School Board Task Force to Meet, Vote

If you've been following the county's school board task force you will want to clear your calendar on Oct. 6.

Del. Steve Lafferty, co-chairman of the 12-member task force, said Tuesday night that the group will meet next Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Randallstown Community Center.

"We will be voting," Lafferty said.

Some members of the panel examining how school board members in the county are selected complained after that members were not told it would be a voting session.

During that meeting, the panel voted to eliminate elected and partially elected school boards from the menu of options it will consider recommending to legislators. An on Patch found that more than 80 percent of the readers who responded favored some form of elected school board.

Several members of the panel, including Del. Wade Kach and Sen. J.B. Jennings, both Republicans, and Councilman John Olszewski Sr. did not attend the Sept. 9 meeting. Jennings and Olszewski said they were not told the meeting was a voting session.

Olszewski said Tuesday that he was not able to attend the last meeting, held in the morning, because he was at work.

"The one meeting I miss and they vote," Olszewski said. "Go figure."

Next week's meeting could be the last for the group before it draws up its final report and recommendations—which are not binding.

That report was due on Oct. 1.

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