Getting Boston’s superintendent pick right

Today’s Boston Globe reports that the search for a new Boston school superintendent may not have a new school leader in place by the start of the next school year. But the city should probably fret less about the speed of any appointment than on making sure the district’s next leader is someone with the right background and vision for making high-performing schools the rule rather than the exception.

That, after all, is the overarching challenge in urban school districts today, where shining examples of success garner attention , while most schools struggle to get even half their students to proficiency in math and English.  

The search for a replacement for outgoing superintendent Carol Johnson was put on hold in the spring because the city was gearing up to elect a new mayor. With Boston’s mayoral control of schools, it only made sense to wait and let the new mayor have a role in the selection of a new school leader.

School Committee chairman Michael O’Neill tells the Globe that the panel will work with Mayor-elect Marty Walsh to appoint a search committee this month or next, but he stopped short of promising that a new superintendent would be in place by next fall. Sam Tyler , president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau , a business-funded watchdog group, said of the goal of having a new superintendent in office by September, “We should be able to get it done.”

Before mounting an aggressive, national search, however, the School Committee and new mayor will need to settle on exactly what they are looking for. Saying the city is looking for a “top-notch urban school leader” or offering similar safe bromides doesn’t convey much in the current reform era. A central question will be how explicit the search is about whether Boston is seeking an education leader who favors a strong district-driven model of reform versus someone who wants to unleash the power of principals and teachers at the individual school level. The latter approach draws on the autonomy exercised by charter schools and the sorts of freedom being given to turnaround district schools under the state’s 2010 education reform law.

That is clearly the direction that reform impulses have been going in, and it’s an approach that, in broad principle, had the support of most of the leading candidates for mayor , including Walsh. It’s also a direction that is in synch with new hiring rules recently put forth by the district’s interim superintendent, John McDonough .

Maybe the superintendent search will go faster than expected and a new leader will be there to greet students in September. But getting it right will be far more important in the long run than getting it done quickly.

–MICHAEL JONAS  

      

BEACON HILL

The state’s homeless population  is surging , and tens of millions of dollars a year are being spent by state government to house families in motels, a stopgap measure that often lasts for months.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The nonprofit formed to raise funds for Plymouth’s 400th anniversary celebration in 2020 has not complied with charity filing mandates with the attorney general’s office and there is hostility between that group and a town-appointed committee organizing the festivities.

The state has stepped in to purchase 74 acres of farmland in West Bridgewater to protect it for agriculture and open space after voters declined to appropriate the nearly $1 million to buy the property.

The Berkshire Eagle urges care when considering two ballot questions that appear to be misguided: repealing the casino law and indexing the gas tax to inflation.

CASINOS

Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun  will present their updated casino plans to Revere tonight. The state gaming commission could vote on the revised proposal as soon as tomorrow.

Is it possible that we could reach the end of the casino approval process in Massachusetts with no company left standing?

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Partisan gridlock in Washington can be blamed on redistricting efforts in the states that protect incumbents, Governing reports.

The Obamas may stay in Washington after the president leaves office.

A Wall Street Journal editorial pans efforts by “affluent beachcombers who are accustomed to artificially cheap insurance” to pump the brakes on federal flood insurance rate hikes.

ELECTIONS

More indications that Scott Brown  may be running for something.

Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos  outlines the challenges facing Martha Coakley ’s gubernatorial bid, while Joe Battenfeld  calls Juliette Kayyem the biggest potential threat to both Coakley and Charlie Baker.

Former legislator and state treasurer candidate Karyn Polito is preparing to jump into the Republican race for lieutenant governor, the Globe reports .

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Consumers turned out in swarms over the traditional post-Thanksgiving start to Christmas shopping season but they held on tight to their wallets as surveys showed spending was down nearly 3 percent from last year . It’s the first dip in Thanksgiving weekend retail spending in seven years.

The Fall River Industrial Park , where businesses have suffered for years with inadequate and unreliable Internet and telephone service, may be a step closer to the 21st century as city officials have met with Comcast to bring high-speed Internet to the park .

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos says deliveries of purchased items in 30 minutes may be possible with drones. Yes, drones .

Rhode Island  suspends sales tax collections on original artworks as a means of fostering economic development in its old mill towns. It’s the first state to bypass sales taxes on artwork.

EDUCATION

New Bedford Standard-Times columnist Steve Urbon  ponders the state evaluations where nearly all the teachers are above average, especially Acushnet where 95.5 percent of teachers were rated “proficient” but none were “exemplary.”

A Globe editorial praises state education officials for releasing a promised “report card” on the performance of the state’s higher education system, while noting that it is far more sobering than encouraging.

The Swampscott School Committee votes in a new superintendent, but then discovers that it violated state open meeting rules and will have to retake the vote, the Item  reports.

HEALTH CARE

Insurers look for clearance to bypass a balky federal health care website and sign up customers on their own.

TRANSPORTATION

More than 60 cars and three tractor-trailer trucks crash amid black ice on Interstate 290 in Worcester , the Telegram & Gazette  reports.

A passenger train derails in New York City, killing four and injuring 63.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Conservation Law Foundation files another legal challenge to the proposed Footprint natural gas plant in Salem , the Salem News  reports. Rep. John Keenan of Salem, in an op-ed in the Salem News , explains why he is fighting CLF on Beacon Hill.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The New York Times  traces a questionable 22-year old murder conviction through the criminal justice system.

MEDIA

A Franklin state representative has filed a bill to allow cities and towns to post legal notices online , a measure that is meeting with resistance from newspaper publishers.

New York magazine announces it will publish every other week rather than every week, the New York Times  reports .

Uncoverage, a website that will raise money from the public for specific investigative reporting projects, is set to launch, the New York Times reports.