Harold - I've been reading your blog with interest and not a little bit of sadness. I had hoped that my 4 month experience within the Baltimore City Public Schools was an exception.

The environment was soul-deadening. Not because there weren't some fabulous, committed people there (even in the administration building where I worked) but because the office politics and the societal demands got them.

When I say the societal demands got them, I don't mean the demand for quality education. More the requirements surrounding that demand.

Baltimore City Public Schools were responsible for feeding the kids (lunch, for many, is the only meal they will receive all day), policing the neighborhood (many of the schools are in very tough neighborhoods), acting as surrogate parents, making the courts happy (they are still in the thick of a special education lawsuit), keeping the unions happy, fundraising and, oh yeah, educating the kids.

The whole situation, looking back, reminds me of a software implementation project gone horribly wrong. The stakeholders (parents, teachers, administrators, the city, the state, the federal government and the businesses who will hire the kids one day) keep changing their minds about what the requirements actually ARE. As a result nothing gets done; or, something acutally gets done, but nothing works.

I enjoy reading your blog. Keep fighting the good fight.