Now the clean up can begin. Dr. Alonso misunderstood the deep ramifications of Morris' appointment and, has, as he admitted, eroded some of the hard-built good trust he has built within the greater school community. Hopefully he can regain that trust and continue moving the system forward.

Change needs to happen for the sake of the students of Baltimore City and the change process is often uncomfortable and bumpy. Hopefully this very public mistake will only strengthen the resolve of both Dr. Alonso and the Board -- which approved this appointment, even though they have skirted much of the blame -- to ensure that all decisions are about the students and not about any of the usual politicking that has plagued City Schools to different extents since Schaefer was mayor.

The horse is dead - stop beating it - nothing is going to change and it will be business as normal. I hate to say it but the CEO and The Board are still immune from sanction and reality.

@AFT - What reality are you living in? By sanction, do you mean monetary fine, prison term, expulsion? Backtracking on an appointment and issuing a public statement of apology seem like quite a public-driven saction for a school superintendent. Nothing will change? Um, it already did. No deputy superintendent appointed, agreement to change policy for reviewing candidates. Look, I agree with a lot of the posts from other stories, but, seriously, I don't have any clue what you're referencing.

Duhhhhhhh!!!

I am hearing now Morris didn't even graduate from the University of Maryland (2 credits shy). What a mess....Dr. Alonso, I know you are not going to change, but please pull the wool out of your eyes.

I just can't the spin from the 4th floor much longer.

Bill--I think "have no clue" says it all about many things that have happened this year.

Regardless, of the apology, Alonso now has an invented position to fill. 175k/year in order to prevent his reputation from being questioned any further.

Regardless, of the apology, Alonso now has an invented position to fill. 175k/year in order to prevent his reputation from being questioned any further.

If it's all about "outcomes for the kids", why is there no soap or toilet paper in the bathrooms, safe drinking water, class room supplies (not counting those supplied by the teacher) or enough textbooks for all the students to have their own copies?

Alonso is a law school graduate. You could have found all of those cases about Morris right on the judiciary casesearch. It takes 30 seconds and i'm astonished it isn't part of the "normal vetting process".

Scholastica:

There are two possible reasons for this. Both could be true:

1. City Schools are broke.

2. Your school's administration is incompetent.

Bill--Check out the "Second Opinion" blog. There's some good, informed discussion--I'd like like hear your take on the role of newspapers. A check on politicians/policymakers or a rubberstamp?

In being a stand up guy to his error in judgement, Dr. Alonso issued a public confession. Therefore, the focus is now rightly directed towards the School Board and it's CEO. From this point forward a clearly articulated plan should be issued that reassures the public and the school systems stakeholders that all will be done in the "light of day."

http://dralhathaway.blogspot.com/2009/06/talent-will-take-you-where-character.html

RA: "change process is often uncomfortable and bumpy"

Acck. I hate it when apologistas roll these tired stupid cliches off their tongues. In my life I have changed jobs, changed houses, changed clothes, changed hairdos, changed all kinds of things (not spouses ... yet), and change is in fact usually lots of fun IF you are changing because you want to and there is a good reason for it. The same thing every day is boring! The problem with self-styled education "reformers" is, has been, and always will be that they keep ramming stupid things down teacher's throats and then mouthing idiotic platitudes like "change is uncomfortable" when they (the teachers) gag on it.

AAA: Take your $175,000 (plus benefits) job and shove it.

Here's my honest thoughts about this whole issue... Clearly, Dr. Alonso made a huge mistake. Bad decision. Fine. But the aftermath and the viciousness of the mob mentality (justified or not) is chipping away at the opportunity for educational reform.

This could all blow over. Fine. Great. But, it seems like the intensity has been greater this round. We all know the saying that "change" or "reform" is hard because if it weren't, others would have done it before. It seems like here we have someone that has demonstrated a sincere desire to improve student achievement and improve public education. He's taken lumps for good decisions that were politically difficult, and he's gotten a ride on some controversial decisions because of his initial "celebrity" (first word that came to mind). At this point, though, it's clear that the honeymoon is over.

Now, the factions start lining up the rank-and-file and it's a slow chip away until the collective "we" either (1) force him out of Baltimore, (2) attack each new policy because of a knee-jerk reaction, (3) focus on the minor externalities to claim the failure of programs as a whole, or (4) let this slide and keep on this wave of reform. Of these four, it's pretty clear that this letter was intended to move most camps into option 4. The reality, though, is that I feel like I'm watching a perfect case study for why educational reform has been historically so difficult. We have a community gathered around 1 issue, the ball starts rolling, and *bam* one newspaper expose or bad decision shoots the ball in the opposite direction. What's the consequence? We go back where we started, looking for a new person to take on the cause. Wandering in the desert wondering why our schools are so unsuccessful.

It's too easy to look at the immediate at the cost of the long-term. Granted, some people have justified reasons to be angry - if displaced this year, I understand where that frustration comes from. On the other hand, lots of collateral stakeholders over these past few days have called for Dr. Alonso's ouster. What would that get us? More uncertainty at a time when federal money is flowing to the most stable, progressive, and innovative districts? Should we go back to Charlene Boston-Cooper? Bonnie Copeland? Were things moving under their tenure at a pace faster and more successfully than the past 2 years?

Sure this was a mistake. And, I'll grant that it was a big one. But in the global view of urban educational reform, I'm willing to accept that mistakes will happen. Lots of balls are in the air, and it's a system run by humans. Mistakes are inevitable. Recognizing them and learning from them seem to be traits in a leader that I'd want on my side.

Maybe, though, I'm just inexperienced.

"By sanction, do you mean monetary fine, prison term, expulsion?"

I would settle for an eternity of board meetings for the whole worthless bunch.

As a parent I was pleased that Dr. Alonso was able to take responsibility for his poor decision of hiring Mr. Morris. Mr. Alonso was able to say that he made a mistake and you know what everyone makes mistake including some students who are being permanently expelled from all Baltimore City Schools. Dr. Alonso should look at some of these students and give them a second chance in getting their right for an education.

And, now, we are given to understand that he is pushing for the appointment of three school board members that will support his initiatives. One wonders if he will have to apologize for any of these as well.

ATF: You bring up an important, if not age old question. Something we deal with all the time when someone does something wrong - is there anything that is "something" (as in "something was done) that isn't removal (as in suspension or being fired)? I believe, as Bill points out, that there was far more than "nothing" that happened - Mr. Morris is NOT serving in his new position, AAA has taken a public flogging (rightly so IMHO), the Board will realize that simply backing the CEO without real question is done at their risk including the risk of being replaced by an elected board. That seems like "something" and not "nothing". I do hear your point that it might not be enough, although I don't believe that this one incident (and that's all that can be dealt with since so much of what gets posted here is anecdotal and unless reported and investigated on isn't usable in this type of situation) is "fire him" worthy. When balanced with the good that AAA has done, this doesn't (for me) rise to that level.

Having said that, I am concerned about a few things after reading the letter here:

1) I wonder if Dr. Alonso gets what he is apologizing for. Based on what I read I would have to say no. It sounds like he's sorry he got caught but not sure what he did wrong. Here's how I see it (and if any board members are reading, please take note - this is, after all, your job):
* The creation of a high level position (and highly paid) with no real definition and without the benefit of public comment isn't the way that government works
* The fact that a new organization chart was introduced, presented, voted on and approved and this goes beyond that chart isn't cool
* The fact that there are already positions that are supposed to be doing the tasks that were put forth for the new position and ALL of those still remain means that either there's more work than can be done by the current staffing model OR the people currently in those positions aren't doing the work well enough.
* The creation of a position by a sitting board member (without the knowledge of the rest of the board) that they intend to fill lacks ethics
* The fact that, as many have pointed out, doing a simple Google search as well as 10 minutes more digging would have pulled out at least some of the issues surrounding Mr. Morris. Clearly this could have been dealt with in a better way had all of the facts been known.
* The fact that no search was done at all.

All of these problems seem easy to fix and it would serve the board well (and Dr. Alonso) to put forth a plan to avoid these types of mis-steps in the future. This is why I question the apology. If I do something really wrong I try and offer new ways of acting to assure that the behavior isn't repeated. This is what an apology is - not a set of words, but a promise that the behavior will change. If I smack you in the face, apologize and then do it again, that apology is meaningless, no?

Bill - don't let the personal attracts bring you down. This should be a forum for ideas and it saddens me that some want to make it so personal. Even people who disagree with me have the right (and responsibility) to offer their words. Occasionally they change my mind. More often they make me reflect on my own positions. That's what it's all about.

I'm glad to see that Dr. Alonso made an apology and hope this settles the matter of this appointment. As a city school graduate who is looking at the evolution of the city schools from the outside, I can tell you that there has not been another superintendent, CEO or whatever, that has shown this much dedication to the improvement of the systemor a willingness to eschew the "politics as usual" stance of city leadership in favor of advocating for our kids. There's still a long way to go & I hope this doesn't do anything to slow the progress.

Alonso's latest statement is mostly a cut-and-paste job from his other statements (many of which have nothing at all to do with the Morris incident). How times does Alonso have to use the word "kids" before we realize he is trying to distract us from what he is really doing--or not doing.

High attendance is nothing to be proud of if street violence has simply been moved into the schools. Police officers (or the ones I know) can't stand their time in the schools right now because Alonso won't allow them to remove violent and disruptive students from the buildings unless they have a lethal weapon. This is all for the sake of high attendance and ultimately Alonso's public image.

Bill,

After a decade of living in this city, I have seen this all before and we are now just repeating the process with new players. Forgive me if I don't share your rose colored view of the world. The apology means nothing if the board is not going to sanction the CEO and since the CEO runs the board that is not going to happen and no one on the board has been asked to step down and the board has not explained how this happened. So a pithy email a few moments of mea culpa on TV and we are off to the next thing. Alonso stays in his job, no roll back on his power, the board stays intact with no explanation. So nothing has changed.

@ post #5
Shouldn't a "vetern teacher" be able to spell "veteran"?

It is important to remember long term goals and history. After the city's 1996 H.S. graduation rate hit a miserable low of 42%, Delegate Pete Rawlings led an effort to create a new board of school commissioners and re-build the system. Then-mayor Curt Schmoke took a lot of heat for agreeing to the new structure. Dr. Tyson Tildon was among those who worked very hard to improve the system. The path since has rarely been smooth, but viewed as a long-term process, it has been straight.
The H.S. graduation rate has been climbing steadily. Last year, the BCPSS graduation rate stood at 62%. Not high enough yet, but there probably isn't another urban system in the country with close to 20 percentile gains over any current or previous similar period.
We honor those who have come before, especially the late Delegate Rawlings and Dr. Tildon.
But Alonso has a rightful place in that progress. He has worked hard, and is producing results.
Does he make some mistakes? Of course. Everyone does. Is he owning up to this one? Yes.
Time to get back to moving forward. The road before us is still long, but our goals are high and clear, and our history suggests we're on the right path.

Mr. Morris should be seen as a hero in this town. After having a business fail, he turned fought back and built two skyscrappers in this town that generate over 3million dollars a year in tax revenue for the city in property tax alone. He did all of this while under great financial stress because real estate development is a long process. he still found time to give 30 - 40 hrs a week to this city for free for six years. Business owners have these kinds of set backs but few could have stayed the course while giving back as mr morris has. The city, the school board, and the Sun Newspaper should be a shame. If you look up law suits filed over the last 10 yrs against the major white developers and businessmen in this city you would be blown away. Mr. Morris's efforts to rebuild his business will result in tens of millions in real tax dollars in baltimore city(fact). You would have been the only city employee that was actually paying for himself. how many 39 yr old black men bring in 3 to 5 million into the city bank account every year. this city is failing because it destroys its Black community every chance it gets.

Perhaps "Alonso" isn't capable of making any important decisions.

I have a suggestion: when a child is caught doing something wrong in school (cheating, skipping school), instead of suspension or expulsion, how about they just issue a statement of apology and we move on ?

I don't understand why anyone would accept a simple "sorry" letter here.

Alonso was caught giving his political pal and personal yes-man a $175,000 a year "job" - a position it seems that was just made up especially for Morris and only offered to Morris. Alonso ignored the fraud charges and various finacial misdealings of Morris and put him into a position to influence billions of dollars of the city school's budget... then only when the public and The Sun exposed the problems did he change his plan...

...and we accept "I'm sorry" as due punishment ?

@AFT is right, there will never be any real accountability there, though there should be.

What next, we allow bank robbers to return the money when caught then just let them go about their business ? Because that's what we just did here.

Post @ Andreas A. Alonso,

In my opinion both you and the majority of school board commissioners have successfully shown cause both by the recent Tuesday, June 9, 2009 board meeting wrongful Brian Morris PEP agenda action item which we in the city general public are diametrically opposed too.

In addition to the unreversablely damage outcomes and once again setting back any refreshing local school district image gains the fact is now we the school community members, parents, teachers and students have to face the resulting embracements, now received in the local and nationwide media. Major confidence having once gained is now lost by the city schools parents, city schools community members, citizens, teachers and student’s hopes have been dashed by your recently display for the poor example being still a status quo model of non-transparency, non-trustworthy school system operations executive and cohort with the governance board of school commissioners in not serving in the primary best interest in the behalf of Baltimore City Public School System children.

--- On Tue, 6/16/09, Andres A. Alonso, Ed.D wrote:

June 16, 2009
Dear City Schools Partners and Friends,
Last Tuesday, I sent you an email about several appointments that were aimed to solidify the school system’s senior leadership team as we prepare for the next school year. One of these, the appointment of Brian D. Morris as Deputy CEO for Operations, has been the topic of many questions over the past week. Saturday morning, the Board of School Commissioners and I accepted Mr. Morris’ withdrawal of his acceptance of the post.
Every decision I have made since I arrived in Baltimore City has been about the kids and has been informed by an incredible sense of urgency about moving the work forward. The offer of a position to Mr. Morris last week and the acceptance of his withdrawal Saturday were based on these same fundamental convictions. With a central office that is more than 30% smaller than two years ago, there is a critical need for a position to integrate operations in the central office -- human resources, technology, facilities, and finance—in order to support schools. To fill that need, we created a position as a deputy in charge of operations and offered Mr. Morris that position. Mr. Morris’ service on the Board for six years was exemplary: he had shown an extraordinary capacity to understand the workings of the organization, and, as a result of his leadership of several Board committees (including those dealing with finances, facilities and labor relations), he had extensive knowledge of a broad range of school operations. The offer was based on his capacity and knowledge, the urgent need to realign the way a drastically smaller central office does business, and his understanding of the vision of our school reform. I felt strongly that, given that depth of experience and the passion for students he had demonstrated in his leadership of the board, he would be the right person for the position. I own the decision.
I thought that there would be questions about the offer given the fact that the position had not been advertised and because of Mr. Morris’ previous position on the Board. I expected to address these questions by pointing out the urgency of the work, the need for the position and the fact that Mr. Morris could immediately begin to add value. In putting a leadership team in place for the reforms now under way, it has been my practice to move quickly once I have found the right person for the role. In retrospect, considering the nature of the allegations that surfaced, I made a real mistake. Outcomes matter above everything, and here the outcome has been to erode some of the public trust in our school system that is essential to our success on behalf of kids. I take responsibility for rebuilding that trust.
Allegations in news reports about Mr. Morris’ personal business life immediately made it clear to Mr. Morris that his appointment was distracting attention away from where it needs to be – on our kids and schools. He rescinded his acceptance. The allegations that surfaced concerned matters beyond the scope of our normal vetting process for senior positions, which are similar to those of other school systems: in the hiring process we check references, we ask about conflicts of interest, and, once an offer of employment is made, we require that new hires complete a criminal background check. All senior level employees also file an annual personal financial disclosure statement. None of these usual checks would have unearthed the allegations, and we are reviewing these processes to see how they may be strengthened. Meanwhile, the position will be posted and another candidate will be sought.
I regret deeply that the focus has shifted away from our kids and schools, even if for a few days. One of the critical components of the remarkable progress our children and schools have been making is that we have kept the conversation about what’s best for kids, not about the adults. The Board, I, elected officials, and --perhaps most importantly—you, our partners and friends, have played a critical role in keeping that steady focus.
That focus has resulted in exceptional results by our kids and schools, which I will be detailing in an end of year email later this week and of which I am very proud. Enrollment increased for the first time in four decades. Our 1st and 2nd graders passed the national average in reading and math. Our 3rd through 8th graders made record gains in achievement. And our high school students stepped up their performance dramatically on state assessments preparing for graduation.
I have been consistent in my leadership style. Let me say it simply: I cannot possibly slow down and cannot possibly make decisions other than for the good of kids. Given the ground that we still need to travel, the force of the reform now under way is and must remain undiminished. No superintendent is infallible. I will make other mistakes, but I learn from my mistakes.
The bottom line is outcomes for kids. As we prepare for the next school year which begins in just a few months, on August 31, the work needs our full concentration. Thank you for your ongoing dedication to our schools and kids.

Sincerely,

Andrés A. Alonso, Ed.D.
CEO, Baltimore City Public Schools

Post @ Rev. Dr. Al Hathaway
In first giving the entire honor to God. Perhaps you assume too much from only an issued confession there is nothing–stand –up about the CEO. “If you are confused don’t be.” Then next you make a hasty leap to move on with AAA to another body of nine (9) board commissioners the same equally yoked suspect characters to joining in focus in the spot light on these roaches to develop a corrective action “light of day” plan. Please!!!! Read between the lines.
I offer to you Case and Point: Why do you think recently long time BCPSS HR director Ms. Joann Koehler promptly retired from the school system? Also, why do you think recently the Chief of Staff Gen. Benny Williams left his post in less than one year of service to the BCPSS? And there are more examples unfulfilled and unresolved to be considered!!!!!
AAA did not wake up in one day and begain starting his one time egregious attitude and actions display with the current AAA Brian Morris decision model and the AAA executive cabinet level hiring practices and school system operations network model plan DO YOU??? If you are confused don’t be, there are more layers like an onion to be pealed away yet. LOL.

I agree fully with Dr. Al Hathaway but I'm adding a bit more - now the public can see what Baltimore City principals and administrators have seen since Dr. Alonso arrived. We just don't get the apology. We get ignored and dismissed.

Dave T:

You raise an interesting comparison and one I think is worth exploring a bit. One thing that is important is to have common language here so let me see if we can agree on some. Since the blog isn't a back and forth in real time I will check back to see what you (and others) think about what I have to say.

Specifically I am interested in the term you use "punishment". I think that there has in fact been quite a bit of punishment - maybe not enough in some people's opinion, but he has had a public flogging, has been embarrassed, has had to write a letter accepting blame and send it to the entire city, has been weakened politically, and has been publically (at least here and other places) been bashed. I think that this is in fact punishment. Again, maybe not enough, but at least something.

As for the apology, I think it doesn't go far enough as I have written before - he is sorry for trying to give the job to someone who was dedicated but not qualified but doesn't mention two other important things - #1 that the person who he gave the job to was in a supervisory position and had (at least the appearance of) undo influence on the creation of, description of and salary of the position; Mr. Morris seems to have met with Dr. Alonso to create a position outside the light of day and without the public eye being on them and without it seems the full boards approval. This isn't right and should not have happened. #2 (as others have mentioned) this position is outside of what the newly created organizational structure is - why is a new $175,000 position needed? Was this an oversight on Dr. Alonso's part? On the Boards part? On central offices part? Or is this position something that isn't really needed? These are things that Dr. Alonso and the Board should also apologize for and didn't. In fact when reading his letter, he seems still determined to have this new position and pay the 2nd highest salary in the system at a time when schools are crying out for more money.

But an apology isn't punishment, it is acceptance of what one has done. So I don't accept "I'm sorry" as punishment but rather ownership.

The next step after ownership and consequence (or punishment - whatever you want to call it) is reconciliation - this is making peace with the ones who have been wronged - I am not sure what he can do here, but it's worth exploring. And finally I think follow up is what's needed. For starters, followup might include (as others have said):

1) A new set of policies outlining relationships between the Board and the System
2) More oversight in the creation of, and staffing of new positions that are outside the scope of the current organizational chart with public hearings
3) A real vetting process for new hires above a specific level.
4) Public publishing of the numbers of people earning at specific levels (names aren't important, rather job titles/levels are).

To bring things back to where you started, I think that if a student had done something wrong and was able to go through this process I would be willing to accept it. Returning stolen money or saying sorry is only part of the process.

What do you (and others think)?

Those of us who keep close tabs on BCPSS know that Mr. Morris is the best person for the Deputy position. Positions are created for people at all levels of government especially when reorganization occurs. It is done without transparency or vetting which have become the main issues in this case. Dr. Alonzo did not make a mistake and I'm sorry Mr. Morris was forced to resign so quickly based on judgemental perspectives of those who choose to keep a competent Black man down. I saw nothing in Mr. Morris's past that would prevent him from doing a good job nor would it taint BCPSS. It's his personal problems which he could work out with the salary of the new job. I want Mr. Morris to apply for the advertised position. He will do an excellent job and BCPSS needs him on the job NOW!

I'm not sure where my other post went? Sent two days ago, but not up.

Ms. Marshall - You certainly are entitled to your opinion, but I worry that this isn't the case to "go to the mat" on the race issue. There are so many structural and masked racial problems in our society that are absolutely worth fighting - ref. the public education achievement gap. However, I think that the racial line of reasoning with this situation meshes a contentious subject into the situation unnecessarily.

Mr. Morris' legal judgments are one thing, but the lying (or "oversight") on a resume is another. I think Mr. Morris has done incredible things for Baltimore City's students. Additionally, I don't think that certification litmus tests are necessarily valuable indicators of successful leadership. However, there is some value to the idea that the leadership of a public education system should model the lessons it seeks to impart - namely, that higher education is worthwhile and is not something that you allow to slip by because of a few missed credits.

Look at what happened to the Notre Dame football coach who lied about receiving a certain degree - fired. Not receiving a college diploma is not a misstep. It's a failure to keep one's house in order. Tied to the financial issues, Mr. Morris' fundamental qualifications are troubled at best.

I think that inserting race (even though there may be at least some validity to the claim) weakens the race-based discrimination arguments for other issues, especially where race & poverty truly serve as the variables that lead to negative outcomes for minority communities.

Post @ Bill

Echo Inside Ed major concern blog post are being purposely not attached. Why??????

I just had to post because...

I agree with Bill. (!)

Bill--What about the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays who was fired for lying about being a Vietnam war veteran?

Cassandra Marshall:

You: "Competent Black Man..."

Brian Morris: "I have a Bachelor's Degree"

UMD Registrar: "He did not graduate"

Hmmm... either he is incompetent or else he is a liar

Bill:

You propose 4 options for a reaction by "we" and I think that you are missing one - namely that wegive AAA and the Board the criticism that they deserve, demand that some change come out of the mistakes and missteps that were made and then ask that the Board keep a better handle on what their job is - namely to oversee the CEO - clearly something has has been missing. And no, I don't mean that they give AAA a hard way to go on every decision he makes, rather I ask that they learn from this and start asking the hard questions and realize that you can be supportive of someone (and something - namely the System in this case) and say no to the requests. Just because AAA asks for something doesn't mean it's worth giving. He can be questioned, he can be told no, you need to go back to the drawing board on this, he can be agreed with, all without the world and the school system coming to a complete standstill. This is the purpose of the Board. And we could ask that AAA think more about the process he follows as a public leader of a governmental agency with a billion dollar budget. I believe that AAA asks much of his staff as tey bring his ideas and information, he in turn should have the same asked of him.

As a retired UM professor, 2 incompletes is not egrecious, but may be a little white lie. It appears based on published accounts that Mr. Morris attended classes and completed four years of courses for a degree. An incomplete means he attended classes but did not complete a project for each course. This could be a term paper or some other project. Mr. Morris, if he contacts these professors can turn the incomplete into a grade. On the other hand, if the incompletes are not in his major and if he has enough credits for a degree, he can get his sheepskin. Mr. Morris was quoted as saying he did not know anything about the incompletes. The question is -- does he have a sheepskin in hand? If not, then it would not take much for him to get a sheepskin in hand. There have been others who put on campaign literature that that had a degree and they were no where close to completing a four year undergraduate degree.

@Who Am I Now... - I think you bring up some extremely valid points. There's a fundamental issue with the Board's existence. I truly don't think it has a well defined role in the system. Having said that, though, I believe there's a lot more wrangling and challenging that goes on in smaller committee meetings. Many of the things at public meetings - for good or for ill - are already in final stages. Before they make it to public consumption, there's much back and forth between Dr. Alonso, staff, and the Board to get it to a point where the Board will approve in public. Having worked on the secondary promotion policy, I cannot tell you how many times we went back and forth with the Board on minor parts of the policy before it came up for third reader for a vote. There were at least six or seven very different versions discussed and debated. Maybe this should be done in public view, but that's a bit of a different issue. The supposed "rubber stamp" of the Board is not as much as it seems, at least from my limited perspective.

A more important related issue, though, has to do with the governance structure. The Board is composed of unpaid volunteers. As well-intentioned as they are, it's extremely difficult for them to live regular lives and try to be on top of every issue in the school system. I know that most of them do their absolute best to offer the best possible oversight that they are able to provide. The problem, though, is that they don't have the time, nor the resources, to delve into all subjects. As a result, Board members may have to rely on their instincts or on the value of what's presented to them (which as we all know could or could not be truly reflective of the actual situations). I don't really have a solution for this, but I do know that it's hard to ask them to do much more than they already provide to the system.

I definitely do NOT think that an elected Board is the answer. Elected boards tend to focus on unimportant, politically charged topics rather than the more important details of common ground, bread & butter school reform issues. The appointment system, although potentially flawed, allows Board members to feel secure in taking on un-sexy topics, like contract negotiation and the type of plastics used for school lunches. Maybe paid positions would justify a different format? But I worry about the implications of that as well. More questions here, less answers.

Lastly, I think there is mention in the letter of the plan to revise the appointment process. I guess some posters don't think the letter goes far enough, but from my interpretation there's a clear impetus for change called for within the letter's content. I have absolutely no idea whether or not this is being addressed, but I do think it was at least mentioned - not simply ignored.

Ms (Dr.?) Marshall:

While I agree that having an incomplete isn't a big deal, it is a big deal that he reports to have something he does not. And to compound the "little white lie" by saying that he didn't know seems silly. A little lie is still a lie. And a lie about your education, a lie that is on your resume actually rises to the status of a big lie. I frankly don't care about the degree and think that Mr. Morris wouldn't be any smarter or better fit to run a company, a school board or hold a high powered job if he had turned in what ever he was missing to get the sheepskin. Heck, I am 3 classes shy of my Masters and while I have the credits that equate to a Masters, I don't think that taking the classes will make me better at my job. What I don't do however is claim that I have completed my degree and use that to promote myself.

Beyond the "little" lie and the other personal and financial issues raised by the Sun, there seems to be a major issue with how Mr. Morris and Dr. Alonso played this politically and let's not kid ourselves that there is plenty of politics at play in the work that they both do. And to spend that political capitol in such a useless and unnecessary way seems like hubirs at its worst. How these two smart people could not have seen how this would look and smell is beyond me. And as for the others, I remember well one mayoral candidate who did something similar. Needless to say, that person isn't running the city. Again, a smart and capable man with an amazing heart and drive who is dedicated to the health and well being of the city who should have known better.

Bill: I have to disagree with your justification for keeping the board appointed. At least with an elected board (which has been the protocol of the two other districts outside of MD in which I have taught) it is open that they are part of the political dealings.. This appointed board is far more dubious and much more covertly and overtly political. Besides contract negotiation would have to be made either way and the environmental issue you spoke about would also be addressed by an elected board. The only difference is that one is accountable to the will of the people.

Bill--Do you have any evidence concerning performance of elected school boards? I prefer transparency and open discussion rather than useless rhetoric and underhanded deals. Do you believe in checks and balances?

@OToT - Yes & no. I'll look for those reports I read about elected boards v. appointed ones. There various studies tried to isolate issues and determine the amount of time spent based on "political implications." It was during the M.A.T. program, so it may take me a bit to find something.

Regarding "checks & balances..." Now, I completely respect your premise, but I think it's a poorly developed question. Yes, I think the general concept of checks & balances is helpful at times to reach common ground conclusions. However, I also think checks & balances can be a scapegoat for political B.S. Reference current attempts on the national level to block the democratic agenda. There are many republican congressional members who would support democratic bills. However, blind unity to "checking the power of the President" leads them to become rank and file party of no. I think "checks & balances" is too broad and theoretical a concept to blindly support without facts behind specific situations.

Bill--As an registered, moderate democrat who voted for Obama, I can only beg to differ. It's easy to point fingers at the Republicans in your example--however, the Democrats allowed Bush to lead us into Iraq without much of a debate. You simply can't have it both ways.

You also stated "Yes, I think the general concept of checks & balances is helpful at times to reach common ground conclusions." Fact of the matter is that we [the public] have an obvious interest in schools, transparency and open, frank discussion is warranted.

OToT - You make my point. It very much depends on the situation. I just strongly challenge your assumption that an elected board would lead to greater "transparency and open, frank discussion." If I could be convinced that elected boards are more likely to function in such a way, I'd jump on ship right away. I just think infusing outright elections for school boards (for which the general public pays less than close attention) would be a net negative, not positive.

Let me see if I have this right, last year I made a few statements concerning positions being created and then filled but was accused of not knowing what I was talking about, and this has been happening way before the Morris "surprise".There was no need for the position, this was an updated version of what Benny left, all he did was sit in his office and wait for something (my observation of what I saw) And he left more due to the boredom. Then for someone to try to throw the race card into this situation. PLEASE!!!!
As far as not having an elected board we definately need to have parents, administrators on board instead of a few that do have conflicts of interest. We have already become more political and less about our kids and schools. But again, what do I know.
I have missed quite a lot while out ill and as I regain my strength and continue I look over these blogs there will be less and less surprisese but hopefully more and more accoutability.
We will continue to have the buddy system with jobs being invented for friends, and staff who deserve to keep their positions being let go supposedly due to finances but then turn around and find/offer jobs to someone that was promised something for something.
I speak straight, and cannot be wishy washy like so many of you on this site do.
It good to hear from more and more of you about the ins and being fed up.
Try to have a safe and pleasant summer even with these issues and I am sure to hear from Bill

Bill--You stated " You make my point. It very much depends on the situation."

Have you read the first part of my post?

@AVC--If you had read any of my previous posts, you would know that I misspell "veteran" on purpose. We all lose something in translation and that includes our desire for perfection.

Liz, any updates on this story? Was anybody ever found to fill this important position that seemed so critical to Alonso's central office re-organization last summer?