The struggle for the public’s right to elect members of the Harford County Board of Education ended happily a few weeks ago when Governor Martin O’Malley signed a bill to allow for a blended board with 3 appointed members and 6 members elected in-district. The first school board elections will be held for Districts A, B and D in 2010, followed by Districts C, E and F in 2014. The next step will be to urge good candidates to run and for citizens to exercise their hard-won right to vote.
Which calls to mind what Benjamin Franklin said after the Constitutional Convention, when he was asked whether the new American government would be a monarchy or a republic: “A republic,” he replied, “if you can keep it.”
Despite having used the quote as the title of a few stories, I didn’t fully appreciate what Franklin was driving at until I looked back on some of the desperate tactics used by a few election opponents to maintain their stranglehold on the power to select school board members. For me, understanding how difficult the quest for elections had become drove home the need to keep power in the hands of the people by protecting and exercising the right to vote.
Surprising, how that warning from 1787 still applies in ye olde Harford County over 200 years later.
Having learned first hand that power is not easily relinquished; I hereby nominate myself for the “Duh” Award for the failure to anticipate the obvious.
While we’re at it, there are a few people who deserve awards for making school board elections a reality, at least from my perspective as an advocate and a close observer of the process.
And the nominees are…
Senator Barry Glassman, for the “Winston Churchill, Never, Never, Never, Never Give In Award” for his sustained effort to bring school board elections to Harford County. Glassman’s leadership and tireless support as both a delegate and a senator laid the groundwork for passage this year. Along with Senator Andy Harris, he ultimately worked out a bill that twice won unanimous support in the State Senate. Honorable Mention goes to Councilman Dick Slutzky, who could not directly effect state legislation, but who offered valuable testimony and stalwart support.
Delegate Susan McComas, for “Outstanding Valor in the Trenches”. Not to take anything away from the rest of the delegation, whose unanimous support was key to the bill’s passage, McComas went toe-to-toe with the opposition on the House side and won. Last year, McComas met sometimes daily demands in order to keep the legislation viable and near the end of session called out House Ways & Means Committee Chairwoman Sheila Hixson on a rule violation, thereby exacting a price for Hixson’s mysterious stonewalling and sending a message that Harford County would not go down without a fight. This year, McComas and Glassman successfully used a potential referendum on a fully elected board to help garner Delegate Mary-Dulany James’ support for the blended bill. Anyone who might now be trying to discredit McComas’ leadership, better look elsewhere for an example – she was a champ on this one.
Delegate Pat McDonough, for the “Emperor’s New Clothes Award” for saying what plenty of others were thinking. McDonough memorably said that talking about the (past) failure of the school board bill without talking about Delegate Mary-Dulany James, was like talking about the Titanic without mentioning the iceberg. Under suspicion of killing the blended bill last year and facing a possible referendum for a fully elected board in the 2010 election year, Delegate James supported the blended bill this time around and it passed. Go figure.
Councilman Dion Guthrie, for the “Peace Through Strength Award”. Not only was his outspoken and unwavering advocacy for school board elections invaluable, his muscular support spoiled the plans of some opponents who were itching to reduce this issue to a partisan slugfest. Guthrie, along with Delegate Dan Riley, stood up for their constituents the way it ought to be done on both sides of the aisle.
Feel free to nominate your own candidates for your own made-up awards.
I’ll end by thanking all of the above, along with all the members of the Harford County Delegation, the Harford County Senators, the Harford County Council, Harford County Executive David Craig, the Edgewood Community Council, the Fallston Community Council, Harford County Board of Education Members Hess, Merrell and Smilko (yes, for ratcheting down their opposition), numerous Harford County PTAs and the Southampton MS PTO. Please forgive me if I’ve left out any other organization.
And last but not least, thanks to all the people who signed a petition, wrote a letter, sent an email, made a phone call, testified, or otherwise supported the cause. Whatever assistance there may have been from our elected leaders to enact this legislation, school board elections would not be coming to Harford County without a clear message coming directly from “we, the people.”
Cindy,
Thank you for your wonderful article giving credit to those who worked so hard to bring about the passageof an elected (albeit, partially-elected) school board after so many years of trying. A BIG “second” to the kudos given to Barry Glassman, Susan McComas, and Councilman Slutzky for their tireless efforts. Delegate McComas took a lot of grief this year in the delegation, but those of us in the trenches know how hard she worked in getting this bill through the House. She pushed through endless roadblocks last year in trying to get the bill past the powerful Sheila Hixson and Delegate James. All the while, she kept those of us in the trenches informed so that we could put up the good fight.
I realize that there are those who question the success of an elected board, but may I remind them of a quote by the great Winston Churchill, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
I have been opposed to an elected school board for the following reasons that have never been answered to my satisfaction:
• Elected members often get locked into an issue and may serve only their constituency. Since our board would be elected by districts, they would tend to only work for the benefit of the district that elects them to the detriment of the others. Also, they may be less likely to believe that they have a responsibility to listen to, weigh and balance all community concerns. How will this be avoided?
• Would an elected board develop a budget differently than an appointed board?
• It may cost the county $50,000.00 to run an election, who would pay for this election?
• School board elections have notoriously low turn-out and tend to be swayed by special interest groups (like unions and churches). How would this be avoided?
• Many desirable candidates will not want to run for office. It is costly to run a campaign. It takes a lot of time to meet the voters.
• With an appointed board people with a variety of skills are appointed. Typical board members have professional skills in education, finance, law, construction and human resources. How would an elected board keep a diverse membership?
• Each spring, the work of the elected board would be interrupted by the campaigning of members running for another term or supporting new candidates. Raising money and attending election rallies takes time away from the important issues the board faces, in addition to developing community support for the budget. How would this be avoided with this model?
• School systems nationwide are struggling to meet state standards. Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. have all replaced elected school boards with appointed boards. The reasoning is that an appointed board can give the system stability in a way you can’t with two new school board members elected every cycle. How would an elected board provide this leadership?
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2008/01/another_year_another_elected_s.html
http://jamesrivermaven.blogspot.com/2007/08/appointed-school-board-should-we-go.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/school-boards-selection-and-education-of-members
Gary
Using your faulty logic we should have appointees at a levels of government.
Joe
His logic rings true since school board members get little to no compensation for the job and none of the perks of other elected officials. They actually have other jobs!
Cindy, Well done ! Your coverage of the elected school board was always fair, accurate and detailed and I thank you for your efforts.
Sen. Glassman and the rest of the folks, citizens and lawmakers, all did a positive and superior job of winding the maze of legislative-ese..your coverage shows how much of a spider’s web that it was to get it passed. The times, in Harford county, are changing!
And now we have to work hard and together, to prove to those who have opposed the election of school board members that this process can produce a representative school board who will be accountable to all of the stakeholders.
Cindy,
You Rock Girl!! I am so glad to see this happen. I just hope we can get people that are willing to be common sense individuals who don’t buy everything that HCPS says hook line and sinker, which is what has occurred thus far. To believe all of these changes are going to work for the best, CRAZY! For the BOE to not make HCPS accountable, CRAZY!! I want a BOE that isn’t afraid to try something and if they make a mistake, be willing to have it looked at and then modify. Don’t deny, deny, deny, and sweep it under the rug or make some claim about more time for proper research, etc. If it quacks it is a duck, end of story!!
I agree with the previous kudos, , many were instrumental in this but RenandStimpy you failded to mention LICW.. :), in your post.
We should probably be thanking Mark Wolkow for all that he did to fight an elected school board. If it wasn’t for him and his total lack of regard for parents and democracy, people might have been complacent. He even got reappointed without anyone knowing and without even giving anyone else in the community a chance for the position and that includes minorities. If he wants to blame anyone for this elected school board he should look no further than the mirror.
Thank you for those kind coments for my support of the elected school board bill. I supported that bill from the start and I did not waver. This was clearly a grass roots effort on our part and we did not give up. I spoke to the Governor at the signing and he congratulated me on my persistence. I think the final “straw” was the fact that if this did not pass we would take it to referendum and get the entire School Board an elected Board. The opponents did not wan’t to take that chance. Also I have the PEN that sign the BILL>
Uhhhh… Maryland Law doesn’t allow you to take a bill that failed and bring it to referendum. It only allows you to challenge a bill that did pass. So that definitely did not go into play for ANYBODY that actually knows anything about Maryland law and the way Maryland government works. But maybe it did go into account for somebody that DOESN’T know the actual rules and Constitution of the State of Maryland because there are a ton of elected officials that fall into that area.
You are not correct. You can not bring the bill that failed, which is correct, however the bill that would have failed would have been to appoint 3 people to the board and elect 6 people to the board. What we would have brought to referendum was to elected the entier school board which is different. We had already had that prepared and ran it by the attorney’s and were ready to go forward if this bill failed and the opposition knew it, we told them, the conceded.
Councilman, The Maryland Constitution specifically says in Article XVI Section 1 (a) “The people reserve to themselves power known as The Referendum, by petition to have submitted to the registered voters of the State, to approve or reject at the polls, any Act, or part of any Act of the General Assembly, if approved by the Governor, or, if passed by the General Assembly over the veto of the Governor”.
That means that you can’t pass a law through referendum, you can only challenge a bill that the General Assembly passes. Very few states allow you to do a referendum for new ideas, California being one of them.
But of course you could prove me wrong by providing a copy of your Attorney General’s Opinion.
Councilman, The Maryland Constitution specifically says in Article XVI Section 1 (a) “The people reserve to themselves power known as The Referendum, by petition to have submitted to the registered voters of the State, to approve or reject at the polls, any Act, or part of any Act of the General Assembly, if approved by the Governor, or, if passed by the General Assembly over the veto of the Governor”.
That means that you can’t pass a law through referendum, you can only challenge a bill that the General Assembly passes. Very few states allow you to do a referendum for new ideas, California being one of them.
But of course you could prove me wrong by providing a copy of your Attorney General’s Opinion.
If you can just put something to referendum, why did we have to add slots to the Constitution? Must be real crappy attorneys.
A little sour grapes going on here? Regardless, lots of people worked tirelessly to get to this point. You expert constitutional lawyers can argue if it makes you happy.
Guthrie obviously doesn’t know how State government works and how this bill got passed and is claiming he got this passed in a way that is completely contrary to the State Constitution.
Wow. This piece kind of blows away Mike Geppi’s contention that Susan McComas has never gotten anything accomplished down in Annapolis and that she has shown a total lack of leadership. Ms. McComas should really tout this achievement in her re-election campaign and trust in an ever awakening electorate here in Harford County.
Tom:
So long as Delegate McComas aligns herself with McDonough and Impellaria, she will be vulnerable. I am embarrassed to have those two “gentlemen” represent Harford County in Annapolis. Because of their antics, the entire delegation is cast in a poor light which makes it very difficult to get things accomplished in Annapolis. The change of leadership of the House delegation was necessary to move this bill along.
The situation in Baltimore City with the former President of the BOE getting a $175,000/year job without ever having his credentials checked, just shows how important it is that public officials have their financial records reviewed. Appointed members are not required to submit any financial documentation so even in this county if there was someone on the BOE with some questionable financial dealings, the public wouldn’t be aware of it. At least elected BOE members will have to sumibt that type of documentation now that they have to be elected.
Craig,
Let’s see, the new “Chairperson” of the Harford Delegation, J. B. Jennings is mentioned how many times in the above article? None. Seems the old “ineffectual” chairperson got the job done.
And the article touts Pat McDonough for placing the blame where it really existed in the roadblock to the elected school board, at the feet of Mary Dulaney James.
You stated “because of their antics, the entire delegation is cast in a poor light “. I will take Delegate McDonough’s frank, “tell it like it is” approach any time. His “Speak English” campaign signs show how courageous this guy is living in these “politically correct” times. Imagine, a person with guts in Annapolis. Too bad you equate a stand in principle as “antics”.
Doesn’t Mike Geppi work for one of those banks that took our taxpayer dollars and instead of using it to lend to homeowners like it was supposed to, they used to to buy up smaller banks? Oh well, I mean, it’s not like he is a Vice President of the firm or anything… oh wait… he is.
How could Harford County even think that an elected school board is a bad thing? Oh right, good ole boys who never went to school don’t get it.
And Geppi? Off topic ? Maybe not so much. State Expert, now THAT info. is. news to me. Thank you for it. And I was under the impression that the local market was more friendly to local borrowers. Except that the local market is not open to any loans.
Maybe that explains the school board issue. Me? I’m glad I can vote for this one!