He spoke highly of the new schools chief, Arlene Ackerman, even as he cautioned that she needs to take swift action and remove many incompetent officials. Although his two sons attend private school, Chavous said he opposes a Republican plan in Congress to pay for vouchers to send children to private schools. But he said the city's educational crisis is so profound that officials need to wrest some children from troubled families and place them in public boarding schools. We may have to end up pulling children from their homes and putting them in publicly run residential academies to ensure they get the education they deserve. Chavous repeatedly steered clear of criticizing Mayor Marion Barry, who has not announced whether he will seek a fifth term.
People are ready for a change.
And he took a poke at mayoral rival Evans, chairman of the council's Judiciary Committee, which oversees the police department. Chavous contrasted his often-prickly relationship with the outgoing schools chief executive, Julius W. Becton Jr., to Evans's embrace of former police chief Larry D. Soulsby. I never wrapped my arms around him and said he was doing an outstanding job. And when the ship started sinking, I didn't abandon him at the last minute. Chavous rejected criticism of his own council record, including what some critics see as spotty attendance.