Board of Education Vice President Lee Merrell introduced a motion at last night’s meeting to remove the position on school board elections from a proposed Legislative Platform for the 2009 Maryland General Assembly session.
Merrell said the Board was split on the issue and while he personally favored elections, he wanted to “leave each board member free to take a position” by taking no official stance as a board. The proposed Legislative Platform included language opposing elections in favor of having board members appointed by the Governor.
Merrell’s support for a neutral position was echoed by Board President Pat Hess, who did not make his personal preferences known. Board member John Smilko said he favored appointments but agreed the school board should take no position.
Taking the opposing view, newly appointed Board Member Alysson Krchnavy said she supported keeping the position because an appointed board was needed “for the benefit of the children.”
Krchnavy had been passed over by a nominating commission created last summer by County Councilman Richard Slutzky to interview candidates for two open seats on the Board and make recommendations to the Governor. The commission was composed of Harford County elected officials who voted to support Nancy Reynolds, Distinguished Principal of a National Blue Ribbon School and Dr. Mohammad Reza Shahab, an international expert on vocational and technical instruction, but neither candidate received an appointment.
Instead, Governor Martin O’Malley appointed both Krchnavy and Dr. Leonard Wheeler, who did not participate in the commission process, to 5 year terms this past July. Wheeler, an unsuccessful candidate for Slutzky’s seat on the County Council in 2006, last night questioned the benefits of elections for the school board.
Support for keeping an official position also came from Board members Mark Wolkow and Robin Rich, both of whom oppose elections. Wolkow, who once testified in Annapolis that a referendum establishing an elected school board would pass overwhelmingly in Harford County, said Monday night that 95% of the people he had personally polled oppose school board elections.
Both Wolkow and John Smilko said they hoped a reconfigured nominating commission could be established in the future. A bill to create such a commission was sponsored last session by Delegate Mary-Dulany James, but it did not have the support of the Harford County Delegation and died later in committee.
Merrell’s motion failed by a vote of 3 to 4. The Legislative Platform for 2009, including language opposing school board elections, was then unanimously approved by the Harford County Board of Education.
How is NOT appointing the two most qualified candidates “for the benefit of the children”??? I took my time forming my opinion regarding an elected school board because I wasn’t crazy about the idea of politicizing the process. It certainly appears that an election would be less “political” than what we have now. I can only imagine that Mr. Wolkow polled HCPS employees who enjoy the fact that oversite from the Board is minimal.
Sign me up for the trip to Annapolis supporting an elected school board next year!
It gets a bit old to hear that the only ones who believe they have the best interests of the children at heart are the Board members. I guess the parents do NOT.!! It does not seem to me that an Appointed Board should be taking a position on whether they should be appointed, but then again maybe logic would be confusing at this point.
Carl…
its secret code…”interests of the children”….=….”our jobs and or POWER”. I have a secret zercon encrusted decoder ring…I know !
Go Dagger !
Wow…what a surprise…the appointee supporting appointments.
Go Dagger !
Goodness gracious, it did not take Alysson Krchnavy very long to invoke the “for the benefit of the children” line. Why is it that liberal education bureaucrats always use children as shields to defend their position? Does anyone really believe that an elected board would “harm” the children?
If an elected or appointed official has an opinion, they should express it. Don’t use kids as cover. It is the refuge of the weak-minded. Just watch, she will next be claiming that puppy dogs will be harmed if an elected school board ever comes to fruition.
This is the same argument that is used whenever a funding increase is requested or demanded. They are always for the benefit of the “children” and not the teachers’ unions. The hypocrisy is stunning.
If Krchnavy is a Republican, the members of that party have truly lost their way.
Bravo for Mr. Merrill, Mr. Hess and Mr. Smilko for exhibiting the professional and ethical backbones the public expects in a School Board member. Shame on the others! To take any standing on this issue is a blatant case of conflict of interest.
Once again, some on this School Board have exemplified, loud and clear, the need for elected members. Thanks for the story, Cindy!
After all the trouble we have in our schools with facilities management – see the letter from “Kathy” in last Wednesday’s Aegis about lack of proper piping for air-conditioning making it useless for 6 years at Fountain Green Elementary, all the incomplete and under designed facilites at Patterson Mill, the embarrassment at Joppatown a few years ago when the county football officials association refused to officiate on the main stadium field (where more than just football plays)because of its poor conditions (not to mention that no one in HCPS though it was hurting the kids who actually fell on it and ran on it every day), and the poor showing at North Harford Middle moldy HVAC and North Harford HS re-building isues who thinks the Board isn’t dong a good job and should all be reappointed? Is it the Board, the Supterintendant or both. You would think one would be on the other case about these things.
Now talk cirriculum to include the block schedule, school start times and the new cirriculum etc. You could go on for a few more paragraphs.
So many citizens have tried to speak with them and it goes no where. Look how the Board treated Councilman Slutzky when he made a very cogent presentation and asked pertinent questions on behalf of the board some months ago. He was ignored.
This Board is afraid to stand for election, that is why they back appointment. If they are the best in the county let them tell us how they will fix things. 96% of the school boards in the USA are elected.
Did the board ever follow-up on any Dagger or Aegis articles about the above facilites. No. The Supt. will tell you and the Baord everything is ok and the Board believes it. $400+ miliion a year in tax dollars to this bunch and this is what we get. I’d pay more if it were better managed but it isn’t and has no prospects to be with the current manager/management. You can’t communicate to the Board of Ed in 3 minute open talk sessions every 2 weeks (and they don’t ask questions). The process of communications to HCPS and the Board is broken and they don’t get it.
Stunned- You had me at “hello.”
You were going along so well, then you dropped this:
“If Krchnavy is a Republican, the members of that party have truly lost their way.”
Governor Martin O’Malley(D) made the appointment. What party do you think Ms Krchnavy writes her checks out to?
All of your other points are spot on.
This should be an apolitical enterprise, if it is “for the children,” should it not? The best, and most qualified, regardless of party affiliation.
This pretty much puts the last nail in the coffin as to why we need an elected school board. I equate the reaction of the 4 who voted NO, to the analogy of a patient wanting a second opinion…if the first doctor is comfortable with his assessment and diagnosis..then he/she will not be the least be threatened that a second opinion is obtained. Evidently these 4 are not comfortable with taxpayers getting a second opinion. Wait we don’t even get a first opinion!!
If these 4 board members really feel they are working for the benefit of all children-then their performance should speak for itself. The citizens of Harford County are not stupid..we follow the issues, we investigate, we try to get answers and we make our own decisions!! The fact that BOE wants to maintain their position on an elected school board is inappropriate-now they have made their role political. They should have unanimously supported the motion to remove their position on an elected school board.
Thank you to VP Merrell for making the motion to begin with-hope this does not come back to haunt him…that again would imply politics is involved. It appears from me, the lowly taxpayer, that Merrell was doing his job-looking out for the children! It appears that Hess and Smilko are also…I suspect their actions might even earn them a vote or 2!!
As far as Krchnavy’s political party that should be irrelevant…in fact I think she indicated here once that she is a registered Republican. Her actions in this case reinforce her own insecurities with her abilities. I might have voted for her before…but this nailed the coffin shut for me.
After experiencing the ugly politics in Annapolis last year during my many visits to committee hearings, I believe my future efforts should be directed at the process. I have exhausted logic and common sense on our political leaders and listened to those “elected” explain why elections are not appropriate for Harford County. Of course those “elected” don’t even know where Harford County is and have elected school boards in their own districts. So, at the risk of casting a shadow over the well meaning citizens who have tried and will continue to speak about our God given right, I will focus my comments in Annapolis to those that lie. I do plan to go to Annapolis and I do plan to call out the Hixons of the world who assured me last year that, “this committee treats everyone fairly,” by reminding them that after promising to allow a vote to take place prevented that vote from happening. Our Delegation supported elections. MDJ obviously not included, but also on record as open to a vote on the floor. Funny thing happened on the way to the forum in that the vote never took place. Even after overwhelming approval in the senate.
So, please continue to explain to virtues of an elected school board to all that will listen. I will too. But, I think I would like to focus on exposing the process so that when it get shot down again, everyone in MD will know. Committee Chairperson. MDJ. Let’s start with you.
Chris is right … nothing could be more political than how this elected school board bill died in Annapolis earlier this year. The people who oppose elections use the Harford County Board of Education as the pawn for their political gain. Going to Annapolis to get this Bill passed is like the scene in the “Wizard of Oz” wherein the Wizard tells Dorothy to get him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West and when she returns with it, he tells her that he is still not going to give her what he promised. The citizens of Harford County delivered what was asked to the legislators in Annapolis and were then told to go back home with nothing.
I guess we need to keep pulling back the curtain and exposing the person/people who continue to manipulate the process. Does anyone really know why Nancy Reynolds wasn’t picked for the Board? Wouldn’t that have been what was best for the children of Harford County? I applaud the Board members who are tired of participating in this charade and at least tried to remove the Board from this political process. Even the Maryland State Board of Education says that Board members should be neutral and not have a personal agenda for the Board. Isn’t this a personal agenda for some of the Board members?
Just remember the “Great and Powerful Oz” was just a man projecting an image that didn’t match his true stature…
RANDOM