From Harford County Public Schools:
March 21, 2016
The Board of Education of Harford County met for an open business meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Room of the A. A. Roberty Building and took the following actions and received the following presentations:
– Middle States Council for the Social Studies Awards
– Alexandra Greenwood, Fallston Middle School
– Sondra Bender, Bakerfield Elementary School
– Maryland State Advisory council on Gifted and Talented Education Awards
– Verna Hiser, Meadowvale Elementary and Hickory Elementary Schools
– Tara Recor, Edgewood Elementary and Prospect Mill Elementary Schools
Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and Distinguished Budget Presentation Award – on behalf of the Budget and Finance Departments, Mr. Jay Staab, Director of Finance and Mr. Eric Clark, Director of Budget
Board Comments
Public Comments- no public comments
Old Business:
Consent Agenda:
– Award of Contract: Rebuild of the Hickory Annex Receiving Building
– Monthly Report on Personnel
Minutes of Previous Board Meetings: March 7, 2016
New Business:
– Decision on Administrative and Supervisory Appointments by Mrs. Jean Mantegna, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources
– Decision on Approval of Life Insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, by Ms. Jean Mantegna, Assistant Supervisor for Human Resources, Mr. Jeff LaPorta, Purchasing Supervisor and Ms. Denise Semenkow, Purchasing Agent
– Decision on Approval of Supplemental Appropriation for Premium Holiday and OPEB Transfer for the FY2016 Budget, by Mr. Jay Staab, Director of Finance and Mr. Eric Clark, Director of Budget
Contract goes to a Baltimore county company. Anyone want to guess at the cost over runs?
No mention here of the lawyer hired by the Harford County Board of Education to conduct an investigation for $225 an hour on whether board members violated the open meetings law by meeting in secret in people’s homes. This lawyer is a waste of money as the board could have requested that the Maryland State Open Meetings Law Compliance Board conduct the investigation at no cost to HCPS. The Open Meetings Law Compliance Board is a state board that does investigations and decides whether the state open meetings law has been violated. Also the decision to hire the lawyetr should not have been made in secret. It is not a personnel matter as it involves the open meeting law and is now being discussed openly with the Aegis. They should not have discussed it with the Aegis if it is a personnel matter. Also, why a Howard County lawyer?
The attorney doing this investigation of the board of education has no independence, like the state review board you mention. He will certainly feel pressure to write a favorable report because a majority of the board met in someone’s house on the budget. The board vote to hire the attorney in a closed session should be reviewed as well. This attorney definitely can’t investigate his own hiring
Another African America principal relieved of her duties at Halls Cross Roads Elementary School. Must be a difficult environment for all. I think Mrs, Morton should try her leadership abilities and get the school on sound footings.
Board of education meetings on the budget need to be open to the public. The board investigating itself for breaking the open meetings law is a conflict of interest. The majority of the board that met in a house on the budget could reject any report from this attorney that is not a whitewash
It’s amazing how another principal is put on administrative leave for vague reasons and she has only been in the job less than one year. It would seem that Morton and Canavan should have shown support to a first year principal whom they put in the position and felt was better than all other candidates. Not happening in this system.