Ms. Bascom, a nurse by training, was promoted to associate superintendent of student support services in 2006, after overseeing student health programs for nine years.
A few hours later, the five Lafayette students were escorted back to the school by a delegation that included the Board of Education's superintendent of student monitoring, Ronald Woo, and Rose DePinto, then the superintendent for high schools in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
"They invited us to join so we're better prepared in case a disaster were to happen," said Ann Huntington, assistant superintendent of student services.
During her tenure as South Carolina's State Superintendent of Education, student achievement in South Carolina improved at the fastest rate in the nation, with scores increasing on every state, national, and international tests administered.
In District 10, Ms. Zardoya now has an inner circle of six: a deputy superintendent for administration, a deputy superintendent for student support services, an assistant superintendent for literacy, an assistant superintendent for educational initiatives, an assistant superintendent for operations and a director of planning and communications.
Joseph Farmer is interim superintendent of the 26,600-student system, whose students represent more than 40 different cultures.
Wendy Sinnette, superintendent of schools, said students can anonymously report other students.
In practice, according to Lester W. Richens, Belmar's superintendent of schools, many students who are assigned to Asbury Park High School, where students perform below the state average on nearly all standardized tests, enroll instead in private schools or in public schools with specialized programs not offered by Asbury Park.
Smith, superintendent of the 49,000-student district since 2007, apologized last week and took responsibility for the delay in notifying students and parents about unsafe lead levels.
"It is very difficult to comprehend the senselessness of it," said Michael J. Ritacco, superintendent of the 18,000-student Toms River School District.
"I've been in this business a long, long time," said Mr. Weldon, the superintendent of the 1,300-student school district in Kountze, northeast of Houston.
