Kathleen Sullivan Alioto (born June 20, 1944) is an American educator and politician who served on the Boston School Committee as a member (1974–79) and its president (1977). She played a role in the
desegregation of the Boston public schools.
Early life and education
Sullivan Alioto is the daughter of
Billy Sullivan, founder and long-time owner of the
New England Patriots.
She grew up outside Boston.
She graduated from
Manhattanville College
Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart ...
.
She has a doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Boston School Committee
Sullivan Alioto taught school for six years before being elected to the School Committee, first as a teacher of disabled children in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
and Bedford-Stuyvesant, then at the John Marshall School in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood,
where she taught children with behavioral issues.
While serving on the School Committee, Sullivan Alioto earned her doctorate at Harvard.
She is credited with having been a dedicated member of the School Committee (an elected, unpaid job,) Sullivan Alioto worked full-time to improve the quality of the school.
Sullivan Alioto was regarded as the "most liberal" of the five members of the Boston School Committee when, in December 1974, it voted 3-2 to refuse to comply with the order of Federal District Judge
Wendell Arthur Garrity Jr. to desegregate the Boston Public Schools.
At the height of the School Committee debates over whether to comply with the Federal Court order to desegregate the Boston Public Schools, in 1974 and 1975, as described in ''
Newsday'' by reporter John Treen, "the argument is between
Kerrigan and Sullivan. Sullivan is the most liberal of the Committee, Kerrigan the most vocally conservative. Kerrigan accuses Sullivan of questioning an appointment... Sullivan explodes."
The
University of Massachusetts, Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massac ...
, in a report as part of its ''Collaborative History of Segregation in Boston'', described Sullivan Alioto as "an outsider" who "entered the Boston School Committee in 1974 and completely challenged the status quo, altering the committee for the better. ... By taking a look at Kathleen Sullivan’s role in the move to desegregate Boston Public Schools, we gain an often overlooked narrative because of how she did not quite fit in with her contemporaries at the time."
Sullivan Alioto was succeeded on the school committee by her sister, Jean Sullivan McKeigue.
Later career
She was a Democratic Party
primary election candidate for the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
in
Massachusetts in 1978, finishing third.
Sullivan Alioto served as executive director of the Foundation of the
City College of San Francisco
City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franci ...
.
In 2016, Sullivan Alioto was a member of an advisory panel that recommended that the federal Department of Education sever ties with the
Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is a non-profit education corporation that was recognized until 2021 by the United States Department of Education as an independent and autonomous national accrediting body.
...
because the group was accrediting predatory and fraudulent for-profit colleges.
Personal life
From 1974 to 1976, Sullivan Alioto dated the then-closeted
Barney Frank
Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a former American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democrat, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committ ...
. In April 1976, Sullivan Alioto's father suggested that, while she was attending a convention in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, she have lunch with former
San Francisco Mayor
The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by ...
Joseph Alioto
Joseph Lawrence Alioto (February 12, 1916 – January 29, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 36th mayor of San Francisco, California, from 1968 to 1976.
Biography
Alioto was born in San Francisco in 1916. His father, Giuseppe ...
. She and Alioto married in 1978 and remained together until his death in 1998.
Because Alioto was divorced, the wedding was performed by
excommunicate
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the Koinonia, communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The ...
d
Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
and activist
Joseph O'Rourke.
Sullivan Alioto has two children, Patrick Joseph Sullivan Alioto and Domenica Alioto.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan Alioto, Kathleen
Politicians from Boston
Politicians from San Francisco
Manhattanville College alumni
Massachusetts Democrats
Boston School Committee members
Living people
People from Washington, D.C.
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
1944 births