Chancellor Henderson Halts Stoddert Principal Search, Appoints Interim Principal

DC Public School Chancellor Kaya Henderson has decided that Stoddert Elementary will have an interim principal for the 2012-2013 school year. The decision comes a little more than a week after parents, teachers and community members formed a selection commmittee to choose a permanent replacement for departing principal Dr. Marjorie Cuthbert.

In June, , which is effective Aug. 3, was for family reasons. She will be moving to Wisconsin to help care for her deceased daughter's children.

On Tuesday, PTA co-presidents Caitlin Oppenheimer and Katy Youel-Page emailed parents to inform them of the Chancellor's unexpected decision.

"We have just learned that the DCPS Chancelor has decided to appoint an interim principal for Stoddert for the 2012-2013 school year from within the DCPS community. We are working with the Stoddert Instructional Superintendent to obtain more information about the individual and we will share that as it becomes available," they wrote.

It is possible that the decision reflected the short time period for making a principal selection and the competition among schools over the field of candidates.

"We believe the sooner we are ready to interview candidates the better as there are other DC elementary schools also needing principal replacements" a previous PTA email read.

Still, sources familiar with the process indicated suprise at the decision.

It is unclear what the chancellor's decision means for the selection committee or the process of identifying a permanent replacement for Cuthbert. It is also unclear how the decision was made or whom was involved beyond the chancellor herself.

Requests for information and inquiries made to both DCPS and the PTA presidents went unaswered as of late Tuesday night.

Patch will continue to provide updates on this story as information becomes available.