Following a months-long nationwide search for the next head of the D.C. Public School system, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced today that the former head of Oakland’s public school system, Antwan Wilson, will succeed Kaya Henderson.
Wilson is leaving his post as Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District to take the job.
“In his 20 plus years in education, Antwan Wilson has been a teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent and a superintendent, and at every level, he has been successful,” Bowser said in a release. “Not only is he an experienced leader, Mr. Wilson is a role model for our students. His success proves that with hard work, they can achieve what they set out to do.”
Wilson joined the Oakland school system in April 2015. “Leading an equity agenda aimed at increasing student achievement and elevating academic social emotional learning in our nation’s capitol is more important now than ever because of the challenges our nation is facing,” Wilson wrote in a letter to the staff he’s leaving behind.
During his time in Oakland, Wilson is credited with increasing the system’s graduation rate by almost four percentage points, as well as decreasing suspension rates and investing in teacher pay, among other things.
He’s been criticized, however, for pushing to “create a more cooperative environment” for Oakland’s public schools and charter schools, according to The Washington Post. He ran into opposition for proposing a common enrollment system—a process that DCPS already has. In addition, Wilson has also been criticized in Oakland for his efforts to bring special education students “into mainstream classrooms,” according to The Post.
Prior to overseeing the Oakland system, Wilson was assistant superintendent for post secondary readiness in Denver Public Schools for six years, overseeing middle, high, and alternative schools. Before that, he worked as a high school principal in Denver, and a middle school principal in Wichita, Kansas— “serving diverse communities and tackling challenges similar to those faced by DCPS,” according to the release.
The search for a new DCPS leader began after Kaya Henderson announced her resignation as chancellor in June, a position she’d held since 2010.
As applications rolled in for a replacement, DCPS opened 11 campuses on August 8 for the fall school year. These schools were given extended academic years, in part to prevent the “summer slide,” in which students tend to lose some of the academic gains they made during the previous school year.
Two weeks later, Mayor Bowser officially kicked off the school year with a crowd of dozens who assembled outside of the city’s controversial and only all-boys public high school, which focuses on educating males of color.
And in September, DCPS announced increased graduation numbers. While it hasn’t reached its five-year goal, the system’s four-year graduation rates have reached an all-time high. The graduation rates among black and Hispanic students are both at 67 percent—that’s a five percent boost for blacks and a one percent increase for Hispanics. D.C.’s achievement gap still persists though, as 93 percent of white students graduated on time.
Wilson’s appointment must be approved by the D.C. Council. Councilmember David Grosso, chairperson of the Committee on Education, said in a statement that he looks forward to “thoroughly examining Mr. Wilson’s record over the next few weeks. I also look forward to hearing perspectives and thoughts from the community on this nomination.”
The Committee on Education will be holding public roundtables on November 30, December 5, and December 8. If confirmed, Wilson will start on February 1 with a $280,000 salary.
