Acting School Superintendent Janet Gauthier is her own person, entirely, absolutely.
In the short period she has sat in the superintendent’s office on Vine Street she has been having meetings and setting new agendas.
Not everything that came before will be the same under her management of the schools.
What will be the same?
The powerful work ethic she brings to the position and the work ethic of those working by her side is something expected.
She does not have the authoritarian bent of the man whose place she has taken.
She has a more friendly, professional, collegial style.
She has a natural friendship with the rank and file, the hundreds of teachers the school system employs. There is no rancor between her and the troops.
There is right now only the respect that has been built during her 40 years in the school system – and the fact she started out as an English teacher.
This single fact makes her appointment a great success early on.
Mrs. Gauthier gets it.
She also understands the city’s politics and its nuances.
She will not be railroaded into anything that is not on merit.
At this time of dramatic change, Mrs. Gauthier is the lady for all seasons. She knows the system. She has worked a lifetime in the system. She wants to improve the system. Foremost in her mind are the kids who enter the system, who are served by the system, whose lives are for the most part improved by going through the system.
The School Committee’s choice of Mrs. Gauthier to be the acting superintendent was perfect.
She is the right person, in the right place, at the right time.
We trust and hope she will be given enough time to steer the system through this rough patch.
We wish her the best.