Council Majority Asks School Board Task Force to Reconsider Vote

Four members of the County Council want a mulligan when it comes to a decision on elected school boards in Baltimore County.

Democratic Councilwomen Vicki Almond and Cathy Bevins and Republican Councilmen Todd Huff and David Marks called for reconsideration of a examining how county school board members are elected.

The task force last week voted to eliminate an elected or partially-elected school board from the options it might recommend when it issues a final report sometime next month.

All four council members have for some form of elected school board. In the Sept. 15 letter to Sen. Kathy Klausmeier and Del. Steve Lafferty, the councilmembers express "disappointment with the events of the recent task force meeting." (See attached letter.)

"As you know, without any advance notification, the task force voted on a motion that it would no longer consider the issue of direct elections for school board members," the letter reads. "This issue did not appear on the meeting agenda. Three members were absent for this vote, including the representative of the Baltimore County Council."

"The issue of direct elections is central to any discussion of school board reform," the councilmembers wrote in their letter. "There are different viewpoints among members of the County Council, but one thing is certain: our representative should have been given the opportunity to vote."

Council Chairman John Olszewski Sr., a Democrat, was one of three task force members who were not present at the Sept. 9 meeting in Randallstown.