My service on the Maryland State Board of Education overlapped with Jim Campbell's service on the City School Board. I am writing to correct some important facts, but, first of all, I agree that CEO Andrés Alonso's forcefulness and sense of mission have been very positive for the city schools, and the schools are headed in the right direction, albeit far too slowly.

In "City school system ready to take the next step" (Commentary, July 22), Jim Campbell points out the successful opening of charter schools in the city, but prior to Mr. Alonso's arrival, the city school board, including Mr. Campbell, right after the state charter law was passed in 2003, strenuously fought new charter school applications and, most importantly, their full funding as required by state law. They did so to the point of opposing the full funding in court all the way to Maryland's top court.

Fortunately, the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the full funding requirements for the charter schools. I think everybody would agree that the growth of the public charter schools in Baltimore City has been positive for the city and our students.

However, there are a number of things that have not been done over the last six years, for which the city school board needs to take responsibility. First, it did not keep pace with closing depopulated schools as school enrollment dropped from 125,000 over a decade ago to roughly 80,000 students today, costing the school system millions of dollars in wasted utility, maintenance and repair costs that could have been directed to a reduced number of school rooms.

Second, after the financial meltdown of the school system and the reduction of the central administrative staff, that staff was allowed to bulk up again until Mr. Alonso took an ax to the North Avenue office staffing. In the meantime, millions of dollars spent on administrative staff that could have been redirected to classroom staff went down the drain.

Third, the city school board has not seriously addressed increasing the quality of teachers. It has allowed the teacher union leadership to dictate the rules on tenure, seniority and termination. No organization can be successful without the ability to remove individuals who are ineffective in the positions they are performing. Not all people are suited for particular jobs. Teachers need to be evaluated on a fair and objective basis, and those who prove to be ineffective, following a reasonable amount of time and opportunity for improvement, need to be purged from the system.

David F. Tufaro