LA Schools Superintendent Steps Down, Defends Tenure
Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy has stepped down as head of the nation's second-largest school system after a controversial tenure that saw him at odds with the teachers union and unable to push through a plan to get an IPAD 4 CASE in every student's hand. His resignation was announced Thursday in a joint statement by Deasy and the board. It was also announced that former Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines would return to head the district starting Oct. 20 while officials search for a successor. Although Deasy will say only that his resignation was "by mutual agreement" with the school board, in his first interview since the announcement, he acknowledges on NPR's Morning Edition that his leadership style could have played a role in the decision. "I certainly am responsible and consequential for my style of leadership and my agenda, which was students' rights first," he tells host Steve Inskeep. That agenda, he says, "definit...