The Greater Baltimore Committee honored city schools chief Andr?s Alonso this week with its Howard Pete Rawlings Courage in Public Service Award, given occasionally to honor public officials "who demonstrate exceptional courage while serving in an elected or appointed public office." The award was established in 2004 to posthumously honor Rawlings, who chaired the Appropriations Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates. It has since been given to only one other recipient, former Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes in 2006. GBC Chairman and CEO Donald Fry presented Alonso with the award Tuesday night at the organization's annual dinner. He said 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." He said Alonso has "cut through the school system's traditional politics and focused principals, teachers and school employees on results and accountability, with no excuses."
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