Alonso has gone out of his way to get to know politicians in the city, taking the advice of the superintendent who mentored him while he was studying for his doctorate at Harvard. But part of his understanding when he took the job was that he'd report to the school board, and no one else.
That led to an incident one morning last winter in which Mayor Sheila Dixon denounced Alonso's decision to pay students struggling to pass the state graduation exams if they attended extra tutoring and improved their performance. She had read about it in the newspaper.
Dixon spoke with Alonso later that day and by the afternoon came out in support of his action. She said she hadn't realized the pay was just one component of a plan to help struggling students. She said she told Alonso that "he needs to keep me briefed," and from then on, he has. Along with Gov. Martin O'Malley, Dixon does, after all, appoint the nine-member school board.
"The reason most urban superintendents don't last a particularly long time is because of the politics," said Michelle Rhee, the District of Columbia schools chancellor, whom Alonso consulted before taking the job in Baltimore. "What is going to determine Andr?s' longevity in the job is the extent to which the board and the business and philanthropy community continue to support him so he's freed up to do the work he's doing."
Alonso enjoys the support of state Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, who had a hostile relationship with his predecessor, Bonnie Copeland, and tried to take over 11 failing schools. "In the years I've worked here, he's really the first person who's willing to say, 'What we've been doing is unacceptable,' " Grasmick said. "There's been a lot of rationalizing in the past, and I don't think he's into rationalizing."
Alonso says the hardest part of his job has been learning to work with a school board, something he didn't have to do in New York. Board Chairman Brian Morris pushed for Alonso's hiring and helps deliver the votes he needs to get initiatives passed. But Morris will have to leave this summer because of term limits, and Alonso's test after that will be to maintain the backing of at least five other board members.
During Alonso's first interview with the board, Morris said, he showed that "he can walk into a room with people that don't know him and don't know where he stands and within the first few minutes disarm many of their doubts and present himself as a credible, compassionate educator who is ... one of the smartest people in the room without flaunting it in your face."
