School & District Management

Mayoral Preference?

August 24, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty appeared today at the city’s H.D. Cooke Elementary School, kicking off the third academic year since he took over the school system and appointed Michelle Rhee as chancellor.

It seems the mayor, who was at a morning news conference with Ms. Rhee and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to talk about swine flu preparations, wasn’t too keen on answering prying reporters’ questions about where his twin sons are attending school this year. He had apparently promised that once the boys finished 3rd grade at their Montessori school, he’d enroll them in a public school.

Well, at least one of the boys was spotted this morning at Lafayette Elementary, a high-performing school that is not in the mayor’s neighborhood.

Bill Turque at the Washington Post has a lot more detail about the sighting of the Fentys in D.C.'s upscale Chevy Chase neighborhood, where Lafayette is located. Turque writes that it’s not unusual for out-of-boundary families to apply to enroll at Lafayette through a lottery system, but that it’s been rare in recent years for any slots to be available.

Related Tags:

A version of this news article first appeared in the District Dossier blog.

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum Supporting the New K-12 Workforce: What Teachers Need to Stay at School
 Join this free virtual event to discover what teachers say they need to feel supported to stay in classrooms for the long haul.
College & Workforce Readiness K-12 Essentials Forum Career and Technical Education Takes Its Next Big Step
Join this free virtual event to hear creative approaches to modernize CTE programs and navigate the shift away from a near-exclusive focus on "college preparedness."

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management How School Board Members Really Feel About Political Conflict
Political tensions remain high for many school boards across the country, new survey data show.
3 min read
Members of the school board sit on stage in the school auditorium to respond to questions from residents during the annual Town Meeting, on March 5, 2024, in Stowe, Vt. Town Meeting is a tradition that, in Vermont, dates back more than 250 years, to before the founding of the republic. But it is under threat. Many people feel they no longer have the time or ability to attend such meetings. Last year, residents of neighboring Morristown voted to switch to a secret ballot system, ending their town meeting tradition.
Members of the school board sit on stage in the school auditorium to respond to questions from residents during the annual Town Meeting, on March 5, 2024, in Stowe, Vt. A new survey suggests that political conflict that rose during the pandemic has remained relatively high for many school boards across the country.
Robert F. Bukaty/AP
School & District Management LAUSD Taps Interim Chief as Superintendent 3 Days After Carvalho's Resignation
Andres Chait has served as a teacher, principal, and regional superintendent in Los Angeles.
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
6 min read
Acting Superintendent Andres Chait at a Los Angeles Unified School District Board meeting in Los Angeles on June 23, 2026 .
Acting Superintendent Andres Chait at a Los Angeles Unified School District Board meeting in Los Angeles on June 23, 2026. LAUSD has named Chait its new superintendent on a permanent basis following Alberto Carvalho's resignation earlier this week.
Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via TNS
School & District Management Lessons Learned About Bold Tech Initiatives From the LAUSD Chief's Departure
Bold initiatives can cut both ways, says a leadership expert, sparking achievement gains or falling apart.
20260622 AMX US NEWS WHAT ALBERTO CARVALHOS RESIGNATION MEANS 1 LD
Alberto Carvalho, then the Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent, listens to parents of students at a Los Angeles high school on March 30, 2022. Carvalho resigned from his position Sunday night under the cloud of a failed AI chatbot initiative and an FBI investigation.
Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG
School & District Management Carvalho Resigns as L.A. Unified Superintendent Amid Federal Investigation
Alberto Carvalho has been under FBI investigation for four months after a failed AI chatbot venture.
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
6 min read
Los Angeles Schools Federal Raid 26059057494102
Alberto Carvalho speaks about Los Angeles students' improved scores before Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation related to student literacy in Los Angeles on Oct. 9, 2025. The Los Angeles Unified superintendent, facing an FBI investigation, resigned June 21.
Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo