The headmaster of Madison Park Vocational and Technical High School resigned Friday night, effective immediately.

Interim Superintendent John McDonough accepted Dr. Diane Ross Gary’s resignation after a tumultuous seven days at the city’s only vocational high school, which included a student-led protest over a fourth day without schedules for students. McDonough delivered the news to the Madison Park community in an email and recorded phone call early Saturday evening.

Gary was also not certified to be headmaster, BPS spokesman Lee McGuire said in a statement. McDonough learned of the certification issue on Friday while preparing for his scheduled meeting with Gary later that day, McGuire said.

Although Gary applied for certification with the state’s Department of Education in August 2013, “the required paperwork and next steps to support that application were never submitted. It is the responsibility of the educator to follow up with the Department of Education on the status of their certification application.”

McGuire added: “We should have followed up much sooner to confirm she had completed the process. It’s what we do for our teachers and we certainly should have done it in this case as well. We are taking steps right now to make sure that does not happen in the future.”

Al Holland, a former BPS headmaster, will be named interim headmaster while the district searches for a new school head, McDonough said. Holland has been involved in the last week’s negotiations at Madison Park, including one with Kellsi Pemberton and her mother Jeanne. Jeanne Pemberton said Saturday that Holland was extremely sympathetic to their concerns in a sit-down meeting with administrators on Thursday after students still had issues with schedules distributed on Wednesday.

Jeanne Pemberton said Kellsi, who is a junior studying culinary arts, in ROTC, and an honors student, is no longer hesitant to go back to school on Monday.

In a letter to members of the Madison Park community, Gary said she was confident resigning is the right decision to make.

In a letter to the Madison Park community, Gary defended her administration’s actions over the past week, writing “we have come a long way.”

“When we opened our doors on Monday, most students did not have workable schedules,” Gary said. “Now, we have a sustainable core academic and technical structure that positions all students for success for the long-term. We did not do this alone and there is much work still to do. We are accomplishing these things thanks to very hard work by teachers, staff, parents, students, a dedicated BPS team and the entire Madison community.”

The full text of McDonough’s letter to the Madison Park community:

“To the Madison Park Community,
This week has been tough. Each of you has done a great job. I have learned quite a bit from you and I am grateful for your dedication, your talent, and your desire to make Madison Park great.
I wanted you to know that I am accepting the resignation of Dr. Diane Ross Gary, Headmaster of Madison Park. A leadership change is the right thing to do at this time.
Dr. Gary has been fully dedicated to the success of Madison Park. However, transforming Madison Park must always be about much more than one person or one incident. It is about establishing a culture of excellence and distinction. This week we crossed an important threshold and have established a school schedule that is designed to serve all students, including English Language Learners and students with disabilities, in academic and technical programs that will propel them toward graduation and career success. Despite many efforts over several years, this is something the school has never truly had before. We do now, although getting here has not been easy and there is still more progress to be made.
What happens next? We will fully support the school team in the days ahead to make sure teaching and learning continue uninterrupted. Al Holland will take over leadership duties for the next few days. As you know, he is a former BPS headmaster who has been assisting the team at Madison Park. Very soon we will appoint an acting Headmaster to lead Madison Park. Then, we will work with the community to identify a great permanent Headmaster to ensure Madison Park’s vision is always in place.
I recognize that this is yet another transition for a school that has already experienced plenty of distractions. You deserve stability, but you have not had it. You have my promise we will not give up until we have made things right. Madison Park is a place we all believe in. Through it all, the dedication of our great teachers has been powerful. Students, too, have demonstrated their passion for learning and have shown an inspiring and unyielding faith in their own potential.
I know that many people enjoyed getting to know Dr. Gary and believe she has not been well-supported by us in the past. Your voices matter to me and I have heard them. All week long, however, we have focused on the importance of moving beyond the status quo when it becomes clear a change is necessary to deliver something better for students and families. This is why we refused to let a flawed schedule go into effect and why we asked for your patience as we built something better.
We could have done a lot of things very differently this year as we worked to realize the full potential of Madison Park. This work is not yet finished, and as we move forward together we have the opportunity to shape our own path. Thank you for your commitment to this school. Thank you for working with us to point out what we can do better. Above all, thank you for being a part of Madison Park. I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
John McDonough
Interim Superintendent”