Two weeks after all but one member of the DeKalb County (Ga.) school board voted to name Rudy Crew the sole finalist for district superintendent, they have voted 4-3 not to hire him.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the board's reversal leaves the district without an heir apparent; Superintendent Ramona Tyson is set to retire at the end of June.
Crew, 69, formerly was the top executive in the New York City and Miami public school systems, but many DeKalb County district patrons took issue with Crew's history, including allegations he spent taxpayer dollars on personal items, bullied subordinates and obstructed a rape investigation.
[FROM APRIL: Former leader of New York City, Miami districts will head Georgia district]
Board Chairman Marshall Orson says that in the two weeks since the board announced Crew as a finalist, there was a "very deliberate campaign" trashing Crew.
"We were very mindful of what we were looking for," Orson says. "We wanted a superintendent who had big district experience. Someone who more than moved the needle, but showed results for those students who are more at risk. We found ... a person who had done that job. He had done it in New York and done it in Miami."
Tyson became superintendent in November after the school board severed ties with Steve Green, who had been with the district since 2015.
