Several educators who have worked closely with Peterkin feel differently about his decision to enter academics. The principal of North Division High School, which serves Milwaukee's poorest district, says that while Peterkin's departure came as a surprise, it will not derail efforts to improve the schools.

"My basic feeling is that we're losing a person who can be replaced but never duplicated," says Cecil Austin.

Hays, the principal of South Division High School, says that when he came to his job three years ago his school was in a state of "crisis." Parents were picketing outside to show displeasure with the quality of their children's education, he says.

With Peterkin's help, Hays says he has been able to rally the support of the community and implement programs to meet the needs of the 40 percent of the North Division students who are Hispanic.

While Hays is quick to admit that the substantive change of retraining teachers has hardly begun, he says these reforms will continue with or without Peterkin.

"This is not a one man show," Hays says. "I see [Peterkin's departure] as a disappointment. I don't see it as leaving us hanging."

And Peterkin himself readily acknowledges that his time in Milwaukee was short, but he says that the reforms there are as much the work of the community as his own. "A school system isn't simply vested in whoever happens to be the superintendent at that time," he says. "These are initiatives that will carry on."