By Adam Kramer
After a long search for a leader to run embattled School District 29, the school board announced last Thursday it was submitting the names of two candidates for the job, including that of District Administrator Michael Johnson, to the schools chancellor.
When the vote split between Johnson and Frances Vasquez of Pelham, N.Y, by 5-4, the board decided it was in the best interest of the district to submit both names to Chancellor Harold Levy. In previous superintendent searches, Levy has favored Johnson.
“I am pleased with the outcome,” said Nathaniel Washington, president of School Board 29. “The only negative would be if the chancellor did not act.”
There were five candidates the board had to choose from and it decided to only submit two names. The three other candidates were Marcel Kshensky of Commack, L.I.; Michael McCullough of Riverdale in the Bronx; and Roger Lewis of Rockville Center, L.I.
He said the board thought both candidates could run the district. Johnson has an advantage because he knows the people and system, Washington said, while Vasquez has been a high school superintendent in the Bronx, taught in high school and knows what children need to succeed.
“We felt those two names were the best and we sent them,” Washington said. “I would suspect that in a week or two we will hear from the chancellor.”
Having the process end will allow the board and the community to finish up the academic year and begin working toward the 2002 – 2003 school year.
The C-37 Search Committee’s selection of Johnson was the first time in three go-rounds that it had put forward his name even though Levy has called him one of the stars of the school system.
The southeast Queens district has been in limbo the past two years because the chancellor has rejected all of the board’s choices. Levy has said he would not turn down all candidates but would only approve those whom he considers better than Johnson. All of the candidates selected by the last two C-37 committees were turned down by the chancellor.
Johnson, appointed by Levy as the district administrator in early 2000, has led the district’s 28 schools and 27,000 students in an area covering a large swath of southeast Queens. School District 29 stretches from Queens Village to Fresh Meadows and from Hollis to Rosedale and includes Cambria Heights, Rosedale, Laurelton, parts of Bellerose, Springfield Gardens and parts of Jamaica.
Even though the board sent two names to Levy, School Board 29 member Morshed Alam said he believed the chancellor will pick Johnson to run the district.
“We have the impression that he will chose Johnson,” he said. “The board supports Johnson if Levy chooses him.”
Alam said he thought that having a superintendent to run the district will help the board, which can focus on educating the district’s children.
The school district has been in flux since Celestine Miller was fired in February 1999 by then-Chancellor Rudy Crew for not immediately reporting that an 8-year-old boy had brought a loaded gun into a Rosedale school. She was indicted in November 2000 on bid-rigging charges involving computer sales to schools under her control.
After Miller left, District 29 had an acting interim superintendent, but Levy suspended the school board, which was reinstated after Johnson arrived on the scene in early 2000.
Longtime community member and activist Gertrude Gonesh was angered at the process and how the decision to send Johnson’s name to Levy was made.
The school board held a meeting last week at which the community was given a chance to question the five candidates for superintendent. But Gonesh said the community had no opportunity to express an opinion about the candidates after listening to their answers.
The five names were then submitted to the board, which chose to submit the names of only two candidates.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
