Lawrence supt. with turn-over experience impresses the board
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education recommended Jeff Riley, Lawrence public school superintendent, as the state’s next education commissioner in an 8-to-3 vote on Monday. Education Secretary James Peyser will make the final decision.
The 11-member board deliberated between three finalists who were interviewed in public on Friday at the Omni Parker House in Boston: Riley; Angelica Infante-Green, deputy commissioner of the Office of Instructional Support P-12 in the New York State Education Department; and Penny Schwinn, chief deputy commissioner of academics at the Texas Education Agency.
Riley was the most familiar to the board, having served as superintendent in Lawrence for the past six years, and was credited by Peyser himself with leading one of the most successful district-level turnarounds in the state. He was also director of the High Tech Academy within Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, and from 2007 to 2009 was principal of the Edwards Middle School in Boston.
As the last candidate to be interviewed on Friday, Riley was asked whether he would change how teachers are evaluated by the state by looking at the standardized test scores of their students. He replied, “I’m not sure we have come to universal agreement on what quality instruction looks like.”
During his time in Lawrence, Riley removed automatic pay raises for teachers, lengthened the school day and decentralized power by giving principals more freedom to run their schools. He also increased enrichment programs, such as arts and sports.
Perhaps most controversial was that he turned management in seven of the worst-performing schools in Lawrence to charter schools and fired more than half of the district’s principals during his first year.
In the end however, Lawrence High’s dropout rate was cut in half. Before the takeover, the school’s dropout rate was 8.6 percent. In 2016, it was 4.2 percent.
Four-year graduation rates rose from 52 percent in 2011 to 72 percent in 2016, and the percentage of students proficient in English in the MCAS increased from 41 percent to 51 from 2011 to 2016.
Women candidates
Infante-Green from New York was also a promising candidate, having garnered endorsement and support from Latino educators and organizations such as Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción. As the daughter of Dominican immigrants, she was heralded for her work in expanding bilingual and dual-language education for English Language Learners in New York City and for creating the first dual-language autism program in New York.
During
her public interview with the board, Infante-Green said she would not
answer questions using jargon because “I want parents and everyone
listening to understand.” She also coined the term “differently-abled”
in lieu of the word “disabled.”
Before
candidate Penny Schwinn became deputy commissioner of academics in
Texas, she served as assistant secretary for the Delaware Department of
Education, and before that as assistant superintendent for the
Sacramento, California school district. In Sacramento, she created the
county’s first accountability system, Guide to Success, and founded
Capitol Collegiate Academy, a charter school serving low-income
students.
Her record
of moving from one place to another was seen as a possible impediment in
her candidacy, as was her recent involvement in awarding a no-bid
contract to a private firm to collect data on special education students
in Texas.
She was
questioned about this during her public interview. “I was charged with
writing a recommendation letter for a sole-source contract. I did so,”
she said. “We did not bring in many of our parent advocacy groups and
that was a mistake. Those parents should have been at the table making
the decision.”
The
Boston Women Leaders Network sent a letter to Baker in December urging
him to select a woman as the next commissioner, a position that has yet
to be held by one.
Compassion, communication sought
At
the Omni Parker House on Friday, Rodolfo Aguilar, a member of
Massachusetts Parents United, spoke to the Banner about which values he
believes the next commissioner should embody.
“We’re
looking for someone with compassion. Someone who understands that each
community has its own struggle,” he said. “As well as someone who knows
the challenges ahead in terms of closing the achievement gap.”
Gail
Deegan, a former teacher and retired business executive said the next
commissioner should communicate well, something she saw in
Infante-Green’s interview, during which the candidate made light-hearted
jokes with the board. “She had a real conversation with the board,
which is indicative of her performance,” said Deegan. “It was important
to see how she worked with the board, and I saw that these are people
that can work together, have open exchanges.”