Governor Appoints New School Board Members

Gov. Martin O'Malley has appointed two new members to the Baltimore County school board, changed the appointment of a third and named a new student member.

O'Malley's announcement on Thursday comes less than a week after said the governor told her that she would not be appointed to a second term, and two days after a spokesman for the governor said , the current board president, would also not be reappointed.

Cornelia Bright Gordon, a Towson resident and attorney, was appointed to fill the at-large position currently held by O'Hare. Gordon is currently the chief attorney of the Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. in Baltimore City. She received her bachelor's degree in English and education from Dartmouth College in 1977 and her law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1980. Gordon has no professional education experience.

Michael Collins is a former Democratic state legislator who served in the House of Delegates from 1978-1986 and in the Senate from 1986-2002. He is currently the chairman of the state Board of Contract Appeals. Collins received his bachelor's degree in education and history from the University of Scranton in 1962 and a master's degree in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1966. The Essex resident was a history teacher at Kenwood High School for 30 years.

Collins fills the at-large position held by James Coleman, a mathematics professor at Baltimore City Community College who lives in Owings Mills.

O'Malley announced Thursday that he was reappointing Coleman to fill the 4th District Council seat on the board that had been held by Hines.

Also appointed to the board is Logan McNaney, an Arbutus resident and junior at Lansdowne High School who has a 4.21 grade point average. McNaney will serve as the board's student member.

The terms for both O'Hare and Hines are set to end on July 1, though there is some controversy about Hines' term, who was appointed in 2007. Board members typically serve five-year terms, which would mean Hines has one more year.

But a spokesman for O'Malley said Tuesday that Hines' term should end on June 30 and that the original commission given to Hines contained a typographical error.