Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson Not Yet Hired

The hiring of Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson has apparently not yet been finalized. Makes me wonder whether there are serious roadblocks to finalizing the contract, or whether this is just the inevitable slow grind of Seattle School District bureaucracy.

Assuming it's the latter issue, I hope our incoming superintendent listens to the couriercritic blogger who says her advice for Dr. Goodloe-Johnson in Seattle is "..for her to try to be more down-to-earth, more receptive to criticism, and more ready to admit mistakes.

Comments

Melissa Westbrook said…
Interesting stuff. I'll say I'd take it with a grain of salt because all superintendents have baggage (or detractors). (I will say, though, that people may not have supported Raj's abilities as a superintendent but I have never heard anyone attack him personally as you hear in some of these remarks in terms of her personal style in dealing with people.)

I would say don't hold your breath in hoping that Dr. G-J's personal style is going to change. It's pretty late her life and career to expect that. (And I admit that in myself as well. We can all strive to do better but many ways of thinking and behaving are pretty well ingrained.) You can only hope that the Board and others will let her know, gently, that a "my way or the highway" style is going to ill-serve her here.

I had to laugh at the Post and Courier editorial which sounded like someone from the Times' editorial board wrote it. "A racially charged incident"? Try a school administration and a district administration that did not listen to a teacher's request for help and it ended up in a lawsuit that cost the district $307,000. They kind of sugar-coated that one. And Dr. G-J made some rather charged statements after the district lost instead of a bland sort of statement like, "We're deeply sorry it came to this and wish the outcome had been different."
4/18/07, 1:24 PM
Beth Bakeman said…
Agreed. And, if I were a School Board member, I'd also ask about the comment below from couriercritic.blogspot.com:

The Seattle writers are saying they hope G-J will attract those that have left the Seattle public school system to return. Sure, right! What did she tell a group of MUSC doctors and health care professionals when they asked G-J about educational alternatives among the downtown schools in Charleston? Her response was, "You already have alternatives... private schools! Next question?"
4/18/07, 1:53 PM
Anonymous said…
regarding the not-finalized hire, she had said in media interviews televised on the announcement day last week that it was supposed to be finalized today (Wed).
4/18/07, 2:01 PM
Jet City mom said…
Dr. G-J made some rather charged statements after the district lost instead of a bland sort of statement like, "We're deeply sorry it came to this and wish the outcome had been different."

Isnt that pretty much like saying
" we wish you would just leave us alone and not hold us to task for things we don't deem important" ?
4/19/07, 8:36 AM
Anonymous said…
Goodloe-Johnson said it was unfortunate that Elizabeth Kandrac "played the race card."

This is quite an inflammatory comment, especially after school officials admitted they couldn't guarantee Kandrac's safety in school. I don't think it's playing the race card when you file an EEOC complaint to get your job back and the case goes to trial and you win. (She wasn't rehired by the school. They say she's incompetent.) WenG
4/19/07, 9:49 AM
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