Md. Schools Chief Is Reappointed

Legislators Fought to Delay Vote Over Future of O'Malley Foe

A defiant Maryland State Board of Education voted yesterday to renew the contract of Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, brushing aside objections from the governor and two leaders of the General Assembly.

The divided vote, taken during a three-hour, closed-door session, dramatically escalated a bitter power struggle between Grasmick and Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who has said the long-serving schools chief should be replaced when her four-year term ends in June.

Grasmick was online Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss her reappointment and explain the issues and her position on education policy.

A transcript follows.

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Nancy S. Grasmick: I'm happy to be with you today to hear your thoughts and respond to your questions.

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Hagerstown, Md.: I have relatives in other states where the high schools teach Physics before Biology and Chemistry. It is apparently an initiative called "Physics First." Have any Maryland schools or districts adopted this approach? If so, has it been successful?

Nancy S. Grasmick: Although we haven't called our program Physics First, we are emphasizing math, science, and engineering. As a result, we have 74 sites in Maryland where we are offering academies on these subjects or specific pre-engineering programs in biomedical sciences and aerospace. As a result of these efforts we are configuring our offerings for science in new and innovative ways and in some instances we will be providing physics instruction before biology and chemistry.

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Greenbelt, Md. -- Prince George's County: Congratulations on your reappointment! Quick question -- I don't have any children in the school system, but what was the big deal with your reappointment and the governor's issues. You have been state superintendent for a long time, don't you think it's time for new ideas, and if not, what are you planning to do differently from your previous stances!

Thanks.

Nancy S. Grasmick: We have been pursuing innovations during the entire time I've been with the State Department of Education. However, during the next four years I'll be placing much more attention on early childhood education, which just recently been moved to the State Department from other agencies. I would also be concentrating on accelerating the performance of our students in high school so that they can exit being much more competitive in higher education and the increasingly competitive world.

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Bowie, Md.: Historically, where is the line of demarcation between what a governor wants to achieve for the state in education during his/her tenure, and the role that the superintendent plays?

Nancy S. Grasmick: A State Superintendent has the legal responsibility to present the policies related to public education to a State Board of Education for approval, so that these policies can influence all local school systems. These are issues such as curriculum, standards, minimum number of school days, required credits for graduation, etc. A Governor can influence education by funding innovative programs. This is usually done in a collaborative manner with the State Department of Education.

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Kensington, Md.: What do you consider is the biggest challenge for the Maryland school systems right now? Thanks for taking my question.

Nancy S. Grasmick: There are a few things. First, our students are facing a very competitive world. There is a death of distance. We need to prepare them to be able to be successful as we think about global competition. Second, our population is becoming much more diverse, and we must eliminte achievement gaps while accelerating performance for all students. Third, we need to give more attention to our gifted and talented students to ensure the importance of their future leadership in society.

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Baltimore, Md.: How long does your reappointment run and do you intend to stay put?

Nancy S. Grasmick: My appointment is for a four-year tenure beginning in July 2008. I do intend to serve that entire term as my commitment to the students of Maryland and the adults we serve.

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Wheaton, Md.: The Chesapeake Bay continues to slowly decline. What is Maryland doing to educate children about what they can do to help the Bay?

Nancy S. Grasmick: The Maryland State Deparment of Education is a part of the compact among states regarding the Chesapeake Bay restoration. We take this very seriously and we have environmental education specific to the Bay as a part of our curriculum. We will continue to pursue other significant initiatives that can assist with the health of our national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay, for future generations.

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Largo, Md.: Dr. Grasmick, this is Nelson Hernandez, a Post reporter. Thanks for taking our readers' questions.

I have two questions of my own: 1. What do you feel like you've accomplished in the last 16 years? 2. Given how long you've been doing this job and been in the world of education, why not retire?

Thanks for your time.

Nancy S. Grasmick: Hi Nelson. The achievement of every school system in the state of Maryland has improved in both reading and math. Maryland is a national leader in Advanced Placement. Graduation rates have risen and dropout rates have fallen. We have created the first state department of leadership with a special emphasis on principals. We have transferred all of the early childhood programs that precede kindergarten to the State Department and enhanced the quality and number of these programs.

Why retire? Age or experience doesn't limit; it enhances. Walter Sondheim was 92 when he was president of the State Board of Education and he did a remarkable job.

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Bethesda, Md.: What have you done about cutting the highly-paid, big pension, non-teaching administrative part of the school budget?

Nancy S. Grasmick: School budgets are strictly a local issue, overseen by local boards of education and local government. We are having both legislative auditors and an independent evaluation conducted over the use of dollars from the Thornton contribution.

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Annapolis, Md.: Do you expect to get the funds that you need for your policies to become enacted?

Nancy S. Grasmick: Obviously, we hope that everyone would view public education as critical to the health of our state. However, we are keenly aware of the budgetary constraints at the State level. We will be focused in our requests. Our desire is to look at each expenditure and reconfigure the use of the dollars when that is appropriate for new initiatives.

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Bethesda, Md.: Dr. Grasmink, how can you say that the current system keeps politics out of education when the 7 Republicans voted for you and the 4 Democrats voted against you. That's a political divide. Given what Messrs. Busch and Miller are saying you would be doing the children of Maryland a favor by not accepting reappointment.

Nancy S. Grasmick: Your characterization of the State Board is completely off base. The State Board has many more Democrats than Republicans. It is a very diverse board racially, geographically, gender-wise, etc. There are no votes that are done along party lines.

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College Park, Md.: Do you believe there will be a movement to unseat you in January? An article I read indicated that that might be a possibility. Is this all politically driven? Are you a Republican?

Nancy S. Grasmick: I am a Democrat. There may be an effort to overturn this appointment. But that would be unfortunate, since the structure of education in Maryland historically has been to separate education from politics. In states without that separation, there has been as many as seven superintendents in eight or nine years. The issues regarding high quality education are not resolved in a four-year term.

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Baltimore, Md.: What is your position on school systems' common reduction of instruction time and resource allocations for social studies and other subjects that are not measured by No Child Left Behind?

Nancy S. Grasmick: We have a very comprehensive state curriculum that includes standards for the arts, physical education, social studies, history, science, as well English and mathematics. We believe that all of these subjects deserve attention and standards. Therefore, we would not support narrowing the curriculum in any way.

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Bowie, Md.: Children are whipped through subjects at a very rapid pace to meet No Child Left Behind and state standards. What are you prepared to do in your next term to bring "real" learning back to Maryland classrooms.

Nancy S. Grasmick: We do believe that real learning is taking place, and that is confirmed by our performance on national tests for Advanced Placement, IB, and the fact that all of our school systems have improved in math and reading. Some people think that testing is the centerpiece of this. It is not. You cannot express on a test what you haven't learned. The learning has to precede the testing. Our curriculum is so expansive, we feel good about the learning.

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Washington, D.C. : Are you in favor of legalizing slot gambling to help fund education?

Nancy S. Grasmick: We don't take a position on revenue bills. However, if slots become a reality, we would hope that a substantial amount of the dollars would be devoted to education. We've seen this happen in Georgia, where they guaranteed every student a strong preschool program and substantial dollars for college scholarships.

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Bethesda, Md.: Now that I see your answers, I realize that you are intelligent and that I didn't know much about you before. So you have caused me to worry that the governor may try and appoint someone else who will relax standards too much. Should I be concerned?

Nancy S. Grasmick: Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate your support. I am absolutely dedicated to the success of our students.

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Baltimore, Md.: What are your plans to improve Baltimore City schools? Their overall performance is dismal (a few exceptions, notably Roland Park and George Washington).

Are there plans to expand the Ingenuity Project? Even if there are expansion plans, can you describe why only some children in Baltimore are worthy of the Singapore curriculum and safe school spaces?

Nancy S. Grasmick: Regarding Baltimore City schools, they fall under the governance of the local board of school commissioners and the CEO, Dr. Andreas Alonso. We do work collaboratively with them, but we do not operate the city schools on a day-to-day basis.

I'll be discussing the Ingenuity Project and the Singapore Curriculum with him.

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Silver Spring Mom: Okay, so what is the beef about? Let's get down to the brass tax core issues where you and the governor are not seeing eye to eye. Please share why you feel he does not support you?...

Nancy S. Grasmick: Some of it may stem from the difference in responsibilities when the Governor served as Mayor and I had the responsibility of identifying schools which were extremely low-performing over time and recommending interventions. It was not true -- and never was true -- that we were taking over schools. However, federal law required us to make recommendations on how to improve those schools on behalf of the students they serve.

I suspect the Governor does not disagree with me on many educational issues and is equally committed to making certain Maryland schools remain among the nation's best.

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Nancy S. Grasmick: Thank you for all your thoughtful questions. Please work with us as we continue to strengthen Maryland schools.

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