Sims has training pedigree
Deborah A. Sims has never been a superintendent, but she has shouldered many of the responsibilities of running an urban school system.
She is chief of K-12 operations in the San Francisco Unified School District, directly overseeing 28 elementary and middle schools and working with dozens of other schools. Sims declined to comment yesterday.
In San Francisco, she helps oversee a 56,000-student school system that has received acclaim for raising test scores for its students, though half the students are from low-income families. But the city still has wide gaps in student achievement. Some schools are among the best in the state, while others are among the worst.
A Globe review shows that San Francisco's high scores can largely be attributed to Asian students, who are the largest group in the district. Black and Hispanic students score much lower.
Sims, who is in her 50s, has been groomed to handle a top spot in a school system. In 2005, she enrolled in an executive management program that trains people to run urban school systems.
Sims has worked under the tutelage of San Francisco School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who resigned this school year. Sims also has run the district's Office of Parent Relations, served as assistant superintendent for K-8 schools, and been principal of a high-poverty elementary school.
MARIA SACCHETTI 