Furthering the Sham

To continue to show how much of a sham the new Anne Arundel County School Board nominating scheme is, take a look at the appointed members of the Commission as announced so far:

O'Malley Appointees:

• Chairman Joshua C. Greene, attorney from Crofton
• Christine Davenport, retired Teacher from Glen Burnie
• Lee Roy Payne, retired Guidance Counselor from Millersville
• Matthew Tedesco, attorney from Odenton
• Konrad Wayson, former School Board member from Harwood

Leopold Appointee:

• Yevola S. Peters, Special Assistant to the County Executive for Minority Affairs, from Annapolis

The appointees are a cross-section of everything that is wrong with the commission. It's a political commission that does not represent that interests of the parents, students, teachers and taxpayers of Anne Arundel County in mind. Only Konrad Wayson has the type of background in education and finance that even gives me anything close to the vibe of qualification to serve on this panel. Peters presence on the commission is merely to serve as John Leopold's mouthpiece. The teacher Davenport represents District 31 on the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee. Tedesco is 29 and has no experience in education issues whatsoever, but works at a politically connected law firm. Greene also works at a politically connected law firm and seems to have no ties to local education whatsoever, but did donate extensively to Democratic candidates in 2006 (and, strangely, Delegate James King and Councilman Ed Reilly).

What we will be stuck with will be decisions on the future of Anne Arundel County school leadership being based on political ties. This is unsurprising, but also infuriating. We all saw how the old process worked. And we all agreed that the process was flawed. But the fact of the matter is that the recommendations were made by parents, by teachers, and by taxpayers to the Governor. This process seems be nothing more than politically connected yes-men and yes-women designed to ensure that the current educational model is continued by all means necessary. This is not a model that will engender chance, but will merely continue to reinforce the status quo. Only when we have a competitively elected school board, and not an yes or no vote on politically connected choices, we will truly get the kind of School Board we need to move education in Anne Arundel County forward.

I have noted several times the chutzpah of those who called this cockamamie scheme an elected school board. Instead of public participation, this is the politically-tainted garbage that John Leopold has shoved down our throats....