Baltimore School Chief Smart Contract Langauge

After just two weeks officially on the job, Baltimore Schools Superintendent Andres Alonso has laid out a hands-on style of management.

From now on, no principal is appointed without a personal meeting with him. No long-term suspension or expulsion receives his approval until he is briefed on the situation. No contract is sent to the school board without his review.

Alonso, the former deputy chancellor in New York City, has pledged to visit each of Baltimore's 180 schools in the next year. He replies to all of his e-mail himself, rather than passing the task off to an assistant.

"There's no doubt in my mind who's in charge," said school board member Robert Heck, praising the new schools chief's "remarkable" attention to detail.

While deciding whether to leave New York for Baltimore, he was more concerned about the autonomy he would be granted than the money he would receive, Alonso said in a recent interview.

In most school systems around the country, the board of education appoints the CEO or superintendent, and that person is supposed to run the day-to-day operation without interference from board members.

But theory and reality don't always match, and Alonso -- who has a Harvard law degree -- insisted on a clause in his contract spelling out his authority.

The contract states that individual board members agree not to direct Alonso or anyone on his staff "regarding the management of [the school system] or the solution of specific problems." They agree to refer all complaints to him.

Alonso is being paid a base salary of $230,000. That's slightly more than interim CEO Charlene Cooper Boston and CEO Bonnie S. Copeland earned before him but less than superintendents in Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties.

"Financial terms were never an issue," he said. "I needed to be convinced that I would be able to be effective. In order to be effective, I needed trust from the board."

Well trust is one thing, but a contract clause is another. I am sure that additiona clauses in the contract give him the right to void the contract or demand other penalties should the school board get a little too involved.

But what Alonso is doing is not just saving his job, but helping the Board do theirs. Instead of being bogged down in the minutae of managing the schools, the Baltimore School Board can focus on what it should be doing, setting broad policy and managing Alonso and instead of micromanaging the schools.

I hope it works for both parties.