Easy.... this s*&t aint working!!!!!

Things are going to be fine, Vicki Harding was just elected Mayor!!!!!

A listening tour only works for people who listen. Alonso doesn't listen. He is completely dedicated to his own cornily abstract vision. Arne Duncan doesn't listen. Remember when he came to Baltimore on his listening tour, and a kid at the KIPP school suggested that students who can't behave well shouldn't be allowed to go to the KIPP school? (This was reported in the Sun.) Duncan didn't respond agreeably and moved on to the next city and didn't even try to exclude full-inclusion from the Race to the Top legislation. A fourth grader taken almost at random really does know more about this crisis than the Secretary of Education.

Alonso is even worse than Duncan. He responds to every skeptical comment with a kind of countdown on his hand, letting reporters know all the ways in which they're obviously wrong. He pounds his fist like a dictator when he talks, trying to compensate for the utter lack of force his words naturally carry.

BS Paper @ If Alonso went on a "listening tour" what would he learn?

To set the record straight the AAA "Listening Tour” was attempted when Andres arrived in 2007 for those of you who for got or either were not around in Baltimore at the time. "The education industry is a micro-education results driven outcome industry." Not a marco-education results outcome driven industry.

"A Listening Tour Theme"
A current “One Size Fits-All” education model for primary/secondary student’s weights formula is a recipe for failure. The cost to educate students who are advanced/proficient/basic/drop-out/special-needs and all the other categories do not cost the same amount.

@a teagher - you are absolutely right. If Alonso were to go on a listening tour it would only be to have others listen to him. He has proven that he has no interest in learning anything from teachers, students or parents. He is convinced that the is the smartest person in the room.

That he hasn't fixed anything, and might have made things worse with his ignorance to how things really are in "his" schools.

I don't think he's listening...too many things have already been said and he has not fixed them yet...

Here are the top ones in my book

(1) fix TSS-- it's an abysmal waste of time. When will systems be integrated?
(2) fix funding: not his fault, but someone needs to tell the truth...
(3) Fix his management style-- everyone in the system is fearful of him. Maybe they have a reason to, but he's not very approachable...

Also-- fix the "networks"-- we never see these people. Roger Shaw? just a suit...

AAA did hold a series of informal meetings with teachers at several schools in the district. Unfortunately, principals chose the teachers who were to attend and, as a result, the meetings were more of a sales pitch than anything else. Teachers who had complaints were excluded from the conversations and so only one side got an ear. AAA should listen to his teachers--all of them--not just the chosen few who agree with his policies and procedures.

Dr. Alonso will realize that he needs to interview and hire professional leaders for his schools. Teachers in Baltimore City really care for their students. The Principals are the ones that chase good teachers away! Teachers are tired of Principals getting away with unethical behavior. Dr. Alonso needs a hotline for teachers to alert him when they observe unethical behavior.

BS Paper @ "Climate Survey" and "listening tour.

What happened to the students/parents City Schools 2010-2011 SY "Climate Survey"

Dr. Alonso has been listening since he walked in the door four years ago. He has been in the schools throughout this time period, and he always, ALWAYS responds to email messages, phone calls, and visits, in virtually all cases, amazingly, within 24 hours. To suggest that he go on a listening tour is the equivalent of asking when did you stop beating your wife. He listens, considers, consults, and decides. Always, each, and every time. Thank goodness his contract was extended for another four years.

Jonathan Inskeep
jonathaninskeep@verizon.net

@Jonathan AAA does not listen to his staff and the sad thing is if you are a whistle blower than you will be fired! If he was a listener than he would know that schools do not need to be in control of their own money... Principals need to be visiting the hallways and classrooms checking on their students! Not sitting at a computer to finish paperwork... People are walking around North Avenue afraid to say anything for fear of their jobs. You my dear are on the outside looking in! I wanna know why is there such a hush hush on is irresponsiblity of his personal life... There has been reports of arrest since he has been in office yet the board has renewed his contract... If you cannot keep your personal life straight how do you keep the life of a whole school system? He is making more money yet those employees that are working there are barely making it or losing their jobs! This is crazy ... they system is continually putting the blame on the administrators and teachers yet Baltimore city has some of the best teachers... Parents have no responsibilty with their children because he puts all the blame on the teachers and the administrators. Children could and would pass these test if parents would make sure that children are doing their homework and asking them what they learned or asking their children to show them what they learned. Their are so many discipline problems in the schools that it is sad... I dont think he would hear anything anyone would have to say because he wants things one way and one way only! He does not respect his employees so how can anyone feel they can respect him. He has received bonuses off of the backs of teachers that have to deal with money for no supplies (unless that teacher buys them) discipline problems, parents who are children themselves and cannot help their children and drug infested neighborhoods! One more thing when did he stop beating his partner?

I love the idea of bounded autonomy and think it works really well when people already have the knowledge base to make competent, logical and thoughtful decisions. Having been in the system for 10 years has helped me realize that there are a lot of people who need more guidance and explicit direction. It is deeply troubling to see this autonomy in the hands of school leaders who make poor decisions. I believe AAA and others realized the ineffectiveness or this autonomy and I am excited about the new EDs, the leadership framework and the new teacher's contract. I hope it brings logical support to more people to help them make better decisions for kids. Like him or not.... Feel that is he is bullying or not.... Things are better for a lot of kids and they are getting better. I don't think, however, that enough people are giving our CAO enough credit in making more sense of things. There is a lot of work left to be done, but I believe we are finally on the right track. Next issue... Finding more highly competent people to lead schools.

First of all the CEO went on a listening tour to the four corners of Baltimore City when he took over it over as his own when the Office of Parent and Community involvement was giving its own 4 corner workshop that was given when LaVerne Sykes and her team was around. The CEO sat and heard what staff, community and parents had to say and did not listen to anything. The first and main thing that was asked of him was to do surprise visits to all of the schools but instead he has only gone to a few of the Boards pet schools (4 of which have been proven to be cheating on tests) and prior to going to the schools, the school has always been notified when he was coming. In order for things to get better Alonzo needs to stop herding our children around from school to school due to his constant closing of schools, putting our ES/MS and MS/HS in one building. This is not working. He needs to find out what is working in our success schools and have those that are not by having a PDC so that they can learn from one another. This should also be done for those schools that have a good parent and community input versus those that do not which is what was supposed to be happening under Sarbanes which it most definitely not. It is one thing to have all of these new names and give them some bogus high paying position but it is quite another to admit that what has been implemented has not been working.

What would/should Alonso learn if he went on a listening tour? He would learn that a lot of our students who are going into Middle School are reading and doing math on a 2nd grade level (if that). He would learn that our children are being left behind. He would learn that our teachers due to the need for test scores are not able to teach our children in the manner that they would like. He would learn that information for parents is not going out to them about programs and information that they need in a reasonable amount of time. He would learn that although Grandparents are the main caregivers in a lot of the households, they are not being utilized in our schools because the New Office of Parent Involvement does not seem to feel grandparents are needed in the schools and prefers them to the Office on Aging to take steps to volunteer. We had never before stopped grandparents or limited the amount of parents in a school from helping out. There are two different messages coming out. If you want parent involvement then allow the parents to be involved, if you want parents and the community to attend events then let them know within an adequate amount of time. It boggles the mind how letters dated at the beginning of the month for children to take home, will still be sitting in mail slots at school and even on North Avenue for distribution but never seem to go out. Not everyone has access to the internet even if they have a computer. Not everyone has a computer so we need to do things the right way and stop pretending that we are doing something when we are not.

It wasn't easy, being born with my name. A lot of people thought it was a typo. But when I assured them it was for the purposes of making sure I had some superficial integrity on internet message boards, people began to catch on to the levelheadedness of my name. In the future, all names should be trademarked in this fashion, so that all supposed truths will be only as good as the unknowably unknown names to which these supposed truths are attributed.

It wasn't easy, being born with my name. A lot of people thought it was a typo. But when I assured them it was for the purposes of making sure I had some superficial integrity on internet message boards, people began to catch on to the levelheadedness of my name. In the future, all names should be trademarked in this fashion, so that all supposed truths will be only as good as the unknowably unknown names to which these supposed truths are attributed.

@ Calamity - I remember that. It was the "tell me something good" tour during which he only wanted to only hear good things about BCPSS schools. I attended the one for my area and nothing changed, no reports, no follow-up, nothing. It was just a PR move to introduce the new HCIC. Ms. Sykes introduced him as a breath of fresh air. Soon after Ms Sykes was blown out of her position, demoted and ended up working for Mr. Carter who worked for Mr. Sarbanes, who given her job after he lost the race for city council president. I also remember her three-day summer parent workshops at Dunbar Community High School at which a parent could learn of most of what the system had to offer. I guess both Ms Sykes and the parent involvement are things of the past.

I & EP is correct what happened to the Climate Survey for this year. In the past, it was used to gauge parent satisfaction and has been cited in several of the school closings. This is Mr. Brice's baby but maybe he is too busy helping in Chicago.