I cannot find her complete resume on line but here is what I have found.

The Sandwich committee appointed Johnson to serve as interim superintendent on May 21 until it found a permanent replacement. Johnson had been the district’s director of curriculum since July 2007.

Committee Ponders New Contract Offer To Superintendent

Johnson to become superintendent of Sandwich schools – - Wicked Local – Cape Cod

[February 05, 2010]
Survey: Sandwich teachers work in fearful environment

Sandwich district cuts new hireBy George Brennan
gbrennan@capecodonline.com
November 20, 2009 – 2:00 AM

Sandwich school chief cashes in vacation time“>Sandwich school chief cashes in vacation time

Mary Ellen Johnson files new legal challengeBy George Brennan
gbrennan@capecodonline.com
March 24, 2011

Sandwich Superintendent Johnson defends record

Dr. Johnson’s Evaluation Turns Emotional

Embattled Superintendent Chronical
October 2008: Mary Ellen Johnson is hired as Sandwich superintendent of schools.

April 28, 2010: School board holds meeting to consider contract extension, but recesses to April 30.

April 30: In a closed-door session, the school board votes to extend Johnson’s contract.

May 6: Two new members are elected to the school committee, both opponents of Johnson.

May 18: The district attorney finds the April 30 meeting was not properly posted – a violation of the state Open Meeting Law.

June 16: The school committee votes 4-3 not to extend Johnson’s contract when her current contract expires at the end of June 2011.

Nov. 1: Johnson sues the school committee in an effort to save her job.

March 10, 2011: Judge dismisses Johnson’s wrongful termination suit.

Pia Durkin is superintendent of schools of Attleboro, Massachusetts and a former associate director at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Durkin joined the Attleboro schools in 2006, Lowell, is more than twice the size of the Attleboro Public Schools.

According to her profile:

Pia Durkin’s work focuses on supporting districts in the use of tools and resources to improve teaching and learning at scale; she brings a strong background in special education and is an advocate for a systemic continuum of supports for students with and without disabilities, rather than isolated initiatives. She’s held a number of leadership positions in urban education systems: superintendent in Narragansett, Rhode Island; assistant superintendent in Boston Public Schools for five years, where she led the reorganization of district services and the realignment of resources; director of special education for six years in Providence; and teacher, professional development coordinator, and supervisor over nineteen years with the New York City Board of Education. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from New York University

One of the 5 finalist for Supt. is involved in a lawsuit against her present employer and is trying to stop them from filling her job until the lawsuit is settled. Teachers are supporting the Supt. this sounds familar.

According to the Cape Cod Times from March 17th :

Before the finalists were announced, Supt. Mary Ellen Johnson once again attempted to stop the process. She handed out a letter from her attorney saying he intends to appeal a judge’s decision to dismiss her breach of contract lawsuit against the school board.

Johnson sat through the entire discussion on the finalists. Her contract expires June 30.

According to Jenn (Scoop) Myers in the breaking news section of the Sun’s web page:

The five finalists for the Lowell superintendent of schools position are:

* Jean Franco, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Lowell Public Schools.

* Charles Wilson, an educational consultant and former superintendent of schools in Pelham, N.Y.

Jenn had reported this morning that Asst. Supt. Jay Lang was not going to be among the finalists

HElP ! I realize no one has ever or will ever accuse me of being too bright and I have a very limited knowledge of the financial situation of the Lowell School Dept but when I read today’s Sun I got a little upset.

Last week I pointed out that this committee cut the Library/Media aides that serve students from elementary through High School. At that point they stated that they had to cut a Million dollars and there was nothing they could do.

Last Sept. when they received Federal Money from the Race to the Top program I commended this committee on their choice to save it for the 2011/2012 school year to avoid more devastating cuts. I have constantly challenged Paul Georges for being greedy when the schools have no money.

So imagine how I felt this morning when I read in a story about Lowell High launches tool for schoolwork tracking by computer, smartphone and saw this mentioned in a simple matter of fact manner. Lang did tell the committee that projections show the current year’s budget is expected to end with a potential surplus of $1.2 million in the district’s salary account. Additionally, the unemployment compensation account is also expected to have a surplus of about $400,000 at the end of the year.

$1.6 Million dollars in excess? Why is this committee finding out this now? Where were these “projections” in December or January when we could have brought these much needed positions back to assist the students? Parents at the High School were concerned about not having enough Guidance Councilors to assist students with College applications and letters and were told there was no money for replacements.

Paul Georges has a legitimate complaint when positions have been cut yet we are told we may have a $1.6 Million surplus? How does that happen and why did we NOT have these projections MONTHS earlier?

Asst. Supt for fiance Jay Lang (who according to word on the street this morning DID NOT make it to the final 5 finalist for Supt.) needs to inform this community and school committee why in April we “project” a surplus and why we could not project that in December or January. Supt. Chris Scott needs to be asked why has his supervisor she didn’t know and if she did why wasn’t this information shared with the public and the committee?

The Lowell School Committee will try to spin this as positive for next year but tell that to all the students who were deprived of library and media support in a technology driven society!

Why do we have a surplus if ALL THESE CUTS WERE REALLY NEEDED???

World English Dictionary : dysfunctional (dɪsˈfʌŋkʃən ə l)
— adj
1. med (of an organ or part) not functioning normally
2. (esp of a family) characterized by a breakdown of normal or beneficial relationships between members of the group

We now know why Paul Georges calls the School Committee “dysfunctional”, it is because they have finally stood up to him and said NO RAISES and we are offering ZERO and ZERO and he has lost his beneficial relationship (they give in to a lot of what he wants). He can’t bully this committee any longer so he calls them names. No wonder he has tried to make Supt. Scott an issue. He needs new people to run and win so that he can bully or suck up to them (Hayden and Cassin werethisclose at the tech). His members may find out his time needs to be up as president.

Mike Hayden will officially announce in tomorrow’s paper that he is indeed running for the Lowell School Committee. Jenn Myers of the Sun has the story in “breaking news” and on her Facebook page. A few people have already made comments reminding Mike of some past statements he made and posted on his website. Mimi on Left in Lowell points out that if his appearance before the School Committee a few weeks ago is any indication, he will continue with unwavering and unlimited (financial and moral) support for the sitting Superintendent. Mike was a key member in giving the former Greater Lowell Tech Supt. a 69% raise over 6 years. Lowell can’t afford that. If he wants to make Supt. Scott an issue, the question he needs to be asked is “Is it okay for an employee to lie and give bad information to their boss?”

However it should be noted that Mike received OVER 5,000 votes last year and has solid name recognition in a race with an open seat!

I’d ask Jim Campanini the same question except he hasn’t answered my request to meet. When Mr. C called into WCAP to defend Supt. Scott for telling the Sun before telling the entire school committee and attacking the Lowell School Committee he stated “We welcome anyone to come in and talk, to us.” Guess I don’t count because I emailed him asking to meet with him and he has yet to respond. I figured I owed him the chance to straighten out anything I have said that he feels is incorrect about him and the SUN. I have only met the man once for a few brief moments.

The “Blue Ribbon” panel has been leaking names (at least of the two supposed Lowell candidates) and rumors has fast as they have been eliminating candidates to get to the final five. Rumors about both the supposed local candidates are flying so the current committee can be beat up if one of them gets chosen.

If Bill Samaras runs, someone please ask him about his handling of last years Head Football Coaching search fiasco (Goodbye Mr. Moore) his black balling of Scott Boyle and how after walking away with over $110,000 in “unused sick days” he intends to get rid of this perk after taking full advantage of it himself.

Kristin J. Ross-Sitcawich would be a great candidate but with two school aged children and being a Commissioner on the Lowell Housing Authority her time is already stretched. If the committee can scale back their obsessions with countless sub-committee meetings it might work!

The Headmaster search was a fiasco last year and Supt. Scott’s Atty.Mike Gallagher had to act as the bagman and get a headhunter to find Mr. Rozmiarek who in his short tenure has ticked off at least two school committee members by his words and actions. Based on his resume Mr. R has the credentials for the job but someone PLEASE assist him with the politics of the job. Especially when the shadow of Samaras looms daily and the people who report to him talk directly to school committee members more than they talk to him.

Will a school committee member please bring in a motion to set a policy that changes the Agenda so it reflects the council agenda and the Supt. has to respond in a timely fashion to motions. Many get made and forgotten. (Which brings in the question of why they were made in the first place.)

While they are at it, change the meeting minute requirements to reflect what the City Clerk does on the council side and inform the recording secretary she no longer needs to keep a word by word diary.

Sub-Committee meetings need to be limited to 1 hour and be on Wednesday’s at 6:00 before the regular school committee meeting and at 7:00 on the weeks they don’t meet. Let the Supt, YOU hire run the day to day activity and set policy. Hopefully a new Supt. will be strong enough to tell members when they over reach and members need to reread what it is they should be doing under ed reform.

Today on City Life around the 1 hour and 42 minute mark we heard that the Lowell High Headmaster basically “Kicked Out” a School Committee member from the High School. To me this is outrageous and there should never be a reason that any member of the Committee cannot stop by and if he or she wants a meeting then they can arrange one. We talked about this for the rest of the show.

After the show on my way to work, I recalled that when I was looking at the SC Minutes, there was a motion by Dave Conway from last October so I looked it up and I found this: October 20th 2010

2. [by David J. Conway]: Because of new leadership in some of our schools, to ask the Superintendent to distribute the updated policy to all our building principals, regarding the School Committee’s rights and obligations to visit our schools.

So I hoped that this was in regards to the incident we talked about this morning and I contacted the Headmaster to get some clarity on this issue and here is Mr. Rozmiarek’s response to this incident:

Thank you for your inquiry and your effort to understand the story before commenting on it. Back at the start of October, roughly one month into my tenure here at LHS, I did receive a call from a school committee member about visiting the school. I questioned the purpose of the visit and learned of the school committee policy regarding committee members’ visiting schools. The policy reads as follows:

Ed Rozmiarek

This looks to me like a new guy not fully understanding the process and somehow the incident got blown up to the story becoming a member was kicked out. Hopefully this explanation will clear up any misconceptions we caused this morning.

I beleive all school committee people should be welcomed and encouraged to visit the schools and that it should not take more than 1 phone call or email for any Principal or Headmaster to respond to any School Committee person and welcome them to come in a visit the school and meet with them.