By Ann McGough

In June 2003, Edward J. Doherty will step down as president of the Boston Teacher's Union, a post he has held for 20 years. Before he was President, Doherty spent four years as the high school field representative and four years as vice-president of the Boston Teacher's Union. Prior to working in the BTU office, Ed Doherty was an English teacher at Boston Technical High School (now the John D. O'Bryant) for eight years.

Doherty was born and raised in Charlestown and the family moved to larger quarters in West Roxbury when he was five years old. Doherty still resides in West Roxbury. He and his wife Beatrice have two grown daughters, Margaret and Allison, and a granddaughter, Veronica.

Doherty believes in public education, not just in theory, but also in practice. He attended the Patrick F. Lynden School in West Roxbury and then graduated from Boston Latin School in 1963. He received his Baccalaureate degree from Boston College in 1967. Doherty also earned an M.Ed from Boston State College, a Master of Arts in English from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a Doctorate from the Harvard School of Education. Doherty's two daughters were BPS educated from kindergarten through high school, and now his granddaughter is a student at the Mary Curley School in Jamaica Plain.

Mr. Doherty shares that he has seen many changes in his 28 year tenure with the Boston Teacher's Union.

"Busing was a difficult and chaotic period," Doherty says. "Both of my girls were bussed in elementary school. Some things have quieted down. The demographics of the school system have changed a great deal. We are now servicing a much higher population of poor children than we were when I started. The curriculum has changed and there is now a much stronger emphasis on computers and technology."

When asked about the recent "return" to neighborhood schools, like the Richard J. Murphy, that were underutilized by the immediate community in years past, Doherty says, "The elementary schools in Boston are very good. We do have some work to do at the secondary level to deal more effectively with discipline. I certainly hope that people will continue to take a good hard look at Boston's elementary schools.

"My children received a wonderful education and my granddaughter is receiving a great education right now. Too many people turned their backs on the Boston Public Schools. Things seem to be moving in the direction of allowing kids to go to school closer to home. Now people are taking another look at the BPS."

Does Doherty think this means the end of "busing" as Boston has known it since 1974?

"The Superintendent (Payzant) and the Mayor (Menino) are trying to decrease the transportation budget. It does not make sense to spend so much money on transportation. The issue is no longer about desegregation. Eighty percent of the school system is minority. There need to be some good fiscal reasons to continue busing to satisfy those parents who want to send their kids to school within walking distance."

Other changes that Doherty has witnessed are the MCAS, which he says have thrown a "wrinkle" in the system; the transformation of the elementary schools whereby students are no longer with one teacher all day long; and significant changes in the high school curriculum with a movement toward smaller "schools within schools".

Doherty would like to see more early learning centers across the city.

"They are much needed in an urban school system," Doherty says. "We need to develop readiness for school. Too many kids come to first grade without the necessary skills, like knowing their colors and shapes. Nothing is more important than good solid early childhood education and after-school programs."

Reflecting upon his tenure as president, Doherty says that a better collaborative effort with city organizations has " benefited both the school system and the teacher's union."

"We have had some good contracts," Doherty says. "We have brought in some education reform provisions that have helped the education system and the members' pocketbooks. In general, the union has transformed from what was an industrial model union in the late 1970's to a professional union where we take an interest in the quality of the schools. We have built bridges with businesses and community organizations."

Eighteen year Boston Teacher's Union member Eileen Bayer, a teacher at the Patrick O'Hearn School on Dorchester Avenue and a Dorchester resident, says Doherty has done "a great job."

"I have always seen Ed Doherty as an educator first and a union person second. He has always been very progressive as far as education reform," Bayer says.

Pat Dennehy of Helena Road is a school nurse who says that she and all her fellow school nurses owe a debt of gratitude to Ed Doherty.

"Back in the early 1990's we were all fired," Dennehy recalls. "The Boston School Department wanted to privatize the school nurses. If it was not for Ed Doherty and the Boston Teachers Union, we would not have our jobs today. The BTU and its attorneys argued that the city could not fire us and hire someone else under the same job description. Ed Doherty has always been supportive of the school nurses, one hundred percent."

Life after June 4, 2003 is not yet set in stone for Doherty. "I may go to work for the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, or I may be back teaching. I always liked the classroom, but I have really enjoyed the excitement of being full-time with the union. Twenty years is enough. I do not believe in term limits, but people know when it is time for a change. That time has come for me."