All Hail Queen Hosanna -- The Next Head of Chicago Public Schools?

For several months now, there have been whispers about whether Hosanna Mahaley Johnson, the current chief of staff at the Board of Education and former Daley point person on education issues, might be the next head of the Chicago Public Schools.

Today's puff piece about her -- there's just no other way to describe it -- will only fuel that speculation to even greater heights, even though taking over the job is never mentioned in the piece (Ex-teacher gets schools on track Sun-Times)...

[Click below to read the full post]

...To be sure, this is only the latest of the profiles that have been published about Board figures on the rise. Remember the profile of Greg Richmond that came out just as Ren10 was launched (Gutsy leader in the 'hot seat' with schools plan)?

My take is that it's not going to happen --not anytime soon, at least. Rumored successors for the current CPS head, Arne Duncan, have come and gone several times since 2001 among Board-watchers. (Vitale, Bertani, etc.) There's no immediate or apparent threat to Duncan's reign, despite the oft-repeated but ill-articulated concern that he isn't a strong enough leader. As Ren-10 point person, Mahaley-Johnson is gong to have some tough moments ahead of her. And the Mayor is less likely than ever to make changes at the Board of Education given all the turnover in other departments and the upcoming election.

One thing is clear: we're gonna need a better picture than this one (from Catalyst) if she's going to be the new "it" girl. Anyone got one?