Boston school Superintendent Carol Johnson badly mishandled the aftermath of last year’s arrest of Rodney Peterson, a former headmaster at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. She could have taken relatively simple steps to protect the integrity of the school system after Peterson was arrested on June 17, 2011, and accused of punching and choking his wife. Instead, she failed to take appropriate action.
It’s not easy running an $850 million school operation. The arrest of a high-profile educator might seem to be one of the tougher challenges facing a superintendent. Actually, it’s not. Even without a written policy to fall back on, the common practice is to place the subject on administrative leave, usually with pay if the offense is unrelated to official duties. If the alleged crime is job-related, managers have the leeway to place the subject on leave without pay.
Comments
As the highest paid city employee I would hope for more than "reflecting on her mistakes".
The Globe needs to examine many of the principal assignments by Johnson. This one's typical. Higher principals who beat up teachers...get principals who beat up on others.
as usual someone else , in this case carol johnson is gonna take the fall for a decision made by someone else. since there's ONLY one person making ALL the decisions in this formerly proud and once great city, anybody care to venture a guess as to who or whom that person might be? ma
As the parent of a teacher in the Boston Publish School system, I can tell you that this is the tip of the iceberg of Carol Johnson's "mistakes." The lack of supplies for the schools, the lack of support for the teachers--even those who are dedicated to helping the kids get on the right track by encouraging them to learn how to think in a critical manner rather than just recite rote answers (think: score well on the MCAS exams)--the lack of consistency in discipline for students--all of these factors, and more, contribute to issues that mushroom into major problems. Hiding behind the fact that Boston received the Broad Prize a couple of years ago doesn't cut it. Eli Broad is a businessman who made a lot of money but has never been an educator and wouldn't know what to do if faced with 25 middle school children from the inner city, and had to teach them. He'd be run out of town on a rail. But because he has money... I was in Memphis right after Carol Johnson was named Boston's superintendent. The driver who took me to the airport told me that she had "done a job" on the Memphis City Schools, and he wished me "good luck" for my own child--the teacher--and colleagues as the Carol Johnson era began in Boston. I didn't realize then how much luck Boston Public Schools really needed. And the example listed in this op-ed piece is yet another one of her missteps. How long will the city of Boston tolerate this?