Three-and-a-half years after Banneker opened amid criticisms that it was taking away district money and setting a negative precedent as a minority enclave, it has escaped the media spotlight.

Quietly, the school--which focuses on math and science--has created what teachers and students call the "Banneker community."

Debate at the State House is brewing over how many charter schools Massachusetts should have--currently, there are 34. For its advocates, Banneker--and other charter schools--exemplifies how schools can escape bureaucracy and foster solutions to students' specific needs.

Big Man on Campus

Birkett describes his post as similar to a paramedic's: He doesn't think of students, he thinks of lives.

And while any head of a school values their students, Birkett puts in the time to prove it. He works 70 hours a week, arriving at 7 each morning and leaving after everyone is gone.

Even the school security guard, Glenn S. Harris, says Birkett works like a man possessed.

Because of the structure of the charter school, Birkett has reason to put in long hours. He hires and fires teachers directly, manages a $3.8 million budget and holds weekly full- staff meetings. He communicates with the Board of Trustees, the school's governing overseers.