Baltimore County school board initially deadlocks on vote
Baltimore County's school board members rarely disagree in public. In fact, in the six or eight months since I started covering the board I can't remember a long public debate over any issue. Last night, however, the members deadlocked on who should become the vice president. Two members, Meg O'Hare and Ed Parker, were both nominated. O'Hare received four votes and Parker five votes, but no one had the seven votes needed to win the seat.
After the meeting, Parker said in an interview that he believed it was healthy for the board to have a debate (in private) about who should be leading the board in the next year. But he would not disclose what the discussion had been about in private.
Earnest Hines, who was on vacation yesterday, was unanimously elected president of the board. He wrote a letter to the board expressing his interest in the position in advance, Parker said.
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
Sounds like the Board got hung up on a common problem in organizations that do not have their full complement of members. The state law covering the School Board does not appear to say anything about the requirements to elect a VP. They have apparently decided on their own that the requirement to elect officers is to have 7 votes, based on a presumption that there has to be a majority of the authorized Board size (12). They should have simply agreed that the requirement is for a majority of the present membership (9), and 5 votes was good enough. What if the board were down to 6 members? They probably could not do anything, since they couldn't get 7 votes for any proposal!
Posted by: Mike Pierce | July 14, 2010 2:01 PM
Liz - did you ask them why they closed the meeting since this violates the Open Meeting Act?
Posted by: onewhocares | July 14, 2010 2:52 PM
Agree with onewhocares. What exception to the Maryland Open Meeting Act allowed them to go into closed session?
Any citizen can file a complaint with the Open Meeting Act Compliance Board and ask for a ruling on this issue. The decision of the Board is only advisory, but would explain if this action by the Board was in keeping with the Maryland Open Meeting Act.
http://www.oag.state.md.us/Opengov/Openmeetings/complaint.htm
Posted by: Janis | July 14, 2010 6:05 PM
more hidden discussions and secrecy in Baltimore County. Wow. When are we going to demand a change of policy and leadership in this corrupt group?
Posted by: scared for our kids | July 14, 2010 7:07 PM
I thought the only reasons a board could meet in private are for matters of personel and real estate issues.(buying land for a school etc)
Posted by: wise educator | July 14, 2010 8:50 PM
Not sure what the debate was...but, relieved at the outcome=The lesser of two evils.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 17, 2010 8:22 AM
Calvert County Board of Education does not follow the Open Meetings Act either. School Boards act as if they are above the law. MABE is where they get this indoctrination. Any other elected officials have an indoctrination class the day after they are sworn into office?
http://calvertcountypublicschoolswatchdawg.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Chris | July 27, 2010 9:06 PM
Now we can only hope for the wonderful outcome of ousting Ms O'Hare when her term ends next June. I hope the new board members are intelligent and fair-minded people that always make decisions based on what is best for children. What a refreshing change that would be! The leadership in Baltimore County for the last two years has been nothing less than tyrannical and unproductive. The amount of money spent on the foolish whims of a few adults seeking to promote themselves has been sinful.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 5, 2010 6:57 PM
I bet the American Reading Company and Meg's friend, an employee of the company were disappointed. She has led the crusade for her friend to purchase the inferior products to the detriment of our students. SHAME ON YOU!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 21, 2010 7:44 PM