Detroit School Board Splits Over Superintendent Choice

By Catherine Gewertz

After an exhaustive search for a new schools chief, the Detroit school board deadlocked last week over its two finalists, bringing to a boil the resentment and anger that have simmered in the city for nearly a year about who controls local schools.

The day after the fractious Jan. 18 vote, the board gave its chairman the power to appoint a three-member board subcommittee to undertake a new search. Details of how the panel would proceed were still unclear, but the new search will begin against the ticking clock of Chief Executive Officer David Adamany's contract, which is set to expire in mid-May.

And it will clearly be shadowed by the frustration of board and community members who have wondered whether Mayor Dennis W. Archer, who appoints six of the seven school board members, is in charge or whether Gov. John Engler of Michigan, who appoints one pivotal member to the board,...