Partially-Elected School Board Proposal Emerges from 'Informal Discussion'
Draft proposal to reduce school board, include seven elected and two appointed members.
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Support for a partially elected Baltimore County school board garnered significant backing Wednesday when a state senator vowed to present draft legislation next month to the task force charged with evaluating the appointed board’s selection process.
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, a task force member, has long supported changing the Baltimore County Board of Education from an appointed to a partially-elected body. But the the details of his draft bill actually have come from an unlikely source: Councilman John A. Olszewski Sr.
Many believed Olszewski, also a task force member, did not support such a change. But on Wednesday night, Zirkin said Olszewski’s idea of a board comprised of seven elected members was close enough to his own ideas for him to support. For the last five years, Zirkin, an Owings Mills Democrat, has sponsored bills in the General Assembly on a “hybrid” school board.
"Yeah, I'll draw that bill up," Zirkin said after the meeting. "That's exactly what my bill is going to look like."
Olszewski, a Dundalk Democrat, suggested the idea as the task force discussed the pros and cons of elected and appointed boards.
"What happens if you cut the board from 12 to nine and you had seven (members) elected—each council district has one elected—and a parent or teacher as the appointed (members) and if you don't have the diversity you want you can use those appointments," he said.
Discussion of the hybrid board slowly emerged as the dominating topic during a more than two-hour meeting at the Towson Chamber of Commerce offices on Wednesday.
The meeting was not advertised to the public and some members of the press found out about it by chance. Seven of the task force's 12 members attended what Sen. Kathy Klausmeier called "an informal discussion." The presence of a majority may trigger the need for formal notification under state laws governing open meetings.
Klausmeier also cautioned not to read too much into a single meeting, especially one that also discussed leaving the 12-member board as it is or requiring any changes to be approved by voters on a referendum.
Five members of the task force were absent from the meeting. Three of those members—Del. Emmett Burns, Sen. Delores Kelley and former County Executive Jim Smith—oppose elected school boards.
"The discussion might take a different course because those folks weren't here," Klausmeier said of the task force's next meeting.
Indeed, not all of the task force members present Wednesday were in agreement with adding elected school board members.
Former Del. Jim Campbell and Dunbar Brooks, a former president of the county school board, opposed the idea. Both favored continuing the current system of an appointed school board with one minor change: The county executive, not the governor, would make the appointments.
Brooks, who is African American, said he was concerned about the effect an elected board would have on diversity among its members.
Brooks pointed out that Howard County is looking at its own elected school board because of a lack of diversity. He discounted comments made during public hearings that members would be elected regardless of race.
"If Howard County, the great liberal Howard County, has problems with diversity and we're sitting here in conservative Baltimore County and that woman actually stands up and says, 'Oh, the voters will do the right thing,'" Brooks said. "Tell me in the 300-year history of Baltimore County when (voters) did the right thing electorally."
"I'm just telling you what I see," he said. "That doesn't mean the future cannot change."
After the meeting, Brooks said he was disappointed with the direction of the discussion Wednesday night.
"A board appointed by the county executive, that's where I am," said Brooks, a Dundalk resident. "That seems to be getting dismissed out of hand, I'd say."
The meeting Wednesday comes a week after the task force's final public hearing on the issue and just hours after a majority of County Council members signed a letter calling for the creation of a partially elected school board.
Olszewski did not sign the letter.
Councilwoman Vicki Almond said Olszewski was not asked to sign the letter because, "We know how he feels."
Olszewski said during the meeting Wednesday night he was "keeping an open mind" and would not have signed the letter "because it's a disservice to the task force."
The task force is likely to meet again in September.
It's required to issue a report by Oct. 1. That report may or may not contain recommendations for possible changes to the board, Klausmeier said.
Virtualparent
9:40 am on Friday, August 5, 2011
Hopefully this is one step closer to having a Virtual K-12 public school in Baltimore County.
Meg O'Hare
1:57 pm on Friday, August 5, 2011
Since the School Board could not get anymore political than it is, I applaud Senator Zirkin's promise to draft a bill for a smaller elected and minimally appointed Board of Education for Baltimore County.
I would have preferred removing the politics a little more by having members elected to represent the 5 physical school district areas (SW,NW,Central,NE,SE) so that them School Board members would not be "beholding" to a particular council member, but if that cannot be agreed to then Senator Zirkins proposal of 7 elected and 2 appointed will have to do.
I would hope for the sake of the students in Baltimore County that the 2 appointed members represent the majority minority of the students (they do not need to be black, hispanic, asian, etc.), but they should be people who understand education and have the passion to represent those students whose parents/guardians/families do not have the luxury of attending Board meetings in Towson because they are working to house and feed their students.
Jimmy
6:22 pm on Friday, August 5, 2011
It's not a black and white thing...it's a "let's elect someone who will do what's right for the student's " thing!
Bill Howard
9:08 pm on Friday, August 5, 2011
Meg's idea is good. You could have two from each of the five areas (maybe even stagger there terms to retain stability) and then allow 2-4 appointments as well. Maybe one should be appointed by the PTA for good measure. The current board is not pro parent and barely pro student. They are pro educrat. We need voter accountability and taxing authority is NOT needed.
K Blue
3:56 pm on Saturday, August 6, 2011
I dont think tying the elected spots to the five areas is practical. There is no designation at present on a voter's registration card. Voters could have a rough time figuring out who their options are before they head to the polling place. Councilmanic or state legislative districts seem to make the most sense at this point. I like your idea about the appointed PTA member. There is already a student representative. If schools are touted as a partnership with both students and parents, then a parent needs to be on the Board.
Old Terp
9:12 pm on Friday, August 5, 2011
Oh yeah.. "A board appointed by the county executive"... oh SURE...LOL that'd be a GREAT idea... NOT! Who'd be up for that after all the tyrant execs we've had and the latest one who couldn't care less about school overcrowding or planning for the future of education in Balt Co... why don't we just make being a developer or civil contractor a prerequisite to be on the board.
Richard Cook
7:32 am on Saturday, August 6, 2011
The politicians who want an elected school board also want to overturn the DREAM Act, which would correct the current inequitable denial of in-state tuition to undocumented high school kids. This is not a coincidence, as there is a very public erffort on the part of these same politicians to take us back to the bad old days of divided, segregated communities. Pay attention to what Dunbar Brooks said at the meeting. He is worried, and for good reason, that an elected school board will be an all-White school board. What an embarrassment that would be to our Baltimore County.
Richard Cook
3rd District
Bill Howard
3:03 pm on Sunday, August 7, 2011
Richard, you are wrong and Dunbar is wrong. The people who want an elected board are not plotting some white supremacy commission as you have led people to believe. What's on their minds is accountability to parents and a quality useful education to the kids and NOT color. Secondly, what you call undocumented is actually illegal. May I also choose some federal laws I would like the state to ignore? Its clear that some people have some issues to clear-up and get over. How dare you imply these concerned parents and citizens are motivated by race. I certainly hope the new school board will not allow such poison thoughts in the classroom to infect the minds of our children.
John
2:43 pm on Saturday, August 6, 2011
I wanted changes to the current board because it simply does not work now! Meg O'Hare was part of that board that allowed the hidden agendas and permitted the current superintendent to act without responsibility to the citizens of Baltimore County. The strong desire to make change comes as a result of frustration and disappointment with the "politics" of the board members of the last five years. Perhaps a change in superintendent will provide the real change needed in Baltimore County. It is time for the board to step up and make the changes needed to show that they are transparent in their decision making and put the children first. I find it fascinating that Meg was on the other side of the issue when she contributed to the disallusionment with the current system as a member of an appointed board. The newest members have given people hope.
Richard Cook
6:07 am on Monday, August 8, 2011
It has been exactly two months now, since five members of the Baltimore County Council took a gratuitous swipe at immigrants in our communities by complaining about a particular law that passed the legislature - the DREAM Act.
These self-indulgent politicos - whose supervision of matters before the County Council has nothing to do with recommending or disapproving duly passed state laws, advised SOME of their County constituents (by way of a phony "letter") to sign petitions advising OTHER constituents they and their kids are not welcome in Baltimore County. Takes a lot of nerve, and personal prejudice to do that.
Four of these self-same monitors of state law now want to make other divisive recommendations. They want school board members elected. More division - more recommendations with a racial tinge. (When was the last time a Black person was elected to anything county wide?)
We, the electorate, made mistakes in electing bigots to the County Council. Bigots, who use their elected position not to advance the economic welfare of our County but merely to indulge their personal, narrow-minded preferences and prejudices.
Of course elections are a good thing - and I hope when the terms of these bigots run out, we can find fair-minded people to replace them - people who will not bring personal ethnic and racial baises to the important job of look out for the interests of all Baltimore countians.
Richard Cook
3rd District