Rivera, willing to take risks

June 27, 2006

Manuel J. Rivera has taken risks throughout his career with the public schools he has led and the jobs he has taken.

At age 39, he became the first Hispanic superintendent of the Rochester City School District in western New York.

Now 53, he is in his second stint leading the Rochester school system and has won praise for easing relations among factions on the highly politicized school board. Rivera would not comment yesterday, other than to say he spoke with Boston school officials about the job opening at their urging; he did not apply, he said.

After three years as Rochester's superintendent in the early 1990s, he left for eight years to participate in a highly publicized national experiment, Edison Schools Inc. Rivera signed on as a vice president of the company, which set out to show how well private industry could manage schools. Rivera returned to Rochester in 2002 as its interim superintendent, as Edison's fortunes tumbled.

Rivera was named the 2006 national superintendent of the year by the American Association of School Administrators for raising student achievement.

Rivera's initiatives resemble some of Boston's, including the creation of smaller high schools. TRACY JAN