Broadneck High Junior is Next School Board Member

Else Drooff will be the next voice for students on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.

Drooff, 17, a junior at Broadneck High School, was elected by her peers from a pool of student candidates for the position. On Friday, it was announced by the Anne Arundel School System that Droof's name has been passed on to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his approval.

Drooff said she was thrilled at the selection, and even shed a few tears upon hearing the news. To get the seat, she had to compete against a friend she had known since kindergarten, fellow Broadneck student Scott Lanoue.

The junior said she has a plan for her career on the board, and it involves keeping a comprehensive education in mind, instead of one that focuses only on testing.

"I'd like to support policies that support schools that prepare students for life after graduation, and not necessarily teaching only for tests," Drooff said. "They try and attack the gap, but I think that can detract from what a school's goal should be."

Drooff has served as class vice president at Broadneck for the past two years, and is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society.

Her first official board meeting won't be until July, but until then, she said she'll be attending each meeting in an effort to educate herself on the current issues.

Student board members in Anne Arundel County have the same voting powers the other school board members do, which makes the county's board of education different from any other board in the country.