CEO Bonnie Copeland left the Baltimore schools on July 1, 2006. She had been with them for three years, which is a norm for an urban school superintendent. Her leaving, however, was not of her own choosing.
The Baltimore schools board felt she had a low-key management style and did was not a strong enough leader to make the changes needed to reform the Baltimore schools. Their reasoning appears to have been a bit flawed.
During her tenure with the Baltimore schools, Copeland managed a financial and management turnaround that was recognized by major rating agencies and school systems nationwide, and eliminated 1,100 positions even though her predecessor, Carmen Russo had left the school system in a mess. Test scores were on the rise, and she received high marks for her significant progress in the Baltimore schools from the GBC, a regional top business advocacy group. This came in 2003, after the groups financial review of the Baltimore schools.
Copeland was not without her enemies, however. The Greater Baltimore Committee, entrenched in bureaucracy and complacency, was not a supporter of Copeland, and they still rule the Baltimore schools. Additionally,...