Superintendent toughs out critics

John Thompson walks the halls of Greenfield Elementary School with an air of authority, dressed in a finely tailored pinstriped suit and escorted by the principal and a school police officer.

The children, who must crane their necks to look the 6-foot-4-inch Thompson in the eye - something he tells them they must do when they shake someone's hand - have a vague idea Thompson is important, but they are not sure why.

'I'm the superintendent. I'm in charge of the schools,' Thompson tells them.

Even if some of the 38,000 students don't always recognize him, Thompson has made his mark on the Pittsburgh Public Schools. After a year as superintendent, Thompson has been both vilified as the man who will destroy the school district and lauded as its savior.

He's butted heads with politically entrenched school board members who have a reputation for micromanaging the district. His controversial budget, which the board approved in December and which raised taxes and will close 11 schools to erase a $36.5 million deficit, outraged many residents and brought him death threats.

Thompson supporters now represent a narrow majority of the school board, and the superintendent acknowledges the upcoming election could threaten his position.

But no matter what critics say about Thompson - and they say plenty - the district's hardly had a dull moment since he arrived.

'Being as aggressive as he is, as conscientious and committed as he is, he's chipped some china as he's gone, maybe even broken some china as he's gone,' said Thomas Murrin, the retired dean of Duquesne University's business school and an adviser to the school district. 'I think in a perfect world he might have been a little more mellow and a little more accommodating.'

ASK QUESTIONS LATER

Indeed, Thompson's shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later style often has outraged his critics and made even his allies cringe.

Last April, before he had been sworn in, he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the district needed to raise taxes and close schools to erase the mounting budget deficit.

Some board members were quick to attack the plan, and they lambasted Thompson during budget talks in December.

'He made a decision to do it without any input from the board and you can't do that. I mean we knew we had a budget crisis, sure, and had we had an opportunity to talk about it who knows what would have come out of it. But we never had that opportunity,' board member Jean Fink said.

Fink said Thompson routinely circumvents the board. She takes him to task for leaving the board out of decisions large and small.

'I think when he makes a decision, he makes a decision and there is no longer any room for discussion and that is probably why we're not having the input we're used to having,' Fink said.

'It drives me crazy,' she added.

Thompson said he told board members during his interview for the superintendent's job that the district had too many schools, a conclusion backed by two studies performed by independent consultants before Thompson was hired.

Although Thompson said the board had plenty of information about the budget, he makes no apologies.

'It's my job to make decisions. That's what they pay me for. I don't have to tell every board member every time I make a decision,' he said.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Thompson, 56, succeeded acting Superintendent Helen Faison. She replaced Dale Frederick, who left in 1999 after less than two years as superintendent. Many people said the rancorous school board drove Frederick out of town.

'The tough decisions were left for the new superintendent,' said board member Bill Isler, who joined the board after Frederick left.

Thompson came to Pittsburgh after six years as superintendent of the Tulsa, Okla., school district. Pittsburgh's first black permanent superintendent, the board agreed to pay Thompson the unprecedented salary of $175,000 per year.

'I think he's done a good job at bringing the situation the school district had been in to light,' said the Rev. David Carver, pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church of Crafton Heights.

'I think he's really kind of called us on declining enrollment and chronic patterns of underfunding,' said Carver, whose daughter, Ariel, is a seventh-grader at Schiller Classical Academy on the North Side.

Thompson reorganized the district's central administration, hiring a chief academic officer and replacing three assistant superintendents with four executive directors. Two oversee elementary schools and the others middle and high schools.

'I think from a lot of principals' perspectives, the fact that he's taken back the role of the superintendent and certainly cut down the micromanaging by the school board members I think is something the schools appreciate,' said Rick Sternberg, principal of Grandview Elementary School.

Sternberg, president of the Pittsburgh Administrators Association, praised the superintendent's expansion of the district's literacy program.

With the board's approval, the district will use $1.9 million in federal Title I funds to hire 25 'reading coaches' to help low-income children learn to read. The district also will use a $420,000 grant to support an extended-year literacy program in 25 elementary schools.

Thompson also received broad school-board support for his plan to require students to pay for summer school. Under the plan, high school students will be required to pay $50 per class to attend summer school.

Thompson touts the change as a way to teach students they will be held accountable for their actions.

'I think the kids today, they expect to be given too much,' Thompson said.

When Thompson read a story and talked to fourth-grade pupils at Greenfield, he was quick to correct a child who was talking out of turn. He insisted children firmly shake his hand and look him in the eye.

'It seems to me that he's done a good job at trying to work with the young people to instill a sense of pride and from what I've seen I'm very encouraged by the way he expects people to treat each other with respect,' Carver said.

While his visit to Greenfield was scheduled, Thompson prefers to surprise students, teachers and administrations at the district's 97 schools.

'Most of the time, I go to schools unannounced. I want to see what parents see, what visitors see,' Thompson said.

The same day as the Greenfield visit, he dropped in at Weil Technology Institute, an elementary school in the Hill District.

He went to inspect the progress of renovations at the school. As he walked along, he noted whether the floors looked clean, how well the teachers were dressed and how the students conducted themselves.

Thompson said he sets high expectations and he won't accept excuses for not meeting them.

'I won't let color or poverty get in the way of respect or vision or the will to achieve,' Thompson said.

A MATTER OF STYLE

While Thompson's fiscal stewardship of the district has come under fire, his educational agenda generally has been praised.

'What I want from him is educational leadership, and I think he's got a good team in place that's prepared to provide educational leadership,' Fink said. 'But that's only part of the job.

'If you alienate the public and alienate the board, then you'll never get a chance to prove what kind of job you can do.'

During public hearings to discuss the budget in November and December, Thompson frequently was the target of parents' and other residents' rage over the school closings. The personal nature of some of the criticism of Thompson by members of the public has led some people to conclude it was because he is black.

'I think that has been part of the whole picture and reaction, unfortunately,' said Bette Hughes, executive director of the Pittsburgh Council on Public Education, an independent advocacy organization.

'I would also say that many people have legitimate worries around school closings.'

Thompson balks at blaming his problems on racism.

'I never like to use the race card in my dealings with people. I never think about that. I refuse to think about it when I'm doing my job,' Thompson said.

Some people say it is Thompson's seeming tendency to say whatever is on his mind that has alienated many people.

'He is an excellent speaker but sometimes he speaks before he thinks,' said Wayne Gerhold, chairman of the education committee for the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition.

Gerhold, the parent of a senior at Taylor Allderdice High School, recounted a speech Thompson gave in predominantly white Squirrel Hill in which the superintendent said parents were hesitant to send their children to nearby Colfax Elementary School because black children were bused there.

'He so much as said you people are very racist and that's why you aren't sending your children to that school,' Gerhold said. 'He invoked race when there was really no reason to do that.'

Thompson stands by his statements.

'I say things that a lot of people don't want to hear, but they know deep down it's the truth,' Thompson said.

Still, the superintendent knows he hasn't always left the best impression.

'I guess maybe sometimes, people ask me things, and I'm quick to respond,' Thompson said. 'Maybe I need to be slower to respond, because that (quick response) comes off as being arrogant.'

Thompson still has some storms to weather. Five school board seats are up for grabs in the May 15 primary, and Thompson believes a shift in the balance of power on the board could threaten his job.

Board member Maggie Schmidt, who has been a swing vote on many issues but supported the budget, is not running for re-election. Board member Evelyn Neiser, who supported Thompson on most issues but the budget, is in a tight, three-way contest. Fink and board President Alex Matthews, a Thompson supporter, also face opponents in the May 15 primary. Fink has said she wants to be re-elected to 'wave goodbye to Dr. Thompson.'

'The power base on this board shifts, I'm in for a rough ride. But I'll ride it out. I'm not going anywhere,' Thompson said.

At Greenfield, Thompson read a storybook version of the poem 'Casey at the Bat.' As he wrapped things up, he told the children what lessons they could glean from the story of the mythical baseball player, who, when the pressure was on, couldn't measure up.

It is, he reminded them, a cautionary tale.

'Remember that, class. Always work hard. Be smart. And don't have too much confidence.'

Jonathan Potts can be reached at jpotts@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7900.

Among John Thompson's accomplishments and initiatives since he became superintendent one year ago: