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David Cantor, head of the Department of Education's press juggernaut, is leaving. (Courtesy of Cantor.)

After five years of taking our phone calls and returning most of them, Department of Education Press Secretary David Cantor is moving on.

He had the job longer than any of his predecessors, overseeing both periods of high-frequency press outreach and long droughts of stay-the-course defense.

His departure will make it even harder for reporters to extract information out of an opaque organization, especially considering he’s leaving behind an office full of recent hires. It will also finally allow him to escape from complaints — sure to return given the dismal budget climate — that the school system spends too much money staffing its press office.

Cantor is going over to Widmeyer Communications, where he’ll remain on the education beat as the senior vice president in charge of PreK-12 education, arts, and philanthropy. Widmeyer was founded by Scott Widmeyer, an operator in the education world who cut his teeth working for teachers union president Al Shanker. But it does work for the non-union side of things, too, including the Gates Foundation and Pearson.

Cantor sent over this statement: (more…)

The Department of Education’s famous press office just sent out this advisory, about an event tomorrow:

The kid really did return the lost wallet, which had $500 inside.

My beef here is that assignment editors now have to choose between this adorable photo op, featuring a kid who might be the next coming of Spider-Man, and the sure-to-be-deadly-dull, yet extremely important Assembly hearing in Queens on mayoral control. The chancellor’s event is at 11 a.m. The mayoral control hearing is at 10 a.m.