No Way To Choose A Principal

So why was Abelmann tossed midstream from the Deal selection process? Some parents contend that the system -- which has a student population that is only 4 percent white -- was unwilling to consider a white candidate as principal of its top junior high.

Moore rejects that notion, saying, "This administration is driven by one criterion only -- highly qualified personnel." She declined to comment on Abelmann's record other than to say, "It probably would be really difficult not to be a good leader at a school like Janney, with those resources in that neighborhood."

Victor Reinoso, the elected D.C. school board member for Wards 3 and 4, says he doesn't know if race or internal politics was at work, but he has concluded that it "does appear this was a political decision. Charlie taught in the Harvard program that accredits principals, but he didn't graduate from that program, so he's not qualified under DCPS rules. It just doesn't make sense."

At Janney, Abelmann rocked the boat on behalf of his school, and the system does not appreciate that.

Abelmann realized that the D.C. schools were unlikely to act on their own to capitalize on their extraordinary wealth of real estate. Janney sits on a large plot immediately across from the Tenleytown Metro station, probably the biggest development gold mine in Northwest. Abelmann approached developers and sought ideas for a public-private partnership. Two developers proposed to build apartments on part of the site, in exchange for which they would pay to renovate the sadly deteriorating Janney and build an addition to the school. The system did nothing either to advance the idea or to rehab the school on its own.

Like other Janney parents who were on the fence about sending their children to Deal, Baumol watched the Abelmann case for a sign of the system's direction.

"What drives me crazy," he says, "is that the purpose of certification is to keep unqualified people out. And yet the system is filled with people who are uncertified. Now they're using it as an excuse against someone who's proven himself as a principal. That worries me."

Come fall, his child will leave the D.C. schools to attend a Catholic school.

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