FEATURE/Was the Fate of the New Palm Beach County School Superintendent Art Johnson Tied to the Stock Market?

Business Wire, April 9, 2001

The High Road: "I never attacked anyone personally or politically," says Johnson, "I kept it strictly business and relied on my track record, experience and success as an educator...because to me it's about our kids, the school system and the quality of education they receive, period," says Johnson. In an eerily prescient decision, ten years ago Art Johnson was the first educator in the country to install a metal detector in a school. "I just did it," says Johnson, "because it felt like the right thing to do...ask the teachers, parents and students at Columbine and all the other schools that are having gun problems if they wish they had a metal detector in their school." Johnson has offered such revolutionary programs to his students as tattoo removal, a first step in helping to reduce gang membership. There are numerous other innovative programs Johnson introduced into his school that account for Spanish River High School in Boca Raton earning thirty academic and athletic state championships.

The Saga: A member of the Boca Raton Education Advisory Board, infuriated at the incredulous Johnson affair, familiar with Garcia's background and credentials pleaded with Garcia to meet with Johnson. Sensing the urgency of the matter, Garcia terminated a family vacation, agreeing to meet Johnson back in Florida. After Garcia's scrutiny of Dr. Johnson and the facts of the case, Garcia recognized the exceptional characteristics of this committed, award-winning principal who Garcia believed clearly was maligned and subsequently unfairly fired from his job. To support Dr. Johnson, Garcia had to fight a battle of his own. Garcia's company was barely three months old, with one office and three employees, and he took a lot of flack from the company's shareholders for devoting so much time on a pro-bono basis to Johnson. Despite this early criticism, Garcia became a confidant to Johnson, offering personal, financial and legal support while cajoling and imploring the then unemployed educator to not give up the fight, but to press on and continue the battle.

The Background: Garcia's years in the mid-80s as a specialist in psychological warfare in worn-torn Central America monitoring counter insurgent movements, and reporting to the highest level of government including the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General John Galvin who later became the NATO Supreme Allied Commander, were useful. "I was fortunate to have Charlie on my team," says Johnson, "Charlie is a brilliant strategist, he has a mind like a steel trap, but most important he has a heart of gold," says Johnson. Johnson points out that "Charlie was the cornerstone of my legal, political, and media strategy." Garcia is a graduate of Columbia Law School and was the first in his class to be published in the Law Review. In a landmark Fourth Amendment case, the Florida Supreme Court cited Garcia's scholarly legal insights. Tactically, Johnson was in good hands and together they went on the offensive.

The Alliance: Garcia and Johnson launched a multi-faceted legal campaign, the lynchpin of which was the filing of the first-ever criminal class action lawsuit in the State of Florida, joined by more than 2000 petitioners, against then Palm Beach County School Superintendent, Joan Kowal. The tactics paid off, as Johnson received a groundswell of public and professional support, much to the surprise of Kowal. The legal battle would require money and Garcia chaired Johnson's legal defense fund. They also produced a twelve-minute video tape that countered many of the carefully crafted and selectively edited images of a video tape that Superintendent Kowal produced on her own behalf to defame Johnson. Kowal circulated her video to members of the Palm Beach County School Board and the media in an effort to negatively portray Johnson's judgement and calling into question his ability to lead.