An opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun encourages systemic change in Baltimore City’s schools. The piece was written by Donald Manekin, who served as the invited interim chief operating officer for the Baltimore City Public School System between September 2000 and August 2002 and convened the group of civic leaders asked to review the school system’s master plan in 2000.

The author notes the lag of progress in the schools since 2000, and asks for broad-based changes to help bolster the City,

Eddie Brown, Wes Moore, and Freeman Hrabowski, and countless other civic and social-change leaders know and have said that a student’s journey through school, beginning at pre-K, must fully prepare him or her for the workforce of the 21st century or post-secondary education. Repeatedly, we have heard from Baltimore’s children and adults in the aftermath of the Freddie Gray shooting that they want and need an education that creates positive possibilities.

If we want return on our education investment — public schools where all students have all the resources to prepare them for success in school and in life — change must not be incremental but systemic. Thinking and acting must be bold, broad and creative.

For more information, see the full story in the Sun.