Baltimore School Super Hires Ex-General

Baltimore School Superintendent Andres Alonso has tapped retired General Bennie Williams to be his chief of staff according to the Baltimore Sun.

In a move to fix the city school system's managerial problems, Andres Alonso, the system's chief executive officer, has chosen a retired Army officer with a strong background in logistics to act as his second in command.

Maj. Gen. Bennie E. Williams, a Baltimore native who served 35 years in the Army, will be chief of staff, serving as a liaison between Alonso and principals and top administrators.

Before retiring from the military this year, Williams served as chief operating officer of the Defense Logistics Agency, where he oversaw more than 400 civilian and military personnel responsible for distributing equipment to Army personnel worldwide.

"Accountability resides within me," Williams said yesterday when Alonso introduced him at Frederick Douglass High school, from which Williams graduated in 1968. Williams joined the Army in 1972 after earning a degree in education at Morgan State University.

Williams is an alum of the Broad Superintendents Academy and his background in the military supply bureaucracy will, people hope, serve him well.