The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has a new acting commissioner, following a vote by its board earlier this week.
“- and I would gently recommend, with all of my heart, Russell Johnston, who has been a warrior at DESE for many years and a good friend – a man of great integrity, as to take over as acting in my place," said outgoing Commissioner Jeffrey Riley, speaking at his last regular board meeting on Feb. 27.
Riley announced his plans to step down as a commissioner earlier this year, with a last day of March 15. In his resignation letter, he cited a need to commit more time to support his aging parents.
Before taking Riley’s place in the interim, Dr. Russell Johnston has been serving as a deputy education commissioner, after initially joining the DESE in 2014.
He served as superintendent of West Springfield Public Schools and headed its special education services before that – work that some of his former colleagues praise to this day.
“He values people – people matter, and he has a way of making everybody feel like they are the most important person when he’s speaking with him," said Colleen Marcus.
While she currently works as vice chair of the West Springfield School Committee, Marcus came to know Johnston while she was previously principal of Coburn Elementary School, as well as the district’s ESL director.
She describes him as a hard-worker who engaged with families often while he was an administrator for the district’s special education department.
As superintendent from 2010 to 2014, Riley had a drive to collaborate, according to Marcus, who notes he frequently would involve West Springfield Public Schools in pilot programs to bolster the district’s offerings to students.
Marcus noted that he also embraced the town’s large refugee student body – a reputation she believes led to recognition by local refugee resettlement officials.
“He was the most welcoming superintendent, to the point where the [Western Massachusetts Refugee & Immigrant Consortium] even held a meeting in West Springfield – they understood how wonderful he was and how much he welcomed these families," she told WAMC.
Around the time of Johnston's departure as superintendent, the Massachusetts Municipal Association said in 2015 that West Springfield had taken in refugees from more than 30 countries.
The former superintendent’s collaborative spirit was also highlighted by Nancy Farrell, who previously served on the school committee for some two decades.
On top of ensuring the town was compliant with special education laws and regulations, Farrell says Johnston forged a solid relationship with the local teachers union, keeping the committee, teachers, and leadership on the same page when it came to students.
“Between school committee, administration and the teachers union, we were all working together for a common of improving student achievement," she said.
Another local official who is optimistic about Johnston’s appointment – Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia.
The mayor tells WAMC he recently spoke with Johnston days before the board's decision to appoint him. The acting commissioner had also been in regular contact with the district alongside Commissioner Riley over the past few years.
He says the now acting-commissioner has expressed willingness, along with other state leaders such as Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, to make a plan of action and charter a path for the city to exit receivership.
Holyoke schools have been in receivership since 2015 due to chronic underperformance.
The school district has taken part in a turnaround plan, leading to a significant increase in graduation rates, up 15 points to 74.9 percent in 2021-22. However, with test scores stagnating throughout the past nine years, Garcia says local officials have expressed a desire to get a concrete plan from the state in order for the city to exit receivership status.
Holyoke Receiver and Superintendent Anthony Soto recently went as far as to send a letter to current-Commissioner Riley seeking info on the matter, soon after Holyoke’s school committee petitioned him on the same topic.
The petition was not rejected outright, but deferred by Riley.
Now, with Johnston’s appointment and support of other officials, Garcia says there’s reason to be optimistic.
“It seems that everyone’s on the same page on where their interests lie when it comes to coming up with a plan, a path, with a timeline for transition to local control," the mayor said. "So, the stars are aligning and it’s good to have someone there who’s expressed that level of commitment.”
