| Mark Roosevelt | |
|---|---|
Roosevelt in 2006 |
|
| Residence | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools (for 5 years) Massachusetts legislator |
Mark Roosevelt (born 1955) has been since January 2011 the President of Antioch College.[1] He was previously the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the second largest school district in Pennsylvania, until December 31, 2010.[2]. He is also a former state legislator of Massachusetts.
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Roosevelt grew up in Washington, D.C., with two brothers and a sister where he attended the selective St. Albans School.
Roosevelt is the great-grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the son of Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. He was related to his 1994 Massachusetts gubernatorial opponent William Weld through Weld's wife at that time, Susan Roosevelt Weld.[3]
He earned his B.A. degree in history from Harvard University as well as a law degree from Harvard Law School.
In 1977, he served as campaign manager for the late John O'Bryant, the first black man elected to Boston's school board.[3]
Roosevelt served in the Massachusetts General Court from 1986 to 1994. As a Massachusetts state representative, Roosevelt chaired the Education Committee, "where he guided passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993. The law provided fairer funding of school districts and raised standards with statewide tests that students must pass to graduate."[3] He is credited, along with Tom Birmingham, with passage of a sweeping education reform law.[4] Additionally, he was the lead sponsor of the Gay Rights Bill (which passed) and the Recycling Initiative Bill (which did not). He has not held elective office since 1994.
Roosevelt was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in 1994. The incumbent Republican governor William Weld defeated him in a landslide, 71%–28%—the most lopsided margin for a gubernatorial race in Massachusetts history. Roosevelt's lieutenant gubernatorial nominee was Bob Massie.
During the interim, he served as CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, Managing Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, and as a Professor of Politics and head of the Gordon Public Policy Center at Brandeis University.
Roosevelt was appointed on August 3, 2005, to the position of Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent. He accepted this post under the terms of a unique performance-based "Accountability Contract."[5] While in Pittsburgh, he actively proposed massive reforms for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, intended to ease the district's financial problems and improve academic standards. The plan included the closing of smaller schools, opening of Accelerated Learning Academies with a vigorous academic curriculum and longer school hours, the moving of several programs, and increase in the number of Childhood Education Programs, K–8 schools and 6–12 schools.[6]
Roosevelt was also adjunct faculty at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College.[7]
In October 2010 he became a finalist for the position of President of Antioch College.[8] On October 6, 2010, he held a press conference to announce his resignation as Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools effective December 31, 2010. It was reported that he was the only finalist for the Presidency of Antioch College in Ohio.[9] The vote for him to take the Antioch job made it official. [1]
Roosevelt met his current wife Dorothy through his niece, who took a yoga class with her. A former educational researcher at Harvard, his wife teaches yoga out of their home. They married in January 2005 [3] and have a daughter.
Roosevelt has a son, Matthew Roosevelt, adopted from Korea during a previous marriage.[3]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Silber |
Massachusetts Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate 1994 (lost) |
Succeeded by Scott Harshbarger |