Ensuring school repairs are done

The Baltimore Sun

The Baltimore City Council is recommending that Mayor Sheila Dixon redeploy building and housing inspectors as needed to help the school system ensure that promised repairs are occurring.

City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake and Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, chairwoman of the council's education committee, wrote to Dixon yesterday, outlining a variety of recommendations to help the schools.

The two held a hearing last month after The Sun reported that city schools employees had falsely certified making promised building repairs and permitted shoddy work on construction projects.

The state inspectors who caught the problems said they did not believe that top school system officials knowingly relayed false information but rather that they had not verified information provided by lower-level staff.

At the hearing June 20, council members asked school officials what the city could do to resolve the situation.

Kevin Seawright, the school system's deputy chief operating officer, said yesterday that the council's recommendations to the mayor are just what the system asked for.

"We are happy to partner with the city, and we appreciate all their help," Seawright said.

The recommendations do not specify how many inspectors from the city's housing and general services departments would be redeployed.

But Seawright estimated that eight would be needed to check the work being performed.

Clarke said that inspectors with different specialties - roofing, plumbing, electrical - would help the system as needed. No inspectors would leave their regular jobs, she said.

The recommendations also involve helping the system to prepare the buildings that will receive students displaced by multiple school closings this summer.

The city would provide trash bins and daily trash pickups, and it would coordinate inspections for health, fire and building code compliance to ensure timely service.

In addition, the city would install new traffic signals and crosswalks outside many schools.

Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for Dixon, said the mayor is evaluating the requests. "All of the recommendations are worth consideration," he said. "Mayor Dixon is committed to giving the city schools the resources that fall within her purview."

Clarke said she had discussed the recommendations with Dixon's staff before submitting them formally.

She said there were concerns about how much time city inspectors would have to divert from existing work, but that "nobody said 'impossible.'" If Dixon signs off on it, Clarke said, "people would start to line up and help."

Shaun Adamec, a spokesman for Rawlings-Blake, said the council president will arrange a meeting with Dixon to discuss the recommendations.

The recommendations came from the council's education committee and its committee of the whole, which includes all 14 council members and is chaired by Rawlings-Blake.

As a result of the newspaper article last month, Dixon ordered an audit of the school system's construction and renovation program.

An issue that remains unresolved is when the city will give the system $25 million from last year's budget surplus that then-Mayor Martin O'Malley had pledged for school renovations.

School officials wrote to Dixon last month asking for the money. They say they need $11 million just to complete the work they need to do this summer preparing the buildings to receive displaced students.

McCarthy said Dixon continues to review the school system's request. Dixon had previously said she would honor her predecessor's commitment.

sara.neufeld@baltsun.com

Sun reporter Brent Jones contributed to this article. Read The Sun's education blog at www.baltimoresun.com/classroom.

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