By Theola Labbé
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 29, 2007

It was billed as a "meet and greet," but the exchange between parents and the applicants vying to be the next principal of Eaton Elementary School was more like a forum for candidates running for office.

In the Northwest Washington school's multipurpose room last week, nearly 100 parents and school staff members sat in folding chairs with paper and pen at the ready to take copious notes. They had sent in questions for the job seekers, such as: "What experiences make you qualified to be a principal?" "What's your leadership style?" and "What would be your first order of business when you are at Eaton?"

Like politicians stumping for votes, four educators stepped to a microphone to share their qualifications and vision for leading the school in Cleveland Park. One principal from Maryland professed to be a "born leader." Another candidate said she loved seeing children learn and noted that her native Washingtonian roots were an asset.

Parents across the District are asserting themselves in the principal selection process during the transition to a mayor-controlled education system. As of Friday, four vacancies, out of 19 earlier, remained. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has made 12 interim appointments, and three acting principals have been held over. Rhee said she plans to introduce a more extensive hiring process next year that would involve a national search.

Not all schools have had the level of parental participation that Eaton has. At Anacostia Senior High School, the principal was fired last week and Rhee appointed an assistant principal, Michael Casey, the interim replacement -- to the surprise of parents and staff.

"Who did they talk to? How did this person get it?" said Levitha Long, who chairs the school's restructuring team and works at the Ward 8 high school as a special education coordinator. "It's a mess."

Rhee was out of town and could not be reached for comment. Her spokeswoman, Mafara Hobson, did not respond to inquiries about the naming of the interim principal or why Principal Ronald Duplessis was fired.

The Eaton forum, organized by parent leaders with the permission of D.C. school officials, ended with parents casting paper ballots and one parent collecting comments on a laptop computer. By the next morning, when a 12-member selection panel met to formally interview the candidates, it had a strong sense of how parents and staff members viewed the principal hopefuls.

"We were able to have the whole community in mind as we were choosing our candidates," said Kelley Ellsworth, who has two children at Eaton and serves as co-president of the Home School Association. "It felt really authentic."

According to D.C. school system policy, principal candidates seeking interim or full-time appointments are interviewed by a cross section of school and community members: three parent representatives, two community representatives, a parent from the school's PTA, a parent representative from the school's local restructuring team, four members of the school staff, including one support worker, and one union representative. Officials from the school system's human resources department and a regional superintendent also participate in the interviews.

Questions are approved in advance, and each member of the selection panel asks the same question of every candidate. The panel scores the principal hopefuls on a scale and forwards recommendations to the chancellor's office. Rhee makes the final decision.

When Mary Siddall, 39, of Northwest learned of the principal vacancy at Ross Elementary School, she e-mailed several people whom she knew from her former work promoting education policy and got a recommendation for one candidate, who was included in the candidate pool.

"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.