William Johnson (educator)
William Harding Johnson[2] (September 20, 1895 – May 1, 1981) was an American educator who served as superintendent of Chicago Public Schools.
[5] Johnson's father worked several jobs during his time living in Chicago, including cab driver and grocer.
[9][2] Similarly to his time at Beloit, Johnson focused heavily on his academics at Northwestern, and had very little social involvement.
[21] Johnson received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago while working at Lane Technical High School.
In 1921, Johnson enrolled at the University of Chicago as a doctoral student, and received his Ph.D. in educational administration two years later.
[21] In 1923, Johnson submitted an application to Chicago Normal College for a job teaching courses on education.
[22] In 1924, he also began teaching educational administration courses at Loyola University Chicago on a part-time basis.
[23] In March 1925, after passing the principal's examination, Johnson left his position at Chicago Normal College.
In 1931, a research assistant sent by now-Superintendent William J. Bogan's Advisory Council Subcommittee on Education visited the school, and strongly criticized Johnson for practices he had implemented in the school that Johnson had written an article about that was published in an educational journal.
[28] During his time as principal, Johnson also continued to teach educational administration classes part-time at Loyola University.
[30] In October 1927, Johnson's wife Lillian became the assistant principal of the system's Gale School, a job she held until taking a leave of absence due to illness in February 1936.
[28] Johnson, in his time as a principal, had cultivated a public perception of himself as being an effective administrator, having been generally liked by parents and respected by teachers.
[30] In 1935, Johnson requested to be made a high school principal, but was instead promoted by the Chicago Board of Education to assistant superintendent.
[33] Johnson also worked to cultivate his popularity with teachers by personally visiting any of the city's high schools.
However, this created an uproar among some teachers at the meeting who did not want to have the Chicago Public Schools central office sticking their nose in their business.
[42] Early into his superintendency, Johnson was criticized, particularly by the Chicago Daily News, for budget expenditures.
[2] During his superintendency, Johnson would introduce successful new record systems, remedial reading programs, among a few other innovations.
[41] He attracted major controversy for his administration of the 1936–37 Chicago Public Schools' principal's examination.
On March 14, 1938, J.J. Zmrhal, a district superintendent of Chicago Public Schools, released a sworn affidavit accusing Johnson of corrupt practices related to the exam.
At the demand of McCahey, Johnson ordered Olive Brunner, the principal of the Spaulding School for Crippled Children removed from that position and replaced with Celestine Igoe, the sister of former Democratic Party leader and incumbent federal judge Michael L. Igoe.
This, and other similarly political personnel moves, saw Edward E. Keener, the president of the Chicago division of the Illinois State Teachers Association, lead an effort to convince the National Education Association (NEA) to launch an investigation into personnel practices undertaken by Johnson and the Chicago Board of Education.
The report also opined that Johnson had violated NEA's "code of Ethics of the Teaching Profession" by recommending that Chicago schools utilize his own textbooks, from which he would profit.
[59] After much public pressure, the Chicago City Council created a committee to hold hearings the charges that had been by the report.
[60] On April 1, 1946, Mayor Kelly created an advisory committee to address the problems with Chicago Public Schools.
[63] However, with the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools expressed great disapproval of this, demanding Johnson be dismissed from this position.
After Herold C. Hunt took office as superintendent in June 1947, he demoted Johnson to principal of McPherson Elementary School.
[18] Lillian would attend Northern Illinois Normal College and, in 1922, became a teacher in the Chicago Public School system.
[49] The forty-two year long marriage of William and Helen Johnson was said to have developed into a very devoted relationship.
Per his wishes, he was cremated, and his ashes were buried next to his parents and his first wife, Lillian Mattocks Johnson, in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.
[65] In 1938, Johnson received an honorary doctorates from John Brown University in recognition of his leadership in vocational education.
