Boston schools ring in resolve

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The new super in Boston sounds great!  In favor of charter schools and shutting down failing schools.  "The monopoly is over.  We have to earn the right to serve the kids next door." -- WOW!  (And kudos to the (very liberal) Boston Globe for throwing its full weight behind her.)

AS THEIR CHILDREN return to school today, Boston parents  should feel reasonably assured that new School Superintendent Carol Johnson is  in the right chair. Despite the complexities found in a large urban school  district, there isn't much that is likely to rattle the 59-year-old former  head of the Minneapolis and Memphis school systems.
 
Bostonians should warm quickly to Johnson's easy smile and  non-defensive posture. But it would be foolish to underestimate her resolve.  She closed eight schools in Memphis, a strategy that could be necessary here  if enrollment continues to fall. Her attitude toward independent charter  schools is instructive. Unions and school boards resent the competition. She  doesn't. "The monopoly is over," says Johnson. "We have to earn the right to  serve the kids next door."

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Boston schools ring in resolve
Boston Globe editorial, September 6, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/09/06/boston_schools_ring_in_resolve?mode=PF

AS THEIR CHILDREN return to school today, Boston parents should feel reasonably assured that new School Superintendent Carol Johnson is in the right chair. Despite the complexities found in a large urban school district, there isn't much that is likely to rattle the 59-year-old former head of the Minneapolis and Memphis school systems.