Former Seattle Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson Reported Dead At 55

A Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman says former Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson died Wednesday at age 55.

Teresa Wippel says a district attorney got word of Goodloe-Johnson's death late Wednesday afternoon from an insurance company representative who had been working with Goodloe-Johnson's husband. Wippel said district employees had heard Goodloe-Johnson had been ill. Staff at WCSC-TV in Charleston, South Carolina, spoke to family members who said Goodloe-Johnson had been sick for about a year.

Goodloe-Johnson was fired from Seattle Public Schools last year after a financial scandal.

In a statement issued this evening, the district credited Goodloe-Johnson’s four years of leadership with continuing student academic achievement. “We are grateful for her years of service to Seattle Public Schools and her efforts during her four-year tenure here to put our students on the path to academic success,” the statement read.

Goodloe-Johnson went on to become Deputy Chancellor of Instructional Support and Educational Accountability at Michigan Education Achievement System, a new statewide school system designed to let the state take over what it considers its lowest-performing public schools.

The district says Goodloe-Johnson is survived by her husband Bruce and young daughter Maya.