Keep focus on equity, civility in search for new Balto. Co. schools superintendent
Even the sharpest critics of Darryl L. Williams, the beleaguered and now outgoing superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, must appreciate that his timing was unlucky, facing the COVID-19 pandemic and a cyberattack within months of taking office. Switching to virtual learning is challenging under any circumstances. Doing it when your computer system has been hit by a ransomware attack that is messing with teacher benefits among other things, is a genuine crisis. And that’s on top of all the other firestorms that superintendents face, from school bus driver shortages and incidents of school violence to parents seeking to have their local schools air-conditioned.
Still, Williams’ decision to not seek another contract when his expires this summer was the right move. His perceived lack of transparency and chronic inability to keep his various constituencies — from the school board to parents and teachers — adequately informed of what was going on at key times led to a significant loss of support during his four-year tenure. And the school district has struggled to rebound from pandemic losses under Williams.
State officials revealed this week the latest standardized test scores, and they were bad news for Baltimore County. While results of tests taken last spring offered some modest hope — specifically reading scores that suggested pandemic-related shortfalls were on the mend — the math results were dismal. In Baltimore County, just 19% of students in grades three through eight scored proficient in math. The county’s 10th graders fared even worse, with just 7% judged proficient in Algebra 1. Baltimore’s other suburban counties performed better.
But Williams got at least one important thing right for BCPS. From the start, the one-time high school math teacher made the wise calculation to promote equity — to do “whatever it takes to ensure that every student learns and succeeds, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, socioeconomic status, language proficiency, or disability,” as the system continues to pledge in its list of “core values.” Given some of the sharp socioeconomic and racial lines drawn in the county, this is no idle thought.
And yet, the critical effort has been
hampered by Williams’ troubled tenure and that of his predecessor, Dallas
Dance, who similarly promoted equity, but had his legacy tarnished shortly after he resigned his post in 2017, by a criminal indictment and conviction for perjury arising from false financial disclosure forms. If a school system is seeking to identify and overcome racism, it is extraordinarily unhelpful when African American men in positions of authority are deemed either dishonest like Dance or non-communicative like Williams.
So what’s the best hope for Baltimore County Public Schools? It must start with finding a new superintendent who is devoted to lifting all boats (and test scores). The county must ensure that all students have an opportunity to reach their fullest potential, not just those from more affluent communities, who have access to resources outside the school system, or the already high-achievers. Baltimore County must do more to close the achievement gap negatively affecting Black and Latino students, and others, including English learners, special needs students and those from low-income households.
The superintendent is not the only focus, however. The county also needs a better functioning school board. It’s
hard to yet characterize the current board and its new leadership given recent election turnover and the fact that a handful of gubernatorial appointees are yet to come, but we can safely say that the previous version was highly dysfunctional. Don’t take our word for it. An outside consultant, in a 759-page “efficiency” report, observed in 2021 that having board members shouting at each other in open meetings was not only a bad look but the displays of incivility had proven harmful to the school system. And who had to deal with that? That would be the outgoing superintendent. The new board may have started the ball rolling Tuesday night in the formal search for his replacement, but left unexplored was whether that effort will be hampered by the previous board’s reputation for strife and dissent. (Or is that just a product of a sprawling suburban system with competing regional interests?)
We would also add to the list an improved relationship with county government if only to secure its share of the state’s promised $3.8 billion statewide Blueprint for Maryland’s Future investment. With this formula, Baltimore County schools can yet make the grade.