The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 21

21 THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, APRIL 1991 Hands-on school administrator steps down Unbeatable Price! Incredible Quality! Girls and Boys By Diego Ribadeneira GLOBE STAFF Spnngjackets sale Bill McAfee (right) 'never fit the typical image of a far-removed bureaucrat If a parent calls he responds right PAULA GEORGES Citywide Educational Coalition Incredibly well-made, beautifully-detailed jackets in bright spring colors. Solids, prints, even the newest color block styles. Zip or snap fronts. Machine washable, too! Boys: Toddlers Size 7. Girls: Toddlers Size 14.

At this price, they'll sell out, so hurry! i 1 1 9 BRAINTREE 70S Granite Street 844-3200 NATICK overleaf Marketplace (508) 651-2528 FALL RIVER Durfea Union MM (508) 678-8411 NASHUA, HM. Nashua Mai (603) 886-9233 IUNCHFSTFR run 1 riul r11U9JI7ia COAT FACTORY WAREHOUSE'Mr Open every day including Sunday 'Not altiliaterj with Burlington Industries CI 99 1 Audi of America Mat Ss, 1 -r i i 4 Y' V'-W'" 1 jc 1 mm A BOSTON EXCLUSIVE. William McAfee's formula for success seems simple listen to the needs of parents, headmasters, teachers and principals and do whatever it takes to satisfy them. "My biggest pleasure has come from sitting down with parents and school staff, listening to their problems and then being able to solve them," McAfee said. "That's where my biggest source of pride has come from." As director of facilities management for the Boston public schools, McAfee has adopted a problem-solving approach to help transform what was once one of the worst-performing departments in the school system into one of the best But after nearly four years of overseeing the key department, McAfee is leaving his post to assume a similar position in the Washington public schools.

"I just decided that at this point in my career I wanted a change and the Washington school system is bigger and presents more challenges," said McAfee, who graduated from Dorchester High School. His decision to move next week to a system with 85,000 students and 198 buildings is a significant loss to Boston, say those who know McAfee. "I think he's done more with that department than anyone else I could think of," said Paula Georges, executive director of the Citywide Educational Coalition. The city's 120 school buildings, many of them decades old, have never been in as good a physical condition, and much of the credit goes to McAfee, school officials said. "He has this great knack to come up with a solution to almost any problem that he has confronted," said McAfee's boss, acting Superintendent Joseph M.

McDonough. A willingness to listen He gains kudos from those involved in the schools, especially parents, for his accessibility and his willingness to listen. As a top-ranking administrator in a central bureaucracy often criticized for being unresponsive to McAfee does not fit the stereotype. "Bill never fit the typical image Irf is- 1 i Ji of a far-removed bureaucrat," Georges said. "If a parent calls he responds right away.

And a lot of times he does it himself and doesn't shuffle it off to someone else. Part of it is because he's a parent, too." Perhaps McAfee's major accomplishment during his tenure was working with Flynn administration officials in overseeing the $165 million plan to renovate and remodel the city's public schools. Of 150 school improvement projects that have been planned, 96 have been completed, 16 are in construction and 25 others are in the design stages. The capital improvement plan has brought new windows, roofs and boilers to schools, renovated auditoriums, classrooms and cafeterias and remodeled a building that in the fall will house Latin Academy. "I do think the buildings look 1,000 percent better and a lot of that is the result of Mayor Flynn's commitment to improving the appearance of the schools," said McAfee, who grew up in the Columbia Point housing development, which is now called Harbor Point.

Before McAfee's arrival in August 1987, the Boston Finance Commission issued a report critical of school custodians for receiving pay for work they did not perform. The custodians' union was largely viewed as a patronage mill that did a poor job of maintaining school buildings. Management criticized The Finance Commission criticized the management of the school system's facilities as lax and unpro- THE LIMITED EDITION 80 QUATTRO. For the many conditions Boston drivers encounter, Audi presents a better way to help you take control. The Limited fessional.

"The people in the upper-level positions were simply not doing their jobs," said Jeff Conley, director of the Finance Commission. "When the position of facilities director was vacant we were looking for someone who was very professional and who could straighten out the department." McAfee, by all accounts, has succeeded in restoring integrity. "He developed and imposed much tougher standards and he was a lot tougher with the custodians than any of his predecessors were," Conley said. Leaders of the custodian's union, despite clashing with McAfee on some issues, believe he has improved the image of the facilities department. "We haven't always agreed with him but he's listened to our ideas and it has helped improve the job we do," said Paul Wood, president of the 450-member custodian's association.

And McAfee, unlike some other high-ranking administrators, never spent much time in his downtown Boston office. "If there was a prob Edition 80 Quattro. Features include: All-Wheel Quattro Drive. ABS Brakes. New England Weather Package Includes Heated Front Door Locks, Headlight Washers and Heatable Front Seats.

Pearl White Exterior with Matching Alloy Wheels. Audi Advantage Includes No-Charge Scheduled Maintenance for 3 Years or 50,000 Miles. 1 Only 25 have been produced for the United States, and are exclusive to the Boston area. See us for a test drive now, a'nd experience the handling of this limited edition Quattro: GOOD TAKE CONTROL Flynn outlines priorities for school head lem in a school, he would actually go out to a school and look at it and then go back to make sure it was resolved," said Lisa Chapnick, director of the city's public facilities department. "He understood that for eight hours a day, a school building is a home and he brought a sense of urgency to his job." ANNIS 960 Worcester Rd.

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Two highly-regarded educators considered potential candidates, Peter Negroni, superintendent of schools in Springfield, and Lee Etta Powell, superintendent of the Cincinnati, Ohio, schools, asked not to be considered among the semifina-lists because they feared media exposure. Sources close to the search say Arnie Miller and Michelle Williams, the consultants aiding in the selection process, are trying to lure back the semifinalists who dropped their names from contention because of media exposure. SEARCH Continued from Page 17 One of the major weaknesses of the school system, according to its critics, is that it lacks an overall mis-'sion plan and has had a tendency to react to crises and the most pressing issues of the moment, leaving little time to formulate educational policy. "If a whole community comes together and agrees on an agenda for the superintendent, much can be accomplished," Flynn said. "Failure to do so, on the other hand, failure to define expectations before a superintendent is hired will spell certain failure, a failure Boston school children cannot afford." Semifinalists withdraw Miller and Williams have attempted to assure the potential candidates that if they are interviewed by the search committee, it will not be revealed.

The search for a new superintendent has begun to stumble as at least three' of the 10 semifinalists for the on how to teach students. "Right now, Boston has a process that has everyone else the state, the Boston Teachers Union, the central administration, various courts, the School Committee all defining the mission of each school, rather than each school itself," Flynn said. Creating a stronger collaborative between human service agencies and the schools in order to provide students, many of whom are beset by an array of social and economic ills, the support needed to succeed in class. Currently, the quality of social services varies from school to school and there has been friction among some human service providers over who should control the coordination of services for students. Improving the quality of regular education so fewer poor-performing children are placed in remedial or special education classes where their academic performance generally does not progress.

Providing large dosages of teacher training. "There will be little change. the staff training needed to nurture and support innovation," Flynn said. After interviewing semifinalists, the search committee is expected to recommend at least three finalists to the School Committee, which will conduct further interviews and site visits before choosing the next superintendent. Leaders of the search process hope to have a new superintendent in place by May 10.

post have withdrawn their candidacies because their names were made School freedom vff public by the media. Also, another candidate recently accepted the job of Detroit superintendent of schools. And More! We're Closing The uncertainty over the list of semifinalists has begun to cause concern among some search committee members and others that Boston may not be able to attract the best superintendent possible to the city. Boston's search process is hampered by the poor image of the School Committee among educators nationwide and because about 25 urban school districts are all vying to hire new superintendents. During his meeting with search committee members at the Parkman House, Flynn cited a number of key areas the next superintendent should focus on, including: Giving schools greater freedom The three who have withdrawn are Pete Mesa, superintendent of Oakland, Unified School District; Kenneth Burnley, superintendent of the largest school district in Colorado Springs, and Lois Harrison Jones; associate superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District.

Two other semifinalists, Joan Raymond, superintendent of the Houston Independent School Distinct and George Garcia, former superintendent of the Kansas City, schools, are finalists for super-intendency positions in other school aturday, April 13 Salemmes ordered to Calif, to face theft charges Everything Must Go! Shop Early For Best Selection All in-stock items 50 off and more! Previously ordered items not incl. All sales final. Shop the Yield House Catalog 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-2584720. tSSYield House America's Country Home South Shore Plaza, Bra in tree, adjacent to indoor parking (617) 848-1119 Northshore Shopping Center, Peabody, at mall entrance (508) 531-8980 able cause for the charges.

In December, the elder Salemme, a resident of Sharon, was arrested on a fugitive warrant by California officials who charge he and his son had failed to pay $56,000 worth of hotel and food bills they had run up in Los Angeles last spring. The son turned himself in to authorities a few days later. Both are free on bail. In addition to the grand theft charges, John Mon-aghan, Los Angeles deputy district attorney, has said a grand jury in California is probing allegations the elder Salemme tried to steal $10 million from a Teamsters union pension fund. Monaghan declined this week to discuss the status of the grand jury investigation.

DORIS SUE WONG Reputed underworld figure Francis P. (Cadillac Frank) Salemme and his son, Francis P. Salemme were served with governor's warrants in Stoughton District Court yesterday ordering their return to Los Angeles to face charges of conspiracy to commit grand theft. The Salemmes, who are fighting extradition, were served with the California warrants before Judge James Dineen, according to Michael McGorty, a spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney. Richard Egbert, a lawyer for the Salemmes, said he will challenge the validity of the warrants by seeking a hearing where authorities would have to prove that the Salemmes are the people being sought and there is prob.