that,
although his professor gave him
an A for his efforts, Mr. Vallas
did not actually complete the
independent study—which had
never been used for any other
district leader in the state—in
the form approved by the state
board of education. That means,
the ruling said, that Mr. Vallas
was ineligible for the waiver from
state certification requirements
granted to him by state Commissioner
of Education Stefan Pryor.
Staying for Now
The Connecticut Supreme Court
announced in July that Mr. Vallas,
who has courted his share of controversy,
can remain the district’s
superintendent while the case
is being appealed. The court will
“
This is the
first situation
I’ve seen where
a major city
superintendent’s
credentials were
the subject of
a lawsuit.”
MICHAEL D. CASSERLY
Council of the Great City Schools
Bridgeport Superintendent of Schools Paul G. Vallas hugs Aphia Griffiths, a parent, after she spoke at a
rally to show support for him last month in Bridgeport, Conn.
hear arguments in late September.
“We’re going to keep on doing what
we do until the courts tell us we
can’t do it,” Mr. Vallas said in an
interview with Education Week.
Carmen Lopez, the retired superior
court judge who brought
the case against Mr. Vallas’ appointment,
said her action was
prompted by a series of decisions—including
his appointment—that
state officials had
made about the 21,000-student
system without the input of
Bridgeport residents. The school
board that hired Mr. Vallas was
state-appointed rather than
elected. Mr. Vallas’ entry into his
position was eased by Commissioner
Pryor, Ms. Lopez said.
“Paul Vallas was imposed on
the city,” she said. “Then we find
out that he lacks something as
basic as having certification.”
“There is a movement in this
country to change education as we
know it, and you start that where
people are vulnerable,” she said.
“There’s never any discussion with
the people, who are looked on as
incompetent. ... The only recourse
we have is the court.”
Despite the court ruling, Mr.
Vallas says the independent
study allowed him to show he
met state standards, which
should permit him to be superintendent
in Bridgeport, the state’s
second largest district and also
one of its poorest.
“This is about more than certification,”
Mr. Vallas said. “If I’d taken
a longer course, they’d have found
something else to sue the district
over,” he said. “This is about maintaining
the status quo.”
Other superintendents who
have come to districts from nontraditional
backgrounds, such
as business or the military, have
had their credentials questioned
and, in some cases, seen their
education careers come to an end.
Cathleen P. Black, who was
named the chancellor of the New
York City schools in 2011 after
holding top executive posts in
magazine publishing, drew heat
PAUL G. VALLAS
EXPERIENCE
Jan. 2012
Became superintendent in
Bridgeport, Conn.
2010-12
Education consultant for
government of Haiti after
2010 earthquake; education
consultant for government of
Chile.
2007-2011
Served as superintendent of
the Recovery School District,
> > The DISTRICT DOSSIER blog tracks news and trends on this issue. www.edweek.org/go/districtdossier
for having no experience working
in education. Like Mr. Vallas,
Ms. Black was granted a waiver
by the state’s education commissioner
that permitted her to
lead the nation’s largest school
system. She left the job, however,
after 95 days.
Nontraditional Chiefs
Other prominent district
schools chiefs in recent years
have not had traditional administrator
credentials, including
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan, who became the CEO
of Chicago’s schools after serving
under Mr. Vallas; Michelle
A. Rhee, who led the District of
Columbia’s school system; and
Anthony J. Tata, who headed the
district in Wake County, N.C.
The fact that in Bridgeport the
issue has been taken to court is
unusual, however.
“This is the first situation I’ve
seen where a major city superintendent’s
credentials were the
subject of a lawsuit,” said Michael
D. Casserly, the executive
director of the Council of the
Great City Schools, a Washington-based
group that represents
large urban districts.
As of 2005, 44 states required
some sort of specific education
program or certification for their
superintendents, according to the
Denver-based Education Commission
of the States.
Particularly in large urban sys-
tems, though, superintendents
from outside the education world
are hardly a new phenomenon,
said Mr. Casserly.
“There probably ought to be
changes in state laws in a way that
would allow nontraditional superintendents
to lead at least majorcity
school districts,” he said.
In most cases, a state waiver is
granted or the path is cleared at
the legislative level for a nontraditional
leader to take the helm,
and the issue never reaches a
court, said Kenneth Wong, a
professor of education policy at
La., where he helped oversee
the rebuilding of New Orleans’
schools after Hurricane Katrina.
He closed direct-run schools and
opened charter schools, seeking
to create what he described as a
“system of schools” rather than a
“school system.”
2002-2007
Became CEO of Philadelphia
school district immediately
after a state takeover gave
control of many of the schools
to private managers and
universities. He replaced K-8
schools with elementary and
middle schools, promoted a
zero-tolerance discipline policy,
and opened more than 60
charter schools.
2001-2002
Gubernatorial candidate
in Illinois, losing Democratic
primary to now-former Gov. Rod
Blagojevich.
1995-2001
Was the first mayorally
appointed CEO of Chicago’s
public schools. He sought to
Photos by Brian A. Pounds/The Connecticut Post

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Education Week - August 7, 2013

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