Andres Alonso

Andres Alonso and his family left Cuba when he was 12. He arrived in Union City, N.J., speaking no English but found mentors in the public schools who saw his potential and encouraged him to apply to Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, then earned a law degree from Harvard University. "With me, there were people who saw beyond a language problem, people who saw beyond the poverty," he said. Alonso, who is 50, was deputy chancellor of the New York City public school system before taking charge of the Baltimore system this year.

Monday, May 6, 2013 Dear City Schools Partners and Friends, I am writing to you today to let you know that at the end of the current school year, I will retire and leave Baltimore City Public Schools and this great city to return to my home in New Jersey to care for my aging parents and begin an academic position at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It has not been an easy decision, because what we have accomplished together in recent years has been both important and extremely gratifying to me, professionally and personally.

It was inevitable that the sweeping reorganization plan Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso presented to the school board last week should have provoked surprise, confusion and a measure of unease among students, teachers and parents. After all, Mr. Alonso might easily have rested on his laurels from last year's gains - dramatically higher test scores, a doubling of the number of alternative schools and half a dozen new combination middle-high schools. Instead, like a military commander intent on exploiting a recent victory, he is pressing to take swift advantage of his success.

The House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a $1.1 billion plan Friday to rebuild Baltimore's deteriorated school buildings, sending the bill to the Senate. The vote was 107 to 30, with about a dozen Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the bill. The legislation is a modified version of a plan conceived by city schools chief Andres Alonso and supported by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. In its current form, the bill would allot $20 million a year in state lottery funds to match like amounts from both Baltimore and the city school system.

Top administrators in the Baltimore City school system were used to staff meetings with fluid agendas that left time for all to speak. But now, Andres Alonso was presiding. And class was in session. When I send you an e-mail, the schools' new chief executive told them on that summer day in 2007, I expect a reply within 20 minutes. Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week. This wasn't a conversation, but more like a lecture, one in which students keep quiet for fear of being admonished for falling behind on their homework.

He'd been controlling his temper all day, plotting how to say what was on his mind. His chance came at 6:45 that evening. Andres Alonso, Baltimore schools chief executive officer, arrived in Mount Vernon to meet with a few dozen of the city's most active school parents and wasted no time getting to what was eating at him. "How many of you called City Council today?" his Cuban-accented voice thundered through the conference room. There was silence. "Raise your hand if you did!" Nothing.

When Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso called for 500 volunteers to work in city schools after a fight broke out last year between a student and a teacher at Reginald F. Lewis High School, 700 people signed up. Mr. Alonso doubled the goal to 1,000 and met it. To boost parent involvement, Mr. Alonso ordered principals to set up councils giving parents a say in school budgets and hired 63 community organizers. These and other unmistakable signs of change in Baltimore's troubled schools are detailed in the three-part series by The Baltimore Sun's Sara Neufeld that ends today.

The day Andres Alonso dreaded came the Friday before Thanksgiving. For his first year and a half as Baltimore schools chief, the system was showing unprecedented progress. Four decades of enrollment decline ended. Test scores were their best since the state started keeping track. The graduation rate? Up. Suspensions? Down. Alonso's excitement grew with each new piece of good news, and yet he was anxious. "It can turn on a dime," he would say. And then, there was a murder. Markel Williams, 15, was stabbed to death by a fellow student outside William H. Lemmel Middle School.

Everybody makes mistakes The Baltimore City School System has been fantastically served by Dr. Andres Alonso as the CEO. He has brought intelligence, professionalism and determination; things have noticeably improved. Did he make a mistake with Mr. Morris? It appears so. Let's give Dr. Alonso the freedom to make a misstep. We all do at one time or another. Katie Riback, Baltimore School board deserves blame, too While I don't disagree that Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso should have done "due diligence" before hiring a deputy, it seems clear to me that the principal blame still falls upon the board that was complicit in the Brian Morris fiasco.

Alonso series reflects local press at its best It seems that we are always hearing about the demise of newspapers, and about how readers are coming to rely on national newspapers, often online. The three-part series on Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso is a perfect example of why cities need a local newspaper ("Andres Alonso," Feb. 8- Feb. 10). The success or failure of Baltimore's schools is one of the biggest issues affecting the reputation of Baltimore. Mr. Alonso is grappling with the school system's many problems.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said Tuesday that legislative leaders are working to overhaul Baltimore's proposal for a $2.4 billion plan to rebuild  its crumbling school facilities in way that he's “fairly confident” will win General Assembly approval. Miller, a Calvert County Democrat, had been one of the chief skeptics about the original plan propounded by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and city schools  chief executive Andres Alonso. That proposal, involving a block grant of at  least $32 million to the city school system each year for 30 years, has been embraced by House Speaker Michael E. Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat.

The Baltimore City school board is expected to sign off Tuesday on the hiring of former state Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman to work for General Assembly approval of its ambitious $2.4 billion plan to rebuild its deteriorating facilities over a 10-year period. Neil Duke, chairman of the board, confirmed Monday night that the district has held serious discussions about retaining Hoffman, for many years one of the most powerful lawmakers in Annapolis, to help sell legislators on the plan supported by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and school system chief executive Andres Alonso.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and city schools chief executive Andres Alonso met with Gov. Martin O'Malley for about an hour and a quarter Monday evening as they made their rounds of Annapolis seeking support for Baltimore's $2.4 billion school construction plan. After emerging from the governor's office, the two rushed to keep an appointment with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. As he boarded an elevator with the mayor, Alonso said the meeting had gone well. "The governor is always an ally," Alonso said.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and city schools chief Andres Alonso are scheduled to travel to Annapolis Monday to meet with Gov. Martin O'Malley and top legislators on a $2.4 billion plan to rebuild Baltimore's aging public schools, the chairman of the city's House delegation said Friday. Del. Curt Anderson said he and Del. Keith Haynes, who sits on the subcommittee that will review the plan, are expected to join the meeting with House Speaker Michael E. Busch and the governor.

Speculation that Andres Alonso would leave the Baltimore City school CEO job for a new superintendent post has been rampant for years. Whenever an opening for the top job in an urban district appeared, Alonso's name seemed to be mentioned. He has always denied he was searching for a new job. When the Philly job came open, many education insiders insisted that Alonso was a strong contender. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote today that the school system has announced the name of two finalists, and Alonso isn't one of them.

A moody tavern. An extraordinary cocktail. The easy lapping of bay water against the banks of the Inner Harbor. Duckpin lanes. Old Bay. Art in an otherwise empty storefront. For all of these things, and for so many more, people love Baltimore. People feel how they feel about this place for their own reasons. It's personal and not necessarily explainable. Something between them and the city. But in the spirit of sharing the love, we asked some of the city's best-known personalities to reveal something that makes them fall for Baltimore.

I am so tired of seeing photographs of people such as Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels and Baltimore schools chief, Andres Alonso reading to elementary school-aged children ("Helping the youngest readers," Mar. 3). I want to see these people sincerely challenged. Put them in a failing middle school classroom. Read to a high school class that is not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. The photo ops are always the same; these professionals are always seen before sweet-faced first grade students.

Speculation that Andres Alonso would leave the Baltimore City school CEO job for a new superintendent post has been rampant for years. Whenever an opening for the top job in an urban district appeared, Alonso's name seemed to be mentioned. He has always denied he was searching for a new job. When the Philly job came open, many education insiders insisted that Alonso was a strong contender. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote today that the school system has announced the name of two finalists, and Alonso isn't one of them.

I am so tired of seeing photographs of people such as Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels and Baltimore schools chief, Andres Alonso reading to elementary school-aged children ("Helping the youngest readers," Mar. 3). I want to see these people sincerely challenged. Put them in a failing middle school classroom. Read to a high school class that is not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. The photo ops are always the same; these professionals are always seen before sweet-faced first grade students.

The U.S. Constitution's guarantee of free speech doesn't include the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater, and neither should the Maryland state constitution's guarantee of an adequate, free public education cover all misbehaving students who deliberately set fires in public schools. Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso says he has the authority to enforce a zero-tolerance policy and permanently expel students involved with arson or explosives. That may seem harsh, but he insists that you can't have a functioning school system where setting fires is considered acceptable behavior.