July 31, 2001
BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER
The woman who held the No. 2 education job at the Chicago Public Schools
under former CEO Paul Vallas resigned Monday after finding herself without a
place in a soon-to-be-announced shake-up by the new school regime.
Blondean Davis abruptly ended her 31-year career in Chicago as newly
appointed Schools CEO Arne Duncan prepared to unveil a new management team
that includes an unidentified elementary school principal as chief education
officer.
At least one other principal is expected to rise to the top as Duncan seeks
to inject the system with new blood and fresh ideas in response to Mayor
Daley's demand for thinking ''outside the box'' to solve the problem of
student reading.
Educators from the University of Chicago, where Duncan's father serves as a
psychology professor, also are expected to sign on as members of the
leadership team being assembled by Duncan and newly appointed School Board
President Michael Scott.
Barbara Eason-Watkins, principal of James McCosh Elementary School, 6543 S.
Champlain, and Joan Dameron Crisler, principal of Arthur Dixon Elementary,
8306 S. St. Lawrence, are two principals frequently mentioned as rising
stars. Neither woman could be reached for comment.
Crisler was a featured panelist at the mayor's highly touted reading
roundtable. Daley hit the ceiling after Vallas walked away from the forum
insisting that he had heard no new ideas. The mayor had apparently learned
plenty from Crisler and others.
''There are lots of great people out there. We're looking at them all. We're
casting a wide net here,'' Duncan said.
''My goal is to build the strongest, smartest, most hard-working team in
every aspect of management. I'm talking to people from universities,
foundations, nonprofits and the corporate sector as well as principals and
former principals and administrators.''
Asked why Davis was the odd person out, Duncan said, ''She's resigning to
pursue other opportunities. I have tremendous respect for her and her work
and we're going to retain her as a consultant for a while to continue to
help.''
Davis repeated the company line. Her ouster came at the end of a career that
featured stints as a teacher, guidance counselor, assistant principal,
district superintendent, deputy chief education officer, and finally, as
chief of schools and regions.
''This is a perfect time for me to pursue my dream, which is to be
superintendent'' of a school district, Davis said.
''I realize that the CEO model in Chicago is one that has been successful
and, therefore, will continue. . . . The administration of Duncan and Scott
have my support and my best wishes. But, more important, I feel confident
that they will take the work that we achieved to a new and higher level.''
Duncan, Vallas' 36-year-old deputy chief of staff, has been quietly
assembling his management team since June 26, when Daley chose him to fill
the void created by the man whose name has become synonymous with Chicago
school reform.
Earlier this month, Duncan told top staffers he plans to establish a
strategic planning unit to draft a long-term game plan for a Board of
Education that, in the past, has reacted to crises instead of following its
own strategic plan.
At the mayor's reading roundtable, Crisler sounded a bit like Daley when she
talked about the need for new approaches to get through to students who are
struggling to learn to read.
''Children are multidimensional. We don't teach them that way. Some young
people are visual learners. Others are auditory. Some are tactile. Are we
using everything we know about how human beings absorb information to teach
these children or are we just taking the line of least resistance?'' she
said.
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