I guess Baltimore City officials use the same process for vetting as they do for City official raises.

Volunteer or paid. Same standards! Even school volunteers have a background check, drug test etc. so they can read a book to a kid! Criminal activity, no ethics etc. Why is that acceptable just because you are not paid???

The staff of the Sun did a pretty good job... ;-)

Is not one of the main responsibilities of a Board of School Commissioners to serve as a check and balance to the superintendent/ceo? Not to mention that they also serve as the superintendent's evaluators.

If that is the case, how can Alonso get away with saying that he is encouraging and referring to the state board potential board nominees who agree with him? This is the same state board that "coincidentally" has chosen not to advertise the openings this time around. Certainly sounds incestuous at the very least. Aren't school boards designed to represent the voices of the general public?

Please follow up with this in your continuing strong investigative reporting. Alonso currently enjoys a love-filled relationship with the business community and many politicians, and granted, his ideas are dramatic. Beneath the surface, however, there is MUCH to be concerned about with him and his god complex. And I have no ax to grind (not a schools employee) other than wishing to see true reform in the BCPSS.

Sandra

I think that the Mayor's office, the state, and the school board are all in complete agreement on who should be responsible...

"Not me" seems to be the chorus.

Maybe they should hire Morris to a new (unposted) position as "Chief Vetting Officer" for the corporation formerly known as the Baltimore City School System.

Editorial Post @ Everybody should be vetting school board candidates

The state school board, the mayor's office and the governor's office all got it wrong when asked who is in charge of vetting city school board candidates to make sure they don't have the kind of financial problems that helped torpedo former board chairman Brian D. Morris' hiring as a top deputy to schools CEO Andres Alonso.

They said they didn't know who was responsible and assumed it was someone else. That's perfectly apparent, considering how little scrutiny Mr. Morris got. The answer is designed to deflect political blowback from the Morris fiasco and not one to ensure that the people managing our schools are the most qualified and competent ones available. What all three should have said was, "From now on, I'm doing the vetting."

Perhaps even more troublesome is the fact that amid the revelations about Mr. Alonso's attempt to hire Mr. Morris, we also learn that Mr. Alonso has been doing some vetting of his own finding candidates who support a "reform agenda" to fill the three vacancies on the board. The state school board is showing so much deference in this case that it has decided not to advertise for applicants to those positions. While we certainly support Mr. Alonso's efforts at reform and hope the school board will, too it has become clear in the last week that Mr. Alonso is not infallible and could use independent-minded people looking over his shoulder.

Here is another (mortifying) thought: How many internal City Schools employees don't have their degrees and certification status in order, per their resumes?

If the board uses the same staff from the system as a part of the vetting process, it would not surprise me that some central office or building leadership may also be riding along on bogus degrees.

Someone should look into this.

So Alonso is trying to encourage certain people to become school board members--doesn't this sound similar to the nonsense happening between CEOs and their "independent" boards in the business world? Are board members supposed to serve as a "rubber stamp" for the school ceo?

Now we are getting the cause of this turmoil...

In the design of the school board each member is suppose to bring a certain talent to the team. There is no requirement that any of them have a degree but the assumption is that to gain that experience in certain areas some would have to have professional training. For two of the position the only requirement is that the person has a child in the school system.

MSDE should just be a focal point to collect names and only do a cursory check to make sure that on the surface the applicants meets the requirements to serve on the Board. They should be vetted by the public, the mayor and governors staff because they ultimately have to sign-off on them.

What really concerns me is that MSDE would allow the Board to be rigged by anyone. There should have been public posting for the open positions. The new Board members are suppose to be seated soon so there will be little if any time to react to whomever is nominated.

How many of the 700 volunteers were vetted.

All appointments go through an Appointment Secretary in Martin O'Malley's office. Mr. Morris would have gone through a different person several years ago but the process is the same which is there is no process unless you have the insider track. Vetting would take place if Baltimore City had an elected school board but it does not. Only people who can be on the School Board are the ones with political connections. This is politics at its worst.

@CTP - the 700 where screened not vetted. They have no authority and were hopefully screened to limit the number of criminals that have access to students during the school day.

@ Dot - Who vets an elected school Board.... the media?

Maybe two of the outraged bloggers(who are so quick to post their anonymous opinions on everything under the sun when it comes to our schools) can apply to be the new Chief Moral Officers of the "corrupt school system" - at an annual salary of $175,000 (without any vetting even!) - and then restore truth, justice, and the American way to City Schools! It's a solution that's a win-win for everyone and will teach that "evil genius" Alonso (and his agents of doom) a lesson. Thank God for people on this blog who have so much time on their hands! We're saved!!!!!!!!!!!

Everybody take a deep breath - Morris was stopped thanks to timely news reporting, and the system is still improving after 40+ years of stagnation.If you don't agree, too bad, it's a free country!

The idea that elections are a guarantee of getting the best people onto the school board is laughable beyond belief. What percentage of the voting population (i.e not those registered, but those who vote in city elections) are in the school system (either employees or parents of kids)? I've got no hard numbers, but I'm guessing very few. And somehow you're trusting these folks to have the best interest of City Schools in mind when they pull the lever? Even in districts where almost everybody sends their kids to public schools you get these crusades about whatever hot-button topic (I'm thinking creationism or prayer in school) that generate votes but really don't have to do with improving school systems.

I guess I'm glad there are comments on the blog (seemed dead for a while there), but honestly if it's all going to be about how messed up everything is and how doomed the schools and kids are, I'm about tired of reading it all. For the first time in about a year, I've started skimming through all the moaning and yelling and complaining.

Just one constructive, positive comment would be nice. Of course, that might take a post about City Schools that shows some amount of compassion for people in the system - noticeably missing since Sara's departure. I'm not saying you have to like Alonso or North Ave, but how about the teachers and kids at least. Just one encouraging post about kids in the City? How about the first graduating class of Baltimore Scholars? I know it doesn't appeal to the suburbanites who think of City Schools as a drain on their state tax dollars and a sea of uneducated drug dealing youths that are really scary, but for the sake of those who actually care about City Schools... please?

We need people on the school board who are not rubber stamps for Alonzo. I am still trying to figure out how they allowed him to take the name Baltimore out of our school system. "City Schools" what the heck is that, what city? We need thinkers who will challenge his ideas that don't fit our city or our children.

I say every board member and all high-ranking officials must pass the HSAs, no re-tries allowed. That would eliminate about 90% of the current occupants.

I wonder why the are no "common' folk in the school board. Is it that the bar is set too high for far too many in this city. All this vetting will make the board just what many fear,

I also think far too many think the school board or the CEO will solve their problems when most of the problems within BCPSS start in the home and community.

In hindsight Mr. Morris may have been the last common folk we may see on the Board. For all his bling and bluster, he was just another broke and under employed brother with bad credit.

@ emjay - maybe its kinda like the zoo and the science center. The state provides the majority of the funding of these institution so Baltimore was taken out of their names.