The Open Society Institute-Baltimore is hosting a panel discussion Monday evening called "Can We Talk About How Race Affects Our Classrooms?". It's the next installment in OSI's "Talking About Race" series, and will focus on the impact of continued segregation in public schools on achievement, among other issues.

Monday's panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, is to be led by Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College, and David Hornbeck, the former superintendent of Philadelphia schools. 

The event will be in the Wheeler Auditorium at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, and starts at 7 p.m. 

Posted by Arin Gencer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City, School Diversity/Segregation
        

The Baltimore school board delayed a vote on the hottest topic of the season, permanent expulsions, but there continued to be some spirited dialogue during the public comment session last night on the issue.

As the story in the paper today says, the board received a lot of last-minute suggestions on the policy that hadn't been aired sufficiently to warrant a vote last night, according to school board members.

Dennis Moulden, who represents the Parent and Community Advisory Board, spoke in favor of a permanent expulsions policy. "We all have the belt in our closet; we hope that we'll never use it," he said. He suggested the permanent expulsions should be used only as a last resort, but that the threat of an expulsion provides a boundary for students.

After his comments, two other members of the board, Neil Duke and George VanHook, commented that belts had been a common threat used in their families. But David Stone asked Moulden why he would compare an expulsion to an outdated and possibly illegal form of punishment.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

A Baltimore jury has awarded $210,000 to a retired city teacher who says she wasn't protected from students who assaulted her and was told to give students the answers to questions on the Maryland School Assessments.

The story in the paper today  details the allegations the teacher made.  What do readers of the blog believe? Was an award correct if she proved to the jury that she had lost income because she had been forced into an early retirement after the principal accused her of being a whistleblower and had her escorted from the building? And what about being forced to use sick leave for seven months after the attack rather than being able to use assault leave, which is unlimited?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The emotional debate over whether the Baltimore City schools should be able to permanently expel students continued at last night's school board meeting with principals coming to testify about their experiences with incidents that involve fires and explosive devices.

Laura D'Anna, the principal of Patterson High School, recounted an incident that happened a year ago when two boys put cleaning fluid in a bottle, shook it up and caused an explosion. The incident, she said, occurred in a hall outside the cafeteria and near the door of a day care center that is operated in the school.

Because no one was sure what was in the fumes, several public agencies came to the school to investigate, including the fire, police and a Hazmat team, she said. The result was that students spent two hours outside the building after a diffiuclt evacuation. "This was really, really traumatic for my school community. It tore at the fabric of the community."

Continue reading "City principals say permanent expulsion warranted " »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

A middle school girl who was hospitalized with the swine flu last week died yesterday, according to a statement by Andres Alonso. The CEO said staff would be providing families and students in the school support in the coming days. The school system is working with the health department to inform families about what can be done to reduce the risk of getting the virus.  The girl is the second child to die of swine flu in Maryland. The first child had an underlying medical condition. The health department has not released a statement yet.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Students from the Algebra Project were at the city school board meeting on Tuesday night asking the board to sign a Student Bill of Rights. The students say they deserve a better education.

They say the city's school buildings are crumbling, the school bathrooms don't have soap and paper towels and the school lunches aren't edible. They also said there aren't enough textbooks, a problem that was rampant a decade ago, but was supposed to be fixed. They said they had written a letter to Mayor Sheila Dixon and wanted the board to sign it as well. "The students are not going to stand around and watch our buildings crumble along with our education," one student told the board.

The city school board welcomed them to the meeting, but didn't sign the petition. The chair of the board, Neil Duke, said he didn't want to wait for legislative action. "Let's fix the problems you just highlighted," he said.

Duke took the three leaders, one each from Poly, Civitas and Heritage High, into the hall and arranged to meet them later to hear a more detailed account of the issues they say they are having.

It will be interesting to see if the students can get their issues taken care of and whether they begin to understand better what power the board has or doesn't have over crumbling buildings.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The city school board is clearly having a strong internal debate over whether it is right to permanently expel students who are 16 and older if they have committed a serious offense. The expulsion issue began last year when schools CEO Andres Alonso decided to try to reduce the incidents of fire setting in the city schools and sent a letter home to parents saying he would permanently expel students who set a fire.

Continue reading "School board appears divided on permanent expulsion" »

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Liz Bowie had a story in today's paper about the 2009 High School Assessment results, which indicate that making the tests a graduation requirement hasn't presented as big of an obstacle to students as originally feared, according to data provided by state education officials.

This news has some folks wondering whether the bar is being set too low, particularly as state officials say only 11 students did not graduate solely because of the assessment requirement.

Liz will have another story in tomorrow's paper, taking a look at the future of the HSAs, and where we go from here. Stay tuned.  Also, you can check out the results on the state's Web site, which also has an updated state watch list for schools failing to make adequate yearly progress.

In the meantime...what do you think?  Do the HSAs set the bar too low?  What do you think about the small number affected by this requirement (the city, for example, reported no students kept from graduating only because of the HSAs - but did represent about 20 percent of the waivers given to seniors statewide)?

Posted by Arin Gencer at 7:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Anne Arundel, Around the Region, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Howard County, NCLB, Testing
        

Some months ago, we reported that the state school board had been interviewing and vetting candidates to fill the vacancy created by the departure of school board chair Brian Morris. We noted that no one had done a very good job of vetting Morris, who had a history of financial problems and other issues.

So here we are in the second week of September, and the word out of the Maryland State Department of Education is that the state board has not yet recommended names to the governor and the mayor. Those two officials must jointly appoint city school board members. We can't wait to see who will be appointed under the state board's more thorough vetting process.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Last year, Collington Square Elementary/Middle School teacher Koli Tengella worked with students to make a 30-minute film that portrayed students participating in an academic contest they didn't think their school could win. The film explores the social stigmas many students face in schools, he said.

On Thursday, the Charles is allowing third- through eight-graders from Collington Square to view the first showing of the film. It won't be open to the public, but we will try to have it online here in the coming days. And Tengella said the the film will be shown again at the central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m.

"I personally want these children to understand their world is much bigger than they think it is," Tengella said.

Tengella, Collington Square's theater arts teacher, said he was able to get the help of a filmmaker to work with the children. About 50 children act in the drama and only three adults.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Today marked a new beginning for Paul Laurence Dunbar High School as it reopened its doors after a two-year renovation. I can't claim to have been to every school in the city, but it is at least as nice as any I have been through. The hallways are bright, curved in places and wide. The burgundy and yellow colors of the school are carried throughout in the tiles and walls. The school has a feel that what happens here matters.

It is thoroughly air-conditioned and it doesn't seem to be freezing in some places and warm in others. Students can drink the water because of a new filtration system.

The old gym is still there and it retains the feel of a gym that has been well used and loved.

We can all point to lots of shabby schools that have produced high student achievement, but it was interesting to speak with a school advocate at the ribbon cutting today who noted that where the system has renovated schools, achievement has since risen. She pointed to Digital Harbor and Abbottston Elementary. Dunbar has already made its comeback from a low in the 1990s, but it will be interesting to see if students are inspired by their environment. Will the clean new classrooms with smart boards, new computers and new science labs make a difference in what students aspire to and what they achieve?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

As many of you weighed in on the question of Dr. Alonso's performance bonus for 2008-2009, I wanted to give you an update.   The city school board decided to award him a $29,000 bonus. 

Some background: board Chairman Neil Duke told me today that Alonso received the same amount last year.  The bonus is in addition to his salary, which is now $250,000, as there is an automatic $10,000 pay raise in his contract.

Mr. Duke also shared the myriad factors the board weighed in making its decision, some of which were:

Continue reading "Update on Alonso's bonus" »

Posted by Arin Gencer at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The Baltimore school board will soon be deciding how much of a bonus the CEO should receive this year. While readers of this blog may not actually get a chance to take a vote on this issue, I thought maybe you would like to give your two cents to board members who will be evaluating his job performance.

According to my reading of his contract, Alonso will receive a $10,000 automatic increase. In addition, the board can give him up to $12,000 for "demonstrated increases in the academic performance" of the city schools, up to $12,000 for management efficiencies and up to $6,000 for "implementation of creative and innovated programs" that enhance reform of the school system.

In all, Alonso could receive an increase this year of $40,000. When he was hired in 2007, he earned $230,000, about average for superintendents of large systems in the state.  I haven't been able to nail down yet what his current salary is, but I will do soon and add the information to this post. I believe he is now earning $270,000.

So what should Alonso earn? Does he deserve the whole $40,000 or none at all? Some city officials said they would donate their pay increases. Should Alonso donate his increase or defer it until the recession is over?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

As I mentioned earlier this week and reported in today's paper, Dr. Alonso officially welcomed back city schools administrators, and laid out plans for the coming school year, during yesterday's CEO Leadership Institute.

For those who might be interested, here is Alonso's PowerPoint on the state of schools, which includes test data as well as information on city suspension, dropout and graduation rates, among other interesting tidbits.

And some of the most enjoyable parts of the event - the performances from some wonderfully talented students - are also online (no video, unfortunately, but several original poems are posted).

Posted by Arin Gencer at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

While I was on vacation, my colleague, Olivia Bobrowsky, covered the city school board meeting on Tuesday night.
Here's her report:
Last night, the Baltimore school board discussed preparations for getting schools ready when they open later this month.School officials said they are on track: all facility renovation projects are on schedule, bus routes are established, the school police force is fully staffed and the list goes on. Still, of all the readiness indicators, one new measure stuck out as particularly exciting.
This year, city schools are putting the application for Free and Reduced Meal Service online. In an effort to increase application return rates, the e-form will allow web-based completion and submission. Chief of Staff Tisha Edwards said that step will also offer regular, real-time data tracking and sharing with principals, ensuring ;efforts are targeted towards meeting common goals.
The school board also discussed the progress of several new initiatives, including new school openings, reorganization of special education, and the expansion of pre-kindergarten classes. Nine new schools will open in the fall, including 4 college prep schools, t3 accelerator schools designed to get students who are behind to graduate more quickly and two charter schools. The schools are all prepared with staff, furniture and instructional materials, according to the school officials. Every school is already assigned to a school support network, which have filled 54 of their 56 staff positions. The city;s redistribution of special education classrooms has offered choice and placements to 100 percent of students working to gain life skills;and 90 percent of students with emotional disabilities. And finally, 36 of the 40 teachers needed for the city's 40 new pre-k classrooms have already been hired. Construction should be completed and materials should be delivered by Aug. 20.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

If last night’s work session on permanent expulsions is a preview of future discussions on the subject, then the road ahead is going to be a long one, fraught with debate.

Fortunately, as board Chair Neil E. Duke pointed out last night, it’s just the beginning of the process.  The board is expected to examine the issue for some time, with opportunities for the public to weigh in, before voting one way or another.

As has already been discussed here, there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue, and board members fall on either.  A couple (Maxine Wood and student member Jerome Hill) are still settling on their position.

Dr. Alonso and Jonathan Brice, the executive director for student support, reiterated last night their belief that a clear line must be drawn when it comes to acceptable school behavior.  The proposed policy on permanent expulsions, they contend, aims to do just that, highlighting certain offenses that warrant being shown the door.  Acts such as arson or detonating explosives put the entire school community in danger; at the same time, these cases represent a very small number of the incidents that occur in schools.

Continue reading "Debate on permanent expulsion begins" »

Posted by Arin Gencer at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

Tonight, the Baltimore City school board is holding a work session on permanent expulsions.  You all may recall Sara's story back in May on this subject, as well as the debate here on Dr. Alonso's decision to permanently exclude students who intentionally set fires or detonate explosives from city schools.  I'll keep you posted on what happens during tonight's discussion.

I'll also be at Morgan State University tomorrow morning for Dr. Alonso's speech to school administrators about the state of schools and his goals for the 2009-2010 year.  The mayor is also expected to be there....check back here for an update.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

There's a new educational nonprofit in town, but this time it has an interesting angle. Higher Achievement, founded in Washington, D.C., has expanded to Baltimore and is attempting to give middle school students academic help and mentoring so that they can make it into the city's best college prep high schools. 

I will be writing more about this in the weeks to come, but the group has already recruited about 125 students in the neighborhoods around two schools: Collington Square in East Baltimore and Ashburton in West Baltimore. The students have been attending a summer school and will begin an after-school program in the fall. The after-school program runs from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. four days a week. Not only do the students get dinner and do their homework, mentor volunteers from the community come from 6  p.m. to 8 p.m. The organization is still recruiting mentors, but it hopes to have enough in place by September.

Higher Achievement isn't attempting to attract the students who are about to drop out or at the highest risk of failure. Instead, the group is concentrating on the middle, the students who might be successful with the right support; in other words, the students who might get lost.

Students who participated in the program in D.C. have increased their grades in math and English and have better attendance.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Mary Ann Winterling had been an assistant principal or principal at Bentalou Elementary School since 1974 when she died in March of cancer. She saw the school through integration, then took the job of principal in 1980. She did such a good job that when the school board wanted to stop the imposed busing of students, white parents protested, saying they wanted their children to remain at the 90 percent black school.

In 2003, Bentalou was named a Maryland Blue Ribbon School. And at the board meeting this week, a stream of parents and teachers came forward to ask the board to please rename the school for their beloved principal. The board agreed to the renaming. So now the school that Mary A. Winterling gave her professional life to will bear her name. "We would like to honor a great, powerful educator," one advocate for the name change said.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The Baltimore Teachers Union just issued its press release about the agreement it reached with the school system to continue the contract for another year. The teachers will take a vote on Aug. 26 at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Western High School complex.

"Due to budget constraints we felt it would be fair to simply extend the contract for one year and make sure teachers and paraprofessionals keep their jobs," BTU president Marietta English said in the release.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

At the Baltimore city school board meeting on Tuesday night, a large group of Hamilton neighborhood residents turned up to support the City Neighbors, a charter school that is hoping to open a new school in the building that used to house Hamilton Middle School beginning next year.

Residents talked about how they had wanted to stay in the city but were struggling with where to send their children. They wanted a school that was truly diverse; in other words, one that looked like their neighborhood. 

They got what they wanted. The city school board gave them a five-year lease that won't cost them anything, but the school agreed to spend well over $600,000 next year on improvements to the facility. Schools chief Andres Alonso said he has a policy of not giving up the school facilities but he is happy to see that the district won't have to spend money to renovate the building. "It is a good deal for us," he said.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Here is the text of the end-of-year-message Andres Alonso sent out today. What do you think about what he says?

June 26, 2009

Dear City Schools Colleagues, Staff, Partners and Friends,

Next week we begin the 2009-10 fiscal year, and I want to thank you again for your part
in making this past year a tremendous one for our students and schools.

This time a year ago I wrote to you about changes we were implementing throughout
Baltimore City Public Schools to allow us, together, to build a system of great schools. It
was a time marked by uncertainty, but also by hope and imagining what could be.

Then, throughout the 2008-09 year, we saw those possibilities take root and begin to
become reality. We saw record and historic student achievement gains; the first
enrollment growth in four decades; a brand-new level of family and community
engagement in our schools; and elected officials, partners and friends rallying around our
students like never before. We saw what can happen when the work of a city and its
school system is all about what is best for kids, staying true to that focus and being
accountable for our students’ success. We saw not only that great things can happen in
City Schools, but that great things are happening in City Schools.

The transformation of City Schools is under way. And I’d like to share with you a few
things about the past year that give me cause for such confidence.

Continue reading "End-of-year message from Dr. Alonso" »

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

While the state Board of Education is still mulling over possible changes to the vetting process for city school board candidates, several other things came out of their meeting yesterday.

The board approved the restructuring plan for Baltimore's Moravia Park Elementary/Middle School, which will require all school employees to reapply for their jobs.  All the staff positions at Moravia have been posted and interviews and selections are already taking place, city schools CEO Andres Alonso said.

Alonso told members that he was happy to be there "for only one school,” noting six schools were brought before them the previous year, and more the year before that. Alonso said he saw that as a sign of the progress that's been made.

For those who've been asking about the MSAs: State schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said during yesterday's meeting that the results have been sent to each district, and the appeals process has begun, as adequate yearly progress is being determined. Grasmick said the results should be reported at the board's meeting in July.

And finally, the "voluntary state curriculum" may officially become "voluntary" no more: Grasmick said the board will be asked to remove the word from all references to the VSC.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City, NCLB
        

In my story today, I take a look at dropouts – and, more specifically, dropout prevention and intervention – the focus of a day-long summit at Randallstown High School yesterday.  Hundreds of state educators, believed to represent all 24 school systems, attended the event, said to be a first for Maryland.  It was sponsored by America’s Promise Alliance, an organization tied to former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife and current chair, Alma.

One of the noteworthy moments during the summit involved a theatrical performance put on by a troupe from Garrett County, who portrayed seven characters – six students and a parent – explaining why they chose to drop out.  The writer of the play, called The Goodbye Kids, explained to the audience that the concept emerged from more than 20 interviews she did with dropouts.  The characters were composites of what she gleaned from those talks, she said.

The characters, all students at “Run of the Mill High School,” ranged from a boy who bellowed about how much his teachers bored him to a girl whose family never set a high priority on finishing school to a poor student who was sick of being mocked for his appearance – and stench.  Other highlights included a student who’d always gotten by – until that one teacher noticed his inability to read – and the mother of another who had been regularly mocked for being gay.

Interestingly, the profiles foreshadowed a later presentation from Robert Balfanz, director of the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University. 

Continue reading "Tackling school dropouts" »

Posted by Arin Gencer at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Around the Nation, Around the Region, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Howard County, NCLB
        

During the week of June 22, InsideEd will feature reports for some very special correspondents.  Thirty-three elementary and middle school math and science teachers from the Baltimore area will be in Huntsville, Al. to participate in the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program.

These teachers applied for and were awarded scholarships for this week-long program, during which they'll take part in astronaut-style training and simulations, and work together on educational activities.  They will carry back what they learn from these experiences to their classrooms to help students gain a better appreciation for math and science.

Throughout their week at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, 8 of these educators will serve as "teacher/reporters" for InsideEd, sending us daily updates about what they're doing and what they're learning. 

Some of the teacher/reporters are also shooting video and taking photographs during the week.  After they get back, we'll collect these visuals and edit them into a presentation about the Space Academy that will be published on baltimoresun.com before the next school year begins.  That presentation will also include more information about the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program that these teachers and others can use in the classroom. 

Our teacher/reporters for the week will be:

Sabourah Abdunafi of ConneXions Community Leadership Academy

Susan Allen of Urbana Middle School

Sarah Clark of Franklin Middle School

Mary Horner of Notre Dame Preparatory School

Luis Lima of Baltimore City College

Rachel Murphy of Hereford Middle School

Adren Thompson of Rising Stars Academy

Amy Wood of the Maryland Science Center

Posted by Arin Gencer at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Teaching
        

Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso released a statement today regarding the appointment of Brian Morris, former school board chairman, to an unadvertised, $175,000-a-year job as deputy CEO of operations. Morris withdrew his acceptance to the post Saturday, after questions arose about the hiring process and his own financial troubles. In the statement, Alonso says he “made a real mistake” and takes “responsibility for rebuilding ... trust.” Here is the full statement:

Continue reading "Alonso says he 'made a real mistake'" »

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

From our first guest poster, a Baltimore City high school teacher:

Why are we here right now?

My co-workers and I have been asking ourselves that question all week.

The last day of school for Baltimore City students and teachers is today. However, many, if not all, high schools administered final exams last week, on Monday 6/1, Tuesday 6/2 and Wednesday 6/3. That leaves seven days – count 'em: Thursday 6/4, Friday 6/5, Monday 6/8, Tuesday 6/9, Wednesday 6/10, Thursday 6/11 and Friday 6/12 – of school without any significant purpose. My students know that they took their exams and that grades were turned in. They’re also smart enough to figure out that once grades are turned in, none of the work they do will count for anything. So why keep school open for seven more days?

We have been told that these are "regular” school days – which is not true since virtually no students are present. I am not exaggerating when I say that I saw about 10-15 students in our school Thursday. I stood at one entrance to our building Thursday morning and exactly six students arrived. Six. This is a total waste of everyone's time (not to mention money – think about all those bus tickets!), and it sends a terrible message to our kids.

Continue reading "No students to teach this week" »

Posted by Jennifer Badie at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

In a story in today's paper, we detail some of the financial problems that have plagued Brian Morris in the past decade. The chairman of the city school board, who resigned this week to take a $175,000 job as deputy chief executive officer of the schools, has been the subject of dozens of lawsuits and bad debt claims. Morris has many supporters who say that he has done a remarkably good job of guiding the board over the past three years.

His new job has already generated a lively discussion on a previous post on this blog. What do readers think about his background? Does it matter if top officials in the government, in this case the school system, have had financial troubles?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (93)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

I know there must be a lot of regular readers of the blog who would like to comment on my story in this morning's paper about Brian Morris. The city school board chair resigned Monday and was then appointed last night by the city school board to a top level job in the city schools. He will be deputy chief executive officer for operations.

Update, 6/12: In a story in Friday's paper, we detail some of the financial problems that have plagued Brian Morris in the past decade. The chairman of the city school board, who resigned this week to take a $175,000 job as deputy chief executive officer of the schools, has been the subject of dozens of lawsuits and bad debt claims. Check out the related blog post and comments here.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (126)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The city school board will soon be getting at least one new board member when the longtime president of the board, Brian Morris, leaves in July.

Who will replace Morris is a critical question because he has been one of Andres Alonso's strongest backers and has helped to persuade other board members to give the chief executive officer a lot of leeway to carry out his plans.

According to Bill Reinhard, a spokesman at the Maryland State Department of Education, the state decided not to advertise for the position this time around because it received enough volunteers who want to serve on the board. This is unusual for the process, in my memory at least, but Reinhard said that there is no requirement to advertise in the law.

The next step will be for the board to approve a list of candidates that will be sent to the governor and the mayor. They have to agree on the appointment.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

At Tuesday night's city school board meeting, Andres Alonso announced that JoAnne Koehler, the human resources officer for the school system, will be retiring. Alonso said he asked Koehler to think about it for a week while she was on vacation because he hoped she would stay. But she came back a week later and said, sorry, I am gone. "JoAnne Koehler did an amazing job," he said.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

In Monday's paper, I wrote about Teach for America's plans to expand in Baltimore next school year.  What is interesting to me, but didn't make it into the story, is the fact that Maryland has been unable to choose some very highly qualified candidates from top schools in the nation because of its certification requirements. To be certified you have to have six college credits in a range of subjects. So you may have graduated in the top of your class at Harvard, but you won't be able to teach in Baltimore because you didn't take enough math classes.

The state and Teach for America are trying to negotiate a solution to this problem. They may agree to drop the distribution requirements in lieu of a high GPA. We will see.

In the meantime, plenty of applicants have stepped forward to find places in the city schools.

Andres Alonso likes TFA because it provides a lot of bang for the buck. He sees many future leaders in the system coming out of TFA.

What do you all think about the Teach for America expansion?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (58)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City
        

As Sara mentioned before she departed, she did an interview about this blog with Beatblogging.org, which focuses on how journalists can use blogging and social networks in their reporting.

Check out the blog post on her interview, as well as the podcast.

Thanks to a parent, who beat me to the punch.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The Baltimore Teachers Union complained yesterday that some principals are now telling a small group of highly qualified teachers they won't have jobs for them in the fall.

The union says they believe between 25 and 100 teachers are in the midst of having to find new positions inside the system or in their schools because their current jobs will no longer exist next school year.

Some of the problem apparently comes from the fact that principals now control their own budgets and are cutting positions to balance their budgets.

Andres Alonso said yesterday that he doesn't know why this would be happening because school budgets have not yet been finally approved. A job fair will be held this weekend for teachers who are looking for new jobs.

Apparently, the teachers are not going to find themselves without a job, but they may have to take a position they consider less than ideal.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

My last Sun byline will be on a story about a drastic rise in permanent expulsions from Baltimore schools this year. I reported here back in October, following the explosions at Patterson High, that the system would start permanently expelling students found guilty of arson or detonating explosives. Consequently, 34 students -- including one in elementary school and 13 in middle school -- have been permanently expelled this school year, up from four last year at this time and just one the year before that. Two parents have secured legal representation from the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau, which is considering a lawsuit.

We've talked a lot on this blog about Dr. Alonso's recommendation that students not be suspended for non-violent offenses. Indeed, the number of suspensions so far this school year is down by 3,500, from 13,289 incidents to 9,722. But on the flip side, Alonso wants zero tolerance for violence, and he makes a strong statement with his direction on permanent expulsions. 

Should a kid who sets a trash can fire be prohibited from ever returning to a Baltimore public school?

Continue reading "In Baltimore schools, a jump in permanent expulsions" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

My story today takes a look at a bullying policy coming before the Baltimore County school board Tuesday.

But really, this could have been about any school board in Maryland, considering the state law that requires every district to develop and adopt such a policy.  School officials in the city, Howard, Harford, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties are in the midst of this process, which must be completed by July 1 (and submitted to the state superintendent).

In talking to some of my sources, I was struck by the fact that most everyone already has a policy like this - even if it's not in the exact words or format recommended by the state.  In fact, the state Department of Education worked with local districts in creating its model policy. 

A uniform stance on an issue can certainly be a good thing - particularly when it comes to the persistent, even timeless, problem of bullying.  But I did wonder what people on the ground think about this.  Will it make a difference in how educators handle harassment or intimidation among their students?

Posted by Arin Gencer at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Anne Arundel, Around the Region, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Howard County, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

When it comes to recognizing teachers in Baltimore schools, better late than never. Following the news that the city's Teacher of the Year was selected from among only 13 nominees, Dr. Alonso sent a note to principals on May 12 asking each of them to select an outstanding teacher by May 19. He said the faculty should be part of the selection process. The winner at each school will get admission to a May 29 "bullpen party" sponsored by the city school system followed by the Orioles game, where Teacher of the Year Nicholas Greer will throw out the first pitch.

Next year, I think the goal will be to reverse the order, selecting an outstanding teacher from each school before selecting a citywide Teacher of the Year. But we take recognition when we can...

I'm pasting Alonso's letter to principals below.

Continue reading "Belatedly, recognizing Baltimore teachers" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Liz had a heck of a time getting the state to release data last week on how many seniors still have not met the HSA requirements, with graduation just a few weeks away. As she reported Friday, the number who have not passed is shrinking every day as projects keep rolling in. Fewer than 1,150 students were coming up short in Baltimore City plus Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll, Harford and Montgomery counties combined, down from 2,040 in late March. Baltimore County and Prince George's County (which had more students at risk for not graduating than any other district) did not release updated figures. But Baltimore County officials said they expect the number who won't graduate to be less than 4 percent of the senior class, or about 300 students.

In the city, officials estimate that more than 90 percent of seniors will have met the HSA requirements by graduation. Diplomas would be denied to about 400 seniors.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Testing
        

I'm working my last night police shift at The Sun tonight. Despite having done shifts like this at various newspapers for more than a decade, my grandmother still asks every time if I'll be safe. Every time, I can assure her that I will be.

Why? On weekends late at night, we're only looking to report on major crimes, most notably murders. But as long as the killings happen in certain neighborhoods, fitting the city's typical pattern where a 20-something-year-old black male is shot in a high-drug area, we only give them a few sentences. I sit listening to the police scanner and call the public information officer on duty at the police department. Almost invariably, I never have to leave the office. (Now, if mayhem breaks out at the Preakness tonight, I'll have to eat my words, but I'm speaking generally about my experience over time, and the same is true across newspapers.) I feel guilty every time I do it, reduce someone's life to a paragraph or two. And yet, I don't see a way around it. Newsworthiness is determined in large part by rarity, and shootings happen in Baltimore's impoverished, majority-black neighborhoods all the time. Of the 234 homicides in the city last year, 214 of the victims were African-American. Eighty-three percent of them had a criminal record, and 70 percent of them had prior drug arrests.

Wait, isn't this an education blog? Well...

Continue reading "Fifty-five years after Brown vs. Board of Ed" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City, School Diversity/Segregation
        

Jimmy Gittings, known for his colorful comments at school board meetings, was back at it last night as he called for an investigation into spending practices at North Avenue. No expense over $25,000 is supposed to go through without board approval. The PSASA president said he has a "strong feeling" -- but no proof -- that protocol is not being followed. He said that if he had gone against board procedure during the years he worked in the system's Title 1 office, "I'd have been taken out of here in handcuffs." Dr. Alonso said he's not sure what Gittings is referring to, but he's asked a staff member to look into the concern.

Gittings also alleges that the system does not have enough jobs in schools for all the central office administrators whose positions were eliminated this year, based on PSASA's calls to 138 of the system's principals. Alonso said there will be spots in schools for those with valid certification.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The city school board tonight named Landa McLaurin director of the system's new school support networks. McLaurin has been a principal coach with New Leaders for New Schools for the past three years since leaving her post as principal of Western High.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

If tonight's school board meeting isn't enough excitement for your week, here are some other noteworthy events:

Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., the NAACP's Baltimore branch and Iota Phi Lambda Sorority will hold a meeting to protest the impending merger of Paquin with Baltimore Rising Star Academy. A press release says that "there’s been no better God sent servant than (Paquin) Director Dr. Rosetta Stith ... to address challenges that our girls are confronting." Meeting at the NAACP headquarters, 8 W. 26th St. This two weeks after Kweisi Mfume, former president of the national NAACP, testified against the merger before the school board.

Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m., Dr. Alonso is holding a forum for teachers at Poly on collaborative planning. Then at 6, the City Council will have a hearing on the school system's operating budget.

And looking ahead to next week: Jay Matthews, the Washington Post reporter who wrote the book "Work Hard. Be Nice." about KIPP schools, will speak at a fundraiser for the organization from 6 to 8 p.m. May 21 at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum. Tickets are (sorry) $75 each, but you do get a copy of the book included in the price.

UPDATE, 5/14: The teacher forum for today has been canceled due to a death in Dr. Alonso's family.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Comedian Stephen Colbert is encouraging donations to DonorsChoose, the Web site that raises money to help teachers (including those in Baltimore, as you might recall from the mustache fundraiser) pay for classroom supplies. He's asking people to celebrate his 45th birthday by signing on to the site and giving to the teacher of their choice. So far 64 donors have given $3,733. Check it out here.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City
        

An excellent blog entry by Baltimore Diary (even if he does say that InsideEd conversations lately have been "more chaff than wheat" -- ouch!) about his experience at the Baltimore school system job fair on Saturday.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

A new state audit on "related services" in Baltimore schools reports significant improvement from last year, with noncompliance rates now in the single digits. That's a long way from the 90,000 hours of makeup services the system was ordered to provide back in 2005 when I started covering the city schools. And just last fall, the system acknowledged that it was not in compliance with the related services provision of the Vaughn G. consent decree. Now it's going to try to be freed from that provision.

So what happened? When I met with Dr. Alonso and Kim Lewis yesterday, Lewis mentioned careful monthly tracking of services. She also said the system shifted the financial burden to service providers when a student misses a service and needs a makeup. Before, a contractor could be paid twice for the same job, even though it wasn't performed the first time. There's efficiency for you.

MSDE has relieved the system of one corrective action plan, but six remain involving other areas of special ed. Another step forward. How many to go?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Baltimore City, SpecialEd
        

Peter Hermann has this blog item about our coverage Saturday of Black Guerrilla Family lieutenant Rainbow Lee Williams doing gang de-escalation work at Harbor City and four educators endorsing the Black Book. Peter mentions a case he covered at Northern High School in the late 1990s where a former criminal was working as a school counselor, under the theory that because of his troubled past, kids would be able to relate to him. Then a new regime came in and got rid of the counselor, also because of his troubled past.

I do understand the theory that ex-cons can relate to a vulnerable population of kids, perhaps better than most anyone else. But how do you determine which ones are safe to be in our schools? Though Williams supposedly wasn't left alone with students, his case is troubling on two counts: 1) He just had gotten out of prison on a murder charge a few weeks before his work at Harbor City began -- so he hadn't had any time to prove he had turned himself around, which, as it turns out, he hadn't. 2) (Did I mention?) He'd just gotten out of prison on a murder charge. Shouldn't the standard be different for murder than lesser crimes? Why is it that sex offenders can never go back into schools, but there can be an exception after you've killed someone? (I'm not endorsing sex offenders in schools, either.)

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

I'm exhausted after writing four stories yesterday, one on the Stanford 10 scores, one on the Baltimore Teachers Union's Extreme Classroom/Library Makeover contest, and two with Justin Fenton on the Black Guerrilla Family.

The test scores, as you know, are up.

The classroom makeover is well intentioned but somewhat problematic. The teacher at Southside Academy is likely slated to move to a different (smaller) classroom next school year. And the BTU still needs to raise money and solicit volunteers to complete the renovations.

As for the Black Guerrilla Family: I learned a bit more about convicted murderer Rainbow Lee Williams' role de-escalating gang conflicts at Harbor City with Partners In Progress. And we got a copy of The Black Book, a self improvement guide written by the head of BGF. Andrey Bundley and Bridget Alston-Smith, head of PIP, are among those who endorsed the book on its back cover. Both say they were only speaking about the personal improvement efforts they witnessed personally while doing outreach in prisons.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

On the testing front, the good news keeps coming for Baltimore schools. This morning, the news is out that Stanford 10 scores for first- and second-graders are up substantially.

First-graders outscored 63 percent of peers in a national sample in math (up from 55 percent) and 50 percent in reading (up from 47 percent). For second-graders, those figures are 57 percent in math (up from 49) and 46 percent in reading (up from 42). And the gap between special ed and regular ed students' performance narrowed.

While we newspaper people tend to look at how this year's first-graders compare with last year's first grade and this year's second-graders compare with last year's second grade, I always find it interesting to see how a cohort is doing over time (understanding that there's going to be some turnover so we're not exactly comparing apples to apples). The second-graders who scored on average at the 57th percentile in math this year scored at the 55th percentile last year as first-graders. In reading, their performance at the 46th percentile this year is down a point from the 47th percentile last year. In other words, the gains aren't as great as when you compare the same grades against each other, but there's not a big backslide, either.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore City, Testing
        

City Paper is reporting that Rainbow Lee Williams, a murder convict and co-defendant in the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang conspiracy case, was mentoring students at one of Baltimore's alternative schools: Achievement Academy at Harbor City. He apparently worked for the nonprofit Partners In Progress, run by Bridget Alston-Smith. City Paper says that Alston-Smith wrote a back-cover blurb for "The Black Book," a self-improvement guide for people in the BGF gang.

I've asked the city school system for the status of Partners In Progress' contracts and procedures for criminal background checks on employees of contractors.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

Dr. Alonso started the day yesterday by giving Baltimore's Teacher of the Year Award to Nicholas Greer. He ended the day getting an award himself: The Greater Baltimore Committee honored him with the Howard "Pete" Rawlings Courage in Public Service Award during its annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency. This isn't an annual award; Rawlings was honored posthumously in 2004, and the only other recipient since was Sen. Paul Sarbanes in 2006. According to the GBC, the award is given on an occasional basis "to honor public officials who demonstrate exceptional courage while serving in an elected or appointed public office."

This is from the script that GBC president and CEO Don Fry read at the dinner:

Since he became CEO of Baltimore’s public school system in July 2007, Andrés Alonso has gone about the difficult work of changing the culture of a troubled school system by challenging school principals to manage their facilities, and all system employees to accept responsibility for the system’s outcomes.

Reflecting a straightforward, reform-minded approach that Delegate Rawlings was known for, Alonso has cut through the school system’s traditional politics and focused principals, teachers and school employees on results and accountability, with no excuses. Under his leadership, city schools have begun a turnaround in student achievement that is capturing the attention of parents, business advocates and the system’s many stakeholders.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

It was fun walking into the 29-year-old biology teacher's classroom this morning with Dr. Alonso, Poly Principal Barney Wilson, BTU officials, school board members, administrators and television camera crews, and an administrator toting a cart full of prizes. "You're kidding me," was the response from Greer, who was wearing a pink shirt as part of Poly's spirit week, for which students raised money for breast cancer research.

It's clear that Greer is an excellent teacher ("the best teacher I've had yet," said student Denzel Hamilton, 14). He teaches Ingenuity biology, honors bio, and Ingenuity science and computers. He also coaches Poly's boys soccer team, mentors a UMBC intern, and chairs the School Family Council at Poly.

But I have to pose the same question as I did last year: Why weren't there more candidates for the award? Greer was selected from among 13 applicants, about twice as many as last year (when there were seven, but two disqualified) and three times as many as the years before that. The application process was streamlined a bit this year but is still extensive. A teacher must be nominated by a principal or colleague, and people just don't seem to be taking the time. Dr. Alonso says he wants to start a Teacher of the Year award at each of the city's nearly 200 schools, so then in the future the citywide winner would be selected from that pool.

Cecily Anderson of Catonsville Middle School was named Baltimore County's Teacher of the Year yesterday.

The photo of Greer and Alonso above was shot by Sun photographer Lloyd Fox.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

While at the EWA conference, I learned about a study to be published soon by the Consortium on Chicago School Research about the learning loss that occurs following an announcement that a school is to close. It makes sense that such an announcement would have a demoralizing effect on both students and teachers for the remainder of their time together. But is that reason to keep a failing school open?

The topic came up at a session I attended Friday with Michelle Rhee and Charles Payne, author of the new book "So Much Reform, So Little Change." Rhee has closed 23 schools in Washington. Both she and Payne acknowledged that the learning loss when a school is to close is substantial but said the closures still must proceed. Payne said districts have a responsibility to ensure that students from closing schools get seats in good schools. Rhee said they should be working with teachers to ease their fears and pave the way for the smoothest transition possible.

Other interesting points they made at the session: 1) School districts need to stop changing direction every time they change superintendents or reform will never take hold. 2) Teachers are getting mandates from too many places and need to be told simply what's expected of them. 3) Improving social services alone does not radically improve student achievement and must be coupled with improving education.

See this editorial from yesterday's Sun about last week's school closure votes in Baltimore, suggesting that Dr. Alonso use the opportunity to reorganize school staffs for a better mix of new and experienced teachers.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City
        

Check out Bill Ferguson's new site for details of the projects he's working on for the Baltimore schools. I've added it to the blogroll.

No snarky comments, please. I appreciate the perspective Bill provides on InsideEd, and he's taken a lot of flack lately.

Speaking of which, in the name of constructive dialogue and understanding, shall we schedule another meetup before school lets out for the summer?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Several MATHS students posted good comments this week about why a report's conclusion that charter school students in Baltimore have more advantages does not ring true for them. I'm awarding Comment of the Week to MATHS student Jabril Morris for this poignant submission: 

I don't think that the opening statement of this article is accurate because I don't come from a prviledged home because my mother is out of work and on unemployment and we are struggling to keep the lights on in the house. I transferred from a zone school when I was in the 8th grade. All I had to do was to come to maths for an interview and take a placement test. By next school year I was in MATHS. Even though I go to a charter school I still have problems at home, sometimes my mother doesn't have enough money to pay the BGE bill so our lights would be cut off.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City, Charter Schools, Comment of the Week
        

The Education Writers Association conference kicked off yesterday in Washington, and Arne Duncan spoke to our group last night. Some highlights (on issues I didn't talk about last week when I covered his talk at University of Maryland):

-- Unproven programs are "absolutely worth trying." Performance pay is still new in education, but it increases worker productivity in other industries. If we never try new things, we'll never know if they can work.

-- Closing failing schools in Chicago, the saddest part was showing parents the data. No one had ever talked to them, and they didn't know they were the worst in the city.

-- Districts should hold principals accountable for school culture.

-- School districts should be judged on their graduation rate -- and not necessarily a four-year rate. Nothing's wrong with giving a struggling kid extra time. And districts should not be penalized in their statistics for bringing dropouts back.

-- "If there's one word that captures my state of mind these days, it is urgency."

I had the opportunity to briefly meet Duncan after his talk, and he asked me what I think of the work Dr. Alonso is doing in Baltimore. I said it sounds like they share many of the same ideas.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City
        

In addition to everything else I've already written about from last night's school board meeting, the board heard a proposal for changes in the city's graduation requirements. The changes -- which will be presented again before a board vote --  would officially make the HSAs a graduation requirement in Baltimore. But that's just a formality. More significantly, they would eliminate the so-called "gatekeeper" courses: To go from ninth grade to 10th, students currently must take and pass English 1 and Algebra 1; going from 10th to 11th requires English 2 and geometry or American government.

The administration's presentation to the board says the gatekeeper courses:
-- "do not benefit students who have earned sufficient credits to be promoted to the next grade"
-- "unnecessarily prevent students from taking upper-level classes on-time" and
-- "unnecessarily discourage at-risk students by freezing their school status based on an outdated policy."

The board also voted last night to increase tuition for non-city residents next school year by 10 percent, from $3,500 to $3,850, over the protests of member Anirban Basu. It delayed voting on a proposed 30-percent increase for the 2010-2011 school year, which would bring tuition to $5,000.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The board has signed off on all the proposed school closures that it was asked to vote on tonight. The vote on Harriet Tubman was 5-4, likely because of the recent investment in the school by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The vote on Samuel Banks and Thurgood Marshall was 6-3. Most of the other votes had one or two board members dissenting.

Kweisi Mfume was among dozens who showed up to oppose the merger of Paquin with Rising Star Academy. He said it would be "untenable" and a potential disaster to put 200 boys in a school with pregnant girls and infants. Paquin director Rosetta Stith urged the board to look at a new proposal to expand Paquin into an all-girls program.

So where does the Paquin proposal stand? I don't know. It wasn't on the agenda because Paquin is technically a program rather than a school, so Dr. Alonso can close or merge it without board approval.

UPDATE: The presentation of the charter school report I wrote about today as been postponed until the next meeting.

UPDATE: Dr. Alonso says the Paquin/Rising Star merger will happen unless someone gives him a proposal for another arrangement that makes better sense. He said he is open to other possibilities.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

This is a letter written to the school board by Karen Kotchka, an IST at Lemmel, making the case to keep the school open. The board votes on the school closures tonight.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Dear School Board Member:

I am writing to urge you to vote against the abrupt closing of Wm. H. Lemmel Middle School at the upcoming School Board meeting on April 28th.  The planned disbursement of the 449 students projected to attend Wm. H. Lemmel next year to schools throughout the city would cause instability and disruption in both the lives of our students as well as the schools that they will be siphoned into.  We currently have 275 sixth and seventh grade students who are unfairly being asked to uproot themselves and adjust to a new school setting, unlike students at other middle schools that have been closed down in a phase out plan such as Harlem Park, Canton, Hamilton, and Thurgood Marshall.  For our seventh grade students in particular, it will be a strong disadvantage to try to start anew at a school for their 8th grade year. They should be building a strong record in 8th grade in grades, test scores and extracurricular activities to help their citywide high school applications instead of getting used to a completely new environment, teachers, administrators and possibly losing out on special programs that they have been involved in for two years. 

Continue reading "A case to save William H. Lemmel Middle" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

I wonder what the children at Samuel F.B. Morse Elementary saw on their way into school this morning; a dead body was found across the street at 7 a.m... Teach Baltimore (formerly Epiphany In Baltimore) blogs about the ambivalence of students on his baseball team when they discover that a guy is hiding heroin under the grass in the playground where they practice... Now, in addition to street violence and the drug trade, we have to worry about cyberbullying. The Anti-Defamation League, in partnership with Frederick County schools and the Maryland State Department of Education, is holding the Mid-Atlantic's first cyberbullying conference in Frederick tomorrow. Closer to home, the International Institute for Restorative Practices will hold a daylong training in Baltimore on the technique it says reduces school violence. Isn't it a shame you have to be in school? Also tomorrow, NAEP scores for the nation (not broken down by state) will be released. Tomorrow night, the Baltimore school board casts its much-awaited votes on school closures and reorganizations. And that's not all that's on the agenda. The board will hear reports on the state of charter schools and summer school and get a recommendation to change its high school promotion policy, dropping the requirement of certain courses in particular grades. More to come on all these topics... Looking ahead: I'll spend Thursday to Saturday this week at the Education Writers Association conference in Washington. Saturday evening, Frederick Douglass students and alums will put on a concert to honor the late Anne Brown.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof), Testing
        

Here's a video shot by Sun photographer Kim Hairston and narrated by Southside Academy math teacher LaShaviar Burns on the Bridge project grading process. It was filmed during the weekend grading session at Edmondson-Westside following last month's onslaught of Bridge submissions.

I went to a City Council education committee meeting last week about Bridge and HSAs. Most of the information presented in a PowerPoint by school system officials was review to me (and those of you who have been following my coverage here). But two slides stood out, showing the breakdown of where students who entered high school in 2005 -- those who are supposed to be seniors now -- ended up. The first slide shows where they were last fall; the second shows where they are now.

Between the beginning of the year and now, the size of the class of first-time seniors grew from 3,984 to 4,088 as students who were behind in credits got promoted. But the number of students who should be seniors and are still underclassmen shrunk by more than the number of seniors grew. I've asked if that means they dropped out and am awaiting a reply. The number of students who started high school in 2005 and are still juniors declined from 592 last fall to 399 now. The number who are still sophomores went from 377 to 259. And 170 are still freshmen, down from 248 in the fall.

Of the 4,088 seniors, there are still 109 who have not passed any HSAs (down from 678 at the beginning of the school year) and 141 who have passed only one (down from 403). On the bright side: 1,968 (up from 689) have passed all four exams needed to be eligible for their diplomas. The number who have met requirements overall has gone up from 2,373 to 3,336.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The city school system reports that attendance appears to be normal today. But one teacher I follow on Twitter reported that it's senior skip day at his school. The Smallest Twine, who teaches sophomores at another school, tweets that she had 11 of 28 students in first period and 12 of 24 in fifth. She suspects the combination of beautiful weather and Friday caused students to skip. She also said that most teachers at her school don't turn in attendance sheets until the end of the day, which could be the reason the central office hasn't been alerted.

UPDATE: A Digital Harbor staff member reports on Twitter that it's senior skip day there, too.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The Baltimore school system has launched a new Web site to highlight student accomplishments. It's called Great Kids Up Close.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Chris Jackson, 17, was camping in the Appalachians last weekend, so he was late in getting the cell phone message with the news. The Baltimore City College junior was selected to plant trees for Earth Day with the Obamas, the Bidens and Bill Clinton, thanks to his involvement in the Student Conservation Association. So was Antica Howell, 18, a senior at NAF.

Due to national security concerns, the students were supposed to keep the plan a secret. To arrange an excused absence from school, Chris did let it slip to City Principal Tim Dawson that he would be meeting the president -- but he wouldn't say where he was going. "He's a faithful soldier," Dawson said this afternoon as he let Chris and I use his office for an interview.

On Tuesday morning, Chris, Antica and six other students convened at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, where they spent the day preparing for the 5 p.m. event. Each of the students was assigned to help a dignitary with the heavy labor involved in digging a hole in the ground and sticking a tree in it. Antica was paired with Clinton. Chris, along with a girl from Washington named Brenda, got President Obama. They were making plans to present him with gloves and a shovel when Chris heard a loud voice ask, "Where's Chris and Brenda?" And he realized: "That's the president speaking."

Continue reading "Tree-planting with the Obamas" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

We're all about guest posts here this week. This one is from Beth Drummond Casey, executive director of the Middle Grades Partnership, about Park School's professional development event on Sunday -- and how the model used successfully there might transfer into public schools:

Conventional wisdom might stress the importance of not looking back once you leave one job for another. Nonetheless, I found myself thinking somewhat wistfully of my 14 years working at Park School as I sat in the audience at Park’s 20th anniversary celebration of its professional development program, FACA (Faculty And Curricular Advancement), this past Sunday evening.
 
Devoted readers of this blog tend to care about and be associated with public schools. (Like me, for instance: I now help run a program for 600 Baltimore City public middle school students.) But I hope some of you – especially those who believe that effective teacher professional development is the best way to promote student achievement – will set aside your biases about private schools and will read all the way to the end of this post.

I’m remembering Sara’s blog entry last week, the one where she mentioned attending a lecture at which Deborah Loewenberg Ball, a noted education researcher, bemoaned the lack of quality professional development for veteran teachers. Ball noted that it was up to research universities to fill that gap. I disagree. Speaker after speaker on Sunday night at Park confirmed it: We don’t have to wait for universities to decide what we need. We can provide stellar professional development all on our own.

Continue reading "Private school PD as a model for city schools?" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore City, Baltimore County
        

My colleague Justin Fenton reports that a Baltimore school police officer was arrested today. A grand jury indicted Reginald Watson, 35, on charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl. Watson is charged with sexual abuse of a minor, fourth-degree sex assault and second-degree assault for an alleged Feb. 19 incident at Masonville Cove Community Academy (formerly Benjamin Franklin Junior High, now a high school). The victim is a student there.

According to police, the girl was walking the school hallways when Watson bought her snacks (specifically, Pop Tarts) and took her into an office. There, he played the movie "Lean On Me" before allegedly making sexually explicit remarks to her and placing his hands on her hips and buttocks. Police learned of the incident after the girl relayed the account to a parent volunteer. 

Watson was indicted yesterday and arrested today. He's being held on $50,000 bond and has a bail review scheduled for Thursday morning in Baltimore Circuit Court. Justin, who covers city police, says the "sexual abuse of a minor" charge is usually reserved for parents or guardians accused of abusing their children, but Watson is being hit with it because of his role as a police officer and authority figure.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

This is a guest post from Benjamin Feldman, research, evaluation and accountability officer for the Baltimore school system, in response to the graduation rate report released today by America's Promise:

T.S. Eliot called April the cruelest month, blaming lilacs as the source of misery. From the perspective of the Baltimore City Schools’ Division of Research, Evaluation, Assessment and Accountability, the real April misery is the annual reappearance of graduation rates derived from a tortured statistic called the “Cumulative Promotion Index,” or CPI. According to the CPI, in 2005 Baltimore had crawled from the dungeon of graduation rates, adding 7.7 percent points to achieve a 45.5% rate. Thank heavens for Indianapolis: they’re at 30.5%, even worse than Cleveland at 34.4%. The national average is reported as a pathetic 70.6%.

Since EdWeek first published the CPI, I have made something of a career talking about graduation rates: how they are calculated, what the politics are, who is to blame.  I even gave an evening’s lecture at the School of Public Policy at UMBC two years ago, so keen was the interest in this perennial topic.  Now that The Sun publishes a continuing blog on education issues, the time is ripe to offer the community a fuller insight into this most-important of all K-12 education outcome measures.

Continue reading "What's in a graduate (and graduation rate)? " »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

David Donaldson, a first-year English teacher at MATHS who wrote an excellent op-ed for The Sun last November and a guest post for InsideEd a few months ago, is working to incorporate more technology into his classroom as part of a graduate course at Hopkins. He also wants to get his students more engaged in local issues. And so he's starting a project in three of his ninth-grade classes where 55 students are reading InsideEd and commenting on posts that are relevant to them. Before comments are submitted, there is a peer editing process and Donaldson gives his approval. You'll notice the students have submitted several comments today under the Columbine anniversary entry about teens' widespread access to guns. I'm delighted to have them as part of our ongoing conversations here and hope they will inspire more student participation on this blog.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

America's Promise Alliance, the collaborative founded by Colin and Alma Powell to improve the well-being of youth, has a new report out today with the on-time high school graduation rates in the nation's 50 largest cities. In Baltimore, the rate increased 7.7 points over a decade, from 33.8 percent in 1995 to 41.5 percent in 2005. We placed 46th out of 50 and were one of 16 city districts where the rate was calculated at below 50 percent. Suburban Baltimore schools were found to have a graduation rate 39 points higher than the city's, making us one of the regions with the largest gaps.

The report, called "Cities in Crisis 2009," did its calculations slightly differently than the oft-cited Education Week rankings, but for Baltimore the results are about the same -- and far lower than the city's official graduation rate as reported by the state: 62.6 percent in 2008 and 59 percent in 2005. The state rate is likely an overstatement because some dropouts are not officially recorded as such. But both the America's Promise and Ed Week calculations make things look worse than they are because they don't account for students moving in and out of the city.

And none of the calculations look beyond a four-year rate. I find this curious, as we judge colleges based on the number of students they graduate within six years and what matters ultimately is whether someone gets a high school diploma -- not how long it takes. Typically, about 20 percent of seniors in Baltimore need a fifth year to finish. In fighting to maintain the HSA requirements for this year's seniors, Dr. Alonso argued that he'll keep them around as long as it takes to get them to meet basic standards. (Students are legally entitled to stay in school until age 21.)

With all that said, here are more findings of the America's Promise report: 

Continue reading "Calculating Baltimore's graduation rate" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City
        

Sun photographer Algerina Perna and I went yesterday to a community meeting at Harriet Tubman Elementary, where we found a dozen staff members, parents and neighborhood residents brainstorming to try to save the school before the April 28 board vote on the reorganization plan.

The group is rushing to submit something to the board this week with ideas for recruiting more students to the Sandtown school, recommended for closure because of low enrollment and academic performance. Tubman has 190 students enrolled and space for 360, according to the system. Last year, its MSA scores took a big dive; the third-grade reading pass rate was 37 percent; in math, it was 40. Fourth and fifth grades were somewhat better. The staff members at the meeting said there's been a turnaround this year under the leadership of a new principal, and they haven't had a chance to show it.

One question I had for Lou Fields, a community activist who organized the meeting: Why didn't this group attend the COMAR hearings? He said -- echoing complaints at the hearings -- that the locations at Poly and Lake Clifton made it difficult for west-side residents to attend. He said the room was packed when Tubman had its own meeting with system officials earlier in the month.

Fields argues that the way the school closure proposal was announced was hurtful to the parents and students who learned of it on the news. He says the school, home of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids program, is a bright spot in a blighted neighborhood.

Most of the concerns I heard during the hour I stayed were social rather than academic: the gang-infested neighborhoods kids would have to walk through to get to their new schools, the trouble parents would have getting there. One teacher said she's worried about disruption in the mental health services that more than half her class receive. The group was searching for a hook, something it could do to make the case that it has to stay open.

There was talk of a public relations campaign, of recruiting parents who will pledge to send their children to Tubman next year, of sprucing up the school and asking Dr. Alonso and board members to visit. But I'll be surprised if the plan changes this late in the game.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The Baltimore school board has announced a closed session meeting for tomorrow afternoon "to discuss the functions of the Board." What does that mean?

I've got no inside information on this one, but my guess would be that they're meeting to talk about who will take over as board president when Brian Morris steps down this summer.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

About 50 people came out for the second and final COMAR hearing this morning, probably 20 of them system administrators required to attend. I'm sure there were people who decided to stay out and soak up the beautiful morning sun, but some speakers complained that both hearings (Thursday's at Poly, today's at Lake Clifton) were inconvenient for west-side residents. And some said people didn't turn out because they feel as though the decisions are already a done deal. Richard Stasio, a teacher at Dunbar Middle, said building crews are already out at the school preparing for its reconfiguration. Dr. Alonso responded that work has to happen now so the buildings will be ready if the board approves his school reorganization plan on April 28 -- but the board can still decide to change course. Stasio also said his school has been functioning without working heat, so if the system improves the conditions upon a merger with NAF, it's to be expected that student performance will improve.

Linda Jones, a teacher at Thurgood Marshall High, said she wished the system had given the school more support before deciding to close it. "I'm not sure why we never got resources," she said. Jason Kennon, who said he's involved at Lemmel, again warned the board against gang violence with the moves in and out of the Lemmel building (the middle school closing, IBE moving in). "How many of you have seen a drug raid or someone's brains blown out?" he asked the board members, talking about the social problems students are confronting. He said the system should be bringing new curriculum and programs to the children where they are.

City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke was the only person at either hearing to speak in defense of  Paquin, which is slated for merger with the Rising Star alternative school for overage middle school students. Because Paquin is now classified as a program rather than a school, it wasn't technically part of the hearings. Clarke said she came today "not with a lot of hope, but somebody needs to say something... It's a mess and I don't know how it's gonna be fixed." She said Paquin provides a "serene, safe environment" for pregnant girls, teenage moms and their babies, and to put it under the auspices of Rising Star would be "disrespectful."

Alonso uncharacteristically kept to himself for most of the hearing but then unloaded at the end, saying that if the reorganization does not work, "this is my accountability. If it doesn't work, I'm not gonna be around." He said he understands the concerns about gang violence stemming from school transfers are real, but if we accept that certain kids can't go into certain neighborhoods, "we are never going to be a city that works. Never." He reiterated that the plan is about giving families good school choices. "The only people in this city who have been getting choice," he said, "are the middle class and the wealthy and the people who get their kids into the citywide schools."

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The board governing the Bluford Drew Jemison charter school removed its principal, Kevin Parson, over the spring break. He has been reassigned to the central office. Not surprisingly, school officials declined to comment, since this is a personnel matter. Bluford has an atypical structure in that the principal reports to a "head of school," Kirk Gaddy. He is running the all-boys school on his own through the end of the academic year. Carl Stokes, the director of operations, said the board will launch a national search for a replacement.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Baltimore City, Charter Schools
        

Larry Jackson, a senior at Homeland Security Academy and budding photographer headed to MICA, took this photo of Wednesday's protest outside the Walbrook complex. Students were rallying against plans to move the the Institute of Business and Entrepreneurship to the Lemmel building next year. As Homeland Security closes, the Walbrook building would be shut down for a year and reconfigured to house two new single-gender schools (one boys, one girls) starting in 2010.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

More than 100 people attended last night's COMAR hearing at Poly/Western, and it got pretty heated and highly emotional at times. One man asked the school board members if they're trying to increase test scores or the murder rate. Like many of the others who spoke, he fears violence will rise if students have to cross gang lines to get to their new schools or if rival gang members are placed in the same school.

But, honestly, I was surprised it wasn't worse given the magnitude of changes proposed. I remember bigger crowds coming out a few years back when Samuel Banks was being moved into its current (and, it seems, final) location and gang warfare was predicted. This is not to take the concerns presented tonight lightly. On the contrary, it's incredibly sad that every time a school is relocated, gang violence must be a key consideration. This time around, the relocation of IBE to the Lemmel building seems to be of particular concern.

A number of speakers expressed confusion with logistics of the school reorganization plan such as transportation and were upset they didn't have a say in the proposal. Some lamented the partnerships with outside organizations that would be lost when schools close. Some came to defend Lemmel (the school slated to close, not the building that stays open), wanting to know where Dr. Alonso and other system administrators have been since they rushed out there after November's fatal stabbing.

Parents from the National Academy Foundation presented some interesting concerns. If the school absorbs Dunbar Middle in 2010, what about its academic entrance criteria? Would standards lower? What about the students who play sports for Digital Harbor and are counting on their placement on those teams for college scholarships? And can the school system provide a facility for NAF comparable to the one it would be leaving?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Continue reading "Juvenile shot in ankle during Harlem Park burglary" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
        

In talking about the tutors, I barely mention the kids. But a new study out of Washington University in St. Louis is worth a little more attention. It says that children who had these older adults as tutors made better than 60 percent more progress in two reading skills: reading comprehension and sounding out words.

Experience Corps is a national volunteer program that places at least 15 older tutors in a given school in kindergarten through third-grade classes. The volunteers, who have to be 55 or older, must commit to coming to the school for at least 15 hours a week for the academic year.

The Washington University study found that having an Experience Corps member in the classroom was the equivalent of reducing class size by 40 percent. The only groups that did not benefit, the study said, were students in special education.

The study was conducted over two years was funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It followed 800 students in 23 elementary schools in three cities. Half the students in the study were with Experience Corps volunteers and half were not.

What is so interesting, too, about these volunteers, is that many of them come from the communities around the schools. It's almost a formal way of having more neighborhood grandmas in schools. What kids wouldn't be helped having a grandma or grandpa there when they struggle to sound out a word or understand the meaning of a sentence?

And getting to know a few more adults in the neighborhood might also have benefits that carry into the streets. I am guessing here, but don't you think when those children move on to middle school and high school, they would be less likely to act up when they see the Experience Corps volunteer who sat beside them for hours in third-grade walking by?

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City, Study, study!
        

School officials in Baltimore and all over Maryland seem to think that the High School Assessments won't prevent many if any seniors from getting a diploma this year. Yes, there will be seniors who don't graduate, but that's the case every year. And those who don't graduate are those who would be held back anyway -- for failing classes, not showing up, not completing service learning hours, etc. Special education students and English learners who have done everything they're supposed to do can apply for HSA waivers.

So how to verify this claim?

Continue reading "Will HSAs hold students back?" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City, Testing
        

Two new studies I bring to your attention:

1) Just out from the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. It predicts that more than half the current teachers in American schools will retire in the next decade. The largest teacher retirement wave in history is upon us, it says, with the peak predicted for 2010-2011. Charts with state demographics show Maryland's "upper quartile" for age starting at 53 (thanks to MSTA for correcting my earlier misreading).

2) Western and the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women can find common ground in a report out of UCLA that found graduates of all-girls schools are more academically inclined, more politically engaged and more likely to pursue a career in engineering than their peers at co-ed schools. Western and BLSYW joined with private girls schools in the area to put out a press release on the study. Worth noting, though, that the report was funded by the National Coalition of Girls' Schools.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City, Study, study!
        

After the grading of 1,942 Bridge projects submitted in March and the acceptance of 1,800 of them, 80.8 percent of the city's senior class -- or 3,368 students -- have now met the High School Assessment requirements. Another 802 have not, but there's still the April test administration and another three chances to submit projects. Teachers are getting stipends to help about 100 seniors on algebra and biology projects during this week's spring break. And principals plan to apply for waivers for about 125 seniors, many of them in special education or learning English as a second language.

There's been a lot of progress among the seniors with disabilities, but still a long way to go if not for the waivers: Just 41.3 percent, or 161 of 390, meet requirements now, up from a single-digit pass rate last fall.

Getting to this point has been a ton of work, and school staff should brace themselves to do it again next year. Among the current juniors in the city, only a third -- 1,467 of 4,333 -- have met HSA requirements so far. This year, the city is faring better than Prince George's County, where, as of late March, 1,655 seniors (21.5 percent) were still trying to meet HSA requirements.

To give folks a sense of just how much work has been going on, I'm putting below the number of projects each city high school submitted in March and how many were accepted. Frederick Douglass High submitted the most projects: 208, of which 196 were accepted. Northwestern was No. 2, with 196 projects submitted and 181 accepted.

Officials say they expect that the only students in the city who won't graduate this year are those who wouldn't have graduated anyway: because of failed classes, missed service learning opportunities, etc. But the city has graduated about 4,000 seniors each of the past three years. To graduate 4,000 this year, all but 100 would need to get through. I understand that the size of the classes might be different, and that could skew the comparison, but I think it will be important for the public to know if, indeed, the HSA holds anyone back.

Continue reading "3,368 down, 802 to go" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City, Testing
        

I'm still trying to get a handle on the specifics, and negotiations in the House/Senate conference committee are still ongoing, but lawmakers in Annapolis are backing down from the most severe cuts the Senate proposed for education. It sounds like they're getting the message that the federal government will withhold the second year of stimulus money from states that slash education spending and try to use the stimulus dollars to make up the difference.

UPDATE: I've learned -- and apparently the legislators in Annapolis have, too -- that the stimulus contains language prohibiting cuts to state education funding formulas after October 2008 if schools are to receive the federal dollars. However, the conference committee is planning to limit inflation increases to 1 percent the year the stimulus runs out, in fiscal 2012, which would prompt cuts at that time.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Around the Region, Baltimore City
        

The Catholic Community School in South Baltimore has announced that it will close its doors in June after 125 years because of low enrollment and financial problems. I'll post below the letter that the principal sent to families on Friday. It's sad. (UPDATE: I've been corrected that, while a Catholic school has been at that location for 125 years, it's only been Catholic Community School for the past 37.)

The school will hold an event April 20 with representatives from other area Catholic schools to help its 165 students find placements. I wonder if anyone from the public school system will be there. While we all know there will never come a time when all private schools in the city shut down, as Jonathan Kozol suggests is necessary to integrate the public schools, the state of the economy does provide an opportunity for the public schools to attract middle-class families.

As of now, one other school in the Baltimore archdiocese -- St. Michael in Frostburg -- is slated to close this summer.

Continue reading "South Baltimore's Catholic Community School to close" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Peter Hermann writes today about a federal circuit court opinion issued last week in the case of a Baltimore police officer, Michael Andrew, who was fired and then reinstated to a lesser position. His offense: leaking a report critical of city cops to The Sun. Federal judges ruled that he might have been disciplined unfairly. To them, the question was whether the officer was acting in an official capacity (in which case he overstepped the boundaries of his job) or whether he was exercising his personal freedom of speech, which he has the right to do.

This case is interesting to me, since I regularly encounter school system employees who won't talk to me or provide me with information for fear of being disciplined. (This is not unique to Baltimore, by the way; it's been the case in every district I've ever covered.) I think one of the biggest assets of this blog is that it enables people to speak out without fear of reprimand, since you don't need to leave your name in the comments.

In this blog entry, Peter quotes a concurring opinion in the case by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who says society actually needs more government insiders to leak information to reporters, particularly in this time of newspaper cutbacks.

"There are pros and cons to the changing media landscape, and I do not pretend to know what assets and debits the future media mix will bring," the judge wrote. "But this I do know—that the First Amendment should never countenance the gamble that informed scrutiny of the workings of government will be left to wither on the vine. That scrutiny is impossible without some assistance from inside sources such as Michael Andrew. Indeed, it may be more important than ever that such sources carry the story to the reporter, because there are, sad to say, fewer shoeleather journalists to ferret the story out."

You can read the decision here.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

Gov. O'Malley, Mayor Dixon, Dr. Grasmick and Dr. Alonso were all on hand Monday afternoon to celebrate the official opening of a new $25,000 computer lab funded by Verizon at Frederick Douglass High School.

But according to this post by a Douglass teacher on The Challenge to Care in Charm City blog, neither students nor teachers have access to the lab, and they don't know when the situation will change.

"Now, don't get me wrong," the post says, "the new computer lab that has been donated to our school is gorgeous, and I am extremely grateful to Verizon and to those who worked tirelessly to solicit the donations and to assemble the finished product. However, it was disheartening for me and for my students when we were told that we were not allowed to actually use the lab. My ninth-graders had written outstanding research papers, and it was very frustrating for them when I told them that they would not be able to type them, even when the technology was clearly in place. Currently, neither students nor teachers are allowed to use the lab, and nobody will respond to inquiries regarding when or if this policy will change."

I'll let you know if someone responds to me. I've e-mailed the principal as well as officials from Verizon and the governor's office. So far I've heard back only from the Verizon spokeswoman, who said she doesn't know anything about this.

The teacher goes on to describe some school activities that are worthy of fanfare, such as a production last week of Live Blacks in Wax, where students portrayed historical characters.

"It was a true community effort, and it passed unnoticed by the people who have been so critical of our school. I would like to see less focus on the glitzy technology and more focus on what really matters-- the awesome things students are doing here every day."

The photo above was taken by Sun photographer Liz Malby.

UPDATE: Here is an e-mail from Principal Clark Montgomery, who says that teachers need to be trained to use the technology in the new lab and follow sign-up protocol. Other labs are available in the building.

Continue reading "Access denied at new Frederick Douglass computer lab?" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

At the Mayors' National Forum on Education in Washington this week, Arne Duncan made the case that all urban school districts should be under mayoral control -- and said he would get involved in advocacy at the local level to see to governance changes. As described in this AP account of Duncan's talk, he singled out Dr. Alonso in the audience and asked how many superintendents Baltimore had over the course of a decade. Seven, Alonso answered. "And you wonder why school systems are struggling,'' Duncan said, according to the article. "What business would run that way?"

He said the tenure of urban superintendents is usually very short because of a lack of leadership at the top. Mayoral control provides stability, he contends.

Assuming the mayor is a strong leader willing to back the superintendent with politically unpopular decisions.

Around the country, the AP says, a few dozen mayors have some control of urban districts, but only seven run management and operations. Among the seven cities with full mayoral control are NYC, where Alonso was deputy chancellor before coming to Baltimore; Washington, where Michelle Rhee is getting a lot of attention for her efforts to rid classrooms of ineffective teachers; and Chicago, where Duncan was superintendent before becoming President Obama's education secretary.

I'm sure most of you know already, but as a refresher: In Baltimore, the school board is appointed jointly by the mayor and the governor, and the board appoints the CEO. It wouldn't be too much of a change if Sheila Dixon were given sole board appointment power, like the mayor of Chicago. Last year, at least, Gov. O'Malley deferred to Dixon anyway to select a new member. The other option would be to abolish the school board and have the superintendent report directly to the mayor, as in New York and D.C. Baltimore's mayor did have full control of the school board until 1997, when partial control was ceded to the state in exchange for additional state funding.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City
        

Children's readiness for kindergarten is on an upward trajectory across Maryland and particularly in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, according to a new state report.

Each fall, the state tests incoming kindergartners' social and academic skills and judges whether they are "fully ready" to succeed in kindergarten. The city's performance has improved enough that it now approaches the statewide average. At the start of this school year, 65 percent of children tested in Baltimore met the "fully ready" standard, up from 57 percent last year. Statewide, 73 percent of children met the standard, compared with 68 percent a year prior.

The city and Baltimore County have shown the most growth since the assessment was first administered in 2001. That year, the city's pass rate was 28 percent. The county's was 32 percent, compared with 80 percent today.

City officials say the growth is linked with the expansion of pre-kindergarten programs.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City, Baltimore County
        

Jimmy Gittings called last week to personally invite me to his retirement party. Four city schools CEOs would be there, he told me. How could I say no?

So on Friday night, off I went to Martin's West in Woodlawn. In regular work clothes, I felt underdressed in the crowd of nearly 200, many of them past and present city schools administrators. Gittings looked dapper in a black tux with a white scarf and red bow tie. (For the record, he is not retiring from his position as president of the administrators union, PSASA, though he contemplated that in recent weeks because his wife has been ill. He only left his day job in the Title 1 office.)

The four CEOs -- Walter Amprey, Bonnie Copeland, Charlene Cooper Boston and Dr. Alonso -- sat with Gittings and his immediate family at the head table. Orrester Shaw -- vice president of PSASA, principal of Pimlico Elementary/Middle and Jimmy's friend since age 11 -- served as master of ceremonies. (In college, Gittings was president of their fraternity chapter and Shaw was v.p.)

The title of the program was, as my headline indicates, "The Essence of a Man." Each of 15 speakers, the four CEOs among them, had two minutes to sum up the essence of Jimmy.

Continue reading "Jimmy Gittings: "The Essence of a Man"" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

I meant to link earlier today to Peter Hermann's column and blog post about his visit to the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women with 32 girls from city middle schools. The visit was through a program called Prisoners United Sharing Hope.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore City
        

The Notebook blog about Philadelphia public schools linked to my Edison coverage in an entry that goes on to describe the company's woes there.

Early this decade, Edison made a pitch to privatize the entire Philadelphia school district. Instead, it got a contract to run 20 schools. The post notes that, in securing that contract in 2002, Edison touted its work in Baltimore "as a model of its ability to turn around struggling urban schools." Last year, schools chief Arlene Ackerman ended contracts at four Edison schools and put another dozen on one-year probation. The writer counts 62 schools nationwide that Edison is now managing, down from more than 100.

UPDATE: I got this e-mail from Edison spokesman Michael Serpe:

Continue reading "Edison's woes extend to Philadelphia" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Around the Nation, Baltimore City
        

Here are data from the state showing how many seniors in Baltimore high schools have gotten through the HSA requirements since earlier in the year. (Note: The number of students considered to be part of the class of 2009 increased over the course of the school year, which is why the number of students who have not completed the HSAs increased in some cases. Figures do not account for the 1,759 Bridge projects just submitted, to be graded this weekend.)