Governor Appoints New School Board Members
Former state senator who supported Kamenetz and a student are among the new members.
Gov. Martin O'Malley has appointed two new members to the Baltimore County school board, changed the appointment of a third and named a new student member.
O'Malley's announcement on Thursday comes less than a week after Meg O'Hare said the governor told her that she would not be appointed to a second term, and two days after a spokesman for the governor said Earnest Hines, the current board president, would also not be reappointed.
Cornelia Bright Gordon, a Towson resident and attorney, was appointed to fill the at-large position currently held by O'Hare. Gordon is currently the chief attorney of the Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. in Baltimore City. She received her bachelor's degree in English and education from Dartmouth College in 1977 and her law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1980. Gordon has no professional education experience.
Michael Collins is a former Democratic state legislator who served in the House of Delegates from 1978-1986 and in the Senate from 1986-2002. He is currently the chairman of the state Board of Contract Appeals. Collins received his bachelor's degree in education and history from the University of Scranton in 1962 and a master's degree in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1966. The Essex resident was a history teacher at Kenwood High School for 30 years.
Collins fills the at-large position held by James Coleman, a mathematics professor at Baltimore City Community College who lives in Owings Mills.
O'Malley announced Thursday that he was reappointing Coleman to fill the 4th District Council seat on the board that had been held by Hines.
Also appointed to the board is Logan McNaney, an Arbutus resident and junior at Lansdowne High School who has a 4.21 grade point average. McNaney will serve as the board's student member.
The terms for both O'Hare and Hines are set to end on July 1, though there is some controversy about Hines' term, who was appointed in 2007. Board members typically serve five-year terms, which would mean Hines has one more year.
But a spokesman for O'Malley said Tuesday that Hines' term should end on June 30 and that the original commission given to Hines contained a typographical error.
Lorna D. Rudnikas
9:42 am on Friday, May 20, 2011
Logan - Junior at Lansdowne High School appointed to the School Board by the Governor - Wow!!! Congratulations Logan. We are so proud of you.
John
4:42 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011
Congratulations to the new board members. I hope they approach their new positions with integrity, honor, and real desire to do what is right for the families of Baltimore County. That would be a refreshing change. It's a shame that we need to wait until the end of June to say good-bye to Meg. It was a very long five years.
cville
7:43 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011
What will be the new Board's opinion of Dr.Harriston? Perhaps we can ease up on the school usuage rules.
Lorna D. Rudnikas
8:35 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011
As I am now a fully ensconced senior citizen who finds it amazing how certain employment positions can be filled within our government system that quite clearly become almost dictatorial. I have no particular knowledge or opinion regarding Dr. Harriston's work/decision making powers, nor the workings of the School Board, simply remain baffled at what I hear regarding folks being clearly dissatisfied and clearly feeling helpless. Yikes!!! Those are the kinds of slow, but sure "changes" that perhaps we need to address very seriously throughout our precious system.