Some Puzzled Over Principal Appointment Process

"I want someone who has high expectations for their students and someone who's a master teacher," said Siddall, who has two children at Ross, near 17th and R streets NW.

Siddall, who interviewed the Ross candidates, e-mailed Rhee that she thinks the selection process should be improved. For example, Siddall said, the panelists should get copies of all résumés in advance and have more give-and-take with candidates during the interview.

"We should be able to have a conversation," she said. "We should be able to ask questions based on their individual résumés, and we should be able to follow up. Instead, it's completely one-sided and flat."

Questions remain at Anacostia, where Casey was appointed interim principal without a selection panel. Duplessis was fired last week, according to employees working in the front office, who saw him being escorted from the building after he gathered his belongings. The timing of the decision caught parents and school staff by surprise, and even regional superintendents were startled to learn of it.

Long said aides to the chancellor told her, "We have discussed and decided this." But Long said they didn't consult with the school community. "They didn't talk to members of the staff; they didn't talk to the PTA president, who's an employee at the school. They didn't talk to anyone in the regional superintendent's office."

Long is scheduled to meet with Rhee on Thursday to discuss the appointment. "She said she wants parental involvement -- it's not going to work until they do that," Long said of Rhee.

Kevin Fox, a social studies teacher at Cardozo Senior High School, which named an interim principal last week, said he is glad someone is in place. But Fox said when he and parents at the school asked why Barbara Childs, who served as principal last year, was not part of the interim candidates pool, school officials didn't explain.

"If we're going to go through this process, and they want it to be an open selection process, then they have to be open with information," Fox said.