WASHINGTON — The leader of D.C. Public Schools announced Wednesday that she is stepping down from the role she has held since 2010.
On Wednesday, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced she is leaving the job and her last day will be Sept. 30, 2016.
“Simply put, I am ready to take on new challenges, and I have complete confidence that the team we have built at DCPS is prepared to drive our work forward under new leadership,” Henderson said in a statement.
John Davis, the current chief of schools, will become interim chancellor. A nationwide search for the next chancellor will begin in the fall, said Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Both Bowser and the DC State Board of Education thanked Henderson for her service. Bowser noted that after decades of decline, the school system has seen consistent enrollment growth under Henderson — a nearly 4,000-student growth in her six years.
Earlier this year, Henderson was scrutinized after an Associated Press report found in 2013 she asked a food-service contractor for a $100,000 contribution to a Kennedy Center gala honoring teachers, weeks after the company was accused in a whistleblower lawsuit of cheating the city out of millions of dollars. A group of parents filed an ethics complaint against Henderson following the report.
Henderson has served as the school system’s chancellor since November 2010. She joined DCPS in 2007 as deputy chancellor — a role where she oversaw the Office of Human Capital.
Henderson took over for chancellor Michelle Rhee.
