Washington Post: Weast defeated

Superintendent Jerry Weast, once considered a superstar and model for how a public school chief should operate, suffered a "rare defeat" when the County Council quashed his plan for a school the community doesn't want.

The Washington Post reports that "Weast has seldom been challenged on his leadership of the state's largest school system" until now.

According to the Post, "the County Council hand[ed] School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast a rare defeat" in a 6-3 vote that "further strain[ed] relations between the council and school board."

The County Council was not very responsive to community concerns until the Inspector General found the public school leaders had committed wrongdoing.

"Community members have long voiced opposition to the Kendale Road site, but it wasn't until after the county's independent investigator, Thomas Dagley, issued a report in February which criticized the school system's plan that County Council members began to take a closer look at the project," the Post reports.