City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who a day earlier had called for Morris' resignation, said he made the right decision.
"I think Brian Morris has always done what is right for the school system, including this resignation. Not that he wouldn't do a good job, but the timing and the process were distracting to the work of the system," she said.
Mayor Sheila Dixon, who criticized the way Morris was hired last week, could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. She released a statement saying that she respects his decision and his contributions to city schools. "I am sure he will remain actively involved in serving the community."
Gov. Martin O'Malley also could not be reached for comment Saturday, but his spokesman, Rick Abbruzzese, said of the Morris controversy, "It's time to put this distraction behind us and move on."
Alonso said he had expected the Morris appointment would use up some political capital, but he believed it worth the risk because Morris would bring talents to the position that would be hard to find elsewhere. He also expected, he said, the public to accept his lobbying for Morris because "it is so not me" to care about politics. But he said he regretted that the controversy "put the focus on the adults."
Alonso also left open the possibility that Morris might be given a new volunteer role in the system, adding that Morris could work outside the system for the benefit of city children as well.
Less than a week ago, Morris was expected to end his school board term June 30 as a generally well-regarded member.
But on Monday, Morris quietly resigned the volunteer position, a development that did not become public until the next night, minutes before his colleagues voted to give him the high-paying job overseeing school operations.
As the week wore on, public officials, parents and union leaders began criticizing Alonso and the board for appointing Morris to a newly created job that had never been advertised.
The criticism intensified on Friday after a report in The Baltimore Sun that detailed Morris' history of bad debts and lawsuits involving his personal finances and business ventures.
Ahead of the appointment, Alonso asked Morris - who had been his close confidant for nearly two years - whether he should know anything about his background that might cause a problem, and Morris told him no, the CEO said. Alonso said he learned about the financial problems from The Baltimore Sun and has not yet reviewed the financial documents that were subsequently gathered by his staff. "I do not make decisions about a person's life on the basis of a newspaper story," he said.
