Deadline approaches for Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises to decide on third contract

Lilly Price, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read
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Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, is currently negotiating with the board of school commissioners about whether she intends to lead the school system for another four years.

Santelises, who has held the district’s highest-ranking position for eight years, has until Sunday to decide on a third contract renewal. Her current contract expires June 30. If Santelises leaves, the board will launch a national search to replace her.

When the board last voted to extend Santelises’ contract in 2020, they announced the agreement in February. But discussions have stretched longer this year. The board and Santelises have yet to say publicly if she’s made a decision.

“We do not have a public announcement at this time,” Jennifer Judkins, the board executive officer, said in an email Friday.

A city schools spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Friday as the office is closed for spring break.

Santelises’ tenure is seen by some as a stabilizing force and a point of pride for Mayor Brandon Scott, a Democrat who is running for reelection. High turnover in critical city agencies has been a feature of Scott’s and previous mayors’ administrations. Santelises is one of the only Baltimore school CEOs in the past two decades to receive a second four-year contract.

“Despite the critics intentionally misleading about what City Schools is accomplishing, I will tell you a simple truth: our educators, students and families are on the rise,” Scott said Monday during his State of the City address.

She was the district’s chief academic officer from 2010 to 2013, then returned in 2016 as chief executive.

Santelises was the highest-paid superintendent in Maryland in 2020 when the board approved her current four-year contract and a $325,000 salary with a 2.5% annual pay increase. Board members said at the time they were worried another school system would lure her away.

She’s faced intense criticism, particularly from Republican lawmakers and the former governor, over school building conditions and a high school grading scandal. Baltimore and its school district were sued in 2022 by a Baltimore resident claiming the district defrauded taxpayers by failing to educate its students. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Shelia Dixon, who is running against Scott to reclaim the office she resigned from in 2010, stopped short of saying she does not support another four-year contract for Santelises.

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“I’m ready to support a City Schools CEO who will finally align themselves with parents by extending the school day to provide structured afterschool programming, ensuring administrators are not passing students who are not ready for the next level, and establishing more community schools empowered to address issues like mental health, food insecurity, and homelessness,” Dixon said in a statement.

As CEO, Santelises manages a school system with a $1.7 billion budget and more than 75,000 students. The urban school system struggles with chronic absenteeism, lagging graduation rates and falling enrollment.

However, English test scores have continuously improved under Santelises leadership and recovered from coronavirus pandemic learning losses. Math scores slightly improved last year but remain among the lowest in Maryland.

And a recent independent audit found no widespread grade manipulation in city schools. A statewide report found Baltimore prekindergartens are better prepared to start school than the statewide average. Daily attendance has also improved — a priority of the mayor.