Billy Webster, Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley’s chief of staff, plans to leave Washington by the end of June.
Mr. Webster, who told political employees of his departure earlier this month, is leaving for personal reasons and will return to the private sector in South Carolina, a department spokeswoman said.
Mr. Webster, who owned a chain of fast-food restaurants until 1992, is a friend and political ally of Mr. Riley, a former Governor of South Carolina. Both hail from Greenville.
Rumors have circulated here and in Kansas that Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R-Kan., is among the leading candidates for the chancellorship of the University of Kansas. And a statement released by the senator’s office leaves open the possibility that she’ll consider the job.
Ms. Kassebaum, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, said through a spokesman that a search for a chancellor “is a long, involved process. If my name ever appears on a short list of candidates, I will comment on my interest then.’'
A university spokesman said that the current chancellor, Gene Budig, stepped down very recently--to become president of baseball’s American League--and that the board of regents has not even agreed on a set of qualifications for possible candidates, let alone the candidates themselves.
Of the rumor that Ms. Kassebaum might get the job, the spokesman said: “This is rampant speculation on someone’s part.’'
Ms. Kassebaum was first elected to the Senate in 1978. Her current term expires in 1996.
Mr. Riley this month named a San Diego principal as “principal in residence’’ at the Education Department.
Adel T. Nadeau, who had been the principal of Linda Vista Elementary School since 1987, is to provide a practitioner’s insight and serve as a contact for principals around the country, according to a news release.
In San Diego, she worked under Thomas W. Payzant, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, who was then the district’s superintendent.
In 1991, she was named the California Administrator of the Year for elementary schools.--MARK PITSCH
