New Baltimore County school board president addresses transparency concerns
From Sun reporter Raven L. Hill, who attended last night's Baltimore County school board meeting:
New Baltimore County Board of Education president Lawrence Schmidt addressed some of the criticism that’s been directed at the panel over the last several months over a lack of transparency.
"I think I speak for all of the board members when I say that we hear you," he said. "We hear complaints about transparency, accountability, accessibility and I will give you my pledge that we will work and I will work to try to improve on those things in the next year that I am president to improve the board’s function and its relationship with its constituencies and its students.
"With that being said, I guess I would say that I think there’s always a certain amount of confusion about the role of the board. … There are many occasions where we are prohibited either under law or ethically from commenting on certain issues that may come before us. So, please don’t take our silence as a symptom of not caring, but knowing that we are bound by the rules and regulations and laws by which we are governed."
What do you think about the school board's transparency in the past and going forward, now that new leadership has been put into place?
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Comments
I am both excited and hopeful that this change in leadership will indeed mean that a new day is dawning in Baltimore County Public Schools. I hope that the "new and improved" board will recognize that much of the concern stemmed from the lack of transparency on the part of the superintendent and his complicity in allowing some to use the system to personal advantage. I hope the board insists that those old ties which caused so much of the discontent and lack of focus regarding the best interest of students are severed. Expect excellence and a vision for providing a world-class education for all of our students. I hope a change in leadership is on the radar. Then, finally, we may be able to turn things around. I am hopeful that some new board members, a change in board leadership, and a promise to listen will finally see the end to the undue influence of a handful of adults and focus on children. I will never understand why the county has permitted the self indulgence of one employee to cause so many problems. Let's hope that era is over!!!!!!
Posted by: Hopeful | July 13, 2011 4:17 PM
Where exactly are these laws and ethics rules that "prohibit [board members] from commenting on certain issues"? Maybe we should change some of them to make the board members more free to engage the public. That's what we need right now. It's also high time that the BCPS school board changed the structure of their meetings. Put citizen comments first as other counties do it.
Posted by: Question guy | July 13, 2011 7:17 PM
As a former school board member(another system) there were only three things we could not comment on: individual student matters, matters of personel, and real estate negotiations. It was closed door for those items only!
Posted by: wise educator | July 13, 2011 9:57 PM