D.C. schools tap Kempsville grad for top post

A Kempsville High School graduate who served 28 years in the Army has been named chief operating officer of Washington, D.C.'s public schools.

Retired Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Tata, son of Virginia Beach Del. Bob Tata and former Virginia Beach School Board member Jerri Tata, started his new position in the 46,000-student school district at the beginning of this month.

"It's good for him to do something else," said Bob Tata, who is running to retain his seat in the 85th House District. "It's amazing these young kids today."

"The parallels between military service and education are many," said Anthony Tata, 49. "You're placing a greater need ahead of your own."

Tata is a member of the 2009 class of the Broad Superintendent s Academy, which trains leaders and executives as superintendents for large, urban school districts.

He previously served as deputy director of a special task force to counter improvised explosive devices, overseeing a budget of $4.5 billion. In Washington's public schools, he said his first task is to improve the planning and procurement processes. Before he started, the job had been vacant for 18 months.

Both of his parents and his sister have had careers in education, making it "the family business, in a way," Tata said.

But a bombing of a school while he was serving in Afghanistan in 2007 was what set his course in a new direction, he said.

"I saw that the enemy of my enemy is education," he said. "That's a good calling."

Lauren Roth, (757) 222-5133, lauren.roth@pilotonline.com