Ambitious designs from humble beginnings.

For much of his early life, Manny Rivera spent his nights on the floor of a dilapidated, $18-a-month apartment in a New London, Conn., tenement that city officials condemned soon after he, his three older sisters and mother moved out.

It was the most lowly and humbling of beginnings for the Rivera family, recent immigrants from Puerto Rico at the midpoint of the 20th century. But for youngest offspring Manny, who was born in the United States, the experience became a launching point for a deep-rooted commitment to public service.

Today, in a far-reaching mission to better the lives of children from even more desperate upbringings, Rivera is attempting an ambitious cultural redesign on the streets of Rochester, N.Y., where he is the widely supported superintendent of the 33,400-student school system. (In February, Rivera was named 2006 National Superintendent of the Year.)

It's a unique opportunity in many respects. Rochester is where Rivera's career began as an elementary school teacher in 1975, a year after graduating from Brandeis University and spurning a full scholarship to attend Boston College's law school. It's also the school district where he was superintendent from 1991 to 1994, a first term of sorts that left most parties underwhelmed by his leadership skills and districtwide gains.

Rivera left school administration to join the fledgling Edison Schools, where as executive vice president he was responsible for starting more than a dozen sites, creating a professional development program and overseeing finances at the company's schools. Over eight years, the private-sector experience provided a rare corporate-style education for a K-12 leader.

"I gained a much greater appreciation for data and data analysis of financial and student achievement indicators," Rivera says. "When you make a decision, it's so important to be precise and to understand the trends and the costs to get the best value for the investments you make."

When Rochester needed a caretaker for its interim superintendency in 2002, the board lobbied Rivera hard to take the one-year appointment.

Within four months, newly emboldened by his ventures as an entrepreneur, the superintendent was asking to eliminate middle schools from the Rochester landscape, moving into a K-6, 7-12 configuration. "Things got cooking right away," he says. "I sensed a huge opportunity."

The board signed him as permanent superintendent on April 1, 2003. Several board members say they've been won over by his willingness to field constructive criticism, can-do spirit and powerful connections with everyone from Rochester's mayor to the Gates Foundation (which invested $5 million for secondary school redesign).

"I'm sure he wears out his staff," says school board member Shirley Thompson. "But he also infuses them with an optimism that is absolutely necessary in our line of work."

In the four years since resuming the district's top post, Rivera has deftly maneuvered through a $61 million budget deficit and the closing of three schools. His relationship with the long-time president of the teachers union, Adam Urbanski, stands as a model of labor-management collegiality. Says Urbanski: "Manny is very real. There's nothing contrived about him. What he does in his public life is what he holds true in his private life."

That relationship may hold the key to the superintendent's most ambitious project, the Rochester Children's Zone. Modelled after the Harlem Children's Zone fashioned by his lifetime friend Geoffrey Canada, the project has set up the city's northeast quadrant, where crime and poverty are rampant, for an integrated fusion of public services--health, welfare, public safety, housing, employment and social services. The educational gains will begin when some of the city's best teachers waive their union protections to transfer into the zone's seven needy schools.

"I wanted to create a community climate that sees education as everybody's job, a collective responsibility," Rivera says.

BIO STATS: MANNY RIVERA

Currently: superintendent, Rochester, N.Y. Previously: executive vice president, Edison Schools, New York, N.Y.

Age: 53

Greatest influence on career: The knowledge about the teaching of reading, inspiration and sense of justice instilled by one of my favorite professors, Jeanne Chall, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her message about the connection of literacy and equity for all still rings loud and clear.

Books at bedside: Brining Out the Best in People by Aubrey C. Daniels; Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol; and The Leadership Bible

Best professional day: My first day as a 5th-grade elementary school teacher in September 1975. I became responsible for the education of 33 students and by the end of the day, I realized how fortunate I was in this new career in which I would serve "my children" and nurture their development.

Biggest blooper: During my first year as a superintendent, I recommended reducing $10 million by eliminating elementary school librarians. What was I thinking? I came to my senses and restored these positions the following year. I vowed never again to advance such a budget reduction.

Key reason I'm an AASA member: To maintain connections with my colleagues nationwide. In addition, whenever I need it, I can gain access to reliable and thorough information on key issues that we must address. AASA very effectively provides the means for doing so.

Jay Goldman is editor of The School Administrator. E-mail: [e-mail]