Leadership

Baltimore City and Prince George's County's school boards will vie for the 2012 title of "Urban School Board of Excellence" this year, as both are named finalists for the national award, due to presented in October. The two will compete against Nevada for the honor. According to the National School Boards Association, the finalists for the 2012 Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) award were selected by an independent judging panel--and were judged based on excellence in school board governance, building civic capacity and closing the achievement gap, and demonstrated success in raising achievement.

It is difficult for me to decide what approach to Maryland's budget morass is worthy of more derision: the histrionics of the education establishment, Gov. Martin O'Malley and the legislature whose mantra of "moving forward" seems to be limited to their habit of kicking the can down the road, or The Sun editors for letting them off the hook ("Maryland budget: tough choices remain," March 23.) At the beginning of the piece the editors admit that there has been an "annual muddle of fund transfers and budget gimmicks.

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has received an academic leadership award from the Carnegie Corp. of New York that carries with it a $500,000 grant. The Carnegie award is one of the largest cash prizes given in recognition of higher education leadership. Hrabowski won the 2011 prize along with Eduardo J. Padron, president of Miami Dade College. "Presidents Hrabowski and Padron have been powerful voices advocating for a robust undergraduate education that strives for excellence and creates an environment for students — especially low-income, minority and immigrant students — in which success is the norm," said Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corp., in a statement.

The Baltimore region presents some peculiar challenges to civic leadership. Unlike most other cities, Baltimore is an independent entity and not part of a county. Thus, many Baltimore area executives have a foot in two places: they work in the city but may live in a surrounding county.This kind of division of energies and loyalties is taxing. Ask the area's volunteer organizations or cultural institutions, which have to compete for resources from this scarce pool of leaders.The situation would be even more difficult if not for a concept called the Leadership.

As WE NEAR the end of the 20th century, the United States draws astonishingly little leadership, moral or otherwise, from prominent and respected people associated with religious institutions. Apart from Billy Graham, still a visible presence in his 70s, the only nationally notable church-related leaders of America in 1990 are the fading remnant of the religious right. The televangelists, who a decade ago had so much impact on the country, have returned to their bases, like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, or are gone entirely, like Jim Bakker.

WASHINGTON -- House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt announced yesterday a new Democratic leadership structure, describing it as "the largest, the most diverse and the most inclusive in the history" of the House.The four chief deputies to Minority Whip David E. Bonior of Michigan will be Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Chet Edwards of Texas, John Lewis of Georgia and Bill Richardson of New Mexico.They also will join Missouri's Mr. Gephardt on a newly formed Democratic Policy Committee, which in turn will have three "special teams" of vice chairmen.

WASHINGTON -- Shirley S. Chater's future as Social Security commissioner ran into a potentially serious roadblock yesterday as the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee blistered her for a lack of leadership and said he would hold up her nomination to a six-year term.Frustrated by Ms. Chater's refusal at her confirmation hearing to offer a prescription for preventing the Social Security system from going broke, Sen. Bob Packwood told Ms. Chater: "You're just ducking it. You don't want to answer these questions.

It has been a tough year for the Social Security Administration. Leaderless for 13 months, it has faced mounting backlogs, deteriorating working conditions and low morale. There's no doubt Shirley S. Chater, sworn in yesterday as commissioner at the Woodlawn headquarters, faces a daunting challenge. But she comes with skills that should help her tackle the job of restoring the agency's efficiency, morale and sense of mission.It took the Clinton administration scandalously long to nominate a leader for an organization that plays such a crucial role in American life -- a delay that drew some well-deserved blasts from Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Franklin, Indiana -- A white man attending the Williams lecture series at Franklin College demanded to know how I could say that, with the proper political leadership, America can move away from racial polarization, murders and civil unrest of the sort we have seen in Los Angeles.He still seemed skeptical when I said that even though racism seems to be destroying America today, I do not believe that, in their hearts, most Americans want it that way.The kind of pessimism he and others in the audience expressed exists in every city in which I have been in recent weeks.

GEN. H. NORMAN Schwarzkopf is home from the gulf and soon to retire. Marine Commandant Gen. Al Gray and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Carl Vuono are also stepping down. New leadership is coming on board to lead the post-Cold War, post-gulf war and post-nuclear-era military. Most Americans understand the implications of the end of the first two conflicts, but when it comes to the military, the end of the nuclear era has the most profound implications of all.When the "atomic age" began 46 years ago, the notion arose that these new weapons had ushered in a brave new world that rendered the theories of such "old-fashioned" military theorists as Karl von Clausewitz and Alfred Thayer Mahan worthless.