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The Governor has chosen Alysson Krchnavy and Dr. Leonard Wheeler to fill the two open seats on the Board of Education, circumventing the recommendations of the Harford County Board of Education Nominating Committee.
The Committee, made up of representatives from the Office of County Executive David Craig, the Harford County State Senators, the Harford County House of Delegates and the Harford County Council who had recommended retired principal Nancy Reynolds and Dr. Mohammad Reza Shahab to fill those seats.
County Councilman and Committee Chairman Richard Slutzky expressed disappointment that the work of the committee had been overruled. Slutzky noted “This demonstrates that we have no effective process for vetting or evaluating potential Board of Education candidates at the Harford County level” and that today’s announcement was a “validation of the reason why Harford County political entities and citizens are asking for an elected school board.”
The process in Harford County is slightly different in that the Commission is made up of strictly local appointees, no Commission members being appointed by the Governor. But it is just as bad to bypass the Commission-endorsed candidates in Harford County as it was for O'Malley to appoint unregistered Democratic lobbyists Teresa Milio Birge here in Anne Arundel County.
And Councilman Slutzky is right: these type of appointment shenanigans are just as political, if not more so, than allowing the citizenry to make the choices for themselves.
Shame on Governor O'Malley for again putting the interest politics ahead of the interests of students.Labels: Education, O'Malley, School Board Commission, School Board Reform, Teresa Birge
posted by Brian Griffiths at 9:56 PM
2 Comments:
Just started reading your blog. I agree the process in AA County stinks but Birge was the only candidate for either seat to get a unanimous favorable recommendation from the Commission.
So while it does appear that Harford County got bamboozled, in AA County, the Governor seems to have abided by the will of the Commission.
Your comparison is really not that valid when you consider that the preponderance of the Commission is appointed by the Governor; the taxpayers of Anne Arundel County do not have direct representation in any way, as the Harford County Commission does. So the "will of the Commission" in this case is really the will of the Governor.
I don't care if Birge, or any of them were unanimously recommended, it doesn't solve the fact that the people were shut up of the process, nor does it solve the issue regarding the fact that Birge was an unregistered Democratic lobbyist who was appointed over a more credible candidate.
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