A calling to educate children
Published: June 21, 2005
Ask Carl Griffin about his wife’s passion for education and he will tell you the following anecdote:
About 17 years ago, Griffin met Christine Johnson while she was with a group of friends at a Denver restaurant. She was principal at Denver’s Abraham Lincoln High School. He was an IBM executive.
They started dating and the subject of having children came up. “Carl, I’ve got a couple of thousand kids,” her husband recalled her saying.
“That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with Christine,” Griffin said.
“She told me early on that she was going to change the way our kids are educated and she’s kept that passion for 17 years. This is the kind of person she is.”
That passion has led Johnson, 52, to be one of three finalists to replace Superintendent Jerry Wartgow, who is leaving Denver Public Schools at the end of the month. The finalists are meeting this week with school board members and the community.
This is a job, Johnson’s friends say, that she has been working toward her entire career.
“I have devoted my life to helping students learn. I consider it my highest calling,” Johnson said shortly after she was named a finalist. “To do so in a community I care so much about would be highly meaningful.”
Teacher’s pet
The road to Johnson’s educational career began in a small two-room schoolhouse in the tiny rural New Mexico community of Hachita.
When she attended the school, there were about 20 students. Johnson and her four brothers constituted about one-quarter of the enrollment.
Her older brother, Jim Johnson, remembered how he and his siblings used to tease their sister about being the teacher’s pet.
“We thought so because boys kind of looked forward to recess and being outside even if it was just throwing rocks over a fence,” Jim Johnson said. “She preferred to stay inside and help the teacher.”
One of her first education jobs came when their teacher put Johnson in charge of the school’s small library.
When she did come out to play, though, she would play hard. Jim Johnson remembered his sister, never very tall, playing tether ball with the other taller kids. She played with such tenacity that she would wear the other kids out, he said.
Back then, kids also made up their own games, he said.
“So she would say, ‘Let’s play school,’ ” he said with a laugh. “And guess who was always the teacher?”
All five Johnson siblings later attended New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on scholarships. Her brothers studied business, while she majored in education.
From there, she came north to Colorado, where she landed her first job, teaching English and Spanish at Denver’s Thomas Jefferson High School.
She worked a series of jobs in the DPS system while also attending the University of Colorado, where she earned a master’s degree and later a Ph.D.
In 1989, Johnson was named Colorado Principal of the Year. Two years later she began a two-year stint as an administrator in Littleton Public Schools.
Then-Gov. Roy Romer appointed her to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, a post she held for eight years, including three as chairwoman.
When she was appointed president of Community College of Denver, Johnson became the first Hispanic woman to be named president of a college in Colorado.
A bias for action
People who have worked with Johnson describe her leadership style as a blend of vision, compassion and toughness.
“I would work for her anytime, anywhere,” said Dianne Cyr, director of high school and early college partnerships for CCD. “She has a bias for action that brings together people both within and without the educational community.”
Pete Hergenreter, retiring principal of Career Education Center of Middle College of Denver High School, said Johnson was instrumental in changing the direction of the school.
The DPS magnet school now routinely enables students to take college-level classes as part of their education.
“This wouldn’t have happened without Christine’s involvement,” Hergenreter said. “She cleared the way and initiated programs that allow our students to attend classes at CCD.”
If the DPS school board chooses her as superintendent, Johnson said one of her goals would be to continue encouraging such partnerships.
When asked what the biggest challenge facing DPS is, she replied, it was “absolutely, unquestionably” increasing student achievement, closing the test score gap for minorities and increasing the graduation rate.
When asked what she would do to achieve that end, Johnson replied: “There are so many things that have to happen and they have to happen simultaneously.”
Among them, she listed increasing the rigor of the curriculum, ensuring quality teachers in every classroom and strong principals in every school, enabling parents to take ownership of their students’ success, and helping students learn to be comfortable taking tests.
“This is a fact of life,” she said. “They will be taking tests all of their lives.”
Amazon discount!
Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul: Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirit of EducatorsOne specific area where Johnson would focus is an Office of School Effectiveness and Accountability.
This would be a group of professionals who would administer tests and do the analysis and research that teachers and principals need to do a better job.
Whatever she does, said Jim Johnson, she’ll do it with enthusiasm.
“She was just so excited that she couldn’t stop talking about it,” he said of the moment when she called with news of her being named a finalist. “That’s typical of how she throws herself into things, lock, stock and barrel.
“She’s found another challenge and she’s going to meet it head on, the way she always has. Whatever happens, she’ll be good at it.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: