Interim Chancellor Amanda Alexander. (Photo via the Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser)

Interim Chancellor for D.C. Public Schools Amanda Alexander announced on The Kojo Show Wednesday that she’s applied for the permanent position as chancellor of the school system.

It’s the first time she’s publicly confirmed she will be throwing her hat in the ring for the permanent role.

Alexander was appointed to her position as interim chancellor early this year, after former chancellor Antwan Wilson was forced to resign in February in the wake of a school lottery scandal. Wilson had broken District policy—a policy he oversaw—to transfer his daughter to Woodrow Wilson High School, a desirable school in Northwest with a 600-person waitlist, without entering the lottery normally used to grant such transfers. (Wilson is not the only former chancellor to be censured for skipping, or allowing others to skip, school waitlists and lotteries).

Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed Alexander to the position of interim chancellor in February. Previously, Alexander had served as the Chief of the Office of Elementary Schools. She started her career in D.C. in 1998 as a kindergarten teacher at Walker-Jones Elementary School, later serving as an administrator as well, she said on Kojo.

“I’ve been in this city for over 25 years. I have range, and my roots run deep,” she said. “I am very familiar with the history and the traditions of this city, from families who have been here since the days of slavery to more recent families who have just arrived to D.C. in the past five to 10 years. I plan on leaning on those experiences … to inform the decisions that I make.”

Bowser has said she wants to make a decision about the chancellor by January. The search kicked off in June, and includes a leadership committee and a series of public forums with members of the community.

The final public forum will take place on September 11, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Brookland Middle School.