The interim chief of the District’s juvenile justice agency sounded a lot like D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and presumptive mayor D.C. Council Chairman Vince Gray on Thursday when he told The Washington Examiner that not matter what Gray decides to do about him, he just wants “what’s best with the kids.”
While Rhee and Gray met in the chairman’s fifth floor office, Department of Youth Rehabilitation interim director Robert Hildum sat in council chamber just around the corner waiting his turn to testify in front of Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells about the agency’s status under his leadership. Hildum stepped into the job in mid-July after Mayor Adrian Fenty fired DYRS chief Marc Schindler.
Like everyone else in the Fenty administration, Hildum is waiting for Gray to start making decisions on his future role with the troubled agency.
“Whatever choice the incoming mayor makes, I’ll do what’s best for the kids in the agency,” Hildum said. For now, he said “I’ll keep working and doing the things I’ve been doing at the agency.”
