Ex-Delegate Now Recruits Teachers

By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 1, 2003; Page PG03

As a state delegate, Rushern L. Baker III did what he thought would improve Prince George's County's troubled schools: He led the charge to abolish the school system's strife-torn, elected school board.

Now that Baker is no longer in public office, he's trying again to make a difference in county public schools, but in a less controversial way: He's recruiting teachers.

Since January, Baker, 44, has been the executive director of Community Teachers Institute, a nonprofit organization that recruits and trains teachers to work in schools with diverse populations and urban problems.

"This is an organization trying to pull together a national response to a crisis in education, especially among minority students," Baker said recently from his office in the District, which, like his former office in Annapolis, is decorated with portraits of Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy and other idols.

Just over a year ago, Baker was trying to respond to a crisis in Prince George's County public education. The elected school board had lost its support among state lawmakers after years of feuding publicly with schools chief Iris T. Metts.

Baker, then chairman of the Prince George's County delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates, spearheaded the legislature's effort to remove the board, and in the process irked many county residents who wanted to hold on to their voting rights.

Nonetheless, Baker succeeded in replacing the elected board with an appointed panel, which has since moved past the controversy. He then launched a campaign to succeed Wayne K. Curry (D) as county executive, even though even his closest allies believed he had a better shot at the state Senate. He came in fourth in a five-candidate field.

Baker, a lawyer before he became a politician, found himself doing something he hadn't done in years: job-hunting.

"I thought, 'Hey, it's time to go back and make a living,' " he said.

The Georgia native first thought he would return to private law practice. Then he reconsidered.

"I was looking for something where I could feel passionate about things I advocated in eight years in the legislature," he said.

After the primary, Baker's former brother-in-law, Segun C. Eubanks, then the executive director of Community Teachers Institute, asked him to consider taking his place. The organization was founded in 1989 in Massachusetts as The Learning Tree, mentoring minority students who fell through the cracks of the local public schools and pushing them to get their high school diplomas and move on to college.

The Learning Tree eventually evolved into the Community Teachers Institute, changing its focus to finding and training teachers -- many of them black or Latino -- who could keep those students from giving up on school. The organization opened an office in the District in 1996.

"We really do target folks who have had significant life experiences in urban settings," said Jacob Mann, associate executive director of the Community Teachers Institute. "We want teachers who can relate to the students in front of them."

Baker, the father of three students in Prince George's public schools, said he didn't want to abandon the school district after abolishing the school board. "Once you change a school board and put more money into it, is that enough?" he asked.

With help from Howard University and a five-year, $3.8 million U.S. Department of Education grant, the institute will place 30 teachers in those Prince George's schools that have landed on the state's watch list for posting poor standardized test scores. Schools in the city of Alexandria will receive 20 teachers. Next year, the program will expand to D.C. public schools.

The teachers, some of them coming from other careers, train at Howard University, Baker's alma mater, during the summer before they begin their three-year teaching commitment. In their first year of teaching, they take courses at Howard's school of education. The organization tries to recruit teachers who can be "culturally connected" to their students, Baker said.

"It doesn't mean that they have to be African American or Latino," he said. "Can you select teachers, train teachers who can go in and connect with students and bring more out of them?"

The answer, he said, is yes. But it requires a lot of support. And that's what the institute tries to do. Once the teachers are in the classroom, they are matched with mentors who help them ease their way into teaching.

"You can't simply stick them into classes and leave them on an island," Baker said.

As for speculation that he will someday return to politics, the one-time rising star of Annapolis said he plans to concentrate on his new job -- for now.

"I'm not ruling it out, but I'm having fun and I'm learning a lot," Baker said.