Live Blog Recap: Baltimore County Board of Education Discusses Superintendent Search

(Updated 8:45 p.m.) To appoint a new superintendent, the board doesn't have much extra time to complete all the steps needed to hire one by July 1.

In January and February, the board should be advertising the position and recruiting candidates. In March and April, the board should be screening potential candidates for the basic requirements. In May and June, the board should be interviewing candidates. By June, the board should vote to appoint a new superintendent, who will take office on July 1.

If a board does not have have a candidate by July 1, the state schools superintendent can grant an extension, but it likely wouldn't be more than six weeks, Smith said.

"The law in Maryland is very tight on these issues and very prescriptive," he said.

(Updated 8:35 p.m.) Carl Smith, executive director of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, starts his presentation to the board on best practices for hiring a superintendent.

What's important for the board, he said, is to make the process open and to seek as much input as possible from the public. That input can be sought in various stages, including when seeking initial characteristics for the superintendent and at the end when final candidates' names are revealed.

Board members can expect roughly 30 applications who meet the basic criteria for a superintendent, compared to between 80-90 candidates more than a decade ago.

"The pool is tight," he said. "It is a seller's market, not a buyer's market."

(Updated 8:25 p.m.) Vice President Valerie Roddy said the board superintendent search committee interviewed a potential search firm last night that will be used to hire a replacement for Schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston.

Roddy said the board hopes to bring a proposal to the board at next month's meeting.

(Updated 8:10 p.m.) Nearly all of the parents who spoke tonight talked about how hot Pikesville High School gets without air conditioning.

A parent reported that children have passed out in the music room because of the lack of ventilation. Another parent said she was surprised to find the school was still without air conditioning, 20 years after she graduated.

(Updated 8:05 p.m.) Alex Jerome, a Pikesville High School sophomore, addresses the board on without air conditioning.

"The sweat starts to pour down everyone's faces and the fans just blow hot air," he said, describing how how it gets by fourth period in the school. Many schools in Baltimore County do not have air conditioning.

Jerome has been measuring the temperature in the last month at the school and it has been between 20 and 25 degrees hotter at 12 p.m. on second floor than it is outside.

Several students and parents have shown up to speak about the lack of air conditioning at the school.

One parent spoke of how students were getting turned away from the nurse's office on hot days because too many students are being seeking treatment for heat-related issues.

(Updated 7:35 p.m.) Various representatives from the school system's unions are taking their turns to speak before the board. Contract negotiations have started and representatives said they hoped for a collaborative tone between the school system and employees.

In the next month or so we should see presentations at the board meetings on the budget for the 2013 fiscal year.

(Updated 7:15 p.m.) We're starting on time tonight at the Baltimore County Board of Education meeting, which is a big relief for everyone who waited two weeks ago for nearly an hour for the board to finish up in closed session.

This week the public comment portion is at the beginning of the meeting instead of at the end.

(Original story) Starting at 7 p.m. tonight, the Baltimore County Board of Education will meet in Towson. Patch editor Penny Riordan will be at the meeting and providing updates on this article.

To read a recap of the last meeting, go . At that meeting, the Board of Education is expected to hear a presentation from staff from the Maryland Association of Boards of Education on the mechanics of the superintendent's search.

Public comment will also be held at this meeting, with public comment now starting at the beginning of the meeting. The meeting's agenda is attached.