Sun sensationalizes schools spending

I was very troubled as I read the article by Erica L. Green ("City schools officials play lose with credit," Aug. 26), not for the issue of expenses but for the pattern of negativity I see routinely by The Sun toward the school district and the people who work so hard to move our children forward. I work for a charter operator, Baltimore Curriculum Project, so I see daily the efforts our school leaders, efforts led by Andrés Alonso and his staff. Ms. Green's article, following on the heels of an earlier piece on replacing principals, is without deep analysis, offers innuendo without facts and provides a platform to chastise our leaders with no real substance or foundations.

The spending of city money is clearly an issue for all of us to review. We have tight budgets and, in the main, very responsible people in charge of handling outflows. I wonder if you have compared Baltimore City schools spending in this area with other comparable cities? I wonder if you actually know what it takes to push Baltimore into the forefront of school systems doing every possible thing to improve our educational input for kids? How do you think we have made Baltimore an exemplar that folks from around the nation and the globe want to come to see?

Baltimore has gone through superintendents like water through a sieve. We now have a leader with insight, compassion, intelligence and vision. Mr. Alonso shares the same ambitions that every one of his teachers and educators share and while it is appropriate to hold his feet and the feet of others to the fire, in this case, the flame is raised not by genuine issues but by journalism sacrificed to the name of sensationalism. We deserve better from a historically eminent newspaper!

Jon McGill, Baltimore