City Schools

The controversial school rezoning plan issued in Baltimor this week was prepared by staffers with the school board's knowledge that it was bound to ignite a firestorm of criticism."

The Baltimore City school board voted Tuesday to pass the district's proposed $1.31 billion budget, which includes a decrease in the per-pupil funding for charter schools. As the amount spent on students in traditional schools increases, the system's 33 charter schools will see their per-pupil expenditures drop by $257 from 2012, for a total of $9,007. The overall amount for charters, however, has steadily increased as their populations grow. The charters are funded differently than traditional schools.

The article "Plan to revamp schools" (Nov. 17) provided a profile of not only the poor performance of many city schools but also insights into why some of the problems exist — namely, the plans to provide special programs for the "growing international population" and to strengthen English for Speakers of Other Languages programs. One of the poor performing schools cited, Patterson High, happens to be my alma mater. In the '60s when I attended, the community had its fair share of immigrants who did not arrive in the U.S. fluent in the English language.

When it was announced that yet another group would be taking on management of the Baltimore Grand Prix, one of the company's funders stepped into the spotlight. Columbia-based financier J.P. Grant III has stayed out of the public eye since the storm of a no-bid city schools contract blew over in 2000. But all the while, his company Grant Capital Management was accumulating city contracts. In 2003, the city granted his company a "master lease," an agreement that speeds up the contracting process, but also made it more difficult for The Sun to track.

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?

City schools released the following congratulations this week: Ten Baltimore City public schools have been recognized by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) for the academic performance of their students, according to a release sent from city school system.  The schools were recognized by the state for either their performance on the 2011 Maryland School Assessment (MSA)--they had to have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)-- or the High School Assessment (HSA)

Nearly 90 percent of Baltimore elementary and middle schools fell short of academic targets on state assessments this year, signaling a trend that education officials nationwide say will eventually label most American schools as failures. Only 15 of the 141 city schools met federally mandated progress goals in math and reading on the Maryland School Assessments, according to state and city school data. And the schools that didn't meet the adequate yearly progress goals included some of the highest-performers in the city and the state, illustrating the continuing debate about the embattled No Child Left Behind Act. "It's a crude measure and an unsophisticated system in that it tarnishes schools with the same brush," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan group that has tracked the nation's progress under the law since its inception.

The proposal to rapidly overhaul Baltimore's aging school facilities that district CEO Andrés Alonso presented to a state Senate committee last week represents one of the most important and innovative ideas the city has offered in recent years to break out of its cycle of poverty and disinvestment. Baltimore cannot flourish without high-quality public schools, and although students have made impressive gains in recent years, the city will not be able to attract and retain families if children are trying to learn in dilapidated facilities.

Widespread cheating on state assessment tests has been uncovered at two Baltimore elementary schools, state and district officials are expected to announce today. Investigators with the state Department of Education found that Maryland School Assessment scores were compromised at Abbottston Elementary in 2009 and at Fort Worthington Elementary in 2009 and 2010, according to city schools CEO Andrés Alonso. The disclosure marks the second time in little more than a year that city school officials have had to acknowledge cheating at schools recognized nationally as models of successful urban education, including one visited by the first lady and the other by the U.S. secretary of education.

Clutching a portfolio and a messenger bag with a city schools logo, Monique Robbins knew her unannounced visit to the homes of chronically absent students in West Baltimore on a recent misty evening might seem ominous. So when she was met with narrowed eyes and a defensive stance, she was ready. "I'm just a volunteer and a member from the community, here to let you know that whatever you need help with to get your child to school this year, we have resources," Robbins said, almost in one breath, to the first parent to open the door a sliver.

Baltimore city students will have a plethora of options for education and recreation this summer, under a new partnership between city agencies and school system that will expand the scope and length of programming for city youth. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakeand City schools CEO Andres Alonso announced Wednesday that with the help of non-profit and philanthropic communities, the city's recreation efforts will converge with the system's summer learning initiatives to create a unique structure of a full-day of summer programming.

One hundred Baltimore city teachers have been labeled "model teachers" under the new Baltimore Teachers Union contract, the city school system announced last week, marking a milestone in the slow-paced implementation of the pact ratified in fall 2010. The teachers, who have undergone a grueling application process since last year, will receive a hefty pay increase of between $15,000 and $20,000 under the new contract, which is designed around pay-for-performance and a new career ladder.  The pinnacle of the career ladder is to become a "lead" teacher, and the contract stipulates that there will be only one in every school.

Baltimore school employees would be forced to take furlough days if the district has to absorb millions of dollars in education cuts outlined in the state's "doomsday" budget, city schools CEO Andrés Alonso said Tuesday as he prepared to present the fiscal year 2013 budget. In preparation for a massive cut to public education should lawmakers fail to approve higher taxes in a special session starting Monday, the school system has developed a plan to negotiate with labor unions to have employees take four unpaid days off. Alonso said the system found that the four furlough days, which would not include instructional days, would yield enough savings to hold school budgets untouched, a guiding principle of the system's budget.

Three Maryland superintendents whose school systems stand to take the biggest hit from Maryland's 'Doomsday' budget pleaded with state legislators Monday to reverse an estimated $129 million cut to public education that they said would have devastating effects on their districts. In an open letter to the state's top leadership, Baltimore city schools CEO Andres Alonso, Prince George's County Schools Superintendent William R. Hite, and Montgomery County Superintendent Joshua P. Starr asked state lawmakers to make it a priority to restore funding to schools as legislators prepare to head back into a special session of the Maryland General Assembly on May 14. The letter, which you can read here, i s addressed to Gov. Martin O'Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Michael E. Busch.  The three superintendents write from the largest school systems in the state.

One only hopes that the Baltimore City School Board president is clearer with other facts than those involving the city school headquarters building, which he imagines is 184 years old ("As schools crumble, suites get renovated," April 27). In fact, the east and west wings of the headquarters opened in 1913. They were of modern construction and had huge, open cement floors which were then partitioned off for classrooms, shops labs, offices, etc. This is exactly the style used today.

Enough with the criticism of the costs associated with renovating and furnishing the city school system's headquarters office ("Critics seek more oversight of renovations at school district headquarters," April 30). The rest of the story should have described how long it has been since the offices were renovated or new furnishings provided. Have you seen the conditions of some of the city buildings and the furniture in them? I'll bet if the public toured the offices of the media in the city they would see lavish furnishings and state of the art electronics and technology.

Angry phone calls began pouring into The Sun a few months ago, describing renovations that were taking shape in the Baltimore City school system's information technology department as fit for the executive of a private corporation. Meanwhile, city school officials and advocacy organizations were in the heart of the Maryland General Assembly, passionately pushing a borrowing proposal that would leverage millions for school construction and renovation of the system's decrepit facilities.

Until this year, the only items that resembled produce on Blessin Giraldo's school lunch tray were berry-flavored Popsicles and Fruit Roll-Ups. But now, the Baltimore eighth-grader's tray features beds of greens and fruits and vegetables that are available at her middle school through a salad bar option that is sprouting up in school cafeterias around the city. "I can go to lunch now and know I won't leave without eating," said Blessin, who attends the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women.