When you talk with Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon about Baltimore, she exudes a deep passion and concern for the future of her hometown — and an urgency to put into action plans she seems to have been formulating for most of her public life.

In the second of this three-part series, Dixon — whose new budget calls for more than $6 million to continue after-school programs for at-risk youth — shares her vision for the city’s 86,000 students enrolled in 192 public schools.

“We have a very challenging situation facing us with our city schools. When you look at our students, only those in the first and second grades are doing well — the others are not. Our high school students are not prepared to enter the workplace,” she said. “The revolving door of CEOs at the school board and instability in the families have contributed to this. When we stabilize the family, the child will succeed.”

To tackle the problem, Dixon hopes to implement several strategies such as creating finance and hospitality academies for high school students to enable them to capture job opportunities within those industries, increasing the number of charter schools, restructuring city schools so that their focus is more community-based and placing resources within the schools to address social ills.

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“I am creating a new position, deputy mayor of schools, whose job it will be to foster partnerships with area businesses and foundations to provide additional resources, programs and training opportunities for our youth so that they can capitalize on the new businesses and industries that are coming to the city,” Dixon said.

Dixon’s deputy mayor for economic development, Andrew Frank, and Dixon pointed to the success of Dunbar and Digital high schools that help train youth to immediately enter the work force.

“Vocational schools provide hands-on experience for students, giving them a leg up on the job market,” Frank said.

With record dropout rates, students fleeing to the suburbs, high student absenteeism, poor standardized test scores and increasing gang and student violence, many are hoping that someone can put into action plans that will have a real impact on the city’s schools.

“There is no question that the school system will benefit from greater partnerships with the private sector,” said School Board Member Anirban Basu. “They know best what skill sets will be needed for the future and will help accelerate our progress. The school system is making progress and [Dixon’s] ideas are good ones: It boils down to implementation and voters will have to decide who is best-equipped to implement these ideas.”

rchappelle@baltimoreexaminer.com