The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,ART-52268,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- Vallas: 'It's time to go' By Michael Martinez<BR> and Ray Quintanilla Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas said Wednesday he will step down when classes end next week, capping weeks of speculation about his future and closing out his six-year stint as the architect of school reform. On the heels of Board of Education President Gery Chico's resignation two weeks ago, Vallas' departure confirms what had become increasingly evident around City Hall: a frustrated Mayor Richard Daley wants a wholesale shake-up to reinvigorate school reform as test scores have drooped. "I don't want to play these games for another year. Yeah, I'm going to be gone. End of story," Vallas told the Tribune's editorial board. Vallas indicated he met with Daley earlier this week and it became clear he no longer had a future with the schools. Energetic and often combative, Vallas was a risk-taker willing to unleash dramatic sanctions and new programs on a school system that was collapsing when he assumed control. Asked why he was announcing his resignation before the mayor did, Vallas responded: "Let's face it, I've always been a maverick.... I need a break. It's time to go." With the resignations of Vallas and Chico—in addition to the city's teachers electing a hard-line activist as their new union president two weeks ago—the Chicago experiment in school reform is at its first crossroads since Daley took direct control of schools in 1995. The new leadership will have complete control over 45,900 employees and a $3.5 billion annual budget—in addition to enjoying widespread public confidence built by Vallas and Chico that the Chicago system is improving. On the other hand, their successors will be pressured to find further gains in a system that already has experimented with an array of reforms and sanctions. Daley's front-runner to replace Chico is Michael Scott, 51, a Daley appointee who is president of the Chicago Park District and government affairs executive for AT&T Broadband. Potential candidates to replace Vallas include Chicago Library Commissioner Mary A. Dempsey; Forrest Claypool, a former Daley chief of staff who also served as Chicago Park District general superintendent; and Paula Wolff, who resigned in 1999 as president of Governors State University. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, CEO of the Cleveland public schools, also has been mentioned as a possible candidate. But sources said such a choice would be an unlikely one for Daley, who tends to disdain the educational establishment and prefers homegrown talent to out-of-towners. Daley believes Dempsey has done an admirable job as library chief, and she shares the mayor's love of books and his conviction that reading is a vital skill that children must master. Asked Wednesday whether she had been contacted about the position created by Vallas' departure, Dempsey, 48, declined to comment. "I'm most interested in the job I have now," said Dempsey, appointed library commissioner in 1994. "I'm very proud of the team we've built here." Dempsey, who is married to noted attorney Philip Corboy, has a master's degree in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a law degree from DePaul University. Asked whether she would accept the post, Dempsey said she had "not even thought about it. My focus is on my job." Anticipating Vallas' departure, reporters asked Daley Wednesday if Dempsey would be a good replacement. "Mary Dempsey is very well qualified," he replied. "She is extremely qualified as commissioner of the library system. She has done a great job in it." The mayor added: "There are many people who are very well qualified" for the schools post. A mixed reputation Vallas was a driven technocrat whose long workdays and public accessibility were legendary. But at City Hall, he suffered the reputation of a loose cannon who could be vitriolic. While Chico served as Daley's unpaid overseer of the school system, it was the $175,000-a-year Vallas who largely led the way on dramatic reforms and garnered headlines. Under Vallas and Chico, the system saw a net gain in its reading and math scores. When the system banned "social promotions" and forced students to post minimum test scores or face flunking, Chicago drew national attention for its daring and defied critics who said that retention would cause soaring dropout rates. The system spent millions on summer and after-school programs to help bring students closer to national averages in reading and math. Known for encyclopedic recitations of his achievements, Vallas on Wednesday cited six consecutive balanced budgets, a $2.65 billion construction program to build new and repair schools, and an alphabet soup of dramatic sanctions that resulted in the ousting of teachers and principals deemed inept. "His will be big shoes to fill," said Jacquelyn Heard, Daley's press secretary. "Paul has done a phenomenal job. On that point, I think everyone would agree. I also think everyone would agree that this is the kind of job that you just can't do forever because it would be physically and mentally impossible." "Paul was tied to that desk all of the time," said Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th), chairman of the City Council's Education Committee. "Many of us used to tell him, 'You need to take a vacation.' I think he wrongly felt the whole system would fall apart if he ever left his office. However, it is hard to fault a guy who lives, eats and breathes the job he has been given. You have to give him great marks for what he has done." Daley has publicly suggested that the system's leadership had grown complacent, saying as recently as Tuesday: "When you are committed to change, you risk failing. But unless we're willing to change, we'll never succeed. I also hope no one has fallen into the trap of believing we've already done the best we can. If you believe that, then you've given up on our children. And I, for one, will never give up on any child in Chicago." Growing rivalry with Daley Those comments were seen as a jab at Vallas, who became increasingly defensive of the mayor's criticism. The rivalry climaxed earlier this year when Vallas attended a mayoral reading summit and publicly said he found no new ideas—which disturbed Daley, an aide said. One city official said he believes that the departure of Vallas, along with that of Chico, will not be the only changes at the Board of Education. "I think you will see a bigger shake-up than what you are looking at," he said. He predicted that some top aides in the Daley administration will be sent from City Hall to top school board spots. Privately, high-level sources said Daley had voiced to aides that he wanted Chico and Vallas to leave months ago. Daley informed Chico directly several days before he resigned. Vallas was informed indirectly that the mayor wanted a clean sweep of his schools team. Both would have been happy to stay on for at least another year or so, sources said. "The mayor said it was time," a source close to the discussions said. "You don't question it, you just get it done." In an interview, Chico said he was sorry to see Vallas step down. The system hasn't had a finer leader, regardless of any differences between the two men over the years, Chico said. "It's a loss for the city," Chico observed. "He took this job very seriously, and a lot of the credit for improvement in the schools goes to him." Barbara Radner of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education said it is a "mistake to replace both of them at once." The system's new leaders are going to confront some of the system's most pressing problems during the summer, such as fine-tuning sanctions that the system uses to punish underperforming schools. Gaining credibility from the public will be important as well, she said. "Vallas was a leader with strong opinions," Radner said. "He made some mistakes, sure. But he always had to justify what he did," Radner said. Avis LaVelle, board vice president, said she believed the next school leaders should be local. "I think we have learned this is a tough town to bring someone in from the outside," LaVelle said. "It's a job that requires such a depth of knowledge of who we are, and the history of what we have been involved with and where we are going." Tribune staff reporters Gary Washburn and Monica Davey contributed to this report. ---------------------------------------------------- This is the CPS Mathematics Teacher Discussion List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
