Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The embattled executive director of Times2 charter school has submitted his resignation, four months after he was hired.

Board of Directors Chairman Kevin McDaniel said that Lawrence Davenport submitted his letter of resignation Monday. Davenport told the board that he wants to give his full attention to securing the presidency of Alabama A&M University, where he was one of three finalists in April. A&M did not return phone calls.

"It was a deeper desire to be in higher education," McDaniel said. "He wants to give 100 percent to going after that."

MDaniel would not comment on reports that the Times2 board had been trying to negotiate Davenport's resignation, nor would he say whether the board in any way pushed him out.

"We parted amicably," McDaniel said.

Davenport has not spent much time at the K-12 charter school, sources say. He did not attend a recent news conference that heralded the school's 100-percent high school graduation rate, an event attended by Governor Carceiri and other top education officials.

Davenport's brief tenure at Times2 has been contentious. He was in Alabama interviewing for that job two days before he began his post at Times2, a charter school dedicated to improving math and science performance for urban children.

Davenport was chosen for the Times2 job from a field of 10 semifinalists and was to be paid $145,000 a year to run the 648-student charter school on Smith Hill.

Davenport was pressured into resigning from Florida Atlantic University in March 2007 after several board members threatened to resign if he wasn't removed as the university's top fundraiser. When he resigned there, he received a $577,950 severance package, which sparked a state audit.

The audit found that Davenport has threatened to sue the university for race and age discrimination after the university president asked him to leave.

Davenport's resignation at Times2 is effective immediately.

 Tags  resignation

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