Marching to a new beat - Profile

School Administrator, March, 2003 by Jay P. Goldman

In the shipshape world of the military that John Fryer inhabited for 31 years, the chain of command was well-established and predictable. In the bullring of school board politics where he now operates, it's messy and volatile.

Since August 1998, Fryer has worked as superintendent in Duval County, Fla., the nation's 16th largest system with 127,000 students, 159 schools and 14,000 employees. He's discovered it's nothing like commanding a bombardment squadron, advising U.S. military actions in NATO or even running the National War College in Washington, D.C., which he did for nearly three years as a major general in the U.S. Air Force.

Says Fryer of his new workplace: "Every school board meeting is filled with different agendas. I've never seen so many bosses in my life.... I'm not happy that as many people give me guidance as they do."

A native of Asheville, N.C., Fryer has apparently adjusted well to the superintendency, though he's had a few public spats with the board. He represents one of the best current examples of how outstanding leadership skills in a nontraditional setting can be applied to public education. Last fall, an outside study of school district operations and management named Duval County, which is based in Jacksonville, "one of the best-run big city public school systems in the country" and labeled Fryer a visionary superintendent."

Fryer's ability to train his team to think strategically and to line up most of the players on the same page is beginning to generate steady improvement on academic measures, notably the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Operating at considerable distance from the stereotypical drill sergeant who barks orders, Fryer eschews micromanagement and fear believing them to be poor management techniques.

What's impressive to local observers is the way Fryer locks onto his priorities of systemic reform and doesn't easily yield to status quo forces. Amidst considerable opposition, even from a few board members, he introduced districtwide America's Choice, a standards-based literacy program developed by the National Center for Education and the Economy.

"He's pretty selective about what he's going after first," says Lloyd Brown, editorial page editor at the Times-Union, Jacksonville's daily newspaper.

Brown pointed to the most recent public demonstration of Fryer's fixed focus. Noting a radio talk show host's incessant criticism of the school district's website, Brown says of the superintendent, "He's aware of it, but it's not a top priority and he's not going to stop what he's doing to make it one."

Fryer acknowledges the website's shortcomings but says technology's primary purpose must be to advance the academic program. "I have a whole list of criteria for good leadership and setting priorities is near the top," he says.

Fryer first got an inkling of how he might contribute to public education while tutoring an elementary school youngster in Washington, D.C., every week for three years. He filled that role with the same passion that he brought to the command of an F-4 Phantom Fighter wing early in his Air Force career.

Fryer used his inner-city mentorship, along with insights from the late John Stanford, a retired Army general who served as Seattle's superintendent, to win over members of the Duval County board who had been skeptical of hiring a non-educator. One of the holdouts who later became the superintendent's biggest booster, Susan Wilkinson, says she saw tears welling in the military man's eyes during his telling of the story.

"He leads by connecting with individuals, by bringing the troops along that way," Wilkinson says.

Fryer says he keeps his finger on the pulse of the classroom by making unannounced school visits. "I want to probe with students. I want to know what they are learning, who are their best teachers and what pressures they are under."

He has begun to take some bold steps to ensure that the students with the greatest learning needs have experienced teachers. Through an agreement he recently forged with the teachers' union, teachers had to reapply for their jobs at five low-performing schools last summer. Yet Fryer is realistic enough to realize that the $2,000 bonus he is offering to attract the most accomplished teachers to those schools is not the full answer. "The key problem is stability of faculty with strong leadership."

RELATED ARTICLE: BIO STATS:

John Fryer

Currently: superintendent, Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville, Fla.

Earlier: U.S. Air Force, 31 years in various roles

Age: 62

Greatest Influence: The late John Stanford, former superintendent in Seattle and a retired Army general. His example and my personal association with him and his people convinced me that I would find public education to be a noble and rewarding final career.

Best Professional Day: Whenever I see students achieve what they and no one else thought they could achieve.

Books at Bedside: Good to Great by Jim Collins; The Principal Challenge by Marc Tucker and Judy B. Codding; No Free Lunch by Rodney J. Carroll and Gary Karton; Understanding by Design by Jay McTighe and Grant P. Wiggins; and Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi