FEATURE/Was the Fate of the New Palm Beach County School Superintendent Art Johnson Tied to the Stock Market?

Feature & Business Editors/Education & Government Writers

FEATURE...

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--April 9, 2001

Four years ago, no one would have predicated that the stock market today would be the rough and tumble world where stocks would drop and huge fortunes lost overnight. Then again, four years ago, Art Johnson, an award-winning educator and principal in a Boca Raton, Florida High School who was banished from his chosen profession through a muckraking media controversy would beat the odds, make a storybook comeback and eventually become the number one educator in Palm Beach county as the Superintendent of the Palm Beach County School Board.

These two worlds connect in a manner that can only be described as fate and destiny. No one would have guessed that a telephone call between a nearly distraught school principal and the founder of a fledgling financial services company at the time would result in a union that four years later culminates in success and fortune for both characters in this real life drama.

The Brokerage Company: Before the stock market's steep decline that began last April, Sterling Financial Investment Group's chief market strategist forecasted that trend on national television. More recently, the company's performance on 33 buy and sell stock recommendations for companies covered by Sterling Research for the year 2000 was a staggering 93.8%.

The Principal: On the political front, when a Palm Beach County school principal was fired by then Superintendent Joan Kowal, Sterling Financial's founder, Chairman and CEO, Charles Patrick Garcia, whose firm takes pride in finding undervalued companies, took stock in a badly maligned and then unemployed former school principal, Art Johnson. Today, nearly four years after Johnson began the battle to restore his good name and an odyssey to recapture his career in education, Art Johnson is not only back in the teaching business, but as if in a twist from a Hollywood movie, Johnson has become the Superintendent of the Palm Beach County School System.

The Payoff, Victory: On Tuesday, March 28, 2001, the enthusiasm was euphoric and victory glorious for Johnson who was officially sworn in to become the leader of a school district comprising 18,000 employees, 9,000 teachers, 154,000 students, 143 schools and a $1.9 billion dollar operating budget. "This was unequivocally one of the greatest days of my life," says Johnson while surrounded by the media and the many supporters and loyalists Johnson has attracted during his more than 35 years as an educator.

The Connection: One of Johnson's earliest supporters was Charles Patrick Garcia, the founder of a then fledgling financial services company based in Boca Raton, Sterling Financial Investment Group. "Charlie's unwavering commitment to my cause is the reason I have obtained this position," says Johnson. Garcia, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, a collegiate boxer, a leader, a former White House Fellow and a renown Hispanic has fought numerous personal and professional battles to achieve his own success.

One Beats the Odds: Garcia and his firm have beat the odds by operating what has become one of the most dynamic financial services companies in the country today. Sterling Financial was named as the Fastest Growing Privately Held Firm in the State of Florida. Garcia, who is Panamanian-American, was named by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States." In recognition of this achievement Garcia was recently honored with a private reception with Panamanian President, Mireya Moscoso; Garcia was also awarded the Key to the City of Panama. In February, Garcia was featured on Univision Television Networks on a series that profiles Hispanics that have achieved extraordinary success and who serve as role models for the Hispanic community at large.

The Other Beats the Odds: According to Garcia, he sees an extraordinary parallel between Art Johnson's story and the story portrayed in this year's multi-Oscar award-winning film, "Gladiator." Garcia observes that Crowe's character's rightful place to lead the Roman Empire was cut short through Machiavellian machinations perpetrated through political betrayal of close professional associates, so too was Art Johnson's educational career abruptly terminated. According to Garcia, "Dr. Johnson was fired from his position after being falsely accused and maliciously defamed by then Superintendent Joan Kowal who manipulated the media against him to advance her own political agenda."

The Drama: It was a viscous cycle that percolated during nearly a two-year period and played out in the South Florida media that eventually destroyed Johnson's life at the time. His good name was tarnished, his career ruined, Johnson was barred from his chosen profession. However, like Crowe, with his keen spirit, true grit and indefatigable persistence, Johnson managed to tough it out while at the bottom of the barrel, never once treading in the mud where his accusers had so effectively romped. "Art took the high road," says Garcia, reflecting on the darkest of Johnson's days in educational-exile, "and to me, this is the greatest example of Art's character and integrity, the desire to win and win on one's own merits, without tearing others down, a great lesson in life and one which his students and colleagues can certainly learn from."

The High Road: "I never attacked anyone personally or politically," says Johnson, "I kept it strictly business and relied on my track record, experience and success as an educator...because to me it's about our kids, the school system and the quality of education they receive, period," says Johnson. In an eerily prescient decision, ten years ago Art Johnson was the first educator in the country to install a metal detector in a school. "I just did it," says Johnson, "because it felt like the right thing to do...ask the teachers, parents and students at Columbine and all the other schools that are having gun problems if they wish they had a metal detector in their school." Johnson has offered such revolutionary programs to his students as tattoo removal, a first step in helping to reduce gang membership. There are numerous other innovative programs Johnson introduced into his school that account for Spanish River High School in Boca Raton earning thirty academic and athletic state championships.

The Saga: A member of the Boca Raton Education Advisory Board, infuriated at the incredulous Johnson affair, familiar with Garcia's background and credentials pleaded with Garcia to meet with Johnson. Sensing the urgency of the matter, Garcia terminated a family vacation, agreeing to meet Johnson back in Florida. After Garcia's scrutiny of Dr. Johnson and the facts of the case, Garcia recognized the exceptional characteristics of this committed, award-winning principal who Garcia believed clearly was maligned and subsequently unfairly fired from his job. To support Dr. Johnson, Garcia had to fight a battle of his own. Garcia's company was barely three months old, with one office and three employees, and he took a lot of flack from the company's shareholders for devoting so much time on a pro-bono basis to Johnson. Despite this early criticism, Garcia became a confidant to Johnson, offering personal, financial and legal support while cajoling and imploring the then unemployed educator to not give up the fight, but to press on and continue the battle.

The Background: Garcia's years in the mid-80s as a specialist in psychological warfare in worn-torn Central America monitoring counter insurgent movements, and reporting to the highest level of government including the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General John Galvin who later became the NATO Supreme Allied Commander, were useful. "I was fortunate to have Charlie on my team," says Johnson, "Charlie is a brilliant strategist, he has a mind like a steel trap, but most important he has a heart of gold," says Johnson. Johnson points out that "Charlie was the cornerstone of my legal, political, and media strategy." Garcia is a graduate of Columbia Law School and was the first in his class to be published in the Law Review. In a landmark Fourth Amendment case, the Florida Supreme Court cited Garcia's scholarly legal insights. Tactically, Johnson was in good hands and together they went on the offensive.

The Alliance: Garcia and Johnson launched a multi-faceted legal campaign, the lynchpin of which was the filing of the first-ever criminal class action lawsuit in the State of Florida, joined by more than 2000 petitioners, against then Palm Beach County School Superintendent, Joan Kowal. The tactics paid off, as Johnson received a groundswell of public and professional support, much to the surprise of Kowal. The legal battle would require money and Garcia chaired Johnson's legal defense fund. They also produced a twelve-minute video tape that countered many of the carefully crafted and selectively edited images of a video tape that Superintendent Kowal produced on her own behalf to defame Johnson. Kowal circulated her video to members of the Palm Beach County School Board and the media in an effort to negatively portray Johnson's judgement and calling into question his ability to lead.

The Movies: As if paralleling the dramatic plot points of "Gladiator," Russell Crowe's character eventually wins the hearts and minds of the citizens of Rome as well as those of his compatriots. In Palm Beach County, Art Johnson made his comeback too. Garcia's urging, along with that of a number of close friends, family and associates compelled Johnson to run for a position as one of the seven members of the Palm Beach County School Board. If he won a seat on the school board, Johnson would become Kowal's boss. Ecstatic at the prospect Garcia instantly volunteered to become his campaign manager in this election effort.

The Second Act: Fast-forwarding to the end of both the Johnson and the "Gladiator" story, Russell Crowe doesn't live to savor the glory of victory, but in South Florida, Art Johnson does. In a very close race he won the election and a seat on the Palm Beach County School Board. He was back in the system, not yet on the front line but victorious in the battle to reclaim his good name. To Johnson, equally as important, he won the hearts and minds of students he knew, the teachers he worked with and administrators he supervised.

The Third Act: In a plot directly from a movie script, almost one year after Johnson's election, he obtained the support necessary to have his antagonist fired, the person who had fired him four years earlier. When Kowal departed, the position was filled with an interim Superintendent, who announced in January 2001 a desire to leave the post early opening an opportunity for Johnson to seek the position he had aspired to for nearly a decade. Again demonstrating his progressive approach to a conservative system, Johnson agreed to take the post under terms that Kowal refused to even consider -- a compensation package based solely on performance. "This revolutionary pay-for-performance contract, the first of its kind in the nation, is classic Art Johnson," says Garcia, explaining that "Art is a true leader who would never conceive of asking his subordinates to do something that he wasn't willing to do first."

The Ending: Dr. Johnson's rise to the position of Superintendent is layered with twists and turns that would rival the political underpinnings of any Hollywood thriller. In this story, the protagonist Johnson overcomes all the obstacles and adversity, perseveres and ultimately gets the job, savors victory and lives happily ever after. In the movies, the good guys always win, and in real life they sometimes do too, in this case the storybook ending is true, just ask Art Johnson and he'll tell you so.