Rhee Resigns, Urging D.C.: 'Keep the Reforms Going'

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, right, announces her resignation on Oct. 13 while accompanied by City Council Chairman and Democratic mayoral candidate Vincent Gray and Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson.

—Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

By Sean Cavanagh and Mary Ann Zehr

Washington

District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced Wednesday that she will resign after more than three years on the job, a time during which she won national praise for making aggressive policy changes but drew opposition from many parents and teachers who recoiled at her hard-nosed approach.

Ms. Rhee, who will step down at the end of this month, said that she and the city’s presumptive next mayor, Vincent C. Gray, reached a mutual decision that it would be best for her to leave the post.

While the chancellor described her departure as “heartbreaking,” she also said that she believed Mr. Gray, the City Council chairman who defeated Ms. Rhee’s boss, Adrian M. Fenty, in the Democratic mayoral primary last month, had a right to choose...