My wife and I have two young children and moved to Maryland in large part due to the great public schools here. We came from FL, where education is a joke.

I will trust what an independent group like Education Week thinks of our school system, and what that says about Nancy Grasmick, compared to what O'Malley and these Grasmick-bashers think.

Trust me, we did a lot of research on where to move and found numerous nationwide rankings of school systems. Maryland was consistently near the top. If Grasmick was doing such a bad job, I doubt we'd be getting those kinds of rankings so consistently. I support her and hope she survives this petty, political attempt to oust her.

It's time for Grasmick to go! She has done nothing to help those students who actually need educators, not just another standardized exam.

This state has thousands of students who will be left behind as a result of her support of all or nothing testing.

Thankfully, our Governor and General Assembly leadership recognize this. Like the Ravens, ALL Maryland children deserve a fresh face who will make them winners!

O'malley is just dumb and a control freak. maryland voters are getting a taste of what life is gonna be like with him. i have a feeling the worst has yet to come with him. he's a sleeze ball and he's in office for one reason: to move on up. i really don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. i really wish someone would run for mayor/governor that actually had the public in mind. i'd love to do it...but i'm just a pea in pod, plus i'm just an engineer, who doesn't know anything about politics like those polysci majors. what a joke o'malley is rapidly becoming. i'm just loving the fact that he can't remove her.

Don't worry, the Maryland Public School system will be a joke as well after three more years of the O'Malley Administration. However have no fear because it gets better. After three more years of higher taxes, declining schools/test scores, legalization of gay marriage, countless taxpayer paid visits to Ireland and catering to illegal immigrants (see today’s story on the O’Malley Administrations opposition to requiring proof of citizenship for drivers licenses), our fine governor will be reelected by Maryland’s astute electorate by an overwhelming majority.

I bet you dont live in Baltimore City where the school system is atrocious.

Grasmick doesnt give a crap about baltimore city schools.

Dan, I admit that I have accused the Sun of being O'Malley's PR machine and I thought it hit a low blow when the Sun's editorial supported ousting Dr. Grasnick. But you seem to be independent on this issue and the readers appreciate it. Maryland (and Baltimore) have too many real problems (as you do a great job of crusading for solutions) to spend time and energy tinkering with one of the few institutions working.

Dear Gov. O'Maelstrom:

Please BUTT OUT and quit your petty politicizing of the MD Education System.

Maybe we should start a recall petition for you since you have vacated just about all of your campaign promises since taking office.

What a JOKE!!!

Gee you think PK has an agenda? We all saw Grasmick attempt to sway a governors' election by injecting herself in it. Now we have the leftover lame duck political flunkees from the losing canidate signing her up for 4 more years before the newly elected governor's appointees take office. Anyone who thinks thats not political, is truly political!

Ken R. ... do those talking points come with a white hood?

If you want to see the school system in Md. go down the tubes fast let O'Malley get his dishonest and lieing grubby hands on it. you will see a school system staewide that mirrors the wonderful Balto. City school system. By the way, has anyone seen the state he left balto. City in? Everyone who voted for the liar is now getting exactly what they deserve, just a sheame the rest have to get it also!!!!!

Grasmick doesn't give a crap about Baltimore city schools?
She cared enough to try to take them over. I wonder who stopped her?

Not sure how good of a school superintendent Nancy Grasmick is, but this is obviously an O'Malley payback for her trying to takeover dysfunctional Baltimore City Schools and anyone that says otherwise is a liar, stupid or graduated from a Baltimore City School.

when i read kens post i thought that it was a valid aurgument that was well represented. i did not feel that it was racist in any way. it is just sad when anyone presents a view that is not comforming to the majority is automatically labeled as a racist it really is a sad state of affairs that we have arrived at

"Gee you think PK has an agenda?". Yeah, my agenda is for the school system, as a whole, state-wide, to remain as good or better than it has been. That will happen if Grasmick is allowed to retain her job. I'm not a political hack, I'm someone who cares about a decent public education system for his kids.

It seems the BOE had a choice...either announce Gasmick wasn't coming back and they were searching for a replacement, or they could simply announce she was being retained. If they looked for a replacement, they would have had to announce it at about the same time they announced she was being retained, since the search would have taken months if done properly. They chose to keep her, plain and simple.

The current Governor put his own personal political career ahead of the children of Baltimore City. It's sad to see that Ms. Grasmick is the only one to stand up for those who have no voice.

Grasmick sets policy and moves money around to implement the policy. School performance is directly proportional to the quality of the educators/administrators, the involvement by parents and the local community in the school system and commitment by the students. If your schools fail to meet your expecations, you need to look to yourself before you scapegoat Grasmick (or her successors which your surely will). Also, where was Gov O'Smileys leadership when his city school system was falling apart around him and the surrounding subdivisions were flourishing? Too busy running for office to be bothered with getting hishands dirty in a failing school system? Glass houses folks, Glass Houses.

Yeah, Grasmik was on the testing bandwagon quite early on and as a high school teacher I'm thankful my discipline is not a tested area. But this is pure political retribution plain and simple.
The attempted take over of a number of city schools due to their subpar condition and performance and the revelation of the ridiculous financial situation where tens of millions were misplaced and it was discovered that the superintendent's driver was making $100K/yr. both made him look bad. She must be punished

In her letter, Sue Allison asks, "Y[y]ou tell me how a parent is supposed to advocate for fair and open testing in the state of Maryland." She laments the apparent lack of published e-mail addresses for the people she wants to do something for her.

Many groups and organizations have the problem of affecting public policy. Some of them are stuck, as your organization seems to be, because of a lack of creativity, and an inability to explore and investigate, instead of sitting at their computers exchanging messages with their sycophants and occasionally sending off a blast at someone (a Rodericks) who will help to expose their plight. Well, I am here to help you.

Write a real letter on real paper with a real signature. You can find mailing addresses for officials and appointees on the internet or in publications from those agencies. Make a telephone call to a human being. The numbers for people, agencies, companies and public policy makers can be found in a telephone book. Visit the office of someone who has the information you need. This could be a policy maker or a public library.
Please, don’t be afraid of the hard work this takes. Hard work often leads to the result you desire. Sitting back and complaining to your friends just helps your opponents.