Education advocates call for Alonso to address communities on hiring of 15 new executives
Responses are coming in on the story we ran today about Baltimore city schools adding 14 new, $125,000 executive director positions to the central office to evaluate and provide "deeper support to principals." Additionally, city schools CEO Andres Alonso has budgeted to fill the $175,000 position that he created for Brian Morris, who resigned from the post before filling it, in 2009. According to a presentation given at this week's city school board meeting, the deputy CEO's office will have a $231,000 budget (including salary).
We raised questions about the appropriateness of this plan, given that schools are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and teachers, programs and resources are being cut at the school level due to budget constraints. Many parents and city leaders had the same question.
School officials revealed the new positions late Tuesday night to the city school board, and many board members understood the cost of the positions to be absorbed by central office savings that came at the expense of 89 people losing their positions and other scaled back spending.
However, on Wednesday, the school system said they would be "grant-funded" positions, funded by federal Title II dollars designated for professional development. School officials justified the use of the funds, which in the past have been used for new teacher and principal programs, to fund permanent, salaried, positions because the executive directors would be serving similar functions. Note: Two of those positions already exist, filled by Irma Johnson and Roger Shaw, and have been paid for with general funds.
Still, debate was brewing on area radio shows, and among city leaders and education advocates Thursday, about how these positions could be created just months after thousands braved the rain for hours in Annapolis to protest state lawmakers to fully fund city schools.
Doc Cheatham, who now heads up the National Action Network--Greater Baltimore Chapter, said that he was one of those people, "who was honored to be pulled down in the rain because it was for our children." But, Cheatham said in an interview Thursday, “the timing of this just couldn’t have been at a more challenging time.”
Cheatham wrote Alonso an email today asking him to come forward to the community and explain his position. While the school system may say that the new additions are grant-funded positions, many still question whether its money well spent.
“The fact that we’re letting go of staff, letting go of teachers, and then adding to 15 positions,” it just doesn’t sit well or read well to us," Cheatham said, adding that he will reach out to other education advocacy groups to weigh in on the plan, including the Baltimore Education Coalition, which organized the funding rallies in Annapolis.
Cheatham emphasized that questioning Alonso wasn't a personal attack, but “we did what was asked of us in standing up for the schools, and this is about our children and what’s best for them, and about the dollars that we have being best spent.”
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
Has everyone forgotten that Poly and City are leaderless?
Posted by: OverTheTop | May 12, 2011 10:37 PM
Really, Doc Cheatham? Really?
Isn't he under investigation by the national NAACP for embezzling and misappropriating local chapter funds? And he has the credibility to critique the school system's budget?
Credible journalism source... fail.
Posted by: Seriously? | May 13, 2011 12:45 AM
They need more administrative people? Part of this expense will be in coordinating new positions working within the failed networks (e.g., “lead” teachers). These highly paid teachers will no longer be based in their schools, and what I have not seen discussed by the Sun is how this (in theory) will work: there are no longer going to be “Department Heads” in high schools, and from what I’ve heard, teacher observations will be done by outsiders (BCPSS euphemism: “our network partners”). In other words, observations are being devolved to the Central Office. Any guesses as to what impact this new army of network leads will cost us in class sizes?? This is a trainwreck of bureacracy coming your way…
Posted by: jschool | May 13, 2011 5:58 AM
""The fact that we’re letting go of staff, letting go of teachers, and then adding to 15 positions,” it just doesn’t sit well or read well to us," Cheatham said" It doesn't read or sit well with me either. I saw a sizable group of kids on my way to the bank this morning holding up signs reading "HONK for Teacher's Rights!" They, the kids, were on the corners, all four, of Cathedral and Madison Streets By the Baltimore School for the Arts. Intrigued, I did some research and stumbled upon this article. Hopefully, the Baltimore City School Board will pay attention and give the money to teachers instead of providing these children with more unnecessary city officials.
Posted by: Melissa | May 13, 2011 10:04 AM
Maybe I've got a warped perception, but what this move suggests to me is not an attack on teachers or a way to employ more administrator types, but a realization that there is a lot of weakness in school leadership and that they need a lot more support and evaluation to go along with their new contract. The idea that poor leadership is more of a root cause for school failure than poor teaching, has been thrown around a lot on this board. This move seems like it could be a step in improving that leadership (support) or removing poor leaders (evaluation).
I have no inside information, but it's just what this move suggests to me.
Posted by: a parent | May 13, 2011 10:29 AM
@AP - I was thinking the same thing. But more along the lines that a lot of veteran principals have left the system only to be replaced with young bucks from NLNS. Maybe this is an admission that they are not quite up to task as the program would have us believe.
August 20, 2010|By Erica L. Green,
The Baltimore Sun
More than 100 city principals have been reassigned or have left the school system since Andrés Alonso took the top job three years ago, a number that he acknowledges is unprecedented but says is necessary to move the district forward.
Alonso said this week that 43 schools had been assigned new principals since January, maintaining a consistent trend of about 40 leadership changes a year since he started with the school system in 2007. They include both new principals and principals given new assignments. There are 198 schools in Baltimore.
"I am impatient about performance, and we should not accept mediocrity, ever," said Alonso, explaining the reason for the high turnover. "We are also changing many things, and redefining what needs to be done. For some leaders, so much change has been a problem."
Posted by: OverTheTop | May 13, 2011 2:10 PM
@ BS Paper article Education advocates call for Alonso to address communities on hiring of 15 new executives
"Many parents, stakeholders, and city leaders had the same question let’s get a review outlining all the categories in the Title II document by the BS Paper."
Use the MD Public Information Act request to secure the Title II documents from MSDE or BCPSS office of legal counsel. This is the same pot of Federal Title II grant money dollars used in a prior SY to pay students for Peer-To-Peer tutoring.
Quote in BS Paper article: “However, city school officials said late Wednesday that the new executives would be "grant-funded positions" from Title II federal dollars intended for professional development for teachers and school leaders. Michael Sarbanes, chief spokesman for the school system, said that salaries for administrative executives fall into that category."
Let's get all the Title II federal dollars information out in the open.
Posted by: Interested & Engaged Parent of City Schools | May 13, 2011 3:01 PM
I don't know why Sun "reporters" can put 2+2 together. Recently, the administrators union just decided on a new principal contract, which is very similar to the unpopular, pay-for-performance "landmark" teacher contract. I would not be surprised if these new bureaucrats will be hired to evaluate principals according to the parameters in this new contract- pay increases based on higher test scores. Secondly, what happens if/when the grant money runs-out, or is cut-off? This will be when the Gates, Broad, and Walton Foundations step in to save the day. Right now, Alonzo and Duncan are just minions doing their masters bidding.
Posted by: Aloha Mr. Hand | May 15, 2011 10:17 AM