Deputy Superintendent Michael Goar, the second in command in the Boston public schools, announced his resignation on Wednesday, the latest in a series of high-level departures that have left notable gaps in the superintendent’s leadership team.
Goar’s exit is surprising, given his position as one of Superintendent Carol R. Johnson’s closest and most loyal advisers. He came to Boston just a few months after Johnson became superintendent in 2007, and he previously worked for her while she oversaw school systems in Memphis and Minneapolis.
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Let's not forget the mismanagement of Sito Narcisse at The English High School the first PUBLIC high school in the United States, and the Hyde Square Task Force facilitating courses by unqualified people during the day there. Then there are those handicapped students, on the Murphy School Roll, even though they are housed at UP Charter Academy (former Gavin School) because UP didn't want their MCAS scores to go down! Did the parents of the handicapped students even know that their kids were not students of UP Academy?
Jshore - do you have proof of that? If so, please feel free to email me so I can pass on to special ed parents and organizations. karen.kastmcbride@gmail.com
Boston has become a place where people come and build a resume and then leave. Look how many HR directors there have been. Many are Broad fellows who come in to do the bidding of this billionaire's foundation and then move on to other school systems as superintendents...not really caring what they leave behind. The parents in Boston should be outraged at this turnover. The prinicipal at my school...brought in by Carol Johnson...who never taught more than 3 or 4 years has confided in people that he doesn't really want to be a prinicipal. He wants to move up "to make real change". Meanwhile this school year started off with many classroom positions not filled. Some classrooms have not had a teacher for almost a year now. It's a disgrace. What were they doing over the summer while the hard working teachers at the school were spending theirs taking classes and other professional development.
To proud Irving mom....re UP. Everyone knows this re. UP. That was a precondition of UP's taking over the Gavin.
a good time to examine how many of these unproductive bureaucrats this school system actually needs. how many deputy assistants to the subcommissioner's staff specialist on reading do we need??
more teachers, less know- and do-nothings who spend their time on politics.
oh, and by the way, the Superintendent has been caught flat-footed with this "exodus" (which I would consider budget cuts we should make permanent) ?? perhaps with close, trusted advisors fleeing, the Superintendent is not far behind??
got to be a better way.
The following is a radical solution to the bloated and unnecessary bureaucracies of not only the Boston school system but of all public schools. We should focus on the tools of learning only. Leave subject matter for the colleges.What great educator said this a century ago? I forget who but the message I don't. This would mean that the public schools' only obligation would be to teach reading and basic math and save a bucket of money as a swell side-benefit. Leave it to the colleges to teach higher math and all other subjects and let the students graduate from the public schools when they have mastered the basic skills. Get rid of the lock-down system of K through 12. Their right to graduate would be based on their achievement only, not years spent in the school. You object and say, "What, don't teach them history, geography and whatever?" Actually, under the reading program, schools could require the students to read a book on USA history, for one example, (and how we enslaved Native Americans). That certainly would hold the students' attention. No, no, you can't have them read a truthful history of America, one might say. Radical me. I am so radical that I believe in the truth. But I digress. So subjects you think they should know could come from books in their reading program. What? This would be a major shift from our present, crustacean practice. Impossible. The only financial obligation of the schools then would be to teach only the tools of learning and leave subject matter to the colleges. But what, you skillfully object, if some students cannot afford college? Answer: Colleges offer scholarsahips and the cities and towns, having saved money by my radical proposal, could also radically lend to the students at low or no interest the saved money. Just a suggestion or we could spend millions for a new high school we don't need. Sports? You don't need to fund sports' programs. Gym? Yes. Let them climb ropes and stuff. They can play baseball and other sports on their own sandlots or town fields like the Little League. Again, leave the responsibilty of sports' programs to the colleges. There's more, however, for you to trash. I could go on since there are many questions to be answered but I can't write a book here. Later, maybe.