Seattle schools finalist an agent of change in troubled district

WEST PHILADELPHIA — Jamira Burley had just stepped through the metal detector at the girls' entrance to Overbrook High School and was putting her bag into the airport-style scanner when she heard the pop-pop-pop outside: A male student had been gunned down in a drive-by shooting.

The student survived the incident 18 months ago. But just a week earlier, Burley's older brother had been shot and killed while sleeping in his home nearby.

Welcome to Greg Thornton's part of the world, where brick row houses still sell for $80,000. Thornton, one of two finalists for the job of Seattle Public Schools superintendent, graduated from the five-story Overbrook High — dubbed "The Castle on the Hill" by students here.

Overbrook's 2,000 students are among 189,000 in The School District of Philadelphia, where Thornton, 52, has served as chief academic officer for the past three years.

The district, the nation's eighth-largest, has undergone monumental change in recent years. A financial crisis led to a 2001 state takeover and new leaders who embraced a more businesslike model. Management of some schools was farmed out to private companies; other schools were halved in size. The rolls at charter schools swelled.

Enter Thornton, who helped implement a new districtwide curriculum and sent in the academic equivalent of SWAT teams to underperforming schools.

The academic improvement over the past five years has been remarkable: a near-doubling in math- and reading-proficiency rates on the state's standardized tests. But some of the district's experiments have proved controversial and yielded mixed results.

The changes have also cost far more than expected. According to Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz, the district faces an overwhelming $188 million shortfall next year. And though district officials say school violence has declined, anxiety in the community is high after an incident in February, when a student attacked a teacherafter the teacher confiscated another student's iPod. The teacher suffered a broken neck.

As for Thornton, his reputation took a blow last year when ethical questions were raised about a 2004 trip he took to Africa, subsidized by a software company that later won a large, no-bid contract with the district. Thornton said he planned the trip, as part of a group of black educators, before he was hired in Philadelphia; the district has cleared Thornton of wrongdoing, although some, Butkovitz included, remain skeptical.

Race is an issue

In many ways, Overbrook High provides a window into the Philadelphia district. For instance, 99 percent of the school's 2,000 students are African American. That's not unusual in a city composed of ethnically distinct neighborhoods, but it doesn't provide the kind of balance educators would like.

"Race is an issue. It's the world we live in, and for me to dismiss it would be shortsighted," Thornton said in an interview last week. "Unfortunately, the kids left behind happen to be kids who look like me. But whether they looked like me or not, they would still be my focus. I want to take the kids who are not successful and make them successful. And I want to take the kids who are successful and make them more successful."

All students at Overbrook get free breakfasts and lunches if they want them. Because nearly three-quarters of district students are low-income, administrators find it easier to offer free meals at all schools.

Overbrook boasts a tradition of successful alumni, including the late basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, actor Will Smith and many of the city's black leaders. And it produces students such as Burley, an 18-year-old senior who decided to tackle the issue of violence herself by starting the Panther Peace Corps — uniformed students who monitor the hallways and offer peer mediation. At Overbrook, at least, violent assaults and drug offenses have plummeted in recent years.

"When you go into my school it's almost like a prison," Burley said. "But there's a lot of students trying to overcome the neighborhoods they come from."

Overbrook was once a typical-size high school, but not anymore. With the sweeping changes implemented after the state takeover, the number of high schools rose from 38 to 62, while the average school enrollment dropped from 1,700 to 800. Parents had demanded smaller schools, believing it would improve performance. But while there's been a big jump in K-8 standardized-test scores, results have remained flatter among high-school juniors and seniors.

The 2001 takeover wrested control of the district from a city-appointed board and gave it to a five-member group called the School Reform Commission. Three members are appointed by the governor, two by the mayor.

In 2002, the commission hired fast-talking, fast-acting chief executive Paul Vallas, previously head of Chicago Public Schools, to shake things up. And that he did — handing management of some schools to nonprofits, universities and private companies such as Edison Schools, which manages schools for districts and operates charter schools around the country. Of the Philadelphia district's 290 schools, 55 are charter schools.

Low-performing schools were targeted for intensive intervention and oversight. Fifteen new principals were installed as "turn-around specialists" while some existing principals were reassigned.

Vallas was the architect of many of the changes. When he hired Thornton away from his position as deputy superintendent of schools in Montgomery County, Md., Thornton became the go-to man to implement Vallas' ideas. A big part of that was creating more uniformity in the curriculum to give the district more centralized control and allow a highly mobile student population to more easily transfer between schools.

But while Vallas was widely lauded as a rainmaker for several years, the unexpected fiscal crisis this year is souring many people's opinions. In an interview, Vallas himself hinted he might not be in the job in another year or two.

Personal touch

Behind Thornton's desk in the district's downtown headquarters hangs a framed "No Child Left Behind" poster. In his conference room hangs another: the seven steps to successful education management, as outlined by Malcolm Baldrige, secretary of commerce under President Reagan.

Thornton's background as an educator and warm personal touch helped make his ideas palatable, staff members say, and boosted his credibility among teachers.

That and the fact many in Philadelphia were willing to try just about anything to boost their failing schools. Despite the big changes, Thornton is praised by both the teachers and principals unions.

"After less than an hour on my first day at school he came to visit," said Sterling Garris, a "turn-around" principal installed at Blaine Elementary in 2005. "If there's anything I need, man, I get a phone call within five minutes. It's very impressive."

Thornton was deeply involved in the launch last September of the "School of the Future," a collaboration with Microsoft. Instead of textbooks, every student gets a laptop and can download lectures and notes. The district paid the $73 million cost; Microsoft provided project-management expertise.

Vallas said Thornton has made no secret of his ambitions to have more control over such projects by running a district himself. But Seattle represents more than an opportunity to be a superintendent.

"I've got the Mariners, and I've got the Seahawks, and I've got the SuperSonics. What more can you ask for in one city?" Thornton said.

He said he particularly appreciates that there is "no beer or bad words" in the family section at Mariners games.

"We're pretty aggressive here in Philly," he said. "We boo Santa Claus."

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com