School & District Management

Dallas Schools Chief’s Resignation Marks End of a Rocky Tenure

By Corey Mitchell — June 23, 2015 1 min read
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Dallas schools Superintendent Mike Miles announced his resignation today, marking the end of tenure marked by near-constant clashes with his school board and community members.

“This was a very difficult decision for me to make and one that has not been made lightly,” Miles’ statement read. “A position like this takes extraordinary commitment and sacrifice. But I also have a commitment to my family. It’s time to rejoin them in Colorado.”

Miles, who took the Dallas job in July 2012, was about to begin his fourth school year at the helm.

The Dallas Morning News posted a timeline documenting Miles’ tenure as head of the nation’s 14th largest school district with roughly 160,000 students.

Before coming to Dallas, Miles served as superintendent of the Harrison school system near Colorado Springs, Colo., for six years, implementing a pay-for-performance salary structure for teachers.

In Dallas, Miles installed new evaluation systems for teachers and principals. Despite his efforts, student scores on state exams flatlined or plunged, the Morning News reports.

Miles’ wife and youngest child returned to Colorado Springs in 2013 after his first year in Dallas. During that time, protesters picketed his home and an internal district report found that he “tried to manipulate the outcome of a service contract award and interfered with an investigation into his actions,” the Morning News reported.

Miles continually clashed with employees and several school board members, and survived several attempts by a few board members to fire him. Just this month, he fired three popular principals despite a school board vote to keep them.

This spring, he told Fox 4 in Dallas that he wasn’t concerned about being fired.

“We knew that we would have to make the tough decisions that few others were prepared to make and that many would oppose,” Miles’ said in a portion of his resignation speech.

A version of this news article first appeared in the District Dossier blog.