Legislators, Hairston Meeting Draws Mixed Reaction

It took nearly two months but state legislators from Baltimore County finally got their meeting with county schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston.

In all, less than one-third of the county's 29 senators and delegates were able to attend the meeting at school headquarters in Towson. For the half-dozen or so who did, there were varying opinions on  how productive the meeting was.

"I felt like everyone had the opportunity to ask all the questions they wanted to ask," said Sen. Kathy Klausmeier, a Perry Hall Democrat and chairwoman of the county delegation to the Senate.

Del. John A. Olszewski Jr., a Dundalk Democrat and chairman of the House delegation, said he too found the meeting productive.

"(Hairston) had answers to a lot of the questions we asked," said Olszewski.

One issue for Olszewski, a teacher who works for the school system, was the elimination of nearly 200 teaching positions through attrition.

Hairstson and other school officials assured legislators that all of the eliminated positions would be ones that are already vacant.

Hairston called the meeting with legislators "a courtesy" and a "good faith effort" to show that the schools system is transparent — a point he made several times during the meeting.

Olszewski said Hairston's explanation about the eliminated positions "might be satisfactory but I may not agree with the decision."

Not every legislator seemed entirely satisfied with the meeting. Del. Steve Lafferty, a Towson Democrat, said Hairston presented "a lot of information" but added that he wasn't "sure I learned anything more than I learned from other sources." And Sen. Jim Brochin, who represents the same district as Lafferty, said he still had questions about some personnel decisions.

The meeting between Hairston and legislators had been in the works since the superintendent met with Klausmeier and Olszewski over in April.

The lawmakers asked for the meeting to discuss concerns about the , the and by community groups. Hairston refused to meet with all 29 lawmakers and instead opted for an April 8 private meeting with Klausmeier and Olszewski.

It was during that April meeting that Hairston was presented with a list of questions. The meeting Tuesday was a fulfillment of Hairston's promise to meet publicly with legislators and respond to those questions.

The meeting on Tuesday had the potential for confrontation given that some legislators expressed concern that Hairston was not being responsive to their concerns.

Olszewski said the delay between the end of the session and the meeting this week may have alleviated some of the tension.

"I think timing contributed to a less confrontational meeting," Olszewski said.

Others expressed concerns that the delay allowed school issues to drift off the minds of lawmakers

"It was good to finally have the meeting but I wished we had had it  during the session," Lafferty said

"It would have had more value to the delegation if it happened during the session," he added.

Lafferty expressed concern with what he said was a lack of attention to school overcrowding issues, especially in schools along the York Road corridor.

"We do as we are required to do and make 10-year projections," said Kara Calder, executive director of the school system's department of planning & support Operations.

Lafferty said such predictions foretold of overcrowding at yet the school system did not prepare until the students were in the building.

"It's pathetic planning if they projected this 10 years ago and then waited for the extra 400 kids before they addressed the issue," Lafferty said.

Brochin said he was disappointed that he could not get all his questions answered regarding the number of administrative staff positions and why those were not cut before eliminating teachers.

Barbara Burnopp, chief financial officer for the school system, told Brochin there were about 5,032 non-teaching positions. Only 75 of those were not in a school or covered under a union agreement.

Burnopp said all of the positions are reviewed during each budget year. She could not tell Brochin how many of the positions were in the nearly 170 schools in the county.

"The teachers are on the front line," Brochin said after the meeting. "They're the last that should be cut. I want to know what a director does and why (the school system) needs 14 of them."

"There's got to be some give and take," Brochin said. "I don't see any give or take here."

Read the of the meeting with Hairston.

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