@ BS paper guest what about the current school board member Duke's opinion about seeking to keep A. Alonso a well keep secret and still existing saga is that the school board members are not all in single file on the method and criteria being engaged to evaluate the performance of the CEO since his first year in 2007. If they can’t get the evaluation process right what confidence does that provide to each of you citizens? Longevity of any CEO is not the formula or issue to be sold or promoted to the public and citizens for renewing any contract. Productivity and increasing all teaching and learning and students academic and enrichment levels in all secondary/primary grade levels Pre-K-12 for academic achievement is the major goal. Consider below attached fact list of areas City Schools CEO needs much improvement in these areas of the school system a large proportion is still in a deprived status as follows:
Macro-Education deprived examples as follows:Revolving-door-multiple executive operations and cabinet level staff changes, long term academic/curriculums position vacancies, in the STEM director position and more..
Micro-Education deprived examples as follows: Non-fair-student-funding, Non- Fair-Student Weights, High % Non-Highly Qualified Staff, Primary/Secondary School Director, Principals, AP and Classroom Teachers and more..

On the plus side, Alonso is hard-working, fairly competent, engaged, and makes a good figurehead with his cute "love-the-kids" emoting. We could (and did) do worse. Thankfully, it seems like he has also shot his wad on all the grand-scale, highly disruptive system changes and now concedes that the core business of education is about teaching and learning and the quality of what goes on in the classroom. That work is less flashy and will probably earn fewer accolades from the education gurus of the Sun editorial page, but now that Alonso has made his mark, he can afford to give it the patient attention it needs -- especially now that a consensus that this is what needs to be done has mysteriously emerged. (Last time I checked, the gameplan was about giving schools autonomy and shutting them down if they don't perform. Oh well.) If Alonso leaves, God knows what agenda-driven egomaniac or corrupt deadbeat will be foisted on us next. The Devil you know, and all that.

Turning this ship around is going to take many years and tons of hard, smart work. While AAA has not always headed in the direction I thought he should (see also: Expanding more schools then there are kids to fill them and not closing enough of the ones that have been failing for years, etc), he is smart and he is making change.

The type of change that needs to be made is institutional so that when he does leave all of the changes cannot simply be undone by the new flavor of the day. The worst thing I think one could say about any leader, educational or not, is that they had no lasting impact. AAA has and given the generally short life of CEO's of large urban systems (see also: PG county), I am glad to see that the board recognizes that there is a lot to be said for consistency when the impact is generally positive and the vision focuses on the right things.

I am glad to see that AAA is setting new sights and that they are squarely on teacher quality and student achievement. We have miles to go in both areas.

I know that he and some of the others at the top of the food chain are looking beyond, but not excluding, test scores when it comes to both areas. And for that I am impressed. It is far too easy to judge only by a once per year assessment and also far too easy to excuse away those tests. There needs to be a balance and I hope that when creating a score card (yes, I know, it's not supposed to be called that, but hey, if the score card fits...) for schools there was more that was considered then just testing. At the same time schools must recognize that they can move kids forward on state tests and on state and national standards.

I agree with IEPoCS on the lack of "fair" in fair student funding although given the national budget situation, I am not surprised. I do wonder if deeper cuts to central office might not make more sense. I have often said that if you want to know how top heavy North Ave., is, check for a parking space at 10 a.m. Judging from the last few times I have been there, there continues to be far too many central office staff. And if you want to know who to can, check the names of people who are rushing out at 3:30. I will also put a plug in for a few folks over there - K Womack and K Lewis and their teams seem to get why they are there - to support schools and kids.

As for the statement about % of non-highly qualified staff, that seems to be something AAA said he was focusing on. I hope he starts with the definition of "highly qualified".

As a real parent of children who are actually currently in the Baltimore City Public schools, I’d like to register a slightly different opinion from the last commenter.

This is great news! The schools are going in the right direction, although there is still lots of room for improvement. There have been growing pains associated with moving power and authority to the school level, but I think the schools are doing fairly well, albeit with lots of support in the budget process. There seems to be a lot more pride and ownership at individual schools, and I’ve got to think that this has to do with moving the authority to the school level. I could list issues that still trouble me, but now that a new school structure has been implemented the changes that are needed are possible.

There’s a lot of friction, and more then a few times I’ve wondered if the pace of change wasn’t a little too fast. Then you have to remember that even though we are talking about systemic changes, kids are in schools for a limited number of years, and beyond that, kids can be permanently hurt by poor schools in a very short period of time. This pace is hard to keep up, and I think that it’s inevitable that there will be areas where the spotlight isn’t shining that aren’t really keeping up. Even at that, I believe we can’t slow down.

It seems like a lot of the issues brought up on this board and that I personally have seen, have more to do with individual classroom support. That’s what I take as the “priority shift” from reading this post. If that can happen in a timely matter, it would be wonderful!

Campbell and VanHook are out lame ducks and Dukes' first term has expired. Any clue as to who is in consideration for these spots? Inquiring minds would like to know. Are they trying to ram the CEOs contract through before the new board is seated?

I am OK with AAA staying longer if he finally focuses on the instructional component of education and not the public relations issues that he has, so far, spent his capital. Let's see gains at the test levels that count across the board. BTW, does his pay raise for performance mean that the folks in the trenches will see a pay raise also? Somehow, I doubt it.

I am thankful for AAA. I am happy that we finally have some consistency. He has attacked manangement problems that were a terrible drain on the sysytem. Hopefully, stage two will indeed focus on instruction and learning. I do believe there are many excellent teachers in the system that have been doing their job all along but the new focus might give us more PD and more resources to support our instruction.To those who constantly slam teachers, I wish each and every one of you would find a way to come into the schools and observe the very teachers you continually complain about. I have recruited dozens of community and business volunteers for my school. After a couple of days in the school they always comment about how they had no idea how diffucult teaching is and how amazing our teachers and staff are. Even parents often change their tune when they actually stay for a day or two. Are there some teachers who should change careers? Sure! True for all careers. But,as we take the second leg of the journey with AAA, I hope all involved will come to recognize the dedicated staff who are in the schools for the students for the long haul! Will we receive a financial reward? Maybe, if we are willing to consider a new evaluation system. I would be a richer person if my salary had been based on student achievement.(and before you ask, I am in a regular school-no special student selection process)

What about the teacher contract? We have not had a cost of living increase, and our union does not seem competent enough to even get us a 1% increase in salary. With the cuts to after school programs, I know many teachers who made less this year than the year before. There are dedicated staff in many school buildings. why don't we start rewarding them?