Style and substance

The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore's new schools CEO, Andres Alonso, is taking a hands-on approach to his new job. That's consistent with the board of school commissioners' desire for significant change in the school system and consistent with a leader trying to familiarize himself with a new city and school system. But at the end of the school year, different procedures will be far less important than improved results for students.

Mr. Alonso, former deputy schools chancellor in New York, had not even set foot in a Baltimore school before he was introduced last month as the new schools chief with a clear mandate that business as usual would not be acceptable. He is making good on his promise to spend most of his early time listening and observing.

In his first two weeks on the job, Mr. Alonso pulled 27 of 38 procurement contracts that were to have been voted on at last week's school board meeting in order to give himself more time to study them. As leadership and staff changes occur at many schools, he rightly wants to meet with each principal before he or she assumes a new assignment.

Given past and recent difficulties the school system has had keeping track of contractors' work, as well as its urgent need to re-staff and restructure persistently low-performing schools, Mr. Alonso's initial attempts to elevate his own learning curve are welcome - as long as they remain tied to his focus on teaching and learning and improving classroom dynamics.

He insists that his early immersion in procurement and other details is meant to establish "expectations and protocols" for looking at everything the system does through the prism of performance, not because things have always been done in certain ways. And along with the need for new procedures, Mr. Alonso understands that the school system will need to show improved results. The ultimate test of his style is whether he can help populate the schools with strong principals and effective teachers who not only can improve test scores but also instill in students a greater appreciation for learning as a way to improve their life choices and chances.

Mr. Alonso's credentials and previous accomplishments suggest that he's a quick study and will soon learn to separate wheat from chaff. Paying attention to details is important and is a welcome first step on the road to greater student success.

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