Urban Education

Everyone wants the first day of school to go smoothly, but leaders of the District of Columbia schools, in particular, really needed it to go well.

Washington’s school system is still smarting from political battles over its chain of command and whether the mayor should have more control of the schools. The city endured multiple rejections before finally finding a new superintendent.

So it didn’t help when the first day of school, on Wednesday, Sept. 1, found hundreds of students hanging around in front of Eastern High School, unable to begin their studies because no one had...