So long, Portland. Howdy, Seattle.

Portland has a hard time keeping school superintendents around for long. They seem to crash or move up.

clipped from blog.oregonlive.com Fighting back tears and praising the community's commitment to education, Portland Schools Superintendent Vicki Phillips announced Wednesday afternoon that she has accepted a job heading up U.S. education grants for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the most powerful education jobs in the nation. Phillips' fans will say she's leaving Portland Public poised to become the nation's premiere urban district, with stable finances, repaired relationships with the business community and legislators and a staff deeply dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap. Her foes will point to a pile of unfinished or barely started business: stubbornly poor high school student achievement, a school choice system in need of repair and a brewing battle between district leaders and teachers over what's taught in classrooms.