Grassa O'Neill was considered in 1995

Mary Grassa O'Neill now trains principals at Harvard, but she first had a long career in urban and suburban schools in the Boston area, and she was a possible contender for the Boston superintendent's job in 1995, before Thomas W. Payzant was chosen.

Grassa O'Neill spent more than 25 years in Boston schools, working her way up from teacher to principal of the Timilty School in Roxbury before becoming a zone superintendent. She became superintendent in Milton in 1993 and retired three years ago.

Milton marked an abrupt change from Boston, where most of the 57,000 students are black or Hispanic. More than 70 percent of Milton's students are white, and the nearly 4,000-student school system is much smaller than Boston's. Test scores in Milton are also much higher.

Grassa O'Neill, who could not be reached late yesterday, told the Globe in 1995 that she knew there were vast differences between the school systems. ``But the bottom line, regardless of where you are, is creating opportunities for children to learn, and that's where the two jobs are similar," she said.

Grassa O'Neill impressed the Milton school board by navigating the bureaucracy while immediately laying ambitious plans to improve schools. She launched a multimillion dollar campaign to renovate or replace the district's schools. Because of that effort, she now sits on the board at the new Massachusetts School Building Authority, which oversees school construction in the state.

She also presided over the school system during a time of big budget cuts, which led to Milton High School being placed on probation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The warning was lifted in 2005.

MARIA SACCHETTI