Dysfunctional Public School System Continues to Drive Good Educators Away:

Young D.C. Principal Quits and Tells Why

By Bill Turque, Published: The Washington Post, June 25, 2011

Bill Kerlina won a plum assignment when he was hired away from Montgomery County in July 2009 to become a principal in Northwest Washington. Phoebe Hearst Elementary was a small, high-performing school, right across the street from Sidwell Friends.

He grew to love its students, teachers and--for the most part--its parents. "If I could lift the school up and put it in a functional school system, it would be perfect," he said.


Instead, he said, the dysfunction he encountered in D.C. public schools led him to quit this month, fed up and burned out.