In the meantime, D’Alessandro has pledged to “work for the children of this city until I leave.”

“I don’t think Bobbie D’Alessandro is a lame duck superintendent,” Price says. “If she can move us forward on the consolidation plan, we’re going to keep moving.”

But Fantini says he fears the superintendent’s leaving will rob the system of the administrative team D’Alessandro assembled during her tenure.

“This is the first time that the superintendent has developed a strong educational team,” Fantini says. “I’ve been seeing and hearing good things.”

“They witnessed a really shabby process,” he adds. “They’ll make judgements [to leave] accordingly.”

But Grassi maintains D’Alessandro’s administrators will stay in the Cambridge Public Schools even after their leader leaves.

“The staff is really the link between the two superintendents,” he says. “They’re not here on the short term.”

—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.