Baltimore City Schools

The "mis-education of the Negro," first identified by African-American historian Carter G. Woodson in his 1933 book of the same name, is continuing apace in many Baltimore City schools - and to a somewhat lesser extent in Baltimore County as well ("State says high school graduation percentage is best in past 15 years," Oct. 1). I can understand why "community members, students, principals, and city school officials wept and [Baltimore schools CEO Andrés] Alonso fought back tears" when the Maryland data on the High School Assessment tests were released recently.

For the last two weeks, I have done everything I could to get people to watch "The Learning," an illuminating documentary about the lives of four Filipina teachers who are recruited to teach in Baltimore City Schools. I have blogged, and here's a link to that. I have gone on WYPR radio to talk about it, and here's a link to that. I am upset that Maryland Public Television is airing at 10:30 tonight (Sept. 25) on its digital channel 22.2 only. It debuted Tuesday night on public televisions  stations nationwide.

America just got a little bit greener. Earlier this summer, Aspen, Colo. - John Denver's "sweet Rocky Mountain paradise" - became the first city in the U.S. to launch a comprehensive Meatless Monday campaign. Local restaurants, schools, hospitals, charities and businesses, including the Aspen Valley Hospital, the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Aspen Elementary School, have signed on to promote plant-based meals on Mondays. For our own health and the health of the planet, the rest of us should go meat-free as well - at least for one day a week.

Charles Robert "Bob" Lovett, a retired Baltimore City Public Schools art teacher and a decorated World War II veteran, died of cancer Friday at his daughter's Anneslie home. The former Hampden resident was 90. Born in Baltimore and raised in Hampden, he attended Robert Poole Junior High School and was a 1938 City College graduate. In 1932 at age 12, he began singing in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church choir. He sang until October — 78 years. While at City College he sang in the glee club and performed in musical theater.

Here's why the recently approved Baltimore City teachers' union contract reminds me of Texas. My daughter's college roommate is from Fort Worth. With the exception of the rodeo ring at Billy Bob's Texas honky tonk (which you should visit before you die), Fort Worth is home to about as many cows, and as many real cowboys, as you'll likely find residing or working in downtown Silver Spring. But you wouldn't know it by the number of Stetsons and hand-tooled, pointy-toed cowboy boots on parade at either Billy Bob's on a Saturday night or in the downtown Fort Worth office district during lunch.

Let's play a game. It's called "The Dozens. " Usually it's played by elementary or middle school children, but adults can play too. It's about being clever, witty and harsh and ultimately winning — although what you win is often nothing more than fleeting satisfaction. The rules: You call me a name and then I hurl an insult back at you. Things escalate until one of us wins. It's definitely not based on evidence, but it can be fun — or end in a fistfight. Most of all, the goal is to play the game in front of a bunch of other people — in this case foundations and education policy shapers and makers.

Baltimore city schools CEO Andrés A. Alonso will no doubt have a lot on his mind Monday morning when students pour off buses and sidewalks and through schoolhouse doors, marking the noisy beginning of another academic year. It's unlikely that he'll be thinking of the Rev. John Nelson McJilton, an Episcopal rector, poet and educator who served as the school system's first superintendent in the 19th century. But a Connecticut Superior Court judge, some 300 miles away in Waterbury, Conn.

For the first time in years, state lawmakers are taking a serious look at reforming the school board selection process in Baltimore City and Baltimore County and are considering bills that would put elected members on those boards. The measures, however, face significant opposition from local government and school officials, including Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, education advocates and Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, as well as both the city and county school boards.

Monday's announcement that federal oversight of Baltimore City's special education programs will be ending within two years was rightly hailed by civic and educational leaders as a major milestone. It is a testament to how far the city school system has come recently and a reminder of how dysfunctional it was for most of the 26 years the lawsuit has been in effect. But as good news as the announcement was, one has to ask: Why did it take the city schools so long to persuade the plaintiffs in this case that it was finally prepared to do the things that it should have been doing all along?