City Hall shakeup nearly complete June 7, 2001 BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND FRAN SPIELMAN STAFF REPORTERS Chicago Schools CEO Paul Vallas said Wednesday he is resigning, ending a remarkable six-year run that soured at the end over Mayor Daley's impatience with reading test scores. "I'm gone. Six years is enough. It's been a good run," said Vallas, a key figure in turning around Chicago's image as having the worst school system in the nation. Vallas appeared relieved late Wednesday to put the revelation behind him. Rumors had mounted that he planned to resign and that Daley was pressuring Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey to fill Vallas' almost $175,000-a-year slot. Vallas said he expects to formally announce his departure this week at a news conference with Daley, but he said he would stay on as long as needed. Today, Daley is expected to fill the other key vacancy in the city schools: Michael Scott will replace Gery Chico as president of the Chicago Board of Education. Scott has been president of the Chicago Park District. * Details, Pages 6-7 *** Vallas: `I'm gone. Six BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND FRAN SPIELMAN STAFF REPORTERS "It's time to leave," Paul Vallas said Wednesday. After six years as Chicago Schools CEO, Vallas ended weeks of speculation by saying he would formally announce his departure this week. He said he expects to hold a news conference with Mayor Daley today or Friday, but would stay on as long as needed, a few weeks or at the longest through the summer, to help acclimate his replacement. With School Board President Gery Chico leaving, and a new Chicago teachers union president taking over, "the mayor deserves the right to bring in a new team." "I'm leaving. I'm gone," Vallas said. Sources said Daley has been pressuring Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey to fill Vallas' spot. The mayor called her "well qualified," but wouldn't say Wednesday if he had persuaded her to take the pressure-packed job. Vallas, CEO of the nation's third-largest school system, said he has no job offers, but quipped, "I might get a few after this announcement comes out." Asked if he would consider running for governor, a rumor that surfaced last year, Vallas said, "I'm not planning on running for anything." Pressed on whether he would rule out such a run, Vallas dodged the question, saying, "I haven't even thought about what I'm doing next." However, Vallas said, "I like public service. I like administration. That's what I've been doing for the last 20 years, and I enjoy it. . . . Maybe I'll stay in the education field." A job as CEO of another school system is something he might think about, Vallas said, but he also conceded that he's "been there, done that." Earlier Wednesday, Daley seemed determined to let Vallas make his own resignation announcement, but vowed, "We will not go back prior to '95 to what the schools were, regardless of what people tell me. That was a disaster." Vallas said Daley had not asked him to leave. The mayor smiled knowingly at the mention of Dempsey's name and said, "Mary Dempsey is well qualified, to be very frank. I mean--she's extremely qualified as commissioner of the library system. She's done a great job." Sources said Dempsey has been reluctant to take the CEO job, out of concern it may consume her. The mayor, Dempsey said Wednesday, "is very interested in the schools improving. He's very interested in the role the libraries play in the schools improving. Beyond that, I'm not going to discuss private conversations I have with the mayor." Pressed on whether she would accept the starring role in Act II of Daley's school takeover, Dempsey said, "It's premature to talk about that. As far as I know, there's a CEO in place, and he's doing a great job. . . . "I want Chicago to have the best school system possible. I think Gery [Chico] and Paul have done a remarkable job. It's important for all of us in Chicago to support whatever changes are going to take place there." Last week, Vallas hit the ceiling after Daley said Vallas could "stay if he wants to" but no one is "irreplaceable." The less-than-ringing endorsement left little doubt the mayor preferred a clean break with the past. However, speculation about Vallas' future had been swirling for months, ever since Daley used his annual State of the City address to light a fire under his school team on the pivotal subject of reading. The rumors grew to a fevered pitch two weeks ago, when Chico announced he was resigning. In 1995, lawmakers created the job of Schools CEO and gave Daley the power to fill the post as well as all members of a new school board, to jump-start a sluggish and cash-strapped system. Vallas, a former legislative aide and Daley's former budget chief, and Chico, an attorney and the mayor's former chief of staff, quickly took up the battle cry "No excuses." Perhaps their most lasting legacy was mandatory summer school, and the end of promoting students who failed to hit a certain mark on annual tests. The initiative turned Chicago into ground-zero of a national movement to end "social promotion," and won praise from President Bill Clinton. But it also prompted complaints that schools were becoming test-crazed. By last year, outside researchers were warning that the steep gains of early years were shrinking. In recent weeks, critics questioned how construction funds could have nearly dried up before a new high school was built for Little Village, as promised. Then this month, systemwide averages on two of three key tests took a downturn for the first time in five years. Vallas, a workaholic who normally puts in six-day work weeks, said he leaves the system with financial stability, labor peace and two-thirds of its construction needs met. And, he insisted, the academic programs "we implemented are working," but "I'm not saying more doesn't need to be done." His immediate plans are to take a vacation and "have a laid-back summer." "Maybe Betty Ford has a program for former school-chief workaholics." *** -- This is the CPS Science Teacher 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/>
