A bill creating a partially-elected Baltimore County Board of Education is no closer to passage Saturday after County Executive Kevin Kamenetz lobbied the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The bill, which creates a board with six-elected and five-appointed members, was and sent back to the House for a concurrence vote.
Del. Joseph Boteler, a Parkville Republican and member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he spoke to Del. Sheila Hixson, a Montgomery County Democrat and chair of the committee, about the bill.
"She told me the committee has a standing policy of holding bills when county executive opposes them," said Boteler.
Boteler and others have argued that the bill is local and since the delegation has already approved it, the committee and the legislature should defer under a practice known as local courtesy.
I reached out to the county executive's office for comment on Friday but have not heard from them. I'll update when I do.
Kamenetz has been clear about his opposition to any form of elected school board.
It should be noted that Hixson's committee did pass out the original bill which created a fully-elected county school board—equally objectionable to Kamenetz.
Not all elected officials at the county level are opposing an elected school board.
Councilman David Marks wrote on my Facebook page that both he and Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond contacted Hixson expressing the support of the majority of the council.
Supporters of an elected school board in the county are also getting support from the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD. The group posted a note of support on its blog today and asked its members to contact Hixson and encourage her to let the bill out of her committee.
It's not hard to see that there are those who take this beyond the intellectual discussion of politics into the realm of personal issues. It may take me a minute to identify them (names change frequently) but once I do, I will ignore their taunts. Thanks to those who stand up and protect the integrity of this site
It is common knowledge once a person resorts to name calling they've lost the argument. And to think that some of these people may work for the government is the scary part.
Here is a simple form to describe (just) two great accomplishments of the County Executive thus far. It seems to be taking you a while and I don't want you to over think the exercise. Just be brief, cut and paste the below: Johnny, The two great things that Kevin Kamenetz has done since taking office are: 1. 2. -Calmdown
Need to phone a friend? Ask the audience? Its OK. I will give you all the time you need to research and think. If anyone has some suggestions for calmdown, that is OK too (he has some blockage going on)
My neighbors are not claiming that Kamenetz is doing a "great job." I would like to remain open minded to possibility that evidence exists that Kamenetz has done something good for the County since taking office and you should be able to give me at least 1 example (cut the task in half for you). Just give me the one big highlight, dont even need a complete sentence, just the fluffy sound bite.
Those accomplishments truly we help him execute his vision of being (his words, not mine), "the ideas county of the region." Look out Ulman!! Now that the sound bites are done and we have identified the highlights of Kamenetz' first year +, if you have the stamina to continue after the hour it took you to create the list above, some insight to the accomplishments of NOT raising taxes, submitting a balanced budget, and continuing regular payments to my pension would go along way in my education of understanding how amazing these accomplishments were (especially as you will tell me given the economy). Again in the interest of time, pick any of your three. I promise, this time, and after you respond with some details of his great accomplishment (why, the challenge he overcame, the benefits, vision- that sort of thing) , if I am still awake, I will tear it apart or offer my apology and concede.
If you are referring to the Senator Theater, that's located in Baltimore City.
That being said, I don't think Kamenetz is doing the right thing here. The hybrid plan is a compromise, and Kamenetz is showing an unwillingness to compromise, and is, in essence, standing pat and stomping his foot in rebellion. Having a tantrum is not a good look for a County Executive.
As I have stated before if politicians were doing such a great job, why are we facing a decline in our nations standing. We currently rank 25th in the world in math proficiency. These figures were published in the Sun pertaining to area AP test scores. The criteria is based on the passing grade (scoring 3 or better out of 5 on at least one AP test.) These figures are the reality and not the rhetoric of the situation. Some examples of the percentages of students passing the tests: Kenwood 7%; Dundalk 4%; Overlea 3%; Kenwood 7%. Only five schools in the county achieved a percentage above 50% and they were Hereford, Eastern Tech., Carver Ctr Arts, Dulaney and Towson.
You also need to consider the fact that you are talking about the percentage of high school students who are passing a college exam. What does that really measure? Eastern Tech and Carver are very selective in the students that enter the building. And lets be honest, students in Dulaney, Towson, and Hereford can afford a little extra AP help. Overlea, Kenwood, and Dundalk don't get to handpick their kids; they place a large number of "zone" students into AP settings and "push" them for an entire year. Not passing one exam isn't necessarily an indicator of what they've learned, or more importantly, how they've learned to study/engage/etc.
"Not passing one exam isn't necessarily an indicator of what they've learned, or more importantly, how they've learned to study/engage/etc." Possibly, but this is an indicator and a serious one at that. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/us-falls-in-world-education-rankings_n_793185.html
A "click" driven public servant leader is worse than an uneducated public servant leader because they are not their own person, but rather a puppet of the click....public service stemming from the click arena is tainted every time. It would seem that Kamenetz is doing the best that he can for the puppeteer's that control him....compromise is not part of the political control puppet show... A narrow, sad mindset for a political public servant leader...
Politics and quality education seem to contradict each other, leading to the dumbed down low standards that we are stuck dealing with...
Intense vetting processes need to be enacted before quality of the members ...elected, appointed or otherwise... Still believe that compromise will always begin to move things to a better direction for citizens.... can you please share the reason that you oppose compromise in this case....... my kids both graduated from Hereford years ago, but my grandchildren are soon to be educated in the Baltimore County system. I really have concerns here. An Independent thought....
Too much power exists with the Superintendent. Very little accountability by the Superintendent is also a problem. It is like we have two governments, education and then everything else. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I feel changing the Board is having us grasp at straws.
Get rid of the colonels because we're not having that rank anymore. Wrong! It's just the right dots were not in that rank. It's always about connecting the dots.
I'm getting old now. Heck by the time I got out of the car the disturbance would be over.