Historically, the Baltimore school system offered employment opportunities to African-Americans blocked by racism from jobs in private industry.
Over time, however, that led to a system in which patronage and loyalty sometimes helped determine promotions and in which people became wary of outsiders, particularly those who weren't black. When Alonso arrived, his office was decorated in peachy pink and light green: the sorority colors of Alice Pinderhughes, the system's first African-American female superintendent, who had been gone for 20 years.
One of Pinderhughes' proteges was Charlene Cooper Boston, the acting CEO whom the school board passed over for the permanent job in favor of Alonso. To Jimmy Gittings, longtime president of the administrators union and son of Baltimore's first black assistant superintendent, it was a "cold slap in the face" to a woman who had dedicated her career to the city schools.
Gittings soon became a leading critic of the additional responsibilities that Alonso put on principals, many of whom he says won't speak up for fear of being fired. He and Alonso had several heated exchanges in public, with Gittings accusing Alonso of setting principals up for failure.
In August, Alonso converted an annual back-to-school seminar for administrators from a largely ceremonial event into a work day. There was no room for Gittings' customary welcome speech. He perceived it as a snub.
"The reason morale is low is because of the way in which individuals are talked to; there's not a friendly relationship," he said. The system used to treat its employees like family, he said, and "it is no longer that way. Maybe it shouldn't be, but in the 37 years that I've been in this system, every time you bring a CEO in from outside of the system, that CEO's job is to cut heads off and get rid of people."
Gittings wasn't the only union leader to clash with Alonso. The CEO insisted in his first contract negotiations that principals be able to require teachers to spend 45 minutes a week together planning lessons or reviewing student performance. Three months into his tenure, the teachers union called for his ouster. The union didn't oppose the idea of collaboration but was angry that teachers were being asked to do more work for the same pay. Alonso largely prevailed in arbitration, and for the most part, he and the union leaders have gotten along ever since.
