Well, Peter Gorman says he is going to fire people who fail to do their jobs at CMS’ worst high schools. Sounds good — dramatic even — but ultimately the only proper response is “we’ll see.”

That is because Gorman could’ve started his turnaround efforts at CMS in much the same way Erskine Bowles kicked off his era heading the UNC system — by making changes from the inside out. Bowles cut staff loose in top administration, which he said was bloated. Gorman could have done the same at the Ed Center — many times over, in fact.gg But the Ed Center deadwood remains.

Instead of sending a clear message to the CMS desk jockeys, Gorman is walking a very fine line between real reform and more of the same “blame the teacher” nonsense the Ed Center has been pumping out for years. The difference involves CMS actually identifying the bad teachers and cutting them loose, then standing behind the good teachers by enforcing classroom discipline.

That may or may not happen. What will happen, in the short term, is that CMS will pay $15,000 bonuses to some teachers. This, in and of itself, will not improve test scores. Gorman probably understands this, the entrenched CMS bureaucracy that always sees more money as the solution, probably not.

As ever — we’ll see.