These are down days for Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson and her top staffers at school headquarters on Court Street. Many of the superintendent’s initiatives are met with outright skepticism on the part of parents and the public. And she received an unimpressive grade — the equivalent of a C — on her latest job performance evaluation from the School Committee.
The operations function of the school department has grown progressively weaker during Johnson’s five-year watch. She understands urban education and knows what needs to be done to improve the schools. But she and her team stumble during the implementation stage.
Comments
larry babes, if anyone should face tough questions it ain't carol johnson . she's just the recepient of a salary much larger than the person who really makes all the decisions around this once proud and great city and she's paid that amount to take the heat off of our blithering nitwit bagman mayor who micromanages any and everything and then hides behind other dept. heads or puppets like johnson when the you know what hits the you know what which is what usually happens around here. larry,you and anyone else who think i'm making this up should g back and read the op-ed by a lady named vennochi on jan.19th,2012 "Menino's broken vows on schools." where vennochi writes""it's up to menino to stop using boston schools superintendent carol johnson as a cover." anyone with half a brain who cares about the future of this city knows how this city operates and who exactly is doing the operating. it's a shame, more people don't bother to care especially when it comes to education. when obama's sec. ed. arne duncan is in town, theres mayor nitwit up close and personal in all the photo-ops. when his micro managing meddling goes dixie, it's the carol johnson pinata show. ma
oh ya larry before i either forget or expire, joan vennochi. probably a good 3 plus years before she wrote that piece of 1/19/12 wrote another op-ed concerning mayor takes credit for everything but accountability for borsht. vennochi wrote about the mayors accountability or total lack thereof and she particularly mentioned guess what. the boston public schools. she quoted a young women who bravely said that menino sweeps the important things under the rug and when people try to speak out, they're called naysayers. talk about consistency. all these years have come and gone under this nitwits supposed leadership and we're suppose to believe this nincompoop is moving the city forward . if this is forward, what in hades is backwards? he gives the people of the most vulnerable neighborhoods crumbs while screwing them big time by his constant meddling and mismanagement of the BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM all in the name of politics and keeping his squalid butt in office and backed up by a 13 person city council comprised totally of men and women who give a whole new meaning to the word EUNUCH which means the people as in WE THE PEOPLE have absolutely NOBODY standing, sitting or squatting on our behalf other than maybe a lady named SHIRLEY KRESSEL and the undermanned and underfunded BOSTON FIN-COM. ma
My "concerns" (friends told me that I alienate people when I have problems ☺) with Dr. Johnson and her team is that they do not learn from experience. Finally, the North End Community gets a green light on the expansion of the Eliot School. On the eve of partially returning to neighborhood schools, and as punishment to parents and teachers who pushed for this, Mayor Menino via Dr. Johnson wants to designate the Elliot as an "Innovation School!" They didn't even let the glow dim, and made this part of their expansion announcement! What an unwelcomed surprise! The community didn't request this, the teachers didn't want or vote for this! So why is there a need for the Eliot to be an "Innovation School?" The Elliot is not under-performing; people actually want to send their children to the Elliot! The Eliot wait list and explosive growth came because the Menino administration eliminated public schools in the North End and downtown. Parents don't want their children riding busses for hours every day; there is nothing productive or educational in it. History is repeating itself here. The parents and teachers of the Clap School fought hard to keep their school opened. Then, as punishment, Dr. Johnson replaced the Clap principal and designated the Clap to be an "Innovation School." Staff had to reapply for their positions and, if they chose to stay at the Clap, they were required to work 280 HOURS UNCOMPENSATED! Only 1 teacher remained! Today, Clap is a shell of what it once was! Data shows, and Dr. Johnson has mentioned this on several occasions, that successful schools have a long term stable staff. In the North End, there are wait lists for any paid parking spaces, and it is blocks away from the school, and costs $400-450+ dollars a month. How many experienced teachers do you think will want to come to a school requiring all those additional hours, uncompensated, in a community with no parking, at a school that ends when rush hour traffic starts! Once you get a paid parking space, plan on paying for July and August, or be prepared to be back on the wait list! Don't even think about resident parking for teachers, I'm not sure but I think there were 4000 resident stickers for 1000 spaces! Then you have to consider the "street cleaning days" when available spaces are even more limited! Knowing this, how many teachers do you think will stay at the Eliot? The Menino administration has not been a friend to the North End and sticking the "Innovation model" on the Eliot School is testament to this. Mayor Menino wants this to fail, and turning the Elliot into and Innovation School will accomplish that. A failing school can be closed and the city can recoup the building for other purposes. Parents need to talk to teachers! Eliot Teachers need to vote NO to the proposed "Innovation School" model for their school.
And who grades the school committee? Compounding Johnson's eneptitude is the circus under way at the School Committee. I stumbled upon a BPSC meeting on cable and was blown away by at the proceedings. Scary.
jshore, Boston Public Schools made it appear in their press release that the Eliot School applied for Innovation Status. Does the community know where this is headed and the troubles this charterization-like process has created at the Clap School?
To my knowledge the North End community is unaware of what is going on. Often people hear the word "Innovation" and they feel that it is a good thing, which will benefit the school. They do not realize what they are giving up and what the long-term consequences of adopting these models. Many times, as in the case of the Clap School, it is used to neutralize the power of the school community. That is what "Innovation" will do to the Eliot School community also. Another example of this is Madison Park Vocational High School. Mayor Menino, in his State of the City address, designated Madison an "Innovation School." This was news to teachers and staff at Madison, Teacher's hadn't voted for it. Before they took a vote, BPS descended on Madison and threatened them the consequences of not voting for "Innovation" status. It was just ugly.
To my knowledge the North End community is unaware of what is going on. Often people hear the word "Innovation" and they feel that it is a good thing, which will benefit the school. They do not realize what they are giving up and what the long-term consequences of adopting these models. Many times, as in the case of the Clap School, it is used to neutralize the power of the school community. That is what "Innovation" will do to the Eliot School community also. Another example of this is Madison Park Vocational High School, Mayor Menino, in his State of the City address, designated this an "Innovation School." This was news to teachers and staff at Madison, Teacher's hadn't voted for it. Before they took a vote, BPS descended on Madison and threatened them the consequences of not voting for "Innovation" status. It was just ugly.
To my knowledge the North End community is unaware of what is going on. Often people hear the word "Innovation" and they feel that it is a good thing, which will benefit the school. They do not realize what they are giving up and what the long-term consequences of adopting these models. Many times, as in the case of the Clap School, it is used to neutralize the power of the school community. That is what "Innovation" will do to the Eliot School community also. Another example of this is Madison Park Vocational High School, Mayor Menino, in his State of the City address, designated this an "Innovation School." This was news to teachers and staff at Madison, Teacher's hadn't voted for it. Before they took a vote, BPS descended on Madison and threatened them the consequences of not voting for "Innovation" status. It was just ugly.