Grace period over, now the test
Bold steps expected in Johnson's 2d year
Sabatino Sferrazza, an 88-year-old retired carpenter, stood on the sidewalk outside a newly renovated primary school, content to watch from afar as the grand reopening ceremony got underway.
But school Superintendent Carol R. Johnson walked up to him and struck up a 20-minute conversation. She coaxed him into joining the festivities and later took his hand and led him up the lobby steps for a tour of the Readville school.
Throughout her first year on the job, Johnson has earned high marks for building this kind of community trust, reaching out to seemingly every corner of the city, and even engaging with those with only a passing interest in schools - a skill that defined her three previous superintendencies.
Yet there has been little evidence so far of the leader who arrived here from Memphis last August with a reputation for taking bold steps, abolishing corporal punishment while overhauling 12 failing schools by changing principals and forcing the teachers to reapply.
Community activists, city leaders, and parents appear willing to grant Johnson this grace period, but they are watching closely as she embarks upon a school year that will force her to confront potentially explosive issues that could define her tenure.
"I think it's unfair to expect she will set the world on fire the first year," said Councilor John Tobin. "She is still putting her print on how to run things . . . and she has some tough choices this fall."
In October, Johnson plans to announce a wave of school closings to rein in spending, a move that historically has provoked parent protests.
Even dicier, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has instructed her to cut bus routes as another cost-saving measure, putting Johnson in the middle of a decades-old tug of war over school desegregation. Johnson acknowledges that her year of community outreach will only get her so far.
"Good will may get people to listen to you, but I don't know if good will alone without results will get the kind of community confidence that is necessary to be successful," said Johnson, 60.
Menino announced Johnson's appointment last summer to much fanfare, ending a 18-month search to replace Thomas W. Payzant, who retired in June 2006 after 11 years. She got the job after the district's original choice abruptly changed his mind four-months into contract negotiations.
The mayor and the School Committee are banking on Johnson to build upon the slow steady progress achieved under Payzant and make greater strides than he did in closing a persistent achievement gap between students of different ethnicities and income levels. During her four-year stint in Memphis, a system nearly twice Boston's size, Johnson narrowed the achievement gap and cut in half the number of schools where test scores lagged federal standards.
Boston officials also hope she can reverse a flight of students from the district.
"She's done a good job of connecting with the community," Menino said. "She's not a person who comes into a city and does all the press releases. She does the nitty gritty."
While Johnson may have largely avoided grand pronouncements or bold changes during her first year, she has been quietly transforming Payzant's system into her own. She has appointed new leaders to 27 schools, about 20 percent of the district's 143 schools. The vacancies arose from retirements, principals who departed for other jobs, and a few contracts that were not renewed.
Johnson also has reorganized central office administrators, bringing in new people overseeing operations and academics, while she is planning an overhaul of special education.
Her most prominent action came in January, releasing her "Acceleration Agenda." The overhaul initiative emphasizes improving performance among black, Latino, low-income, special education, and immigrant students. It calls for offering more college-level courses, drop-out prevention programs, and art programs.
But whether she can accomplish these goals could be determined by the most immediate problem facing the district - a financial picture far worse than she expected.
The mayor and City Council have bailed the district out twice this year, at Johnson's request, turning over nearly $20 million, to plug budget shortfalls. Finances are expected to remain tight for the foreseeable future, due largely to rising costs of energy, food, and salaries and reductions in state and federal aid.
"I don't think it means we don't move forward with the acceleration agenda," Johnson said. "We have to be very strategic. Some things we will do first and then gradually phase in others."
Despite gloomy finances, Johnson has executed more modest pieces of her agenda, garnering praise. After holding a series of community forums last school year on dropouts, Johnson created five credit recovery centers this summer, enabling about 120 seniors on Thursday to receive diplomas.
"She made a policy commitment and took action," said Neil Sullivan, executive director of the Boston Private Industry Council, which has raised concerns about dropouts. "That's what you want from an executive. ... It won't be everything but it will be something."
Johnson said she views closing schools and changing bus routes this fall as an opportunity to enhance and expand quality.
School closings, she said, will be decided on factors such as enrollment trends, the cost of building repairs, and success of programs. Busing, she said, should still ensure parents and their children have access to an array of programs and schools.
Johnson has confronted the issue of changing bus routes in Memphis and Minneapolis. The end result in Memphis led to accusations of resegregation in a district that was 86 percent black.
But in her more than three-decade long career, which began as a third-grade teacher in Washington, D.C., overseeing 42 students, Johnson often has been able to appease community anger with her deft touch.
She frequently moves around gatherings of parents or other community members much like a teacher checking on her students' progress on an assignment - thoughtfully asking questions while noting responses in a small notebook she carries with her.
"This woman can work a room," said Holly Lookwood, interim director of the Boston Parent Organizing Network. "We are waiting to see what happens with these notes."
School Committee chairwoman Elizabeth Reilinger cautioned against placing too much emphasis on her execution of school closings and bus route changes as a test of her ability
"Every day is a test of leadership," Reilinger said. "I'm confident she will come through fine. It will be a bumpy road, but it's always a bumpy road." 