In Flip, DeKalb School System Nixes Ex-Leader Of New York City, Miami Schools

One of Georgia’s largest school districts won’t be hiring the former leader of school systems in New York City and Miami after board members were faced with complaints about his past record.

DeKalb County school board members on Monday voted 4-3 to reject a contract for Rudy Crew to lead the suburban Atlanta district.

The board of the 99,000-student district had voted in April to make Crew its sole finalist for the job.

School boards have to wait 14 days between naming finalists and voting to hire them in Georgia, but hiring is usually assured when a board named only one finalist.

According to a statement from the DeKalb County Board of Education: “Today the DeKalb County Board of Education voted on the approval of Dr. Rudy Crew’s contract, with three in favor and four opposed. Based on the results of today’s vote, the Board will not offer Dr. Crew the position of superintendent of DeKalb County Public Schools. The Board is reviewing its next steps and will begin the process of identifying an alternative candidate to assume the role of interim superintendent by July 1, 2020. We will share additional updates as soon as possible.”

Crew experienced success in improving student performance in New York and Florida, but was dogged by complaints about his leadership style and misspending.

Some had endorsed his arrival in DeKalb, including the Georgia Federation of Teachers, the smallest of Georgia’s three main teacher groups. Others had fought against his hiring, including some of the district’s most persistent critics.

The 69-year-old Crew led New York City schools from 1995 to 2000. He earlier led school systems in Sacramento, California, and Tacoma, Washington.

Crew was known as “the other Rudy” when he led the nation’s largest public school system under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The two clashed over school vouchers, which the mayor advocated but Crew opposed.

Crew was credited with reforms that helped failing schools improve, but his tenure was marred by a 1997 report by Edward F. Stancik, then the special commissioner of investigation, that accused school administrators of delaying the report of a rape of a 14-year-old girl at a city high school. Crew accused the independent investigator of producing exaggerated reports into alleged corruption and misconduct.

He led Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida from 2004 to 2008, a time during which he helped more schools achieve A ratings under Florida’s system and built 29 new schools. But Crew had a rough relationship with school board members and fought with a teachers union over frozen wages. The gigantic district’s financial reserves were almost down to zero when he was forced out.

Crew served a year as Oregon’s chief education officer but was unable to persuade lawmakers to pay for his plans to overhaul instruction and teacher training and was criticized for running up huge travel bills. He has been president of Medgar Evers College in New York since 2013.

Ramona Tyson has been serving as a short-term superintendent in DeKalb County since Superintendent Steve Green announced he would not seek a contract extension. The board later decided Green should leave immediately before the end of this year.

WABE contributed to the report