Gregory Thornton, who spent 4 years as superintendent of Milwaukee Public Colleges, died Friday, the varsity district confirmed.
Thornton was 69 years previous, only a few weeks shy of his birthday on Jan. 12.
Thornton labored in Milwaukee from 2010 to 2014, resigning the place to work as CEO of Baltimore Metropolis Colleges. Earlier than his position in Wisconsin, he labored in Okay-12 management for different faculty programs in Maryland and Philadelphia.
“He got here in with contemporary concepts. He got here in with an openness and willingness to actually broaden partnerships. I feel it was refreshing to folks,” Denise Callaway, who labored for Thornton as a director of partnerships, and later communications and outreach, informed the Journal Sentinel.
“He simply had an unimaginable potential to speak to folks, to get folks to grasp the significance of schooling and the work that he was doing in Milwaukee Public Colleges, and to work with him,” she mentioned, together with the enterprise and philanthropic group.
Callaway credited Thornton with reestablishing a centralized curriculum within the faculty system, so college students who moved between colleges may proceed studying the identical materials. He labored inside the finances to supply arts academics and partnerships, she mentioned. Workers appreciated that he welcomed good concepts for brand spanking new initiatives and improvements, even when they weren’t his personal.
Thornton understood the “robust” job of superintendent and the duty that comes with it, Callaway mentioned, however he additionally had a “nice humorousness. He beloved to giggle; he would typically giggle at his personal expense.”
Former Milwaukee Public College superintendent Gregory Thornton talks with an attendant earlier than a speech of former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in 2014 on the Journey Home, a south-side social service company linked to Longfellow College within the Clarke Sq. neighborhood.
Rhemar Pouncey was a buddy of Thornton, naming him the godfather of her son Syheem, now 21.
Pouncey described Thornton as a “true advocate for schooling on each degree,” and mentioned he helped her to grasp the sophisticated strategy of individualized education schemes for particular schooling providers.
“As a guardian of a particular wants son I used to be not educated about my rights as a guardian nor my son’s rights as a scholar. Dr. Thornton took the day out to clarify to me about an IEP and how one can turn into the perfect advocate for my son I may very well be,” she mentioned.
In a press release, MPS media relations supervisor Stephen Davis mentioned, “Milwaukee Public Colleges sends its condolences to his household and acknowledges Dr. Thornton’s service to the district.”
The household has not but introduced funeral preparations. This story can be up to date as extra info turns into accessible.
Contact Hope Karnopp at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on X at @hopekarnopp.
Cleo Krejci covers schooling and workforce growth as a Report For America corps member based mostly on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com or comply with her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For extra details about Report for America, go to jsonline.com/rfa.
This text initially appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Milwaukee colleges superintendent Gregory Thornton dies at 69