NEWS
Erica L. Green | June 13, 2013
A caucus of the Baltimore Teachers Union has conducted its own survey which concluded that, of the sample participants, city teachers have been overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the union contract that is set to expire this month. According to the survey, conducted by the Educators for Democratic Schools, of the roughly 200 teachers polled, only 11 percent of respondents said they would vote for the contract--passed in 2010, and hailed as the most progressive in the country for its pay-for-performance structure--if faced with the decision again.
NEWS
By Donald F. Norris | June 11, 2013
A few days ago, yet another article appeared in The Baltimore Sun about Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and his contract that will pay him more than $20 million per year for the next six years. That's a total of over $120 million. I don't know Joe Flacco. I am sure that if I knew him I would like him, and that if we were neighbors, we'd get along just fine. But that is not why I write. And I am not writing because I am jealous of Joe Flacco's good fortune, or because I don't think he is worth it based on his competitive value in football.
NEWS
By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun | June 11, 2013
The Baltimore City school board approved three new charter schools to open beginning in 2014, including two schools that will be subject to heightened scrutiny throughout their contracts. The Lillie May Carroll Jackson School, which will be operated by a nonprofit organization created by Roland Park Country School and educate girls in grades 5-8, won a smooth approval to open in 2014. But the Green Street Academy, which has been operating as a "transformation" school with an environmental theme for the past three years, "stretched certain standards," city schools CEO Andrés Alonso said in recommending to grant the school charter status.
NEWS
By Scott Calvert, The Baltimore Sun | June 10, 2013
Baltimore's housing authority has disciplined a group of employees after an internal investigator found that top agency officials hired lower-level staff to do contracting work at their homes. The agency's inspector general concluded that executive and senior management staff showed "a lack of good judgment" in hiring James Bassetti and Cecil Williams, who work for the housing authority's construction arm, according to a report issued by the office May 13. In all, five housing authority employees and the relative of a sixth paid for work to be done at their homes.
SPORTS
By Aaron Wilson, The Baltimore Sun | June 6, 2013
It was a familiar scene for the Ravens' offensive backfield as running back Ray Rice took handoffs and made his cuts with Pro Bowl fullback Vonta Leach operating as his lead blocker on Thursday morning. Behind the scenes, though, whether Leach runs interference for Rice this season under his current contract remains an unresolved situation. The Ravens would ideally like to lower Leach's $4.33 million salary-cap figure and are expected to craft a proposal to try to adjust his contract, according to league sources.
NEWS
By Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun | May 30, 2013
The Baltimore school system said Thursday that it will review all contracts awarded by a former chief information technology officer after school officials in Dallas said he could face a federal indictment stemming from his tenure in the Atlanta public school system. Jerome Oberlton was forced to resign as chief of staff in the Dallas Independent School District this week after informing Superintendent Mike Miles that he was the target of a federal investigation, according to a statement from the Dallas school district.