The tentative contract agreement between the Baltimore Teachers Union and the city school district strives to protect educators from what they believe are subjective actions by principals, who have been given greater leeway in decisions about their schools during the tenure of schools CEO Andrés Alonso.

Principals' power over teacher assignments and evaluations has been a sticking point for the union, which hopes to find balance with the proposed contract that gives teachers more control over their working conditions and the opportunity to earn hefty pay increases.

The contract, due to be voted on by about 6,800 teachers Thursday, also includes stipulations about principal behavior, and requires administrators to participate in training on the new contract and on how to evaluate teachers.

The new requirements will be critical, union leaders say, as the state begins working on a system to tie student performance to teachers' evaluations. And under the new contract, teachers will move up a new pay scale by proving their effectiveness through evaluations, rather than the district's traditional method of "step increases" awarded automatically based on years of experience or degrees obtained.

Union officials said protecting teachers in a district that promotes principals' autonomy was at the forefront of the contract negotiations.

"As soon as we sat down, that was the first thing we hit them with, the problems we were already having with principals and autonomy, and how teachers were being treated," said Loretta Johnson, executive vice president for the American Federation of Teachers and a longtime Baltimore union representative and contract negotiator.

Under the tenure of Alonso, the district has given principals the power to control their budgets and hire staff, with the input of the school community. In a recent interview, the schools chief acknowledged that school autonomy has caused rifts between teachers and principals.

"We believe that as much as possible, the choices have to be made at the school level," Alonso said. "Principals are feeling the brunt of that autonomy. Hard decisions have to be made. That has meant huge pushback from teachers."

But Johnson said many principals make hiring and firing decisions based on personalities rather than capabilities. At the beginning of the school year, school officials acknowledged that there was a surplus of teachers because principals did not want them at their schools.

"Part of the problem has been that for some principals, it's not about if you're doing a good job, it's about whether they like you or not" Johnson said. "We are trying to change the relationships, and we felt [the contract] was the way of doing it."

The tentative agreement states that union officials will help lead the principals' training on the new contract and that the required professional development for principals should specifically focus on rendering "fair, objective and consistent teacher evaluations."

Under the current system, principals and assistant principals conduct teacher evaluations, deeming them satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The only recourse teachers have is to appeal to a committee of city schools administrative staff, whose decisions are approved by Alonso.

Last month, dozens of teachers, mostly Filipino, protested at the city school board meeting, contending that they were dismissed after retaliatory actions by principals and pleading with the school board to investigate whether principals followed proper protocols and rendered fair decisions. The teachers and union officials also complained that appeals to school administrators have been languishing since May.

A major safeguard put in place under the new contract calls for a joint investigation into any school with a high number of inconsistent evaluations, allowing union officials to be part of any investigations concerning such allegations. In other parts of the contract, there is language aimed at "capricious" and "arbitrary" behavior by principals.

Jimmy Gittings, president of the administrators union, criticized the language about principals.

"It disturbs me greatly that principals are being portrayed as individuals who are acting in a self-serving basis," Gittings said. "Principals remove teachers due to the need of the school and the need of the students in the school."

He said that he believes the teachers union has the "true grit" to negotiate a bold contract, and in doing so proved to critics that unions don't stifle initiatives to improve teacher quality. However, Gittings said initiatives such as a proposal that would allow 80 percent of teachers to establish new working conditions in a school, such as more planning time, were of concern.

If the contract is ratified, he said, "it could be taking a lot of control from the principals."

There is still much uncertainty about how teachers will be evaluated because much of the teachers union contract relies heavily on the state's decision about how 50 percent of evaluations will be tied to student test scores, and how teachers in nontested grades will be evaluated. A 21-member committee has just begun meeting to set those standards.

But no matter what the process will be, Johnson said, city teachers will have to be convinced that it will be fairly executed by principals. "We don't protest evaluations," she said. "We protest process."

Matthew Hornbeck, principal of Hampstead Hill Academy who also served on the contract's negotiating team, said he believes that principals should "not ring the alarm bell" if the contract is ratified.

He said the language concerning principals didn't put him on the defense at the negotiating table, and the spirit of the contract is not "anti-principal."

"Anybody on either side of the table can come up with the worst qualities for teachers and principals, but it's hard to build a contract around individuals," Hornbeck said. "Then you race to put people in a box, not create opportunities for people to soar."

erica.green@baltsun.com