Jerome Clark File Photo

By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 5, 1998; Page A01

Prince George's County school board members have criticized Superintendent Jerome Clark's leadership in a recent private evaluation, and several warned this week that they will hold him responsible for improving the troubled school system.

A majority of the board's nine members gave Clark a rating of average or below in the assessment, which was conducted in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with it. The evaluation marks a weakening of the board's previously strong support for Clark, whom it hired in 1995.

In criticizing Clark, board members cited the county's declining performance on state tests and what some consider his poor management of the school system.

Clark has been told of the results of the confidential annual evaluation, and board members plan to meet with him next week to formally present it.

According to school sources, the assessment gave Clark an overall rating of 2.1 on a scale of zero to 4, where 2 is average. Three members gave him ratings of poor or below average, three rated him average and two above average. One board member's rating was not available.

Clark's four-year contract ends next year, and several board members warned that his success in improving school performance will weigh heavily in contract discussions.

Discussions of Clark's performance intensified after an announcement last week by the state superintendent of schools that nine Prince George's County schools are eligible for state takeover because of the schools' poor and declining test scores.

The county's school system, Maryland's largest and the second-worst performing district on state tests, has long been criticized by state and county officials for its low test scores, high number of noncertified teachers and management. The system has struggled with rapidly increasing enrollments, crowded schools and below-average scores on state tests.

Clark was out of his office most of yesterday and could not be reached for comment. But last week he said at a news conference that he takes full responsibility for improving the schools.

"I have 182 schools," Clark said. "They all need to improve."

He said that the school system needs to hire better-qualified teachers, reduce class sizes and help teachers learn different strategies to raise test scores.

Clark received the lowest scores on his evaluation in the areas of communication and public relations and in management and operation of the school system, according to an official who did not wish to be identified. The other areas Clark was evaluated in were executive leadership, instructional leadership and relations with the school board.

School board Chairman Alvin Thornton (Suitland) said the superintendent is ultimately responsible for whether the school system succeeds or fails.

"We hire people who say, 'I'm in charge. I have the decision-making authority. I'm paid to solve problems and take the blame when problems are not solved,' " said Thornton, who did not comment on Clark's evaluation.

Thornton added, "If schools and scores don't go up and issues in the schools system don't improve, I expect the board to deal with the superintendent."

Clark is paid $125,000 annually. His four-year contract expires in July 1999.

Although some board members have discussed firing Clark, they said it would be too expensive.

"Why would we spend money to buy out a contract and pay legal fees when we could be spending that money on the children?" said school board member Kenneth E. Johnson (Mitchellville).

Johnson, who said the superintendent was doing a fairly good job, has said that public discussions of firing Clark would only weaken Clark's ability to improve the school system.

"There is nothing I've seen so far that says to me we have grounds to fire the superintendent," Johnson said. "Unless he's committed malfeasance in office, you can't fire the superintendent."

Clark was chosen to lead the school system after the school board conducted a national search for a successor to Edward M. Felegy. Clark was an administrator in the system for 17 years before becoming the school system's first African American superintendent.

Clark, who was chosen over two outside candidates, was considered an insider and someone who knew the system and could hit the ground running.

Some board members were concerned that Clark would not be aggressive enough and that an outsider should be hired to shake things up. But board members believed it was important to hire Clark to lead a system in which more than 70 percent of the students are African American.

Soon after his appointment, Clark reorganized the schools into clusters of elementary, middle and high schools and chose principals to be chief educational administrators to lead the clusters. He developed a concept of "oasis" schools that opened buildings after hours and on weekends to give the community access to them.

Most school board members have strongly backed Clark and have been careful not to question his day-to-day operating decisions.

In one of his most controversial moves, Clark last year was praised and criticized for stripping six poorly performing schools of their principals, teachers and staffs and reorganizing the instructional programs to improve performance. The reorganization of the schools, which required all staff members from principals to janitors to reapply for their positions, prompted an outcry. Recently, Clark said it was too early to tell how those schools were performing. But he said that "there have been some positives and negatives."

That restructuring was seen as a bold move by many of his peers. And Clark was named Maryland's 1998 Superintendent of the Year by the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland. Recently, he was given an award for excellence in education by the county's chamber of commerce.

School Board member Bernard Phifer (Hillcrest Heights) said yesterday that he thought Clark was doing a good job. "Generally, the bold preemptive initiatives that he took are to his credit," Phifer said.