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More than 200 rally for Carol Johnson
By adamg on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 4:37pm
JohnsonThe Globe reports on a rally in Jamaica Plain this morning for School Superintendent Carol Johnson. Among those in attendance: City Councilors Ayanna Pressley, Tito Jackson and Felix Arroyo, whom the Globe reported said nobody's perfect and she should have a chance to reform Boston schools. That puts him at odds with Councilor John Connolly, who says Johnson has made too many mistakes in her time in Boston and needs to go.
Earlier:
Petition calls for school superintendent's ouster, over her handling of the Rodney Peterson matter.
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Comments
petition argument doesn't hold water. i explain why
In my opinion, the petition does not make a strong case to fire Carol Johnson. Here is my opinion on the case the petition makes to fire Super Carol Johnson.
If she hired the new English High School principal, she gets an A+ on that project from me.
I'm afraid John Connolly has lost sight of what's at stake here. We want under-performing schools to improve and well-performing schools to improve too. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn Carol Johnson is pushing back on Connolly's neighborhood school model becuase it virtually abandons racial and economic integration in schools and that's really what his demand to fire her is about.
BPS are racially integrated
BPS are racially integrated now? In what universe? Does this have something to do with that Higgs Boson thingy?
Harrison Bergeron High
Is entirely economically and racially integrated. The mission has been accomplished.
Fake rally
the rally was largely organized and fueled by the superintendent's lackeys. The email thread is too large to post on FB, but here are the culprits; From: Brooks, Michele P "On this Saturday, July 14th, at 10 am there will be a rally to show support and appreciation for Dr. Johnson. It will take place at the Bethel AME Church at 40 Walk Hill St. in Jamaica Plain.
Dr. Johnson has done much to support the engagement of families, students and the community in Boston Public School. Her commitment to engagement is evident in the Acceleration Agenda where deepening partnerships is identified was a key strategy. Her support of Parent University and FCOCs has been unwavering. I hope you'll consider joining the rally. Please invite and share the invitation with your contacts." Michele P. Brooks
Assistant Superintendent
Boston Public Schools
26 Court Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-635-9661 Before her, it came from: --
Samuel DePina
Assistant Chief Operating Officer
Boston Public Schools
Desk: 617-635-9643
Cell: 617-594-7341
Email: [email protected]
Connoly conflict of interest and populist method
Also, Connolly's decision to make this issue a public one, by relying on misplace public outrage (Peterson is the person with the domestic violence problem, not Carol Johnson)... tells me he doesn't have majority support on the school committee or the city council to terminate Super Carol Johnson for cause.
One of the problems of putting a city counselor on the school committee is illustrated in this contentious issue. Connolly is a politician using political methods -- the harshest political method -- rallying school parents to demand the ouster of the school superintendent. That's the school committee's jobs and they do that job based on good information and deliberation, not slash and burn politics.
Connolly should chose, school committee or city council but he should not try to straddle the two. He's muddying the waters, engaging in a way that magnifies his conflict of interest, smearing the Super, and harming her credibility.
As a school board member he should be making his arguments directly with other school board members and the mayor, not drumming up the torch and pitchfork crowd.
Yes, Peterson is the one with the violence problem
But do you really want somebody like that dealing with your children? Who knows what's going to set him off? If he can go ballistic on his wife, would you want your child meeting with him behind closed doors? I wouldn't.
But we wouldn't have known any of this had some reporter in Memphis not found out about his guilty plea up here in Boston. It's the coverup and the apparent preferential treatment that's really at issue here for Johnson, not the fact that Peterson admitted to beating his wife.
As for School Committee members, meet Mary Tamer (who so far has been unable to convince Chairman Gregory Groover to hold a summertime School Committee meeting to discuss the case rather than leisurely waiting until September).
As for the School Committee ...
Seriously? Who stood up for parents of BLA students when Johnson realized the state was going to pull several million dollars in funding because she closed Hyde Park High and she decided to cram BLA into a building too small for it? It wasn't the School Committee. Like Johnson, the School Committee is appointed by the mayor. It's hardly an independent check on her, and, in fact, unlike in towns with actual elected school committees, she's free to ignore their counsel.
Given the elected committee's history with busing and segregation in the 1960s, that might not be a bad thing, except it's 2012 now, not 1962.
So what? If Connolly overreaches and goes berserk (or goes the other way and becomes somnolent, like, say, Felix Arroyo the elder), well, he'll stop being a city councilor soon enough - the voters will see to that. If School Committee members continue to simply nod yes to pretty much everything Johnson says, sorry, you don't have a choice, since they don't answer to you.
Two kids in BPS and i am so
Two kids in BPS and i am so sick of John Connolly. Carol Johnson has don a terrific job in my opinion, Sincerely
Jason, Charlestown, MA
Connolly is not a
Member of the School Committee. He is the Education Chair of the City Council, but there is no official connection, as far as I know.
Irony
Has anyone caught the irony in this yet?
Connolly wants her to succeed in her plan-in-the-works to change school assignment so that we can get closer to neighborhood schools. Yet he calls for her ouster.
Other councilors who have been pushing back against her likely school assignment changes are defending her.
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
This has nothing to do with school closings
Why do people keep saying this isn't about the headmaster but really about Superintendent Johnson closing and consolidating public schools? It has nothing to do with her closing and consolidating public schools! Really, it has nothing to do with her closing and consolidating schools! Why don't you understand, this has nothing to do with her closing and consolidating public schools?! Stop saying that, it has nothing to do with that!
Stop saying that!
John Connolly...
is positioning himself for a mayoral run. That's it is a nutshell. His outrage about this and other so-called educational issues such as non-dangerous, marginally expired frozen foods in the cafeteria freezers is grandstanding, sorry to say.
It's very convenient
...to frame every instance of dissent in this city as political opportunism by this councilor or the other.
Convenient not only because when it comes to councilors there is at least a grain of truth in it, but it's a handy ploy mainly because it muzzles all other legitimate voices of folks affected by the rot and demanding that it be dealt with.
Did Connolly have his own political interests in mind back when he made a stink about the busing fiasco that had kids losing hours upon hours of school, week after week, and left working parents stranded and in a panic? If he did, does that cancel the state of emergency that families were thrown into because of that mess? And how does serving kids in 2011 meat meant to be eaten by 2009 translate into a marginal error?
Let's get real here. There is a strange little campaign of misinformation and trivialization going on. No, Connolly is not a member of the School Committee. Where did that bunkum come from? And yes, of course parents' outrage in this scandal is intensified by the Superintendent's already awful track record. Pretty much every parent who signed the petition has seen their kid affected by at least one Johnson disaster, often several. How does that reduce the anger's legitimacy? Does the fact that Peterson's wife had already left him at least once before the night of the kitchen attack mean she was disgruntled? I guess she was just being opportunistic about the punching and choking. Oh, I'll get you now, Rodney, she snickered. Tsk tsk to her.
Connolly
I am laughing that this has become an issue AGAINST John Connolly.
As a parent of 3 BPS children, I laugh at someone's assertion above of "marginally" bad food (expired food is disgusting period).
And, ADam was right, who wants the person at the center of this controversy looking over their children.
I am also getting frustrated at a few other issues:
1. BPS continually making stupid mistakes.
2. Any criticism of a minority person in a position of authority in this city gets turned into a racial issue. Why must it be that way? If you are a public official, elected or appointed, that comes with the job.
3. People are pushing for, and rightfully so, teacher evaluations. What about principal evaluations and administrative evaluations?
Straight-up John
From personal, bloggy and podcast conversations with John, I have no doubt he's sincere about schools. He heads the education committee, but more to his mind, he has young kids he intends to put through the BPS system. He is devoted to public education...and to his family.
Over the years, numerous City Councilors have said to me, "If a Councilor says he doesn't want to be Mayor...and couldn't do a great job...he's lying." That goes for Murphy, Arroyo, Consalvo and others.
That written, I'm sure John's concerns here are the parents and kids. Let's separate his job as committee head from any possible future run for the throne.
Something is rotten in Boston
Something is rotten in Boston if Church leaders, who are supposed to be on the front line of war against domestic violence, are holding support rally for Superintendent Johnson, who actively tried to help a wife-beater, cover it up and even promoted him.
Please read and consider signing an online petition calling for Dr. Johnson's resignation
Tough call
But people in high positions of power must be held accountable for their actions, and I believe Johnson needs to resign, or at least take another job within the department where she doesn't have to supervise other people.
I've seen cases like this where a worker will do 99 great things for every 1 bad thing, but that 1 bad thing cannot be ignored in a case like this. She simply cannot be allowed to manage other employees in the BPS anymore. I'd let her still teach (if she can teach), but she needs to be demoted or fired.
Tough call, But people in
Pete hits the nail right on the head - this is a capital offense.