3 Anne Arundel Students Running For Spot On School Board

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — Three Anne Arundel students are running to be the county's next student member of the Board of Education, also known as the SMOB.

A student leadership organization announced the news on Thursday. That group, named the Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils, said these are the nominees:

• Jaden Farris of South River High School
• Oscar Fuentes of Northeast High School
• Zachary McGrath of Severna Park High School

Next Steps In Race

The current juniors must now submit their applications to the Office of Student Leadership by 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools will then broadcast a debate between the finalists. Residents can watch that April 21 debate at 6 p.m. on the AACPS YouTube channel.

Delegates from the student leadership group, commonly known as CRASC, will vote for a candidate in late April.

The school board will then forward the winner's name to Gov. Larry Hogan, who must make the final appointment.

Full Voting Rights

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education has the only student member with full voting rights on a local school board. That means the student member can vote on everything their colleagues can, including budget requests and disciplinary issues.

The student member is one of eight representatives on the board. The other seven are elected by Anne Arundel voters, and they each represent their County Council district.

The current student member is Bunmi Omisore, a senior at Arundel High School. Every student member must be a senior during their time on the board. Omisore's term ends June 30.

The next student member will take over on July 1 and serve a one-year term.

The terms of the other board members are all scheduled to end on Dec. 1, 2024.

To see who your board member is, click here.

Editor's Note: The author of this story, Jacob Baumgart, attended Arundel High School and ran to be the student board member for the 2016 to 2017 school year. He did not win the election.

Baumgart also held multiple leadership positions with the Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils.

RELATED:

• AACPS Superintendent Search Timeline Released By School Board
• Superintendent Arlotto Won't Return Next School Year: AACPS
• New Student Member Elected To Anne Arundel Board Of Education

Have a story idea? Please contact me at jacob.baumgart@patch.com with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County news.