Technically, two spots on the seven-member appointed board are set to come open Jan. 2. But it is almost certain that Menino will reappoint school board member Claudio Martinez to another four-year term. That leaves five finalists vying for the seat to be vacated by vice-chair Marchelle Raynor.
It’s a strong field of finalists drawn from about 30 bona fide applicants - a much better crop than in previous years. But Campbell, 59, still stands apart. She has been a Boston school parent, runs the successful Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester, lectured in education at Harvard, and took a lead role in the restructuring of schools in Chelsea. And she probes, which is especially important on a mayorally appointed board that is sometimes criticized as a rubber stamp for Menino and school superintendent Carol Johnson.
Menino, to his credit, has warmed to the charter school movement. In May, he signed a compact with the city’s charter schools to cooperate on teacher training, transportation, purchasing, and more. It was a nod to reality. There are 5,600 Boston students attending charter schools today, and that number is likely to double. But forces in City Hall and the school department continue to view charter schools as a threat because they lack union protections for teachers and draw money away from district schools.
Campbell, to her credit, isn’t a monomaniacal advocate for charter schools. She represents a new wave of educational leaders who seek any opportunity to fit pieces of the urban puzzle together provided it works for children. Her charter school, for example, is sited inside a community health center. She serves on a board that is working to build the city’s first public library inside a housing complex for low-income families. And she recently crossed the charter-district divide by becoming a founding board member of what will be the Boston Public Schools’ first two-way bilingual high school.
