Superintendent

The revelation that former Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Joe Hairston supposedly protected two administrative employees who recently have been transferred to other positions raises several huge red flags ("Hairston gave employment contracts to two top aides before retiring," July 13). These alleged "contracts" ignore the fact that all school personnel, including the superintendent, are employed by the Board of Education, not by an individual. Donald Peccia was appointed assistant superintendent of human resources in 2004; Phyllis Reese was hired as chief of communications in 2009.

The deputy superintendent for the Baltimore County school system will step down next month, officials confirmed Thursday. Kevin Hobbs, who was brought on by Superintendent Dallas Dance last year, will return to his family in North Carolina, said schools spokesman Mychael Dickerson. Dance informed the county school board of Hobbs' planned departure, saying that he "vigorously recruited [Hobbs]," who was a top administrator in the Wake County, N.C., public schools, to help him during his transition.

There is sentiment growing within education and political circles in Anne Arundel County that the school system can stop looking for a new superintendent right now because it has already found a qualified leader in Carol S. Parham. It is not difficult to see why. In the six months since she was named acting superintendent, Dr. Parham's quieting influence has been a welcome antidote to the tumult of the Ronald Walter Price sex scandal. She has steered clear of controversy, left all comment on the Price problem to the school board and tackled a few unrelated problems such as staff changes and redistricting.

Harford County Executive David R. Craig issued the following statement regarding the appointment by the Harford County Board of Education of Barbara P. Canavan as interim superintendent of Harford County Public Schools: "I was delighted to hear that the Board of Education of Harford County wisely chose a long-time teacher and administrator with Harford County Public Schools to serve as the interim superintendent of schools. I have the utmost respect for Barbara Canavan and had the honor and pleasure to work with her for 12 years during my career as an educator with Harford County Public Schools.

Carroll County Public Schools Superintendent Stephen Guthrie will be the featured speaker at a Family Forum hosted by the CCPS Parent Guides group on Monday, Jan. 7, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at the Board of Education offices, 125 N. Court St., Westminster. The topic will be "The Future of Carroll County Public Schools. " Light refreshments will be served, and child care and activities for children will be provided. Those attending are asked to RSVP before Jan. 3 by calling Pat Levroney at 410-386-1680, or email ptlevro@carrollk12.org .        

Reports of wage cuts, social clubs, equipment and dam problems, temperance meetings and more are part of the historical events Laurel Mill superintendent George H. Nye documented during his nine years in Laurel between 1877-1885. The Laurel Historical Society will offer a glimpse into the past through Nye's eyes at "The Diaries of George Nye: An Inside Look 1877-1885," Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Laurel Municipal Pool meeting room, Ninth and Main streets. Ken Skrivseth, who with Jeri Witt has begun detailed transcriptions of Nye's daily entries, will discuss some of their discoveries and what it has taken to ensure accurate transcriptions of the hand-written documents.

When the county school board meets for its regular public session tomorrow, members will be working with a new school superintendent -- but they will see a familiar face.C. Berry Carter II, the school'ssystem's deputy superintendent, has been named acting superintendentto replace outgoing Superintendent Larry L. Lorton.Lorton left his position Friday, apparently changing his mind after announcing in January that he planned to leave the school system at the end of the school year.While Lorton said he was leaving to pursue other career alternatives, many believed he resigned before anexpected decision by the school board not to renew his contract.

Bashing school superintendents is nothing new these days, but Carroll County's just-named superintendent, Brian Lockard, must have set a speed record for vilification.At least two weeks before the county Board of Education made its selection, letters to the editor, calls to a newspaper's call-in line and even paid ads were directed against the then-unnamed superintendent.He (or she) is overpaid and unqualified, the shrill critics charged. He is also suspect because the same members of the school board that signed R. Edward Shilling's last contract also selected him.These charges and more were made by people who didn't have the foggiest idea who would ultimately be selected by the board.

R. Edward Shilling is known for a bold style, and his time as superintendent has been fraught with controversy.The past two years have brought one controversy after another, but the superintendent said he never had a year that didn't.He said recent years have not been more difficult than the first -- the controversies just change."I think the [superintendent's position] is stressful and controversial most of the time," Mr. Shilling said.Among the controversies he has faced:* He has decried a national conservative movement that he said has a political agenda and steadfastly supported that movement's main target: outcomes-based education.

Harford County's Board of Education on Monday named the system's current executive director of middle school performance to become the interim superintendent for the 2013-2014 school year. Barbara P. Canavan, who came to the county as an assistant teacher 40 years ago, will fill a vacancy being left by Robert M. Tomback, who is leaving the system at the end of June after a four-year term. Canavan first came to Harford County Public Schools in 1973. She taught at various middle schools in the county through 2010, when she took the middle school performance position, which included oversight of curriculum and instructional programming.

While Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso deserves thanks for six game-changing years in Baltimore, the transformation he presided over owes as much to the vision and resolve of a city school board that insisted on fostering choice and accountability while also investing more in the schools. The board must now stay the course on institutional reform and move forward with an even sharper focus on academic achievement. First, it should maintain a strict focus on the core principles of our turnaround: school choice and the "fair student funding" that undergirds this market-oriented approach to opening and closing schools.

Monday, May 6, 2013 Dear City Schools Partners and Friends, I am writing to you today to let you know that at the end of the current school year, I will retire and leave Baltimore City Public Schools and this great city to return to my home in New Jersey to care for my aging parents and begin an academic position at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It has not been an easy decision, because what we have accomplished together in recent years has been both important and extremely gratifying to me, professionally and personally.

As city schools CEO Andrés Alonso steps aside, he's turning the system over to a close adviser he's trusted during some of his administration's most trying moments. Alonso's chief of staff, Tisha Edwards, will lead the system through the 2014 school year as the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners searches for a permanent replacement. During a news conference Monday at school headquarters, Alonso called her an "extraordinary leader" who has been "a part of every moment of crisis and every moment of celebration.

Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso tearfully announced his resignation Monday, ending a six-year tenure marked by bold yet often divisive reforms and casting uncertainty on the future of the long-troubled school system. Under Alonso's leadership, city schools saw growth in test scores, graduation rates and enrollment, but his administration was dogged by fiscal problems and cheating scandals. "I have enjoyed being the superintendent of the school system in ways that are so astonishing," Alonso said, choking back tears.

Baltimore County schools Superintendent Dallas Dance plans to issue digital devices to middle- and high-school students and wants all children in the school system to graduate bilingual, believing it will make them globally competitive, he said in the county's first state of the schools address Thursday. "Earning a Baltimore County public schools diploma needs to have greater meaning," he told a crowd at Valley Mansion in Cockeysville. The superintendent hopes to see kindergartners learning world languages and older students carrying electronic devices within the next five years, he said in an interview Thursday.

Hiring a superintendent to run a public school system that serves nearly 40,000 students is a daunting task, so it is understandable that the Harford County Board of Education is moving with a great deal of caution. Laid bare, the problem is simple. Harford County Public Schools is a $600 million a year enterprise with as many employees as a major corporation. Though a school system and a business cannot be run the same way on all fronts, there are certain parallels, not the least of which being that the pool of qualified applicants is relatively small, and, on the whole, they're very well paid.

Sixth-graders from West Middle School in Carroll County scoured the Bear Branch stream one recent morning in search of aquatic life in the dead of winter. Nathan Grella said the contents of his bucket did not appear promising. "We just got leaves and rocks," said the 12-year-old, one of 57 youngsters spending the week at Outdoor School at Hashawha Environmental Center in Westminster. Closer inspection, however, showed the leaves and rocks were indeed harboring life, information the students will use to size up the stream's health.