Embattled Kansas City Schools Chief Resigns

By Robert C. Johnston

It wasn't clear last week if the dust had settled in Kansas City, Mo., or was getting ready to kick up again. In less than a week, the city's superintendent of schools, Benjamin Demps Jr., was fired—and then reinstated by a federal judge—before resigning April 23 with six of his top aides.

The upheaval came just as 17,000 students in the district began taking the state exams that will determine whether the 30,000-student system regains the state accreditation it lost in 1999.

State legislators, meanwhile, are talking about reviving a bill killed earlier this year that sought an immediate state takeover of the school system. Under current Missouri law, Kansas City has until June of next year to gain accreditation or...