In a recent article, Liz Bowie of the Baltimore Sun newspaper broke down Baltimore County’s search to find a new superintendent.
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While the article states that in the last decade minority enrollment has increased in the county from 38% to 54% and students on subsidized meals has increased from 27% to 43%, Bowie also states that Baltimore County is “not seen as a major urban school system.” To say this is severely undercutting the paradigm shift of some Baltimore County schools away from a suburban model.
The company that Baltimore County Public Schools hired for the superintendent search claims that they reach out to parents, local community members, and officials in higher education in order to target the area’s specific needs and interests when picking a superintendent. The real question in my mind is, “What ‘areas’ are you specifically targeting for their opinions?” Are they too neglecting the increasingly urban environment of Baltimore County?
In my experience in Baltimore County, there have been many systemic changes for turn-around schools based on the successes of schools with vastly different demographics. For example, one policy in my school last year required all English teachers to assess my students on their ability to fill out “SOAPSTone” templates, a resource from the AVID college and career readiness board, on a variety of higher than grade level informational texts. For many of my students who were sufficiently below grade level in reading, the daily drills did more to frustrate them with reading than actually improve their levels. I am sure that a similar program may have worked in other schools in the county, but there was little done to consider the actual needs of my students. Whoever the new superintendent is, they must realize that Baltimore County serves a wide array of students, all with very different needs.
In order to have a superintendent that is effective in bringing change to Baltimore County as a whole, I think that we need to begin searching for someone with experience in both urban and suburban communities. Parents and community members from all areas of Baltimore must be represented, or else Baltimore will end up with someone looking for a panacea for two vastly different problems.
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