Principal

The Baltimore school system has hired a leading data forensics company to review thousands of state assessment results dating to 2009 — a third-party analysis that school officials say is needed to inject fairness into investigations of alleged cheating. But the move has come under fire from the president of the principals union, who says the $275,000 contract with Caveon Test Security is a waste of money for the financially strapped school district and a misguided effort by schools CEO Andrés Alonso to confirm his long-held suspicions about cheating at some schools.

Retired principals from Baltimore City schools are scheduled to picket outside of city school headquarters Tuesday, in protest of the city school board's recent decision to dismiss one principal and not reinstate another until 2013. The principals and school administrators union organized the demonstration, scheduled for 4 p.m. in advance of tonight's school board meeting, after the board voted Aug. 27 to dismiss Marcy Issac, assistant principal at Abbottston Elementary for her role in alleged cheating at the school in 2009, and to reinstate Principal Angela Faltz in 2013 without any back pay. The principals union is also listed to give public comment at the meeting.

There's excitement in the air for students, parents and educators as schools across Maryland open their doors for a new school year. Students enter new classrooms, parents learn about new expectations for their children, and educators begin another year with a renewed focus on continued academic improvement. There is an extra layer of excitement this year as new teacher and principal evaluation systems are piloted in each of the state's 24 school systems. The purpose of these systems is to strengthen the knowledge, skills and classroom practices of educators to improve the achievement of our students.

The city school board reinstated a principal Monday night who had been fired by CEO Andrés Alonso over alleged cheating at her school. But the reinstatement of Abbottston Elementary School Principal Angela Faltz won't take effect until 2013, and she won't receive back pay. Board members also upheld Alonso's decision to dismiss Marcy Isaac, the assistant principal of Abbottston Elementary, who had been testing coordinator. "The decision made this evening was a travesty to the Baltimore Public School System," said Jimmy Gittings, president of the administrators union, which has been fighting the dismissals for more than a year.

When Tanya Green was tapped to turn around the once-beleaguered Calverton Middle School in 2008, she paid close attention to not only what the staff in her school had to say about their barriers, but how they said it -- or sometimes what they failed to say at all. She noticed if they referred to students as, "these kids," or "the children. " She noticed whether they took responsibility for their students' failures, or transferred it on someone else. She took note of whether a teacher was as concerned about whether their students had lunch as they were about their test scores.

Twenty-two Baltimore schools will open Monday without permanent principals in place, continuing the unprecedented turnover under Andrés Alonso — moves that the administrators union says reflect "vindictive" and "capricious" decisions by the schools chief. The union's president, Jimmy Gittings, said Alonso demoted 15 principals, including four whose schools are being investigated for possible cheating on state tests. He said two of the four were placed back in the classroom as teachers after an investigation turned up no evidence.

The president of the Baltimore principals union has vowed to protest recent actions he called "vindictive" and "capricious" after city schools CEO Andres Alonso demoted 15 principals whose schools had low scores on state tests. In a memo obtained by The Baltimore Sun and sent to all city administrators, Jimmy Gittings said that the school system cited declining test scores for some of the demotions, though Alonso said in a recent "State of the Schools" address that he did not want "the work to be about MSA scores.

Gary Rand II has been named principal of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School in Hampden, the Archdiocese of Baltimore confirmed Tuesday. His predecessor at St. Thomas Aquinas, Sister Marie Rose Gustatus, was principal for 32 years and has been a School Sister of Notre Dame for 50 years. She retired earlier this month. Rand, 37, of Frederick, is already at St. Thomas, where school starts Aug. 27. He previously served as principal of St. Andrew's Catholic School in Silver Spring for one year and as principal of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer School in Rosedale for two years.

Wow! One hundred percent across the board! That is what Rodgers Forge Elementary School Principal Missy Fanshaw saw when she pulled up the results of the Maryland State Assessment Test. As she told the Towson Times, "I thought 'does this say what I think it says?' It's 100, 100, 100. How exciting!" Rodgers Forge was the only Baltimore County school to achieve 100 percent proficiency for each grade level tested - three, four and five - on the Maryland State Assessment Test. Rodgers Forge is known for its strong academic standing, which is, as Fanshaw, points out "a team effort.

From John Cassidy's "Why Won't Mitt Romney Release More Tax Returns?" at newyorker.com: "The principal that if your father also ran for President, and released twelve years of tax returns, then you can release just two and claim the family average is a respectable seven years?"                 Yes, at The New Yorker 's website. Principle is the word for a tenet, a rule, a standard. Principal as a noun is either a main participant or the amount of a loan on which interest is calculated.