Coleman, William F., III

1955(?)—

Public schools administrator

William F. Coleman III worked his way up through finance posts at several of the largest public school systems in the United States over a 30-year career in education, becoming superintendent of the Detroit, Michigan, Public School District, with its more than 100,000 students, in January of 2006. In Detroit he faced a serious crisis in which fiscal problems and declining enrollment reinforced each other in a downward spiral. Praised for community-relations initiatives designed to showcase the school system's strong points, Coleman nevertheless encountered controversy that led to an acrimonious departure from Detroit in 2007.

Rose to Top Positions in Public Schools

Born around 1955, Coleman was raised in New York City and attended the city's public schools. He later said that his commitment to public education grew out of his experiences as a student in New York's public schools, which maintained academic rigor despite the ups and downs of the surrounding city. He studied accounting and financial management at Pace University in New York and graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1977. He entered the public school workforce as an auditor in New York's public school system the following year. Promoted gradually, he kept himself open to the on-the-ground experiences of the personnel whose books he kept. "I'd go in and meet with them, have lunch with them and talk to them," Coleman told Sam Logan of the Michigan Chronicle. "I learned about their issues, about how they thought schools operated, or should operate. I learned more about public schools when I was working than I ever did as a public school student."

After a series of promotions, Coleman reached the rank of deputy budget director in 1990. "I thought he was intelligent, conscientious, a hard worker, and was no-nonsense in providing me the information I needed when I was cutting and trimming the budget," Ray Cortines, New York school chancellor in the early 1990s, told Jennifer Dixon responsibility but remaining at that level until 1995, he left New York to take a post as chief financial officer in the San Francisco Unified School District that year.

Coleman remained in San Francisco until 1999, earning mixed reviews for his performance there. He was praised for improving human resources procedures, and he was generally well liked wherever he went. Former San Francisco school board member Carlota del Portillo told Dixon and Pratt that Coleman was "a very good human being, and it shows through when he's dealing with parents." In his core competency of finances, though, evaluations were less kind. "You couldn't balance the books," San Francisco board member Dan Kelly complained to Dixon and Pratt. "You couldn't tell how much money was in different accounts and how much debt there was." A state audit of the school district's finances, although it did not single out Coleman by name, found numerous problems with basic accounting procedures and training.

Shortly after the release of the state audit in 1999, Coleman and his friend, San Francisco schools tech- nology chief Ruben Bohuchot, moved to Dallas to take similar jobs in the school system there under former San Francisco superintendent Bill Rojas; Coleman's title was chief operating officer and deputy superintendent. The trio did not fare well in the Dallas Independent School District; Rojas was fired after less than a year, while Bohuchot came under Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) scrutiny after accepting free ocean cruises on a boat owned by executives at a software vendor that was bidding for district business. In 2000, Coleman resigned his Dallas post.

Took on Challenges in Detroit

After a brief stint with California's Epylon Corporation, a firm specializing in software to be used in the purchasing process by schools and other public institutions, Coleman moved on to a consultant job at Berkshire Advisors in Austin, Texas. It was as a consultant that he first came to know the Detroit Public Schools, where he worked on a $1 million study of the district's finances. In 2002 he was hired as chief operating officer in Detroit and was given the gritty task of overseeing the renovation of 1,000 school bathrooms. Although some negative publicity came in 2003, after the discovery of a $3.8 million cache of school supplies that lay unused in a warehouse, Coleman impressed Detroit board of education members with his willingness to move beyond his base in finance. He worked with some of the city's powerful contingent of African-American ministers to organize volunteer patrols aimed at reducing violence in Detroit's schools.

In July of 2005 Coleman became Detroit schools' chief executive officer, and the following January he was named interim superintendent. In March of 2006 the interim designation was dropped as his contract was renewed through June of 2007. "I see this as a vote of confidence by the board," Coleman told the Michigan Chronicle. "I see this as an opportunity to lay the foundation for [a] master plan to return the Detroit Public Schools to its rightful spot as one of the great urban school systems in America." For all his optimism, Coleman faced many challenges, including black flight to suburban districts, enrollment that was declining by about 6 percent a year, and labor relations with the Detroit Federation of Teachers that were at a low point.

Coleman concluded that part of what faced Detroit schools, which included several widely recognized institutions and programs, was a marketing problem. At first he earned high marks, making the rounds of city talk radio and civic organizations to tout the system's virtues and try to stem the flight to suburban districts. To lower the district's 40-percent dropout rate, Coleman proposed giving students greater options for applying to specialized career and technical institutions, and he suggested a concept called "middle college," a partnership with Wayne County Community College that would allow advanced high schools students to take college-level courses. He also set up partnerships with the Girl Scouts, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and the Detroit Science Center. Coleman and his wife, early childhood development specialist Deborah Bodrick, enjoyed Detroit and started a family there, adopting a daughter, Genesis.

Soon enough, however, Coleman was beset with problems. An acrimonious 16-day teachers' strike in the fall of 2006 accelerated the efforts of parents to place their children in schools outside the district, as did a proposal to close several dozen school buildings. Most difficult for Coleman personally was the revelation that he had suggested Bohuchot's consulting business to a Michigan firm that needed help preparing a bid on district information technology services. Bohuchot was still under FBI investigation at the time. "The thing that's very, very troubling to me is that there's going to be some assumption that I'm corrupt," Coleman told Dixon and Pratt. "I am not corrupt; there's no aura of corruption about Bill Coleman."

At a Glance …

Born in 1955(?); raised in New York City; married Deborah Bodrick; children: Genesis. Education: Pace University, New York, NY, BA, business administration, 1977.

Career:

New York City Public Schools, auditor, 1978-91; New York City Public Schools, deputy budget director, 1991-95; San Francisco Public Schools, chief financial officer, 1995-99; Dallas Public Schools, chief operating officer and deputy superintendent, 1999-2000; Epylon Corp, Lafayette, CA, sales, 2000-01; Berkshire Advisors, Austin, TX, consultant, 2001-02; Detroit Public Schools, chief operating officer, 2002-05; Detroit Public Schools, chief executive officer, 2005-06; Detroit Public Schools, superintendent, 2006-07; Kansas City School District, consultant, 2007.

Selected awards:

Council of Great City Schools, Bill Wise Award in Urban Education, 2003.

Controversies Continued

Relations between Coleman and the Detroit school board went downhill from there and, although he had defenders who succeeded in placing his name of a list of candidates to be interviewed for the superintendency, he was ousted in a board vote on March 8, 2007—three months before the end of his contract, although he continued to receive his $225,000-a-year salary. The reasons remain under dispute. Board member Marie Thornton blamed communication problems. "I would write memos, and he would ignore a majority of them," she told Lori Higgins of the Free Press. "He only felt comfortable talking to only two or three board members and sharing information with them."

But Coleman and his backers suggested another explanation: he had been punished for being a whistle-blower. He had asked the FBI to investigate wire transfers that originated in the district's Office of Risk Management, and "[i]t is his belief that he was punished for doing that and it was improper," his attorney Bertram Marks told Lori Higgins. More generally, Coleman argued he had not been given sufficient time to deal with the district's deeply entrenched problems. Coleman filed a lawsuit against the district in May 2007.

Coleman moved on in April 2007 to work as a consultant for the Kansas City School District. He impressed administrators there, but trouble came in in June 2007 when Coleman pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Dallas for his role in the Dallas School District contract scandal during his time as the district's deputy superintendent of finance. His arraignment shocked Kansas City School District administrators. "He's done really fine work here," Kansas City School District Board Memger Joel Pelofsky told Joe Robertson of the Kansas City Star. "He has the kind of personality and diligence that this district needs. I found his insights and depth of knowledge very helpful." Though Coleman's attorney Bertram Marks told Robertson that he expected Coleman to be "fully exonerated," Coleman's future remained unclear.

Sources

Periodicals

Detroit Free Press, August 31, 2006; October 10, 2006; December 9, 2006; December 15, 2006; January 6, 2007; February 28, 2007, p. A7; May 3, 2007; May 4, 2007; June 1, 2007.

Michigan Chronicle, October 5-11, 2005, p. A6; February 15-21, 2006, p. A6; February 22-28, 2006, p. A3; March 8-14, 2006, p. D3; January 3-9, 2007, p. A1; February 14-20, 2007, p. A1.

On-line

"Biographical Sketch for William F. Coleman III," Detroit Rotary Clubs, www.detroitrotary.org/weeklyerotoscope/nov27/Coleman%20Bio.doc (June 18, 2007).

"Interview with Detroit Public Schools CEO William F. Coleman III," WDET 101.9FM,www.wdetfm.org/article.php?id=323 (June 18, 2007).

"School Official Accused in Scam," Kansas City Star, www.kansascity.com/105/story/129631.htm (June 18, 2007).