tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40967435682804180552024-03-14T00:43:59.955-05:00MyAACPS.netNews and commentary on Anne Arundel County's School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-1613143123529948472012-06-09T18:47:00.000-05:002012-06-14T18:47:51.626-05:00AACO School Board Nominating Commission Wrap-up for 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This year the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) had two Board of Education (BOE) seats to fill, one at-large seat and one representing Legislative District 21. Applications were due April 27, 2012. Candidate hearings with Q&A were held on May 15 and May 23. Election of nominees occurred on May 29. The Governor must announce his choices by July 1. </div>
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Those who pay attention to BOE politics probably know by now who “won.” But the real news this year was the lack of news: the nominating process was over before it officially began (this pre-official nominating process is what political scientists call “the invisible primary”). As I predicted in my May 8 article, <a href="http://severnapark.patch.com/blog_posts/four-candidates-seek-two-open-seats-on-anne-arundel-board-of-education" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Four Candidates, Two Open AACO Board of Education Seats</a>, the four candidates who applied for the two open seats were all nominated. Three candidates were nominated unanimously (Patricia Nalley, Elizabeth Leight, and Stacey Korbelak); the fourth (Tracey Warren), running for both open seats, was nominated for both seats by a margin of ten yes and one no. </div>
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All the candidates had professional credentials, winsome stories as child advocates, government work experience, and basic BOE political smarts. One of their most notable features was a studied lack of disagreement with each other. Such behavior is rare in candidate debates for most political offices. </div>
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Overall, SBNC members appeared to be very pleased with the candidates. It would be only a slight exaggeration to say that the public hearings were a lovefest.</div>
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Barring an unexpected scandal, I believe it is a foregone conclusion that the winner of the at-large seat will be Ms. Nalley, the current BOE president. Nevertheless, it wasn’t necessarily a mistake for Ms. Leight and Ms. Warren to run against her. By law, the SBNC must nominate at least two individuals, even if it is clear which nominee is destined to win. Any nominee who has been vetted by the SBNC with a high vote total is in a much stronger position to win a subsequent seat.</div>
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The winner of the District 21 seat is harder to predict. Since both obviously have the necessary credentials, it may depend on the particular demographic mix the Governor thinks the BOE needs. Retiring incumbent Eugene Peterson from District 21, for example, argued during public testimony that Ms. Warren should be selected for his replacement because she was a woman and black, a combination lacking on the BOE. However, I’d place my bet on Ms. Korbelak, if only because Ms. Warren failed to get the vote of the SBNC’s Chair. I don’t believe the Governor has ever chosen someone not approved by the Chair, who he appoints.</div>
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<b>A Bizarre Incident</b></div>
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The most bizarre feature of election night on May 29 was the announcement that the SBNC would go into secret session in part to discuss the conflict of interest of one of its members. While in executive session, I was told by a member of the AACPS Ethics Board that the conflict of interest involved<a href="http://www.aacps.org/sbnc/davenport.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Christine Davenport</a>, who is the SBNC member representing Legislative District 21 as well as the SBNC’s Vice Chair. Ms. Davenport is a teacher-administrator who works for AACPS but has been on leave since 2010 when her conflict with AACPS began. As <a href="http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/schools/former-county-teacher-s-lawsuit-claims-age-discrimination/article_f4c851c9-367b-5aed-9ca0-fcc76e46b1b6.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">reported in a May 8, 2012 story</a> published in the <i>Capital</i>, in early May she filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the school system for discrimination. (If you read the <i>Capital</i> story with the diligence demanded of a T.S. Eliot poem, I promise you will be richly rewarded.)</div>
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At no point did the SBNC mention publicly any of the details about the alleged conflict of interest, including the name of the individual involved. This delicacy about disclosing potential conflicts of interest among representatives is discouraged in standard parliamentary procedure.</div>
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My first reaction to this announcement of a potential conflict of interest was to be stunned. It seemed to me that the whole purpose of the SBNC was to give stakeholders both a seat at the table and a veto on the selection of SBNC candidates. Similar conflicts also riddle the AACPS BOE, Citizens Advisory Committee leadership, and PTA leadership. Indeed, one of the candidates, BOE President Nalley, has three family members currently working for AACPS and herself worked for AACPS for more than thirty years. It seemed wholly out of character for the SBNC to be concerned with such niceties. Moreover, the SBNC member in question had served on the SBNC since its beginning, and was reappointed this year by the Governor for another four year term, without her employment for AACPS raising a red flag. Perhaps the fact that the SBNC member in question is apparently suing AACPS provided the additional incentive for the SBNC to become sensitive to the issue. </div>
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I wondered: why did the Governor reappoint Davenport in February? And why did the SBNC apparently delay addressing the issue until the last possible minute? These questions reminded me of the <a href="http://severnapark.patch.com/blog_posts/updated-blog-severna-park-split-into-three-legislative-districts" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Governor’s appointment of Richard Stewart</a> to his five member Redistricting Advisory Committee. The day the Committee made its recommendations to redistrict Maryland legislative districts, <a href="http://marylandreporter.com/2011/12/22/omalley-surprised-disappointed-that-redistricting-committee-member-was-guilty-of-tax-evasion/" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stewart resigned after pleading guilty to tax evasion</a>.</div>
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The SBNC’s apparent concerns about conflicts of interest also reminded me of what was arguably the most notable feature of its May 15 question and answer session with the candidates. What was remarkable is not what was asked but what wasn’t asked and answered. None of the SBNC members asked President Nalley whether her three family members working for AACPS, or her own retirement benefits coming from AACPS, had ever posed a conflict of interest during her first five year term of office and might pose additional conflicts during her second term. Nor did anyone raise the question that five of the eight current AACPS adult board members have an immediate family member working for AACPS (President Nalley, Vice President <a href="http://www.aacps.org/aacps/boe/board/pruski.asp" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Andrew Pruski</a>, <a href="mailto:Interviews@Spectrum.DOC" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Eugene Peterson</a>, <a href="http://www.annapolishighschool.org/apps/staff/" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Solon Webb</a>, and<a href="http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2009-08-09/news/0908070047_1_naval-academy-school-issues-board-member-tricia-johnson" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kevin Jackson</a>).</div>
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When Anne Arundel County Councilor Cathy Vitale had a husband who worked for the Anne Arundel Fire Department, I recall that she occasionally recused herself from votes and regularly asked for ethics opinions about whether particular votes might pose a conflict of interest. This information was regularly published in the <i>Capital</i>, and it seemed to me that any constituent who was paying even a little bit attention knew about it.</div>
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The same cannot be said for AACPS. As of May 29, 2012, only Eugene Peterson and Andrew Pruski mentioned that a family member works for AACPS on their board profiles published on the AACPS website. (Mr. Peterson also regularly mentions that his daughter works for AACPS during BOE meetings). I have never seen these potential conflicts mentioned in the <i>Capital</i> (or the hiring of BOE member relatives while BOE members were in office). And in an informal survey I did of Anne Arundel delegates to the Maryland General Assembly, as well as parental activists within AACPS, I was shocked to find not a single one who could tell me which BOE members had family members who worked for AACPS. Most thought that fewer than two Board member had such conflicts and at least one could not name a single one.</div>
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<b>Coping With AACPS’s PR Nightmare</b></div>
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It would, of course, be a PR nightmare for the BOE if one or more BOE members routinely could not vote because of conflicts of interest. But there is also a public interest rationale justifying not raising the issue at BOE meetings: if it were raised, the BOE would occasionally not have enough members for a quorum to conduct its business, or at least to conduct its business with what a reasonable person would consider an adequate democratic representation. And faced with the needs of a public body to conduct its business versus the needs of members to recuse themselves because of conflicts, the former must always trump the latter. Since Cathy Vitale only represented a single individual on the County Council, such balancing concerns would not have been relevant in her case.</div>
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I asked Ms. Leight, a member of the AACPS Ethics Board, why her Board never dealt with BOE conflict of interest issues. She replied it was because the Board only addresses signed, written ethics concerns. If AACPS employees or parents aren’t willing to sign their names to such ethics concerns, then the Board must act as though they don’t exist. I did not ask Ms. Leight if she was familiar with any potential conflicts of interest that would have warranted BOE member recusal on a particular vote.</div>
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In my judgment, one of the greatest impacts of BOE conflicts of interest has been to help turn Bob Mosier, the AACPS Public Information Officer, into the second most powerful person in AACPS. Normally, one of the greatest and most used powers of a school board member is use of the so-called bullypulpit to frame issues for public consumption. I believe the BOE leadership has forgone that power partly because it would be too embarrassing if a media outlet properly acknowledged that the speaker might have a conflict of interest. </div>
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BOE members might have little to fear about such attribution from the <i>Capital</i>, which usually does little more than slightly rewrite AACPS press releases. Indeed, sometimes I wonder if Mr. Mosier somehow retains the editorial powers he had when he was a <i>Capital</i> reporter and editor. But if a controversial story with a BOE member quote were in play, it would be hard to prevent the <i>Washington Post</i> or<i>Baltimore Sun</i> from picking it up. Then the <i>Capital</i> would face competitive pressure to provide journalistically appropriate attribution as well. In sum, letting Mr. Mosier take on the commentator role usually played by BOE members has probably been a smart political move—but it also greatly weakens the BOE as a democratic/representative institution.</div>
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Fortunately, I believe the SBNC has come to recognize that the current situation is too stressful to continue: there are simply too many BOE members with conflicts of interest. The current situation was created step-by-step, naturally, over the last five years. But the political danger has grown too great. Imagine the danger if all eight adult BOE members had blatant conflicts. Such a situation is politically unthinkable. Thus, during the last few years, the SBNC appears to have gone out of its way during the invisible primary not to encourage individuals with such conflicts to submit an application for open board seats. This year and last not a single such individual applied. This I consider a shrewd political move and a sign of the SBNC’s growing political maturity. Next year, for the first time in many years, the number of BOE members with blatant conflicts of interest will decline.</div>
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Let me clarify that I don’t believe having a spouse, child, or other close relative working for AACPS should, per se, disqualify one from serving on the BOE. (It is standard for state constitutions and municipal charters to ban legislators from simultaneously holding executive office, but family members are generally excluded from such bald prohibitions.) What I’m only advocating for is that all such conflicts should be regularly disclosed, when appropriate, before BOE votes, in newspaper articles, and during SBNC Q&A. </div>
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Moreover, the <i>aggregate number</i> of BOE members with such conflicts should also be routinely disclosed. Balance is important here. Just as it is important for the BOE to have a representative balance of whites and blacks, and males and females, it is important to have a representative balance of producer and consumer interests. The difference is that the above mentioned types of descriptive representation have been self-evident, whereas it is clear to anyone who has been paying attention that the balance of producer and consumer interests has not. </div>
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The political relevance of the issue is manifested by the extreme sensitivity to raising it in public. Not only was the SBNC’s silence on this issue as loud as a nuclear bomb going off at Riva Road, but at various points during the televised Q&A the obvious answer for President Nalley was to mention her family’s direct involvement in the schools. Whereas the other candidates seemed to brag about every little connection their families had with the schools, President Nalley’s much more impressive credentials went unmentioned. (In <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-nalley.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">her application</a>, however, she did answer in response to a question about her experience with AACPS that “two relatives” work for it; the third unmentioned relative, I believe, is only a niece or nephew). </div>
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<b>County Councilman Jerry Walker’s Entrance</b></div>
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County Council Vice Chair Jerry Walker’s entrance midway into the candidate Q&A on May 15 raised my eyebrows. The audience for the Q&A included a majority of current school board members, relatives of the candidates, and up to three unaffiliated parents. Walker walked up to each school board member with a big smile and shook his or her hands. He then did the same with SBNC members during a brief break in the meeting. Overall, it felt to me like a campaign appearance. Upon reflection, it struck me as the way a smart county councilor would behave if he was seriously considering a run for county executive.</div>
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<b>SBNC Transparency</b></div>
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The SBNC appears to have finally joined Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board in treating Maryland’s Open Meetings Act—or at least parts of it—as a joke. It has reached the point where it barely bothers anymore even to justify its noncompliance. (Note: several years ago I wrote an <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/17/AR2010041702662.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">op-ed in the <i>Washington Post</i></a> about Maryland’s mislabeled Open Meetings Compliance Board.) As of June 7, 2012, only one of the five SBNC public meetings held this year had minutes posted on the SBNC website. Moreover, controversial information is systematically underreported. Consider the only set of <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/242-4_19_12.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">minutes</a> published so far during 2012. There is no mention of the Q&A regarding <a href="http://severnapark.patch.com/blog_posts/four-candidates-seek-two-open-seats-on-anne-arundel-board-of-education" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">my request</a> to find out how much the State of Maryland has paid the SBNC’s counsel. Since the SBNC was originally promoted as costing the taxpayers nothing, a highly paid counsel attending SBNC meetings is newsworthy. </div>
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But my biggest complaint with the SBNC’s transparency policies involves a purely legal practice. In George Orwell’s classic book, <i>1984</i>, history is whatever is politically convenient at the moment. In the age of printed documents, erasing and rewriting history was relatively difficult. But in the new online world, it has become a breeze: you just have to change a web page and nobody will know the difference. Again, under Maryland law, all this is perfectly legal, at least insofar as the information manipulation involves dates of publication, public documents not formally approved at public meetings, or the elimination of online public access to public documents. </div>
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I’ve <a href="http://aacasb.blogspot.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">complained</a> about such practices numerous times during previous years. This time I’ll mention just one fairly trivial instance that nevertheless was a great annoyance to me trying to report accurately on the SBNC. By April 27, all applications to the SBNC were due. In response to an email query from me late the following week regarding the delay in posting the applicants’ names, the SBNC’s Chair replied that the list of applications would be posted on the SBNC’s website on May 7. On May 7, the SBNC indeed listed the applicants on its website. On May 8, the SBNC added without notice a new applicant for District 21. On May 9, it also added that applicant for the at-large seat. And then it subsequently, also without any notice, removed both names from the website.</div>
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<b>CAC Update</b></div>
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On other news relating to the citizens’ voice in AACPS, the chair of the Countywide Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) resigned in May 2012, nine months into her two year term of office. The chair was elected in an uncontested election in September 2011. The 2011-12 academic year was the first year <a href="http://aacasb.blogspot.com/2011/06/public-comments-regarding-proposed.html" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the new top-down structured CAC</a> was implemented. This follows a bare quorum of CAC members attending the CAC’s May meeting, plus many CAC member resignations over the course of the year. Fortunately, the embarrassing first year for the newly reconstituted CAC may be leading AACPS to reduce its top-down vise grip on the organization. </div>
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Nevertheless, I doubt the CAC will be conducting televised debates with the BOE candidates on the ballot this fall. As readers may know, BOE members appointed by the Governor must face a retention vote at the first general election after they are appointed. When Tom Frank, the CAC Chair, attempted to conduct such a debate during the last General Election in 2010, when four BOE members were on the ballot, he received a <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6MjA0MzNlNWFiYjJlNzNmMw" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">certified letter</a> from BOE President Nalley that he would not be allowed to do so. The retention election was originally sold to the public as one of the great democratic features of the new BOE election system <a href="http://aacasb.blogspot.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">passed in 2007</a>. But it now receives far less press coverage and public attention than even the most obscure items on the ballot. Given that the newly reconstituted CAC has been arguably even less unconflicted than the BOE, it may lack the democratic legitimacy to pull off a credible candidate forum.</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-69978606903820018182011-06-01T21:39:00.000-05:002012-05-11T21:48:50.473-05:00School Board Nominating Commission Update for 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My column in the Patch (click on the title to go to the article; also copied below).</blockquote>
During the last four years I have closely followed the development and implementation of the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC), which nominates individuals to the Governor for appointment to the School Board. I have written literally hundreds of pages on the 2007 legislation creating the SBNC and its first three years of operation from 2008-2010 (see www.myaacps.net). No one, excluding about half the commissioners, has attended more SBNC meetings. Indeed, I have attended more than three times the number of SBNC meetings as all local newspaper reporters combined. Often the only members of the public who attend the SBNC meetings are candidates and school staff. This year was worse than normal, with no reporter from the Capital, Washington Post, or Baltimore Sun either covering the meetings (let alone thoughtfully or with any sense of history) or even bothering to reprint the SBNC’s press releases. An exception was the Severna Park Patch, which <a href="http://severnapark.patch.com/articles/amalie-brandenburg-of-severna-park-final-candidate-for-school-board-spot" target="_blank">profiled</a> the Severna Park candidate.<br />
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At the end of last year I decided four years of covering the SBNC was enough. So this year, while Chair of the Countywide Citizen Advisory Committee, I emailed all local CAC representatives announcing I’d no longer be covering the SBNC and seeking someone else to take over reporting on the SBNC on behalf of the parents. I got no takers, not even an expression of mild interest.<br />
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The last regular meeting of the SBNC for the 2011 election cycle took place on May 17, two weeks ago. Since then, there has been no newspaper coverage of the election results, let alone of the bombshell announced during the last minute of the May 17 meeting. Since it’s now clear that no one else is going to cover the SBNC for the 2011 election cycle, I’ve decide to extend my coverage for one more year.<br />
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During the 2011 Anne Arundel County School Board election cycle, the Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) was tasked with finding two individuals from District 33 to nominate for the School Board. The current incumbent from District 33, Vic Bernson, decided not to run for a second term. Bernson, a Republican, is the last member of the School Board appointed under a Republican governor. In recent years, he was also typically the only dissenting vote on the School Board.<br />
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The SBNC met three times: March 28, May 16, and May 17. The first meeting was administrative in nature, including setting a deadline for candidates to file applications, the dates for the two candidate hearings, and the date for the final election of the candidates. A separate date for the final election (May 23) was subsequently canceled. The SBNC did not send me any email notices regarding the above meetings, including the date cancellation, despite my numerous requests to its leadership that it do so and past promises from it that it would. <br />
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Given that the School Board administers approximately $1 billion, 10,000 employees, 121 schools, and 76,000 students—one of the largest school districts in the United States—the blasé approach to appointing/electing School Board members is noteworthy. In the great majority of school districts, school board races generate substantial newspaper coverage and public interest, if only among the 20% or so of the population with kids in the public schools.<br />
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For the first year in its four year history, the SBNC offered no opportunity for public comment on SBNC administrative matters. Public comments were specifically banned from its March 28 meeting to discuss administrative matters, and no opportunity for general public comment was offered at its May 16 or May 17 hearings. The May 17 hearing offered an opportunity for public comment on the two SBNC candidates, but no public comment on any other matter.<br />
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Both the number of meetings (three) and the total time spent in meetings for the year (under four hours) were a historic low for the SBNC. This year there was no field hearing for the open position. This was blamed on lack of public participation at previous field hearings. As a result, District 33 has been the only district not to receive a field hearing during the SBNC's four-year existence. But the SBNC's perception, accurate I believe, is that the District 33 community wouldn't care one way or the other. <br />
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Only two candidates applied: <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-Bradenburg%20App%20%28Public%29%202011.pdf" target="_blank">Amalie Brandenburg</a> of Severna Park and <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-Scott%20App%20%28Public%29%202011.pdf" target="_blank">James Pembrook Scott</a> of Crownsville. Neither had the long track record of public involvement with AACPS policy issues that was once typical of successful AACPS school board candidates. The low applicant pool may indicate a sense of hopelessness among people who in prior years might have aspired to a School Board position.<br />
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On May 17, the SBNC voted on both candidates. Amalie Brandenburg was unanimously approved (11-0) and James Scott was unanimously rejected, with two abstentions. However, the law stipulates that the SBNC must submit two nominees to the Governor, so both names were forwarded to the Governor. The Governor is expected to make his selection by July 1, 2011, when by law the new School Board member is to take office.<br />
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The SBNC did not discuss the problems created by its unanimous vote against Scott. The vote disclosed an inconsistency in the SBNC's rules. By statute, the SBNC must forward two names to the Governor. But the SBNC has a rule, passed unanimously if I recall correctly, that a candidate must receive eight of eleven votes (a supermajority) to have his or her name passed on to the Governor. There is no provision in the written rules to cover a situation where two candidates don’t get the required supermajority, probably because there was an assumption that many more candidates would submit applications to the SBNC. More than twenty candidates applied during the SBNC's first year of operation in 2008.<br />
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The bombshell released at the end of the May 17 meeting was that, in the opinion of the Chair, in consultation with counsel from the Maryland Attorney General's Office, the Governor need not appoint either of the two candidates and may request that the SBNC submit the names of additional candidates. This is a radically new interpretation of the law. One of the major public selling points for the SBNC when it was created was that its nominations would, unlike those of the previous School Board Nominating Convention, be binding on the Governor. All prior discussions that I recall assumed that the Governor would have to choose among the candidates submitted by the SBNC, not that he could keep coming back to the SBNC requesting the names of additional nominees until he was satisfied with them.<br />
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This ruling generates a fundamental shift in the balance of power between the Governor and the SBNC. It also suggests that SBNC commissioners, without publicly acknowledging so, may be losing confidence in their ability to operate effectively as an institution. My sense is that the SBNC commissioners have become fearful of their own power to shape the School Board in their own image. Sometimes there is danger in being perceived as too influential. This may also have been reflected in the lack of behind-the-scenes candidate recruitment this year. <br />
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Assuming this ruling is not overturned (and it was made in a way that would allow plausible deniability if it should prove politically embarrassing), it creates a new set of unresolved issues in interpreting the statute creating the SBNC. If the Governor doesn't have to pick among the SBNC's nominees in a timely way, what is the status of the July 1, 2011 deadline to appoint a new school board? I'd have to go back and carefully read the various scattered rules for enlightenment on this question. Perhaps the incumbent could stay on indefinately. Or perhaps the School Board would have to operate short one member. Other interpretations and unanticipated legal conflicts could be possible. Sure enough, we might need yet the gazillionth legal interpretation from the Attorney General's office to figure out what the law creating the SBNC really means (incidentally, only a few of those legal opinions have been posted on the SBNC's website). The original legislation creating the SBNC was created in haste, without due consideration of practical realities, without an opportunity for public comment, and without a template to work from (of the more than 14,000 school boards in the United States, Anne Arundel’s school board electoral system is unique).<br />
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In this particular case, I don't expect the Governor to exercise his newly announced powers unless Ms. Brandenburg has some major undisclosed skeletons in her closet. Ms. Brandenburg said all the right things at her hearing and has the important characteristics the Governor would be expected to want in an AACPS school board member. If anyone doubts that, the SBNC's unanimous vote for her should make that clear. I expect that she will be a popular choice in the community.<br />
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There are always delightful inconsistencies to be found when attending an SBNC meeting. My favorite year after year is the SBNC's protestations that it loves community involvement. Since there has consistently been awful community involvement, the implication is always that the lack of involvement is the fault of the community, not the SBNC. If the SBNC wasn't defensive on this point, I don't know why it would so incessantly harp on it. This year did not disappoint. At the May 16 meeting, the SBNC's Chair gave his perfunctory statement praising community involvement. Then he proceeded to ask a question to the candidates about what they see as the role of a school board member. Great question. But then he clarified his question and gave away the type of answer he wanted. He asked if school board members should micromanage the administration (for those in the know, "micromanage" is a dirty word in school politics). And he elaborated by stating that micromanagement included soliciting feedback from individual schools rather than relying on the communications from AACPS administrative staff and official group representatives. <br />
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Following both the spirit and letter of Maryland's Open Meetings Law has never been the SBNC's strong suit. 2011 was no exception.<br />
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At the March 28 meeting, it was announced that the next meeting would include a presentation from a representative from the office of Maryland's Attorney General explaining what the ambiguous SBNC statute really means. Since 2008, the requirements for incumbent school board members to seek reelection have been reinterpreted multiple times by the Attorney General’s office. At the May 17 meeting there was in fact a representative from the Attorney General's office to do that. But inconsistent with the promise at the March 28 meeting, the advice was provided in executive session. No explanation was given why a public official providing an explanation of a public law to a public body had to do so secretly. As a political scientist with a background in democratic theory, I would say that there are few more important ingredients to a well functioning democracy than the ability of the public to have access to the laws under which it is ruled.<br />
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Another interesting feature of the March 28 meeting was its apparent exclusive televising for School Board members: a nice perk not available to the average citizen. The March 28 meeting was televised live over Channel 96, giving the Board the plausible excuse that it wasn't merely for the convenience of insiders. However, past SBNC administrative meetings have not been televised and there was no public notice of the televised meeting. Nor was there any indication on the AACPS website that the meeting would be rebroadcast or had ever in fact been broadcast. The only people I know for sure who watched the meeting, or knew that it would be available on TV, were Board members. <br />
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As an aside, televising meetings the way the Board does it is not inexpensive; it has typically required the services of three AACPS employees. The Board and the Public Information Office remain adamant that they will not webcast Board meetings, despite the fact that communities one hundredth the size of Anne Arundel County now routinely provide such webcasts of their public meetings. (Speaking as a political scientist, webcast meetings are widely considered to be a much greater political risk than the type of live broadcast AACPS now tolerates). The cost of televising the March 28 meeting for the convenience of Board members, not the public, could have been better spent providing years worth of archived, online webcasts of school board meetings. (In our YouTube age, labor is expensive compared to webcasting, which explains why even a few hours of labor costs the same as many more hours of archived, online webcasting.)<br />
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Writing about Open Meetings Law violations is famously hard because one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know. Nevertheless, sometimes one can infer violations from public evidence. An example is the SBNC's going into the secret executive session on May 17 without providing advance notice of the subjects that would be discussed and why they were exempt from public disclosure. But this is a relatively trivial example because when the SBNC came out of executive session, reasons were provided. On the other hand, the reason the topics of executive session are supposed to be presented upfront is so that there is an opportunity to challenge the need to go into executive session to discuss a particular topic.<br />
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In contrast, the Chair’s announcement at the very end of the May 17 meeting that the Governor was not bound to choose among the two nominees was not a trivial violation. This issue had never been discussed either publicly at an SBNC meeting or announced as a topic of discussion for executive session. Announcing such a bombshell legal opinion, with no prior warning and only a few minutes before the last meeting of the SBNC not only for the year but also before the expiration of the terms of all the gubernatorial appointees to the SBNC, has a dirty odor to it.<br />
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The SBNC has always been poor at posting the minutes of its last meeting of each election cycle. This is the set of minutes that features its votes on the candidates (bombshells such as the announcement of the legal opinion concerning the governor's option not to appoint the SBNC's nominees may or may not make the minutes because they are not official actions). Usually there has been an approximately eight month delay in publicly posting the minutes. By the time they are posted, no one is usually any longer interested in them. The candidate bios and much other relevant information to which they refer may also be long since removed from the public portion of the website (but still available to insiders behind a firewall). Since the SBNC never posts the dates when it posts (or modifies) minutes (and most other documents as well), all this is invisible to anyone who doesn’t watch closely.<br />
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Note that an eight month delay in posting minutes is by no means the worst case. For example, the last set of minutes from the 2009 election cycle, from the meeting held on July 29, 2009 to vote for an open at-large seat after Tricia Johnson resigned from the School Board, has still not been posted as of May 31, 2011, close to two years later. It is noteworthy that as of May 31, 2011 none of the SBNC meeting minutes from its 2011 election cycle had yet been posted on the SBNC's website. It has not been unusual for many SBNC public meetings to go by without such a public posting of the minutes. In 2008, the SBNC illegally held two meetings in private. After I complained to Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board, the SBNC did post the minutes to those meetings. But more than three years later it has not posted that the meetings were held illegally in private.<br />
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Notwithstanding the above, there is much to commend an appointed school board, especially in a giant school district such as AACPS. Sir Winston Churchill once said that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other forms that have been tried.” I do not doubt that hundreds of other school systems have worse electoral systems than ours. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-83689458473782556662012-02-26T20:52:00.000-05:002012-05-11T21:37:00.631-05:00Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission Sets Agenda for Filling Two Vacancies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My column in the Patch (click <a href="http://severnapark.patch.com/blog_posts/aaco-school-board-nominating-commission-sets-agenda-for-filling-two-vacancies" target="_blank">here</a> to go to the article; also copied below).
</blockquote>
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On the evening of Feb. 22, 2012 the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) met to plan its procedures for the 2012 Anne Arundel Board of Education (BOE) election cycle. This was its first meeting for both its 2012 session and the four year terms of office for its five gubernatorial appointees. </div>
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The SBNC is composed of eleven commissioners: five appointed by the Governor (each from one of the five legislative districts in Anne Arundel County), one appointed by the County Executive, one apponted by the Anne Arundel Community College, and four appointed by private stakeholder groups (the Chamber of Commerce, PTA, teachers’ union, and school administrators’ union). The four year terms of the five gubernatorial appointees expired last December. </div>
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On Feb. 6, 2012 , the Governor <a href="http://www.governor.maryland.gov/blog/?p=3989" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">reappointed</a> four of his previous appointees and filled the fifth seat, a vacancy, with Kory Blake, Chair of the Anne Arundel Democratic Central Committee and staff representative at AFSCME, the union that represents custodial, food service, bus driver, and other support workers in the school system.</div>
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The SBNC nominates candidates for the BOE. For each open position, it nominates two individuals, from which the Governor must select one. Candidates require the votes of at least eight of the eleven SBNC commissioners to be nominated.</div>
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Three people were in the audience in addition to myself: BOE member Andrew Pruski, SBNC’s legislative counsel, and a member of the BOE Ethics Panel. </div>
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Of the five gubernatorial appointees, two attended the meeting. One of the missing three, Konrad Wayson, representing District 30, informed the SBNC that he did not want to serve a second term. The Governor is seeking recommendations to fill this open seat.</div>
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The board meeting started by approving the minutes from its May 17, 2011 meeting when the SBNC voted on candidates for the 2011 election cycle. This meant that to find out how each SBNC member voted on the previous round of candidates, as opposed to the immediate announcement of the winners, one would have had to wait more than nine months. As of Feb. 23, 2012, no minutes for the SBNC's 2011 meetings had yet been posted on its website. No mean accomplishment, this was the worst track record for timely posting minutes of the SBNC's four year track record. I expect these minutes will be retroactively posted in the near future.</div>
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This year there are two openings for the BOE. Eugene Peterson, representing District 21, has served two terms and cannot serve again. BOE Chair Patricia Nalley, representing the entire district with an at-large seat, is up for reappointment. </div>
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According to an opinion from Maryland’s Attorney General, Ms. Nalley, as an incumbent BOE member, is automatically nominated for another term and thus need not go through the SBNC process, which was the SBNC’s previously mandated procedure. However, via the BOE’s attorney, she has informed the SBNC that she intends to follow precedent and go through the nominating process. Given that it is widely understood that Ms. Nalley has no chance of losing, it’s not clear to me why this is an efficient use of the SBNC’s time.</div>
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Unlike last year, when the SBNC decided to hold no field hearings for the candidates, this year the SBNC decided to hold field hearings for both candidates. It is not unusual for only a few people to attend such hearings, especially if it is a hearing that SBNC and BOE choose not to promote aggressively.</div>
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Candidate applications are due by April 27, 2012. Field hearings are tentatively planned for March.</div>
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The SBNC’s Chair promised to post all the legal opinions from the office of Maryland’s Attorney General concerning the laws regulating the SBNC on the SBNC’s website. These opinions determine how the statute creating the SBNC should be interpreted. In the past, only some of these opinions were publicly posted. The SBNC chair also said that he continues to hope to write up a manual describing SBNC procedures, which are now scattered in dozens of different places including statutes, attorney general legal opinions, bylaws, minutes, and past precedent. </div>
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For the first time at an SBNC meeting in several years, the Chair announced he would take public comments concerning SBNC procedures. He also announced he would take public comments at all future meetings. I was the only person to take advantage of this opportunity. </div>
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I thanked the SBNC for allowing public comments and responding to my recent complaint before a Maryland Senate committee about the SBNC’s ban on public comments at its public hearings, except during the candidate hearings when the public is allowed to comment on the character of the candidates. Given the poor drafting of the General Assembly’s statute creating the SBNC, it was a wild ride during the SBNC’s first four years figuring out what the General Assembly meant and filling in the many loose ends. My guess is that the Attorney General’s office spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal consultations to help figure out the law. All this confusion should have been a reason to allow rather than ban public comment.</div>
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I then asked the Chair to whom he sent the February 13, 2012 press release announcing the February 22, 2012 SBNC meeting. He said the School System’s Public Information Officer. I said I hadn’t received email notice of the meeting until yesterday, one day prior to the meeting. Given 1) my numerous prior complaints to the SBNC about inadequate notice, 2) a ruling on the SBNC’s inadequate notice by Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board, and 3) the Chair’s previous promise to me to send me proper notice (seven days notice is generally considered proper in Maryland), I felt I had a right to be upset about one day notice.</div>
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I also reported that on the evening of Monday, Feb. 20, I had checked the SBNC’s website (as I had done many prior weekends on the advice of my House of Delegates Representative who said that checking on the SBNC’s website was the most reliable way of finding out about its future meetings) and found no notice of the meeting. But I checked again on Feb. 22, 2012, and it was there. The problem was that <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/90-SBNC%20Press%20Release%202%2013%202012.pdf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the website notice was dated Feb. 13, 2012</a>, which was misleading because the notice clearly wasn’t posted on the website on that date. Unfortunately, I had found such backdating of notice and other public documents to be common BOE and SBNC procedure. </div>
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The SBNC Chair said it was not his fault. He had asked General Assembly members for a budget to operate the SBNC and they said no. Thus, he was dependent on the School System’s Public Information Office for notice. If the Public Information Officer didn’t post the information on the SBNC’s website, it wasn’t his fault.</div>
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I replied that the Public Information Officer’s job is to do PR on behalf of the BOE and that it is inappropriate for the SBNC to rely on him. The PR officer will heavily promote open positions for the BOE, and in a timely way, only when it is in his interest to do so. He will also put people on and take them off his announcement emails depending on his assessment of whether their receiving the information is helpful or not to the message he is promoting. Thus, giving the PR office such control is like taking control of the ballot from the Board of Elections and giving it to the incumbent candidates. </div>
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I closed by explaining the fundamental democratic principle called the “veil of Ignorance.” This is the temporal dimension to the principle that laws should apply equally to all, a principle emblazened on the front of the U.S. Supreme Court’s building. According to the veil of ignorance, electoral procedures should be determined prior to knowledge of the specific candidates that they would affect. For example, every serious democratic theorist agrees that choosing a presidential succession process in case of the death of the president should be done prior to the death of a president, when the identities of the potential successors are not known. I noted that unfortunately the SBNC had made it a practice to do exactly the opposite: wait until candidates were known and then adjust procedures to the candidates. I applauded the SBNC’s Chair for his stated desire to consolidate SBNC procedures, including PR procedures, in a manual. This I felt would go at least some way toward addressing this problem, as well as realizing another key democratic principle, which is that citizens should be able to have reasonably easy access to the laws under which they are governed.</div>
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The one issue I didn’t raise is what to do with all the new legislative districts in Anne Arundel County that are expected when the General Assembly passes the new decennial legislative redistricting plan, which must be done by Feb. 25, 2012. I’m sure that no incumbent politician created that plan with consideration about how it would affect the SBNC. I expect a new round of attorney general legal opinions, probably in conflict with earlier ones, as the SBNC and the public comes to grip with the legal and practical implications of the redistricting. </div>
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<i>--J.H. Snider is a former chair of the Anne Arundel Countywide Citizen Advisory Committee. He has been covering the SBNC since the General Assembly created it in 2007. For past coverage, see MyAACPS.net.</i></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-26454013755286891892012-05-08T21:00:00.000-05:002012-05-11T21:35:48.384-05:00Four Candidates, Two Open Anne Arundel County Board of Education Seats<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My column in the Patch (click<a href="http://severnapark.patch.com/blog_posts/four-candidates-seek-two-open-seats-on-anne-arundel-board-of-education" target="_blank"> here</a> to go to the article; also copied below).</blockquote>
This year the Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) must nominate candidates for two open seats on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education. One seat is at-large, the other for legislative district 21. For each seat, the SBNC must nominate at least two candidates, from which the Governor must pick one by July 1, 2012.<br />
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On April 27, the candidate applications were due. On May 7, the SBNC disclosed the results. Three candidates are running for the at-large seat; two for the District 21 seat. One candidate is running for both the at-large and district 21 seat. The SBNC will vote on the candidates on May 29 and hold public hearings regarding the candidates on May 15, 23, and 29.<br />
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However, it is my judgment that the two winning nominees for each position can already be inferred with great certainty. Since the SBNC is legally required to nominate two names for each seat and District 21 only has two candidates, both can expect to be nominated. The expected District 21 nominees are <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-korbelak.pdf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stacy Korbelak</a> and <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-warren.pdf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tracey Warren</a>.<br />
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The at-large seat nominally has three candidates but one, Tracy Warren, is also a candidate for District 21. Although it is conceivable that the SBNC could nominate the same individual for both seats, I very much doubt in this case that that would happen. The expected at-large nominees are <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-nalley.pdf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Patricia Nalley</a> and <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-leight.pdf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elizabeth Leight</a>.<br />
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Ms. Nalley is the current president of the Board of Education, and I consider her to be a shoe-in to be reappointed by the Governor. However, Ms. Leight is not being foolish running for the seat, which she is certainly smart and well-connected enough to know she has no chance of winning. Ms. Leight has paid her dues and would be a good representative for the Hispanic community, which is currently unrepresented on the Board of Education. She will be nominated, and this will get her name out there and put her in an excellent position to be renominated when she doesn’t face an invincible opponent.<br />
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It is noteworthy that Ms. Leight originally planned on running for the District 21 seat. However, she lived in the old District 21. After the current decennial legislative redistricing cycle, she no longer lives in District 21. At first it wasn’t clear whether the old or new District 21 lines would apply for this election. But Maryland’s Attorney General has apparently recently issued an opinion to the SBNC that the new lines apply.<br />
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The two candidates for District 21 are relative unknowns compared to President Nalley and Ms. Leight. They both have adequate credentials, so to succeeed they will have to prove to the key SBNC stakeholder groups that they can be trusted.<br />
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All four candidates either work for government or work in government relations. President Nalley worked for AACPS for more than 30 years before retiring (she also has three relatives who work for AACPS); Ms. Leight works for the Society of Professional Benefit Administrators as its Director of Government Relations and Legal Affairs; Stacy Korbelak works at Howard Community College as an Assistant Professor of English; and Tracey Warren works in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs as an attorney.<br />
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On April 19, I attended the SBNC’s public hearing to discuss administrative matters. Eight SBNC members attended plus the SBNC’s counsel. Two commissioners were absent. One remains unappointed by the Governor despite a term that expired last December. Two members of the public attended, myself and future candidate Leight.<br />
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Chairman Greene said that he had requested and was expecting an opinion from the Attorney General’s office regarding the effect of redistricting on candidate residency requirements; in particular, whether the residency requirement for District 21 would be the 2002 lines or the lines newly enacted in 2012. Commissioner Payne asked that the Attorney General opinion also clarify the status of sitting board members who have been redistricted out of the district their seat represents. (No mention was made of the citizens or potential candidates in Anne Arundel County who don’t live in any of the five legislative districts recognized in the statute creating the SBNC.)<br />
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Chairman Greene announced that the SBNC had received three complete applications, two for the District 21 seat and one for the at-large seat. He observed that under the law the SBNC had to provide two names for each opening, so this was potentially a problem unless someone stepped forward to apply for the at-large seat.<br />
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As for a communications strategy, Chairman Greene observed that they had failed to get a Capitalreporter for the last 2 years and thus would try the Patch. (As someone who has attended the great majority of SBNC public meetings since it began in 2008, I can say that a Capital reporter has only attended half a dozen meetings and usually reported by either slightly rewriting press releases or interviewing the SBNC Chair for a quote.) Commissioner Ebersberger suggested adding the Severna Park Voice and the Voices that have opened in Pasadena and Odenton because “they only publish good stories; they don’t chase stories.” Commissioner Greene concluded that” we’ll try to place stories in the Patch and Voice as well as the Capital.”<br />
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The SBNC then turned to revising a proposed procedural manual, a task that occupied the bulk of the meeting. Unfortunately, the commissioners spoke to each other in whispers with their mics turned off. They also did not make a copy of the manual available to the audience. After about fifteen minutes of this, I quietly went up to Ms. Davis, the SBNC’s counsel, and asked to see the draft copy of the procedural manual from which the SBNC members were working. She refused to get me a copy. Eventually, I decided to interrupt the SBNC meeting by asking that commissioners speak so the audience could hear and also provide the audience with a copy of the draft procedural manual. I was then provided with a copy but also told that I would not be allowed to speak again until public comments were allowed at the end of the meeting.<br />
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During public participation, I informed the SBNC that SBNC minutes for 2011 were still missing on the SBNC’s website. Currently, fewer than half the minutes from 2011 public meetings could be found on the SBNC’s website. I also noted that the website link to press releases/news, including meeting notices, was completely blank (as of May 7, it still was). Chairman Greene replied that he had repeatedly tried to get money from Maryland’s General Assembly for such purposes and had been refused. AACPS (its Public Information Office), not the SBNC, was responsible for maintaining the website and thus for any missing information. (Of note, this finger pointing has been going on now for five years, with apparently no one taking responsibility for the fact that the SBNC has made a mockery of Maryland’s open meeting laws; last January I testified about this problem, apparently to no effect, before the Maryland Senate’s Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.)<br />
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I observed that I had received notice of the SBNC’s April 19 meeting on the afternoon of April 16. I then attempted to poll the SBNC commissioners, from left to right sitting on the dais, how many days notice they felt was required under Maryland’s Open Meetings Act for non-emergency public meetings such as the SBNC’s meetings. In order, Ray Leone said five days, Kory Blake said “I cannot give a number,” Christine Davenport said 2 days, Joshua Greene said 48 hours and reminded the remaining commissioners that they were under no obligation to answer me. Christopher Mirenzi said 48 hours, Yevola Peters said “no opinion,” Lee Payne said 48 hours, and Arthur Ebersberger said 48 hours.
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I was near the end of my allotted five minutes so did not pursue the matter. But for the record, the SBNC’s own <a href="http://www.aacps.org/sbnc/bylaws.pdf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bylaws</a> require ten days notice: “The time and place of these meetings shall be determined by the Commissioners and notice thereof shall be given at least ten (10) days prior thereto to the Commissioners and the Public by a means that will provide the greatest opportunity for the Public to attend and where appropriate, participate in the same.” Maryland’s Open Meetings Act in fact specifies no specific number of days for notice, requiring only “reasonable advance notice.” Since Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board does not take this notice requirement seriously (or other similarly vague requirements in the Open Meetings Act), the SBNC could probably have gotten away with just one day’s notice.<br />
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Finally, I asked the SBNC commissioners to tell me the annual compensation of Ms. Davis, their counsel. They all replied that they didn’t know.
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-73517935093874081382010-05-23T18:15:00.001-05:002012-05-11T21:05:48.096-05:00SBNC Update: Wrap-up for 2010<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Introduction & Summary<o:p></o:p></h3>
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On May 11 and 12, the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) interviewed candidates for District 30 and District 31. On May 17 the SBNC heard testimony on behalf of the candidates and then voted for two nominees for each district. The two nominees for District 30 are <span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-giroux.pdf">Richard K. Giroux of Arnold</a> </span>and <span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-webb.pdf">Solon K. Webb of Annapolis</a></span>; for District 31, <span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-ritchie.pdf">Deborah T. Ritchie of Pasadena</a> </span>and <span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/182-shore.pdf">Lisa Shore of Pasadena</a> </span>. The links point to the applications they submitted. The SBNC removes applications from the public portion of its website after the electoral cycle is complete, so if you want to see the applications, I recommend doing it now.</div>
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The three hearings, followed by a vote, showed off the SBNC at its finest. The candidates were well-qualified to serve on the Board of Education (“School Board”), and the SBNC commissioners came across as thoughtful leaders working on behalf of the community.</div>
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The average number of candidates running for each open seat declined from 12 during the first SBNC nominating cycle in 2008 to 3.5 in 2010 (four for District 30 and three for District 31). Assuming that all the candidates had an equal chance of winning, those running in District 30 had a 50% chance of winning while those running in District 31 had a 66.7% chance of winning. The decline in number of candidates highlights the growing importance of the early and invisible part of the SBNC nominating cycle, whereby candidates are recruited and otherwise given incentives to formally apply for a nomination.</div>
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The Governor must now appoint a representative from districts 30 and 31 by July 1, when the next Board of Education takes office.</div>
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Based on a legal opinion delivered by Maryland’s Attorney General on April 8, 2010 (and posted on the SBNC’s website only AFTER my last SBNC Update on May 9, 2010), Board members appointed after June 30, 2008 are automatically reappointed by the Governor for a second term and are not subject to a competitive election for the duration of their two terms in office, for a total of 10 years (two new terms) or as many as fourteen if they came to office midterm (two new terms plus the completion of a partial term). School Board members are only allowed to serve two full terms. School Board members are subject to a second reterntion vote at the next general election AFTER their second term begins.</div>
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The next big event on the School Board electoral calendar takes place on November 2, 2010, when four sitting Board members, half of the adult Board, are on the ballot for a retention vote, often called an “approval” vote in the political science literature. Board members who pass this hurdle will then be able to serve for as many as 6.4 years before being subject to another reterntion vote. The 6.4-year calculation is as follows: Board terms are for five years. Those appointed after June 30, 2008 are automatically appointed to a second term and subject to a retention vote at the next general election, which is 16+ months later during odd-year automatic reappointments (and four months during even years). Five years plus 16 months equals 6.4 years. In practice, however, it may take many months after a lost reterntion vote for the SBNC to nominate and the Governor to appoint a replacement, during which time the incumbent board member stays in office. Note, too, that there appears to be no DEADLINE to replace an incumbent who has lost a retention vote. Thus, the 6.4 year figure is a MINIMUM term of office for odd-year appointments.</div>
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The duration of an Anne Arundel County School Board member’s term of office without facing a competitive election is striking because I believe it is the longest such term of office for any school board member in not only Maryland but possibly also any elected office, other than a judge, in the entire United States.</div>
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Unless there is an unexpected development, I expect this to be my last SBNC Update until the next SBNC nominating cycle in 2011.</div>
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The outline of my observations and analysis follows:</div>
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1) May 10 District 30 Public Hearing<o:p></o:p></div>
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2) May 11 District 31 Public Hearing<o:p></o:p></div>
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3) May 17 Hearing for Candidate Testimonials and Vote<o:p></o:p></div>
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4) Implications of Ned Carey’s Withdrawal Announcement<o:p></o:p></div>
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5) November 2, 2010 Retention Vote for Four Board of Education Members<o:p></o:p></div>
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6) Third Complaint Filed with Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board<o:p></o:p></div>
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1) May 10, 2010 District 30 Public Hearing<o:p></o:p></h3>
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All SBNC Commissioners plus their legal counsel and four members of the AACPS Public Information Office (including three TV producers) were in attendance. No reporter was present. Thirteen individuals were in the audience, including only three people not affiliated with the candidates or the Board of Education. I left after about an hour, during the mid-hearing break, and watched much of the remainder of the hearing at home on my TV. Although the half-million dollar TV setup in the Board room and quarter-million dollar TV backroom facility can support high definition television, the production was in standard definition due to ongoing negotiations with Comcast about high definition carriage.</div>
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Four candidates were competing for the two nominations for District 30. However, one candidate, Richard D’Amato, a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, couldn’t make it for the District 30 hearing, so he was allowed to join the District 31 hearing the following evening.</div>
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Each commissioner was allowed to ask a question of the candidates. The hearing ran for more than two hours. Those not present could watch via TV, which was broadcast at a higher quality than most C-SPAN coverage of public affairs events but at a lower quality than network TV coverage of presidential debates. For example, C-SPAN covers most think thank events with a one or two person crew, not the three person crew used here (four people if you include the TV crew’s boss). Similarly, C-SPAN usually doesn’t operate in a conference room with a half dozen robotic cameras and perfect lighting; indeed, it is unlikely that there is a single think tank in Washington, DC with a conference room—even one used for events a half dozen times a day—outfitted with a half million dollars of TV equipment ($464,000, to be exact).</div>
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I will not summarize the Q&A here. But I’d like to note one part of the Q&A that might be of particular interest to citizen advisory committee readers. Commissioner Christine Davenport, following in a long tradition of School Board candidate questioners in Anne Arundel County, asked the candidates what they would do to enhance parental involvement. Candidate Victoria Garcia replied: “televise CAC meetings.” The following night, responding to a similar question, two other candidates advocated using more “technology” to get parents involved in the school system.</div>
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I agree with Candidate Garcia that when a high level public official comes to speak to a CAC meeting, especially of the Countywide CAC, those not physically present should have the opportunity to hear what is said. Coming from the think tank world, where it has become routine to webcast events, I would consider such coverage a no-brainer.</div>
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(Incidentally, more parents in Anne Arundel County now have broadband than cable TV connections; note that satellite TV is separate from cable TV and that satellite TV customers cannot see the County’s educational channels. In addition, County libraries provide free broadband but not free cable TV service. So broadband is now not only the most convenient but also the most equitable medium for educational public affairs TV coverage. Of course, there is no reason that CAC TV cannot be delivered over BOTH broadband and PEG cable TV, as is now done in many U.S. towns with a population a fiftieth the size of Anne Arundel County and a commensurately smaller TV/PR budget.)</div>
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However, I consider the odds of AACPS allowing the Countywide CAC to televise its meetings close to zero. Indeed, Riva Road is so senstive about its public officials saying anything controversial on TV (or otherwise on the record) that I would bet that it would greatly restrict access to senior level ACCPS officials if the Countywide CAC recorded their presentations and Q&A. A caveat would be if Riva Road could keep the video under lock and key, as it does the SBNC’s video recordings. This would allow it to preserve an important measure of control. But such restricted access would defeat much of the purpose for providing video coverage in the first place. Needless to say, I believe Riva Road’s mindset seeking to tightly control information is harmful to public participation and our democracy. I hope and expect that the current tight control of information will loosen up in the coming years.</div>
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Commissioner Sandra Anderson, in charge of the SBNC’s communications plan (a euphemism, in my opinion, for PR), closed the meeting with the following observation: “Regardless of how many press releases we send out, we’re not overwhelemed with people coming to our hearings…. Please think about how we might engage the parents on these topics.”</div>
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Commissioner Anderson’s observation about poor parental involvement was, of course, correct. I attended every SBNC event this election cycle and I could count on my fingers the number of audience members who weren’t AACPS officials, prospective candidates, or relatives of prospective candidates. Even the Capital reporter stopped coming during the SBNC’s last five public meetings.</div>
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So I applaud Commissioner Anderson’s heartfelt concluding remark. But who or what is to blame for the problem she describes? It’s not clear to me why a rational member of the public would want to participate since the public has no real role in the SBNC’s selection process. The public doesn’t select the nominees, and it doesn’t select the commissioners who select the nominees. The democratic lines of accountability are so blurred as, in my opinion, to be all-but-unreadable by anyone except a handful of insiders. Asking the public to participate is like asking someone from Anne Arundel County to participate in an election in East Podunk, Illinois. Why should they?</div>
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The part of Commissioner Anderson’s statement that made me wince was her conclusion pleading for more parental involvement. I’ve been attending School Board candidate hearings for close to ten years and have observed that there is no greater cliché in AACPS school politics than the plea for more parental public policy involvement. Yet it never seems to happen. The reason, unfortunately, is much more fundamental than the fact that politically astute parents recognize they have no meaningful role in the SBNC election process. It is that real public participation—the way that democratic theorists define it—is often actually considered, at best, an annoyance. Real public participation must come from the bottom up; that is, people must feel that they can make a real difference and that they aren’t being used just for show. But the incentives, all too often, are to use public participation and the appearance of openness for show. After all, we live in a democracy, and school boards and other public bodies get their public legitimacy from appearing democratic. Indeed, the calling of a public meeting with warm bodies in the audience has proven to be one of the most effective democratic shows. Admittedly, there are pockets of real participation in AACPS. But the SBNC hasn’t been one of them.</div>
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Lastly, I’d like to note one of my greatest frustrations attending the SBNC hearings in the Board room: no WiFI (wireless Internet) access for my laptop. The Board room has two very strong WiFi hotspots, but they are only accessible to ACCPS employees with a password; the public is barred from access. I routinely attend public events in federal buildings, hotels, and think tanks, and I can say it is now very common to provide free WiFi access during public meetings. Such WiFi access greatly increases both the quantity and quality of public participation. That’s because it’s much less burdensome attending a long, boring public meeting if one can multitask; and the quality of participation increases when audience members can become active listeners by looking up speaker references, better researching their questions, and exploring unexpected implications of what the speaker is saying. The same goes for CAC meetings held in the evening in the Board room. I just cannot fathom any reason why CAC members shouldn’t have WiFi access.</div>
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Actually, this is not quite true. Try on this for an explanation: Via its I-NET link, Riva Road can access broadband Internet access about 1,000 times faster than the fastest broadband service (about 20 Mbps) available to Anne Arundel County residents. Perhaps someone is worried that if the public experienced Riva Road’s superfast broadband connections, especially in the evening when Riva Road is empty and the network unused, the Board room would be overwhelmed with public participation.<span style="font-family: Wingdings;"> :-) </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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2) May 11, 2010 District 31 Hearing<o:p></o:p></h3>
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All SBNC commissioners were eventually in attendance, but two of the eleven commissioners arrived late. No reporter was present. Other than AACPS and SBNC staff, only two individuals, including myself, were in the audience during the first hour of the hearing. This hearing went on for more than three hours. I left after the first break and watched most of the remainder of the hearing at home.</div>
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Four candidates were present, one competing for a District 30 nomination, three for a District 31 nomination. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This time the SBNC’s PTA representative, Commissioner Anita Owens, asked the parental involvement question: How do we increase parental involvement in the schools? Candidates Lisa Shore and Richard D’ Amato both called for better use of technology. But it wasn’t clear to me whether they meant more top-down communications (as in PR) or bottom-up communications (which, if not astroturf, I would call democratic participation). Whenever the parental involvement question comes up, there is also the question of what exactly is meant by “parental involvement”: does it mean civic involvement or mentoring one’s own children with their schoolwork? Often the latter is meant, but it is noteworthy that the candidates interpreted the question as including both parential civic involvement and child mentoring.</div>
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Perhaps my favorite question of the evening, also involving ambiguous concepts, was Commissioner Konrad Wayson’s: Should School Board members vote by district or at-large? This question gets at a fundamental ambiguity in the current School Board electoral system. Three of the four candidates, with some hedging, answered: “by district.” The other candidate, who would go on to win the most votes of any nominee for District 31, answered: “at-large.” Since School Board members are supposed to care about all kids first and foremost and forego anything resembling politics, I believe the at-large answer was clearly the politically correct one.</div>
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But a reasonable person, including a School Board candidate, could (and should) be confused on this point. I’ve discussed this at length in earlier SBNC Updates, so I won’t repeat myself here. The key points are that the design of the electoral system, how SBNC members are selected, and how the SBNC conducts its business, all send very mixed messages. But what I want to add is that even if the electoral system unambiguously sent the message that “at-large” was the correct answer, it still wouldn’t be a politically plausible strategy for many of the School Board members. That is because most School Board members in recent years have used the School Board as a launching pad for political careers. And for all other legislative positions other than the School Board, the correct answer is absolutely unambiguous: by district. School Board members aspiring for higher office have every incentive to represent the subset of Anne Arundel County constituents they hope to represent if elected to higher office. Although I’ve never seen the Capital report them this way, high profile School Board earmarks should always be viewed, at least partially, based on Board room politics. (As an aside, the Capital’s lack of coverage of Board politics—either due to indifference or ignorance--remains a striking feature of its news and editorials.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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3) May 17 Hearing for Candidate Testimonials and Vote<o:p></o:p></h3>
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All SBNC commissioners and support staff were present. No reporter was present. The initial audience, including candidates, candidate relatives, and those giving testimonials on behalf of the candidates, was the largest of the three hearings. But only one member of the public, other than me, was present.</div>
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The meeting was supposed to consist of four parts: 1) designated candidate witnesses, 2) public comments about the candidates, 3) secret deliberations by the SBNC commissioners, and 4) the final, public vote. Since there were no public comments about the candidates, that part of the meeting was skipped.</div>
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One confusing part of the testimonials in favor of the candidates was their separation into public and secret parts. Those giving their testimonials in person did so in public. But there were apparently a number of written testimonials that were not read and were otherwise publicly inaccessible. The SBNC commissioners did not publicly state how or if the written recommendations had been privately distributed to them. But it’s reasonable to presume that the SBNC commissiones had access to the written recommendations before the hearing.</div>
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Commissioner Greene opened the meeting reporting that today he had received a letter from School Board Member Ned Carey stating that Carey would not accept the Governor’s appointment to the School Board even if it was offered to him. Greene noted that the letter was dated May 13.</div>
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One interesting feature of the TV coverage on May 17 compared to May 11 was the TV camera work. I don’t recall any audience shots on May 11 when the Board room looked all but completely empty (note that I did miss part of the May 11 hearing). But on May 17, when the camera could focus on a cluster of folks, the audience was introduced to viewers.</div>
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I thought the candidate testimonials were impressive and compelling. I also thought there was a close correlation between the number and intensity of the testimonials and the number of votes the candidates ultimately received from the SBNC commissioners.</div>
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As a ballpark figure, I estimate that the total taxpayer cost of the three hearings was $3,000: $2,000 for the four AACPS staff ($200/hour for the four staff times 10 hours) and $1,000 for the SBNC’s attorney ($100/hour times 10 hours). Of course, AACPS employees and the SBNC’s attorney (provided gratis by the Maryland General Assembly) are paid on a salary basis and don’t charge the SBNC for their services. But they also certainly don’t come free for taxpayers. If 50 members of the public watched the hearings (and this is little more than a wild guess), that comes to $40/viewer ($2,000/50 viewers = $40/viewer).</div>
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In my opinion, the public might have been better served by having an all-volunteer high school student TV crew televise the meetings (using their own equipment, not Riva Road’s), automatically index the footage to the agenda (standard even for tiny rural towns in Vermont), and then post the resulting footage on an independent website such as YouTube (one of the most common websites used by think tanks for public affairs events).</div>
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Note that these calculations assume that the SBNC has discontinued the costly (and secret) practice of transcribing the candidates’ testimony and Q&A. These transcripts, presumably paid for by the Maryland General Assembly, were never posted on the SBNC’s website and were for the exclusive use of SBNC commissioners.</div>
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Overall, the lack of press coverage of the SBNC during this electoral cycle was striking. In the old days of the nominating convention—and I’m not advocating a return to those days—the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and Capital would all compete in their coverage of the School Board candidates. In recent years, the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun completely abandoned the School Board electoral beat. And now we’re left with the Capital’s reports, which have evolved during this election cycle into little more than rewritten press releases. As for informed and thoughtful commentary, I don’t recall that we ever had that, so there hasn’t been a change there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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4) Implications of Ned Carey’s Withdrawal Announcement<o:p></o:p></h3>
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Following my two SBNC Updates describing the Attorney General’s ruling that incumbent School Board candidates elected prior to June 30, 2008 automatically have their names forwarded to the Governor for nomination, the Capital reported on <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/sch/2010/05/14-02/Confusion-at-the-nominating-commission.html"> May 14, 2010</a> that incumbent Ned Carey would definitely not accept an appointment if appointed to another term by the Governor. Part of the article included the following statement:</div>
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Carey said he was unaware of the [Attorney General’s] ruling and assumed that by not submitting an application he was out of the running for a second term. But to clarify his position, on the advice of attorneys, he sent a letter to the commission yesterday stating he doesn't want to stay on the board.</div>
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Assuming that the Capital accurately reported Carey’s statement, we have the following three implications:</div>
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<b>a) The SBNC didn’t do its job</b>. One of the primary duties of the SBNC is to encourage the strongest possible candidates to run for the SBNC. If potential candidates are under the impression that a popular incumbent, sure to win the Governor’s endorsement, is likely to run, it is reasonable to infer that fewer and less qualified candidates would be likely to run. In this circumstance, the SBNC would have a responsibility not only to ask Carey whether he was running but inform him of the Attorney General’s January 22, 2010 public legal opinion (issued more than three months before the April 30, 2010 candidate deadline) that his name would automatically be forwarded to the Governor and that potential candidates would learn that fact. I say the January 22, 2010 “public” legal opinion because the Attorney General recently revealed an apparently private memo to the SBNC on May 1, 2009 (exactly one year before the April 30, 2010 application deadline) providing the same legal advice (see footnote 2 to the Attorney General’s April 8, 2010 legal opinion). Accordingly, the SBNC had the correct information about the nominating system for Ned Carey more than one year before Carey says he knew that information. (As an aside, my guess is that the May 1, 2009 memo was kept private because its public release on May 1, 2009 would have been highly embarrassing to the SBNC, which had already accepted applications, including 2 incumbent School Board members, and announced public hearings based on the original understanding of the law.)</div>
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The SBNC was chosen so that all important stakeholders would have a say in the nominating process. Those stakeholders are in regular contact with the School Board, so it would have been easy for them to alert Carey of the January 22, 2010 legal opinion (or, presumably, the earlier, apparently private, May 1, 2009 legal opinion), but it apparently didn’t happen.</div>
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It is clear that throughout the winter and spring of 2010 the SBNC agonized over whether Carey would run and regularly asked him about his intentions. Those who observed their deliberations could see that Carey was popular and that the SBNC did not at all relish the prospect of recruting challengers or even nominating anyone other than Carey for the District 31 opening. In the end, I think the SBNC made a genuine attempt to recruit people to attend both the District 30 and District 31 field hearings and to encourage candidates to run in District 31. Nevertheless, I believe its members were negligent in not informing Carey of the May 1, 2009 legal opinion and then reaffirmed in the January 22, 2010 legal opinion (which has been inexplicably removed from the SBNC website; the May 1, 2009 memo was never posted there).</div>
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An additional important consideration is that astute candidates for the District 31 seat would have recognized that even if Carey ran and was appointed by the Governor for a second term, it was to their advantage to run in this electoral cycle. The best precedent here is Tricia Johnson, the former School Board president nominated for a second term starting on July 1, 2009. The Governor appointed her to a second term, which she resigned weeks later when she was elected to the County Council. The SBNC was happy with one of the candidates who was nominated with her and so, with minimal fuss in the middle of the summer (July 28, 2009), nominated him and someone else who had no chance of being selected by the Governor (by the way, this rushed, low profile electoral cycle is an excellent illustration of the SBNC’s invisible nominating system at work). If this happened once (the last election), it could happen again, which may help explain the strong candidates who eventually applied for the District 31 seat.</div>
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<b>b)</b> <b>The Capital didn’t do its job.</b> The Capital’s education reporter was at the January 25, 2010 SBNC meeting where the January 22, 2010 Attorney General legal opinion was publicly announced. I then wrote about it in my January 27, 2010 SBNC Update, which is widely read throughout the County, including by various Capital reporters. Here is what I said: “The AG also ruled that incumbent school board members don’t have to go through the SBNC nominating process to have their names forwarded to the governor; all incumbents eligible for an additional term will have their names forwarded to the governor.”</div>
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The Capital reporter attended some of the early SBNC meetings where the practical significance of whether Carey would run was repeatedly mentioned. The Capital then reported three times, presumably based on first-hand communications with Carey, that Carey was undecided. Two of these reports, the last on <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/gov/2010/04/23-20/County-school-board-members-aim-higher.html"> April 23, 2010</a> (7 days before candidate applications were due), came after the January 25, 2010 SBNC meeting where the January 22, 2010 Attorney General letter was discussed.</div>
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I do not believe the Capital should have been held responsible for not knowing about the SBNC’s apparently secret May 1, 2009 memo from the Attorney General. But several Capital reporters were aware of my complaints concerning the SBNC’s pattern of violating both the spirit and letter of Maryland’s right-to-know laws. Indeed, the complaints were featured in my <a href="http://aacasb.blogspot.com/2009/05/sbnc-update.html">May 30, 2009 wrap-up to the 2009 SBNC nominating cycle</a> (which, I think, comes off as prescient in light of the fact that at that time I was ignorant of the May 1, 2009 legal opinion). The Capital’s determination that these complaints—or even an earlier ruling that the SBNC had violated Maryland’s Open Meetings Act—were not newsworthy helped establish an environment where vital information, such as the May 1, 2009 legal opinion, could be withheld from the public, including apparently, the president of the Board of Education.</div>
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<b>c) Ned Carey didn’t do his job.</b> Please note that I have great respect for Ned Carey’s skill as both a member and president of the School Board. But logic leads me to conclude that in this particular case he didn’t do his job.</div>
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Carey is in frequent contact with both SBNC commissioners and the Capital reporter. As president of the School Board, he also recieves copies of Capital articles and my SBNC Update. Regardless of whether or not he knew of the Attorney General’s May 1, 2009 and January 22, 2010 legal opinions, he certainly knew about the April 30, 2010 deadline for candidates to submit applications. He also knew that the Capital repeatedly reported on his indecision and that the SBNC repeatedly asked him about his plans. This was not for no reason: everyone with any political knowledge knew that Carey’s plans could have great practical significance, and Carey must have known that, too. Of course, Carey has every right to want to keep his political options open. And, nothwithstanding his lawyer’s apparent legal advice (see the Carey quote above), elected officials have generally not faced legal obstacles when holding one office while running for another. (Here I’ll add two caveats: I’m not a lawyer, and the current School Board electoral system is so bizarre and has been subject to so many Alice in Wonderland interpretations that perhaps I’ve overlooked something.)</div>
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However, the claim here is one of ignorance, not whether Carey had a duty to announce his political plans. Candidates who run for the School Board are regularly told that they need to be good listeners and regularly reach out to major stakeholders for information. If all the SBNC commissioners, the Capital education reporter, and senior AACPS staff knew of the January 22, 2010 legal opinion (if only because they religously read my SBNC Update!), then there was a striking breakdown in communications between Carey and the school system’s key stakeholders in the three plus months between January 22, 2010 and April 30, 2010 (or, if May 1, 2009 is used as the reference point, the twelve months between May 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010). In my opinion, the democratic implications of such a breakdown are scary.<o:p></o:p></div>
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5) November 2, 2010 Retention Vote for Four Board of Education Members <o:p></o:p></h3>
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On Novermber 2, 2010, the four School Board members appointed by the Governor during 2009 and 2010 will have their names placed on the ballot for a retention vote. I expect this to be an invisible election, as is almost always the case with retention votes for judges (an incumbent who hasn’t done anything extremely controversial has historically had virtually no chance of losing a retention vote). One way to explain this phenomenon is that in an election for “X” or “Nobody,” X should always win because it’s better to have someone in office than no one. Public officials do have an important job to do, and somebody, not Nobody, needs to do it.</div>
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Nevertheless, this is a big and potentially highly visible vote because it’s for an uncontested term of up to ten years—quite a novelty in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, U.S., and perhaps even world politics.</div>
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Please note that I was incorrect in my May 9, 2010 report on the interpretation of the Attorney General’s April 8, 2010 legal opinion. I was operating from memory and should have reread the legal opinion, which at the time was still not posted on the SBNC’s website. (It can now be found there, and I’d encourage anyone interested in the School Board electoral system to read it.)</div>
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Here is the correction: Incumbents appointed after June 30, 2008 are automatically reappointed for a second term, but—and here is the correction--they do have to undergo a second retention vote at the next general election after their automatic reappointment. The second election, like the first, is uncontested. And, like the first, the SBNC is under no obligation to replace the incumbent by a specific deadline.</div>
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Now let’s suppose one or more of the four candidates on the ballot lose the retention vote. Since the enabling legislation creating the SBNC is very vague on what happens next, I suppose we’d get a new series of Attorney General legal opinions telling the SBNC what it should do. One of the problems is that the retention vote doesn’t appear to be like any other retention vote held in Maryland or possibly the U.S. for that matter. On the surface, the retention vote looks like it is binding (hence the legislators’ claim that the new school board electoral system gives the public a meaningful vote). But, in fact, the election is only advisory because, as far as I know, there is no date by which the SBNC must select a replacement. So it is conceivable (but exceedingly unlikely) that a candidate could serve ten years even after losing a retention vote.</div>
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It gets much more interesting, especially from a political standpoint, if all four candidates lose the retention vote. I consider this as unlikely as a large asteroid hitting the U.S. on November 2, 2010 and creating a second Grand Canyon. But it’s still an interesting thought experiment.</div>
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This would mean that in one year the SBNC could replace 5 of 8 adult members of the School Board. I don’t think it would want to do that, both because it would be too much work and would eliminate too much institutional knowledge.</div>
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At the same time, the Maryland General Assembly would have a firestorm of proposals to modify or completely can the legislation creating the SBNC. This would create a lot of uncertainty, which could provide the SBNC with many excuses for delay or other impromptu actions.</div>
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But now what if a Republican were elected governor in November? Then I would imagine there would be a panicky rush to 1) appoint five new school board members before the governor could appoint new SBNC commissioners and take control of the School Board, and 2) draft legislation canning the SBNC.</div>
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In any case, I would be shocked if during its next session the Maryland General Assembly doesn’t pass some legislation reforming the statute creating the SBNC. In the wake of the last three Attorney General legal opinions, there are just too many easy pickings for reform for a smart legislator not to pick up the ball. I’d start by reducing the extraordinarily long terms to a more democratic length.</div>
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My further sense is that, regardless of the outcome of the November 2 elections, we may be entering the home stretch for the SBNC during the next four-year term of the General Assembly. It’s hard for me to imagine that during a single session (that is, one year) the Anne Arundel delegation to the General Assembly could come up with a politically viable substitute for the SBNC. In the short-term, only expect some easy patches (such as eliminating the automatic second term). But a sense of inevitably could quickly emerge that the SBNC is doomed. Despite my criticism of the SBNC, I think that would be a misfortune. Just as the legislature (and press and citizenry) mindlessly rushed into creating and endorsing the SBNC, the danger is that it will equally mindlessly rush into destroying it rather than thinking carefully about how a commission nominating system could preserve its virtues while also ensuring a greater measure of genuine democratic accountability. What a tragedy that the Maryland General Assembly and our local press appear to be completely unable to engage in an adult conversation on electoral systems.</div>
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Meanwhile, an advocate for the current retention voting system should demonstrate that, as promised, it is possible for the November 2, 2010 retention vote to actually mean something other than a PR gambit. I’m not sure how that could be accomplished, but a good starting point would be to post the SBNC candidate testimony online. Unfortunately, that means going through the AACPS Public Information Office to ask for a controversial piece of information—an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. During the first electoral cycle I asked for those tapes (because during Spring Semester 2008 I was a fellow living in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and couldn’t watch the hearings in person), and it took me something like three months of enduring excuses and being referred to different people to get them. When you ask for a controversial piece of information, you’re immediately pegged as a potential troublemaker (this type of phenomenon was written about by the famous German sociologist Max Weber during the 1920s). As the delays pile up and you don’t go away, this only confirms the original suspicion that you’re a troublemaker. It’s sort of like the Salem witch trials: there is no right answer for the inquisitor. But the Salem witch trials eventually came to an end, and I suspect that the Public Information Office’s instinctive practice of hoarding video is not sustainable. And, in this case, there is nothing to hide: the video records are perfectly innocuous. The AACPS Public Information Office could have its cake and eat it, too. None of the above should imply that AACPS doesn’t have an exceedingly talented Public Information Office that is just doing its job. <o:p></o:p></div>
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6) Third Complaint Filed with Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board<o:p></o:p></h3>
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On Monday, May 24, 2010 I will file my third set of complaints concerning the SBNC’s compliance with Maryland’s Open Meetings Act (see MyAACPS.net for a copy). The complaints primarily deal with loose ends remaining from my complaints filed at the end of the SBNC’s last electoral cycle.</div>
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The three most striking lessons I have learned from dealing with Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board are the following:</div>
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1)<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>The Open Meetings Compliance Board is only concerned with providing legal opinions about the letter rather than the spirit of the Open Meetings Act.</div>
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2)<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>The Open Meetings Compliance Board primarily serves to advise public bodies on the absolute minimum they need to do to comply with the letter of Maryland’s Open Meetings Act.</div>
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3)<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>The Open Meetings Compliance Board has adopted a standard of evidence that, in practice if not theory, not only strongly favors public bodies over citizens, but is inconsistent with widely adopted norms of evidence that require documentary evidence of compliance with documentary legal requirements.</div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-7587767168335860622011-06-15T19:40:00.089-05:002011-06-24T01:13:12.987-05:00The public comments regarding the proposed Board of Education Policy to gut the Countywide CAC<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #7d636b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"></b></span><br />
<br />
On June 15, 2011, one day after the end of the school year, the Board of Education provided the second reading of its proposed policy and accompanying regulations to gut the Countywide Citizen Advisory Committee system. Attached below are links to the two proposed policies.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/anmviewer.asp?a=970&z=11">Policy KBA/501.01 - Citizen Advisory Committee</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/anmviewer.asp?a=971&z=11">Regulation KBA-RA/AR501.01 - Citizens Advisory Committee</a> <br />
<br />
The submitted comments by parents, also as of June 15, 2011, are pasted below. According to Board policy, these comments are only publicly available for thirty days after a proposed public policy is posted. The link to the relevant Board of Education page is <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/templates/publiccomment3.asp?articleid=688&zoneid=41">here</a>. <br />
<br />
Note that the Countywide PTA has become the major public voice opposing the continued existence of the Countywide CAC system as an independent, grassroots organization.<br />
<br />
<br />
To Whom It May Concern:<br />
<br />
I am the CAC representative from our school. I have read the draft of the proposed policy and regulation changes for the CAC.<br />
<br />
I think it is important and valuable to keep the membership as it is now, in that it is volunteer-based and not selected by the Board of Education. This could create an appearance of conflict of interest which I imagine you do not wish to have and part of the strength that can build within CAC is having parents exhibiting leadership on their own intiative which will build our volunteer base throughout the county.<br />
<br />
B. Holcomb<br />
School Counselor<br />
Point Pleasant Elementary School<br />
<br />
<br />
As the chair of the CAC at Cape St. Claire Elementary School for the past two years, I respectfully submit to you that your proposed changes to the way the CAC's function within out school structure is not appropriate. CAC's are parent and community led committees. They are not to be led by the elected members of the BOE, nor should the BOE be responsible for selecting the members of the CAC. Please continue to allow the individual schools to have their own voices. If a sizeable CAC cannot be attained for each school, allow one representative to serve on a larger School Cluster CAC as a voice for their individual school. The CAC can be a very effective voice for change and discussion of important issues relating to our schools.<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
<br />
H. Kilpatrick<br />
Cape St. Claire CAC Chair<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Some comments on the proposed CAC policy:</i><br />
<br />
1. There should be a way for parent and community groups to meet as a “cluster” to discuss cluster-wide issues. Therefore, in addition to a county-wide group, there should be cluster CAC’s.<br />
<br />
Rationale: School staff meet as “vertical teams” to discuss educational issues – there should also be a means for the community to discuss feeder system (cluster) issues. This would insure continuity and communication throughout a feeder system - and demonstrate that parent and community input is valued at all school levels. It would also help parents and students with transitions to middle and high school. In addition, business partners on Business Advisory Boards would have input – and can support - all three educational levels (elementary, middle and high) and signature programs can be supported throughout a cluster.<br />
<br />
2. Every school should have a means for parent and community input – but some schools may not have functioning parent groups. Therefore, there should be a provision that if a school does not have a parent group (PTA, PTO, etc) the principal will establish a CAC.<br />
<br />
Rationale: This will insure that there is a means for parent and community input in ALL schools – including schools that may not have an existing parent group. The school-based CAC can eventually evolve into a PTA or PTO if appropriate.<br />
<br />
3. The county-wide CAC should also include a representative from the Advanced Programs (GT) Advisory Committee, Student Government, and other county-wide advisory committees. Consideration should be given to also having a representative of the teacher’s union and the administrator’s union.<br />
<br />
Rationale: The proposed policy states that SECAC and PI-AC will have a representative on the county-wide CAC. Other school system sponsored county-wide advisory groups should also be included. <br />
<br />
4. The relationship between a school’s CAC and a school’s SIT team should be defined and SIT goals clearly communicated to the CAC. <br />
<br />
Rationale: When parents and community members know the school’s goals, the community can provide support to reach the goals.<br />
<br />
5. Consideration should be given to having CAC be a “hybrid” of both elected and appointed members. <br />
<br />
Rationale: CAC should be representative of the diversity of our county and all parent groups should have a voice. Members elected from the “ranks” of CAC can provide a grassroots voice – and appointed individuals can insure diversity.<br />
<br />
Respectfully submitted,<br />
Lisa Shore (<a href="mailto:lisashore@verizon.net">lisashore@verizon.net</a>)<br />
410-544-6239<br />
<br />
<br />
Board Members:<br />
<br />
As a concerned citizen and parent in this school system, I have concerns about the CAC. I am a current PIAC member and CAC member for 2 years until just recently when I resigned. There needs to be a CAC!!! It worked well for my school when I would attend the CAC meetings and report back to the principal and the PTO meetings. The representative should be nominated by the school whether it be by nominations from the parent body or the principal. THE BOARD SHOULD NOT NOMINATE the representatives. I understand the need for a working CAC. Each rep should have a say in the votes! My voice should not be ignored just because I'm and elementary rep and not middle school or high school. The current regime of the CAC is trying to make political moves I don't agree with. My hope is to rejoin when there is a working CAC in place. Please take my comments into consideration when revising the policy.<br />
<br />
Laurie Dietrich<br />
Richard Henry Lee Elementary<br />
SIT Team R. H. Lee<br />
PIAC Member<br />
Former CAC Member<br />
Concerned Mother<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>[Note: The author is the president of the Countywide PTA]</i><br />
<br />
My concerns: That the process for parents and other interested parties be easy to access and as transparent as possible. My hope is that parents can volunteer to serve either through their principal and or the Office of school and family partnerships, and possibly through a link on the AACPS web page. I know on the other hand that in some areas it is rare to get volunteer participation, I hope a system can be developed that lets these under-served areas garner some representation. I am all for the 2 from each feeder area concept, in my opinion it will make it hard for one feeder systems concerns to overwhelm meetings and hinder the ability to get real work done. I am ok with a AACCPTA representative, PTA can bring some meeting skills and different perspective to the room. We do not however want this to hinder our ability to advocate on children's issues, because this is a core activity of PTA. We would be more comfortable not being able to serve as officers on the executive team but in an advisory role, as TAAAC, CRASC, and AEL do on our executive board. However with the other at large members, I anticipate that in a group of 27 individuals, there would be little reason to have one serve in a Chair, Vice Chair or Secretary role. I would also like to see a student representation on the CAC.<br />
<br />
Please consider that volunteers can come from many places and make sure that participation is not limited but advertised for widely and though as many avenues as possible. The chosen participants should also be responsible for making sure their feeder schools are informed of activities as needed and should be encouraging participation from as many areas as possible.<br />
<br />
Ray Leone<br />
President<br />
AACCPTA<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>[Note: The author is the former president of the Countywide PTA] </i><br />
<br />
Dear Board Members,<br />
<br />
I am so glad you are finally updating the CAC Policy. For years the CAC as it is now has not be working for the parents and citizens of this county. One of the responsibilities for both the PTA and CAC was to have representatives on committees. I know the PTA had representatives but many times there wasn’t any representatives from CAC on these committees. I support the changes that the Board is making to this policy because the CAC has been dysfunctional for some time and not working the way it was intended. At the first reading of the policy, there was no representative from the current CAC to speak on the policy. You would think that the current CAC chair would have been there to express their opinion of the updating of the policy. I fully support the policy changes for CAC.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Anita Owens<br />
<br />
<br />
I support the changes to the Board of Education's policy on the CAC. I would suggest that the regulations include in the membership two at-large members who do not have an affiliation with a particular school or cluster. This would allow for input from such groups as the chambers of commerce or higher education interests, which would benefit our school system by increasing community involvement. I firmly support the inclusion of representation from the County Council of PTAs and the SECAC. <br />
<br />
The cluster design will help to build stronger relationships between the elementary, middle and high schools in each region, and hopefully we will see much greater effectiveness in communication between the CAC, the Board, and all of the schools.<br />
<br />
Laura Carr<br />
Parent<br />
South River High School<br />
<br />
<br />
To Board Policy makers,<br />
<br />
After careful review of the changes being proposed for an appointed CaC committee to be formed instead of just parents from the area schools, I am in complete agreement with this change. After attending several CAC meeting I have become very aware of the inconsistency of any school sending the same members and the attendance to CAC meetings has dropped. At least if there were assigned members to the CAC board the good work and community outreach would be very consistent throughout all of Anne Arundel County Public Schools.<br />
<br />
Please consider changing the CAC policy KBA/501.01 to have districts appoint a CAC executive member to represent a cluster of schools at each level.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Laura Schmidt <br />
<br />
<br />
PICA Board member , BAB Board Member of Northeast High School. And incoming PTSO Vice president Of Old Mill Middle North.<br />
<br />
I participated in the CAC program for three years. I feel that it is an effective organization the way it is now. Appointed representatives from the board would weaken the effect of the CAC and install surrogates of the board. My understanding of the purpose of the council is to interject commnets a views of the general public.<br />
<br />
Donald E. Winkler<br />
<br />
<br />
Hello<br />
<br />
I was recently informed of your possible action to disband the current CAC organization/structure and replace it with who you want representing the school.<br />
<br />
I must state that not only is this wrong but it has overtones of a dictatorship. I do not understand how you will appoint representatives for school unless they are parents of students within the schools they are appointed for. With that you would need to open your application process to the possibility of more than 10,000 applicants which you would not have the time nor would you take the time to screen all of those nor could you complete that in a time frame that would allow for a proper transition in to the position. People in positions like CAC, PTA and Athletic Boosters volunteer because they care about their children's education and want to assist in making situations better in the schools where their children attend. To appoint an "outsider" to the school is ridiculous.<br />
<br />
EX= let's say you appoint someone who lives Annapolis to North County HS would you appoint someone who lives in North County to Severna Park, Arundel, Chesapeake? I think not. Those schools, by the way I believe they have the most money per capita and have the most influence in AA county, would not stand for that and they would somehow get there way and one of their own would wind up in the CAC for their school.<br />
<br />
Maybe I am wrong and you already have this worked out and the AACPS will be a great place after this next attempt by the school board to interfere. I wish I could believe that but from my personal experiences with the board regarding the revision of the IB program just 3 years ago, I do not believe you have thought this through nor do I believe appointing a person you want to be the CAC representative for a particular school will work.<br />
<br />
I am not hard to contact if you would like to reply as I do not hide behind emails<br />
<br />
Sincerely<br />
Larry Marconi<br />
410-979-7890- mobile phone<br />
<br />
<br />
I disagree with appointments as many of the people (including myself) who want to be active, educated and productive for the children are NOT into politics, don’t sit on different boards around the county or hold high power jobs. They are local parents and citizens that are looking out for the children with no political agenda, need to be politically correct or make decisions for personal future gain. We are the people who simply want to help and do right by the kids.<br />
<br />
I believe that creating an appointed group would eliminate the availability of a resource to parents and citizens who feel disconnected to the political powers of the school board and county reps. CAC should be that link from the local level to the county level. Let each school send 1 representative if they so choose. It must be the people at the local levels that represent for the locals.<br />
<br />
Warm Regards,<br />
<br />
Kerry A. Petz<br />
Director of Marketing<br />
<br />
<br />
Understand the desire to streamline the Citizens Advisory Committee at a county level, overall I think the process needs to be streamlined to some degree - but I am concerned about several items as it relates to the new policy/regulation approach for the CAC as proposed. Here are some comments that I believe are shared on a wider scale within the school community.<br />
<br />
Local CAC representation - If we lose the concept of a local CAC representation (requirement) many local school administrators will not participate and/or even allow a local CAC process. The process as the original policy outlined definitely needs to be simplified - so perhaps we should only require/request one representative from each school - to at a minimum participate at a cluster level to select the cluster representatives. This representative can be selected by existing local parent groups and/or appointed by the school principal. If an active school or cluster wants to expand on that approach by having a full blown local CAC, they can but this will at least provide a communication chain to and from the Countywide group back to the Cluster and individual schools. <br />
<br />
Cluster representation - I support the concept of cluster representation for the official county wide CAC mgmt board (whatever we want to call it) but we should want this process to encourage much wider scale participation in meetings, speakers, discussion etc. The representation team will have the voting rights and mgmt responsibilities but it should be an open process, open to wide scale community participation. I think the concept of one Upper school and lower school representative on this board is a good approach, but I question the need for representatives from some of the other already existing advisory groups (PIAC, Special Ed CAC) since they already have an existing process in place for interacting with the BOE, so should just be cluster reps for this team.<br />
<br />
CAC reps will be appointed by the BOE - In a county where we having a non-elected school board, appointed by the Governor (not local representatives), recommended by an appointed commission - the CAC is one of the few entities left where parental involvement in the process is from the ctizens/community level forward. We should include a process that allows for local election of representatives from each cluster, in the case where public participation is not adequate to a level to support a local election then the BOE would appoint members through an application process. The local rep and cluster elections would stimulate initial participation at the cluster level that will be an improvement even if they just meet once a year and will likely lead to more cluster level participation in clusters currently not participating in this process.<br />
<br />
BRAD Myers<br />
Current Parent/Alumni/Concerned Citizen<br />
301-367-4643<br />
<a href="mailto:jbcomm1@yahoo.com">jbcomm1@yahoo.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Hello Policy Committee,<br />
<br />
My name is Betsy Hartge. I was a school teacher for 40 years before becoming a realtor, but my heart and soul have always been those of a teacher.<br />
<br />
Education has been a major part of my life and I have extensive background. Over the years I organized peer mediation (student to student) groups within schools, taught all the grades and subjects from grade 1 through 8, worked as a student government liaison for the SGA, wrote curriculum for gifted and talented students, was a special ed consultant, resource teacher, and self-contained teacher, and many other items too many to mention.<br />
<br />
Recently I met Joanne Conti and was introduced to the CAC with hopes of giving back to education after such a rewarding career. <br />
<br />
I now understand that there are decisions being made to disband it in its present form. <br />
<br />
I am speaking in favor of continuing with the present structure. Too often in education we don’t listen to the views of others outside of our field, but I have learned that, even when we do not like what they are staying, we can still learn from the discussion. Now more than ever we need to think critically and creatively to get the job of educating our youth done the best we can. We need to listen to the thoughts of others both inside and outside of the world of education and CAC needs to help with that task.<br />
<br />
I will be at the Board Meeting in support of the CAC and hope you will consider altering your decision.<br />
<br />
Betsy Hartge<br />
Cell 4433701277<br />
<br />
<br />
AACPS Board of Education,<br />
<br />
Why would you change the current Citizens Advisory Committee in such a way that would allow you to appoint the CAC members? The recent survey of parents of AACPS students showed that they would prefer to elect the Board of Education members, so why do you think that the same people would approve of you dismantling a committee whose job is to represent their concerns. If you alter the CAC in any way that would allow board members, or any other appointed AACPS affiliated person or office, to appoint CAC members you will reenforce exactly why AACPS Board of Ed members must be elected in the future! I am horrified that the board would even have the power to do something like that. This is exactly what is wrong with AACPS and our country! You know, Nazi party members were elected until Hitler dissolved and reconstructed it in such a way that would permit him to appoint members. That didn't work too well either.<br />
<br />
Very disappointedly,<br />
<br />
J. Allen<br />
<br />
<br />
As a school employee for 32 years, six as a teacher and 26 as a high school Guidance Counselor, I have been a member of our CAC for years. The CAC as a community organization is invaluable in fostering change and supporting our schools. As it is comprised of volunteers who are interested in better education for our children, and not comprised of political appointees as is our board of education, it can be effective. Our citizens have a right to advocate for our children and our schools because they care, not because they want power. They need to be heard!!!!!!!<br />
<br />
Nancy Baker<br />
<br />
<br />
BOE members,<br />
<br />
I am sincerely worried about the latest proposal to alter the CAC as it is today. The CAC needs to maintain its grassroots organization - members should not be appointed by you. Any attempts to alter the way it is run now in my opinion is a breach of fundamental and constitutional rights. I sincerely hope you re-consider your plans and let the voice of parents, teachers, schools remain in our hands.<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
<br />
Monica Resa<br />
Writer/Editor<br />
410.271.0292<br />
<br />
<br />
I was just informed that you are trying to cut the CAC. I am very upset about this. The CAC helps parents get thier voices heard. There has been many times when you are not able to go to a teacher or administrative support because well lets face it you get pushed aside or pleased for the moment. I ask you let this be a public vote don't take it upon yourself to cut the CAC out. Thank You, Crystal Brown<br />
<br />
Please do not make any changes to the way the CAC is set up at this time. Please do NOT have this committee set up with appointments from the board. We need "real" people expressing our "real" concerns and this is the only place to do this at this time.<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
<br />
Teresa Tapp<br />
<br />
<br />
How can the Board of Education realistically and ethically appoint their own advisory committee? If they are supposed to keep the Board in check, this relationship seems like it would inevitably become incestuous.<br />
<br />
I will offer other opinions as I can word them properly so as not to offend.<br />
<br />
Sophia Marx<br />
<br />
<br />
The proposed policy and regulation do not reflect input from the CACs. Furthermore, the proposed policy and regulation are contrary to the results of the survey conducted by the Board earlier this year - the stated purpose of which was to obtain input from the CACs. <br />
<br />
The results of the survey (provided by over 100 CACs, with approximately 4 schools missing) overwhelmingly conveyed that the role performed by the CACs cannot be fulfilled by any other parent/citizen body (including PTAs, PIAC, etc) and that the Boardshould not: 1) eliminate the local school CACs; 2) eliminate the cluster CACs; or 3) create a County-wide CAC that consists of members appointed by the Board or Superintendant. <br />
<br />
In my experience working with the CAC on all levels, I have seen the CACs work effectively to assist in accomplishing many improvements in our schools (despite times of outspoken disagreements or perhaps because the CACs offer a forum for expressing dissension). <br />
<br />
Although Board Member Ritchie has commented publicly that the CACs have not been effective since the 1970s, my time spent with the CACs began circa 2000 and I count myself fortunate to be able to report that in Severna Park and on the County-wide level, I have witnessed the CACs effectively advocate for, and advise and educate parents, students, and citizens and the Board on a variety of school issues. While some might shrug this experience off with a comment along the lines of “that’s Severna Park” - doing so would only shortchange the efforts of many people around the County who have striven for successful CACs. An example to all are the ladies of the Freetown Elementary CAC, and parents from the Annapolis feeder system CACs, who spoke at the last County-wide CAC meeting about how hard they have fought to make their CACs vital organizations. <br />
<br />
Over the last decade, I have observed the CACs address such topics as school construction, avoidance of or steps towards school redistricting, Board sponsored task forces, student health concerns (including bullying, last day of school hazing, procedures for flu outbreaks, better diets/cafeteria food services, etc.), funding, classroom walls, safety measures, schedules, curriculum (e.g. – where has all the science gone), after school programs, treatment of our teachers and staff, recess time, parking lots, special ed. and gifted programs, grading systems, early release for seniors (now K-11 education), classes sizes, and other facility issues like mold, the availability of technology and media resource, sidewalks – to name a few that come to mind immediately. <br />
<br />
Some Board members have made sincere inquiries regarding the impact of the local school CACs. While not all schools have CACs, the ones that are operational often have been the ones that have identified many of the concerns mentioned above, either individually or in conjunction with one or more other schools, inside and outside a cluster. A plan was then formulated on the local level as to how to take the concern forward to a Principal, Cluster, the County-wide CAC, or at times directly to the Board. Action has been taken via CAC resolutions (motioned and approved under the Roberts rules), CAC presentations and reports to the Board, and/or member testimony to the Board or other governmental bodies. Classroom walls in open schools is a specific example of an issue that moved both horizontally and vertically through the CAC, to the Board, and eventually out to the County for funding support that has resulted in a number of schools being fitted with walls. <br />
<br />
Strengthening communications up and down the CAC/Board structure was the primary focus of the comments received from the Board’s survey. In my mind, therefore, the goal of the Board should be to figure out how to enfranchise, rather than disenfranchise, members of our CAC community on the issues related to our schools and education. Presently the County-wide CAC has put together a draft alternative policy and regulation that will both streamline the organization and improve communications and participation. To adequately consider the alternative policy and regulation expected to come out of the CAC, the pending policy and regulation should go back to the Board’s Policy Committee, which in turn should invite the participation of the CAC in rewriting the policy and regulation. <br />
<br />
Sincerely, Julie Sweeney, SPHS CAC Chair<br />
<br />
<br />
I am not an activist, so please take my comment regarding proposed changes to the Citizen Advisory Committee structure and operation in the positive spirit intended.<br />
<br />
The CAC, as a state-mandated group, has the clear mission of representing the interests and concerns of parents and citizens -- the actual users of our educational system. It was established as an adviser to the Board of Education, to be a voice for the grass roots participants in the educational system. If actions being considered by the Board to diminish the external perspective of this important function -- by Board-appointing members, no less! -- then a great disservice will have been done to your constituency.<br />
<br />
While I totally understand that subordinating, and effectively neutering, the customer focus of the CAC would perhaps make your work in some sense easier within the larger 'school process' as practiced by the Board, it would come at the cost of removing a necessary voice that is a very important contributor to that larger process. The CAC was put in place over 30 years ago for that very purpose. Please don't tamper with the established working order of things! The current citizen representatives speak for the grass roots people of this county in a way that the Board (and its proxies) simply cannot. They are an elected part of the system. Please do not eviscerate it and in doing so disable a valuable element of the educational structure of the county.<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
Glenn Whaley<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Sir/Ms.:<br />
<br />
Just wondering how impartial an appointed panel would be if it is to replace a basically grassroots organization i.e.. the CAC. Though I do not doubt the integrity of the to-be-appointed persons, I think there would be more possibilities of conflict of interest.<br />
<br />
Please record my opinion of the proposed eradication of the CAC organization as opposed.<br />
<br />
Donna Larkin<br />
<br />
<br />
I disagree with changing the CAC structure. The structure, rules, regulations, etc. should remain the same as they are now.<br />
<br />
CAC should not be appointed by the board. The current cluster system allows a fair and equal voice to all AACO citizens.<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
<br />
David<br />
<br />
Southern High School, CAC<br />
<br />
<br />
In my best Joe Pesci voice..okay okay okay.yous mean to tell me that the powers rangers (aka known as school board) wants to totally dismantle the CAC as it is. Tear up the rules and regulations and hand pick a group of their own chosen so the school board can control their minds. That individual schools will no longer have a CAC and there will no longer be meetings for concerned citizens to have input for comments and concerns. Get outa here!!!!<br />
<br />
<a href="mailto:jan955po@aol.com">jan955po@aol.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I commend the initiative to examine existing CAC policy in hopes of creating a new operational template that will serve the purpose of encouraging input from the community on issues of concern. A few suggestions:<br />
<br />
* Student representation does not appear to be included in the proposed model. Why would the CAC not want to include this key stakeholder group? I would propose that each cluster appoint a representative from their High School SGA.<br />
<br />
* Clusters should select one representative from interested applicants; the Board should appoint one representative from interested applicants in each cluster. <br />
<br />
* Clusters should be required to hold open meetings prior to quarterly CAC meetings to allow local input by stakeholders. This would allow representatives to be apprised of issues of concern in their cluster, and provide an opportunity for dialogue among local community members. <br />
<br />
It would be great if the policy committee would take all the feedback given and revise the draft policy to reflect those concerns, then repost for additional feedback. Because this is a major overhaul to an existing policy, it may take several iterations to achieve the desired result. <br />
<br />
Regina Cornelius, Parent<br />
Chesapeake High School<br />
Former CAC Chair <br />
<br />
<br />
To Whom It May Concern:<br />
<br />
I strongly oppose a Board of Education/Superintendent appointed CAC. Representatives should be nominated by the school parent body, if that is not possible then representatives should be appointed by the principal. The Board of Education should not appoint CAC representatives. <br />
<br />
I am a member of my local elementary school CAC, middle school CAC and have attended high school CAC meetings. While I do not attend the county wide CAC meeting I appreciate that I have two way communication with the executive CAC board. My representatives listen to what I have to say and inform me of what is being said at the county level. I am comforted knowing that if/when I have an issue there is a CAC parent/community member at my school that I can contact to get the answer/help. I feel a part of the process because I had a hand in electing my school’s representation. It goes against the fundamental democratic principles our country was founded on, by the people for the people.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Kathie Hamlett<br />
Concerned parent/CAC member<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear School Board Members,<br />
<br />
I am writing to express concern about the restructuring of the CAC. I believe the local clusters should be able to appoint/elect their CAC representatives rather than having them be appointed by the Board. It seems to be antithetical to the nature of the CAC to take that power away from the CITIZENS in the individual schools or clusters and is just another way to make the Board appear one step removed from the needs and concerns of those who are living and working in the school communities.<br />
<br />
Sincerely, Melissa Robertson<br />
<br />
West River, MD<br />
<br />
<br />
To Whom It May Concern:<br />
<br />
Setting aside the question of what one might think about the substance of the Board’s <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/anmviewer.asp?a=971&z=11">proposed</a> CAC regulations, they do have the advantage of honesty. Under the previous regulations, the Board and Administration made a pretense, consistent with the formal written rules and nominal procedures, that CAC officers were independently elected, not appointed, and that the CACs could control their own agenda even if it conflicted with that of the Board and Administration. The proposed regulations make very little pretense of continuing that fraud.<br />
<br />
For a glimpse of the often hidden relationship between CAC leaders and the Administration/Board, see the two letters from the past and current Board presidents concerning the mandated Countywide CAC agenda for the current, 2010-2011, school year. The <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/aacps.us/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6NTlhMDg3NDg5YjRjYjFiOQ">first</a> is from the former Board President to then Countywide CAC Chair Tom Frank. The <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/aacps.us/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6MjA0MzNlNWFiYjJlNzNmMw">second</a> is from the current Board President reaffirming the first letter and clarifying that the Countywide CAC would not be allowed to host any candidate forums, including a forum for the four school board members up for an approval vote on November 2, 2010. <br />
<br />
My commentary on related matters published in the Capital, “Can we strengthen the parents’ voice in education,” is available <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/annearundelcountywidecac/meeting-summaries/11-01-04--Capital--CanWeStrengthenTheParentsVoiceInEducation.htm?attredirects=0">here</a>. My extensive comments to Countywide CAC members on rewriting the CAC regulations are available <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/annearundelcountywidecac/Welcome-to-the-new-Countywide-CAC-website/correspondence-from-the-chair">here</a>. My survey of Countywide CAC members on related matters is available <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6Mzc4ZmIyMTMyN2QwZTk5OQ">here</a>. (If these links are stripped out by AACPS when it posts this comment, you can find them all at<a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/www.aacac.info">www.aacac.info</a>.)<br />
<br />
It should be understood by those involved in the revision of the CAC regulations that administrators, school boards, and PTAs have never been, to put it mildly, champions of a strong CAC system. Maryland’s original state mandated CAC system in 1970 was set up uniquely for Anne Arundel County, and there is no record that it was supported by either the School Board or countywide PTA. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the original strong CAC system in Anne Arundel County was viewed as too successful as a means of giving parent stakeholders a voice in the school system. Worcester County, also with an appointed school board at that time, copied Anne Arundel County in 1973. <br />
<br />
Then there was a push to create a statewide CAC system. This was a big mistake, as it mobilized the Maryland School Boards Association and the PTAs against the proposed legislation. In 1976, the General Assembly created a statewide CAC system but at the price of significantly watering down the original rules specifically written for Anne Arundel County. For example, the original rules mandated a system of local CACs with a countywide CAC for Anne Arundel County. The revised rules, which applied to all Maryland counties, cut out the vision of a multi-level CAC system. Nevertheless, Anne Arundel’s CAC regulations, which were orginally written before the statewide revision, maintained the multi-level CAC system, which the Administration and Board now wants to gut.<br />
<br />
Governor Marvin Mandel, the big champion of creating a strong CAC system in Maryland, wanted to call CACs “Parent Advisory Councils.” He was defeated, however, as a result of the strong lobbying push on the legislature by the local school boards and PTAs. One of the best strategies for killing the CACs with poison pills (sold as “friendly amendments”) has always been to give the CACs an ill-defined role overlapping with other stakeholder groups. I am in favor of having current and former AACPS parents serve on CACs. I see no advantage in having other stakeholder groups represented, each of which already has its own group to represent their interests.<br />
<br />
The current public face of the attack on the CACs has come from current and former Countywide PTA leaders (most notably one who currently serves on the School Board). Going back to the creation of the CAC system in the early 1970s, PTAs have argued that CACs are unnecessary.<br />
<br />
The School Board currently grants PTAs the right both to lobby and raise funds. It has withheld those rights from the CACs because it views the CACs as designed by the legislature as a checks & balances institution and therefore as a threat to its perogatives. The PTA would retain this monopoly under the proposed CAC rules. <br />
<br />
As an aside, I would also like to note that PTAs do not represent all the students in Anne Arundel County. Over the years, this is an assertion that I have heard by the PTA representative to the School Board Nominating Commission, as well as by legislators who created the School Board Nominating Commission. It is also consistent with the School Board’s practice of letting the Countywide PTA president speak at every school board meeting but the Countywide CAC chair only every second meeting. PTA members are also appointed to serve on key countywide committees as the parents’ representative (e.g., see Superintendent Maxwell’s column in the Capital this week). But this claim, whether made implicitly or explicitly, is misleading. In the Severna Park feeder system, for example,fewer than 50% of the students attend public schools with a PTA. Both the high school and middle school, and at least one elementary school, have PTOs. Given all the talk by the current and former countywide PTA leaders about how unrepresentative the CACs are and how representative the PTAs are, I call on the Countywide PTA leadership to publicly provide the detailed membership information that the Countywide CAC has been asked to provide. There also needs to be an acknowledgement that Maryland’s Governor and Anne Arundel County’s delegation to the General Assembly originally created the CAC system based on their observations that PTAs, while serving a very valuable role within the public school system, were not well suited to represent parents as a stakeholder group.<br />
<br />
AACPS administrators have reported to school board members that they have done a thorough investigation of CAC practices throughout the state. This study should be publicly released. Moreover, the study should clearly distinguish between school systems with appointed and genuinely elected school boards. It seems to me that any data collected for appointed boards should be dismissed as irrelevant and that the focus of any data gathering effort should not be on doing the minimal amount required by Maryland statute but on explaining why the original vision of the CAC system is no longer appropriate for Anne Arundel County. There also should be an acknowledgement and explanation of the revisions to the original CAC regulations over the last few decades that have gradually weakened the CACs. With the decline of the School Board Nominating Convention and the rise of the School Board Nominating Commission (see<a href="http://www.myaacps.net/">www.myaacps.net</a> for details), the need for a strong CAC system may be greater than ever in Anne Arundel County. <br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
--Jim Snider, Former Vice-Chair and Chair of the Countywide CAC, as well as amateur Countywide CAC historian (see CAC laws/regulations at<a href="http://www.aacac.info/">www.aacac.info</a> and Chair’s “Weekly” Letter to Members, dated January 4, 2011, for additional information)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I am writing to encourage the Anne Arundel County School Board NOT to make the proposed changes to the Citizens Advisory Committee. I understand the need for changes to ensure engagement throughout the County, but think that we should work with the system we have and make improvements rather than completely overhaul it.<br />
<br />
1) Our existing system allows for democratically elected members of the CAC. This is a critical opportunity for all community members to express their voices. Accountability to constituents is a critical element of representative democracy and provides the adequate balance to our current appointed school board. It allows anyone to enter the forum at any time and participate without having some prior connection to the existing system.<br />
<br />
2) Do not eliminate school-CAC representatives. By representing each of our schools, it allows for every school to have an equal voice chosen BY and FOR the people they represent. While the cluster level is helpful to prioritize and combine voices, a high-school based cluster will never hear the voice of elementary schools.<br />
<br />
3) Some of our existing school and cluster CACs continue to function well. I attend an elementary school that has a 3-member CAC and participates in monthly cluster CAC meetings with other schools’ CAC members. This new system cuts the current (and newly elected) CAC members (our Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary) off from the system entirely! We’ve just completed elections and have 3 very enthusiastic CAC members who are shocked to find they aren’t welcome by the Board’s new proposal!<br />
<br />
4) If the Board is concerned that some school and cluster CACs are weak and positions go unfilled, perhaps they could present a hybrid option. For schools who can fill their CACs, they should be allowed to do so. These individuals are democratically elected and provide regular feedback to PTAs, communities, and schools, alike. They want to volunteer to serve their communities. For schools or clusters who can’t fill their CAC positions, perhaps the Board could appoint members to serve on their CACs. That way everyone who wants to participate can do so and the Board can ensure that everyone is represented, not just those schools who have an abundance of volunteers.<br />
<br />
5) The new CAC leadership (only in their positions for a few months) have worked HARD to establish regular procedures that adhere to the bylaws and have sought input from the Board as to adjustments that can be made to accommodate the Boards’ concerns while allowing the organization to continue. They are off to a strong start and should be given an opportunity to get the organization functioning well before the Board decides to overhaul and destroy the hard work they’ve put in. They’ve offered a comprehensive survey to parents to solicit County-wide feedback, they’re responsive to the Board’s concerns and criticism. They are also not associated with the prior CAC, so are off to a fresh start.<br />
<br />
The Board and AACPS should have nothing to fear from citizen input. Will some citizens be more pushy than others? Of course, but those members of the community who volunteer to help make improvements to our schools should not be turned away. Our schools face an unprecedented financial challenge at a time of all time high enrollment numbers. All volunteers should be encouraged. It takes a village – and that’s just what the CAC is, it is Anne Arundel County citizens only way of entering a dialogue with our school system to effect change. I fear that, while the intentions of the proposal are noble in terms of creating equal voice for all constituents across the County, the design of appointed citizen advisors could lead to political cronyism.<br />
<br />
Please allow concerned citizens to remain engaged in our schools and their management, please don’t end the current elected, school-based Citizens Advisory Committee of Anne Arundel County Public Schools.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Jessica Farrar<br />
Jones Elementary School <br />
<br />
<br />
To whom it may concern,<br />
<br />
The CAC is very important to the parents and students and should be ensured of an existence and not hampered in any way by the Board of Education. The Board of Education should NOT be the body that appoints the CAC representatives. That should be left up to the schools and clusters. This will ensure more student's families are having their opinions heard in any issues the Board will be dealing with. Doesn't the Board of Education WANT to be transparent and have as much involvement from it's student's families???? Or do they want to appear "set apart" and "above" the people they are serving????<br />
<br />
Thank you for your consideration,<br />
<br />
Laura Miller<br />
concerned parent<br />
<br />
<br />
I'm writing to voice my concerns of the proposed changes to CAC policy. As a member of the school based CAC for many years, I've heard the concerns of the parents. I've also experienced the differences that school based CACs were successful with, and those that were not. Nevertheless, it remains, without a local voice, from those who experience it, the CAC loses its effectiveness as an advisory committee, and just becomes another way for the Board to meet its agenda. I, wholeheartedly, disagree with the proposed changes as they have been presented to me.<br />
<br />
<br />
To the members of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education,<br />
<br />
This is a brief message from a concerned parent about the changes proposed to the Citizen Advisory Committee. I understand that the Board is considering doing away with the representative structure of that committee and instead plan to appoint members of the CAC. The issues that this committee plans to tackle, as suggested by the recent survey and report, are of vital importance to me and my children. In fact, I plan to begin regularly attending these meetings, hopefully representing Broadneck Elementary School where my daughter will attend as a fourth grader and my son as a kindergartner this fall.<br />
<br />
I believe that the CAC will serve the community best by better advertising the issues it will address and its role in our educational system and by being made up of representatives chosen by each school. Local citizens who are directly involved in each school bring a different and valuable point of view to the issues. A CAC of local representatives also gives a voice to those with a direct interest in the county's school system. I believe that this was the intent behind the creation of the committee. I do not believe that individuals appointed by the Board can allow for this truly different and local perspective and that under such a system the CAC runs the risk of becoming a redundant arm of the Board. I hope that you will reconsider restructuring the CAC.<br />
<br />
Thank you for your time and consideration,<br />
<br />
Gwen Davis<br />
Arnold, Maryland<br />
<br />
<br />
As a former member of the CAC (2000-2003) It saddens me to see that the BOE wants to eliminate a CAC representative for each school. This reminds me of just one more thing that is being taken away .. just like trying to eliminate bargaining with the unions. It seems we are in a constant state of 'giving up things' nowadays. So instead of trying to 'fix' problems....just get rid of it and start over.<br />
<br />
You want parents to take a more active role in their students education, yet you are pulling the rug out from under them. It is my understanding that the CAC officers are trying desperately to keep things together. Instead of scrapping the CAC as we know it, why can't you 'help' in making them a stronger organization? <br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Bonnie Gollup<br />
<a href="mailto:bonbongol@aol.com">bonbongol@aol.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Anne Arundel County Board of Education,<br />
<br />
I have learned of the proposed changes to the CAC regulations that eliminate the representative system in which CACs are formed at the school and cluster level, and replaces it by a Board of Education appointed CAC.<br />
<br />
I would like to voice my disagreement with this proposed regulation as it undercuts the input from concerned citizens and parents that is crucial in improving our school system. <br />
<br />
I urge you not to enact this policy.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Victor Urrutia<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Dr. Maxwell and Members of the Board:<br />
<br />
I am deeply concerned,( if my understanding is correct), about your intent or proposal to eliminate school based and cluster CAC groups. If this is correct, it is my sincere desire to persuade you to do otherwise; <br />
<br />
1. The school based CAC is not only active in their community, but also in their school. They hear, and know first hand, concerns of their school's parents, students and school staff, and see, daily, the conditions under which their school is expected to effectively operate.<br />
<br />
2 Since the local PTA and the school based CAC are separate intities who function under different guideline and regulations, neither can legally render the services of the other (without very creative, determined leaders)<br />
<br />
3. Feeder school Cluster CACs have a better opportunity to collaborate with elementary schools to better coordinate the continuity of all concerns which may be indicative to their schools and communities, and to ensure a smoother transition from elementary school, to middle school, to high school.<br />
<br />
By selecting County-wide CAC representatives who know little to nothing, steriotypes and or folktales about communities and schools that make up our school system, would be a grave mistake and would render a disservice to the capable volunteers who are ready and willing to serve .<br />
<br />
Please to not eliminate the School Based and Cluster CAC .<br />
<br />
Lillie Caldwell<br />
<br />
<br />
Members of the Board:<br />
<br />
One of the things that surprised me upon moving to AACo was an unelected school board. Thankfully, we had the CACs, a local, school-based, active organization that has kept me informed. I have a student at an elementary, middle and a high school, and rely on the CAC members to tell us "what's going on".<br />
<br />
I read the proposed new policy and the regulation. Truthfully, all I really had to read with the red line through the following phrases in the Regulation, Section C, Paragraphs 1-5. There is just no replacement language anywhere for local school engagement and involvement, and there is no replacement for the local CACs.<br />
<br />
Maybe there are schools with ineffective CACs. Why not invest in making them better, learning lessons from those that are?<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
<br />
Ben Regalado<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>[Note: The author is the current secretary of the Countywide PTA as well as secretary to an AACPS principal] </i><br />
<br />
I am an actively involved parent and I know firsthand how difficult it is to get parents to attend meetings at the school. In most cases unless there is a major issue most parents in my area are not going to attend another meeting.<br />
<br />
After reviewing the current policy and comparing it to the proposed changes I can see how this would be a great benefit for the county as a whole. The structure would allow for FAIR representation from around the county, anyone is eligible to nominate themselves and in my opinion may open it up to more people being involved. I like that a representative from elementary and secondary would be from each cluster bringing the diverse opinions and views from all areas of our school system.<br />
<br />
One change that I think would be beneficial is the addition of at least 2 at large members that do not have direct ties to a school, this would provide the much needed voice of the community as a whole and an added perspective that we don’t always have. The way that the current policy is written does not really encourage involvement from this arena .<br />
<br />
Upon reading some of the remarks on the website I am disappointed that people think the CAC is a grassroots organization, it is not. It is an arm of the board is used to advise the board on matters of concern - not only to the board but also at the school level that have a county wide impact. The CAC is not intended to advocate, there are other organizations that will advocate on behalf of our children. I see nothing in the proposed draft that prevents a local school from having a CAC, if they are fortunate enough to have parents who want to do this. The change in the structure of the CAC also does not prevent any citizen from coming before the board to advocate for their child or school, it will hopefully increase the knowledge of issues around the county, which will in turn make people want to come and be an advocate.<br />
<br />
Thank you and I once again support the proposed restructuring of the countywide CAC.<br />
<br />
Dawn Jung<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
On our last PTA meeting Germantown Elementary PTA voted to supportstrong grassroots organization for CAC and not appointed members by the Board of Education.<br />
<br />
Ingrid Antonelli<br />
Germantown Elementary, Annapolis PTA Wellness<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>[Note: The author is the former president of the Countywide PTA]</i><br />
<br />
Good Afternoon Board members,<br />
<br />
I have read many of the comments on the updating of the CAC policy by the Board and I am concerned that there are some misunderstandings regarding the current policy, for instance the comments from Mr. Marconi seem to imply that the BOE would choose a representative to serve for another school, that is not what is being proposed at all. The proposed regulations for the CAC would ensure that every feeder system would have 2 representative, as it stands now a few people from one feeder system can make decisions for the entire CAC. First, the CAC is an advisory council for the Board of Education and is not independent organization like PTA or PTO. Second, if everyone would just read the current policy, it clearly says the CAC is the arm of the board. CAC stands for Citizen Advisory Council which advises the board of education on issues that have come to their attention and need input from the Advisory group. This is not a parent group like PTA or PTO which are independent groups and all school have one of these groups. In the current policy and regulations for the CAC the principal is the person responsible for organizing the CAC, with this proposed policy it makes it more open anyone can apply from the school and feeder system. The current policy and regulations also state that there has to be a minimum of 6 people on the local CAC, how many current CAC's have at least 6 members? <br />
<br />
It has always been hard to get parents to step up to be on the CAC because they are pulled in so many directions and do not know what the CAC does for the school system. What action has the CAC taken recently, I have heard members refer to the CAC as a grassroots organization, it isn't they are an advisory council to the board of education.<br />
<br />
Sincerely<br />
<br />
Anita Owens<br />
<br />
Anita V Owens<br />
410-507-2908<br />
<br />
<br />
To the Board:<br />
<br />
I vehemently disagree with your proposal to implement new policies and regulations that would eliminate all school and cluster CACs and proceed with Board appointment of 26 members to an Executive Committee. Such a move would stifle the CAC's effectiveness as a grassroots organization and basically defeat its purpose, which is to advise the Board on issues of concern to parents and citizens in general. There can be no assurance of unbiased representation if members are appointed by those they are charged with advising. For this reason, I believe the Board's proposal is inappropriate and unreasonable.<br />
<br />
Although I acknowledge the need for revision of current CAC reguations, I ask the Board of Education to drop it's proposal to radically restructure the CAC and thereby effectively strip the organization of any meaningful citizen representation.\<br />
<br />
Respectfully,<br />
<br />
Lara Boeck<br />
Annapolis<br />
Germantown Elementary CAC representative<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Board Members,<br />
<br />
I am writing to respectfully ask that you reconsider restructuring the Local/Cluster/CWCAC. The CAC is a grassroots organization composed of parents and citizens with no political aspiration and only the welfare of our children at heart. I have attended CWCAC meeting for 5 years and always leave with new information and resources for my school. I am OPPOSED to the BOARD NOMINATING representatives, you NEED to hear our voices and ideas, aren't we on the same team?<br />
<br />
Best Regards,<br />
<br />
Lindy Marks<br />
Concerned Parent<br />
<br />
<br />
Board of Education,<br />
<br />
I am a concerned parent of four children (ranging in ages from 4 months to 12 years), an active member of my children's school, the outgoing VP of our Elementary schools PTA, and the CAC representative for Marley Elementary School. I have read through the Board of Educations propsal to alter the eay the CAC is to be run in the upcoming years. I have also attended the Countywide CAC sessions and am concerned about the way the Board of Education proposes a change to the structure of the CAC.<br />
<br />
The Citizen Advisory Committee is a state-mandated group whose mission is to represent the interests and concerns of parents and citizens as an advisor to the Board of Education. As proposed (link below), the drafted policy does not identify the need for local and cluster CACs. I recognize from the CAC meetings that this is part of the Board's efforts to gut the CAC as an effective grassroots organization and the Board's desire to appoint the 26 members that would constitute the CAC.<br />
<br />
This effort to silence the voice of the citizens of Anne Arundel County, the CAC, and opposition to the Board is one of, if not the primary, cause for last years CAC representatives to step down publicly.<br />
<br />
I recognize that not all communities or school systems have an active CAC board, but those that do are extremely active and the nearly 2,000 people who responded to the most recent CAC survey clearly outlines the reach of the CAC. Electing to have a CAC w/in the school system should be the option of the school and cluster community. Election of CAC representation, decided by active CAC members and not the Board of Education. The policy must stipulate these provisions.<br />
<br />
The Board has identified what limits there are to the CAC (link and excerpt below). If the County's voices continue to be ignored by the Board, I can foresee the opportunity for those disbanded voices to rally together and announce their concerns to the Board. As citizens not tied to the CAC, there would be no restriction to our lobbying, fund raising, or otherwise challenging the Board by all legal means necessary.<br />
<br />
Please take these concerns to heart and hear the voices of the CAC to better our schools and the education of our future - our children.<br />
<br />
Respectfully<br />
William Matthews<br />
<br />
<br />
The Citizen Advisory Committee is a state-mandated group whose mission is to represent the interests and concerns of parents and citizens as an advisor to the Board of Education. While there have been some recent challenges, the CAC has been effectively fulfilling this mission for almost four decades through CAC groups organized at the school, high school feeder system, and countywide level.\<br />
<br />
Since Carol Kissal and I were elected this February, we have been working hard to rebuild the CAC into an effective grassroots organization focused on the biggest concerns of Anne Arundel County citizens. Over 4,000 citizens responded to our March survey about the improvements they wanted to see in AAC public schools, giving us excellent data with which to choose the topics the CAC will focus on next year. Additionally, during these three months, more than 150 new people have expressed interest in getting involved with the CAC. We are well on our way to building a CAC that will be a real asset to you as we work together to strengthen our public schools.<br />
<br />
<br />
The policy and regulation being proposed will destroy the CAC as an effective grassroots organization. Eliminating all school and cluster CACs will gut the CAC by taking away our ability to communicate with involved parents at each school. And having the Board of Education appoint the members of the CAC will be disastrous to the quasi-independence required for us to fulfill our mission. To be effective advocates for parents and citizens to the Board, our first allegiance must be to them.<br />
<br />
In order to improve our public schools, concerned citizens need an effective way to advocate for change. We ask you to reconsider these ill-advised proposals and work with us to develop new policies and regulations that strengthen, not destroy, the CAC.<br />
<br />
Joanna Conti, Chair<br />
Countywide CAC<br />
<br />
<br />
To Whom It May Concern:<br />
<br />
As parents of children at three different schools in Anne Arundel County, we have seen many positive changes that CAC has worked towards over the years that our children have attended. We believe that is important for the board to hear from the parents at the schools, NOT appointed representatives. The CAC has always been available for concerned parents who want to take a more active role in inspiring change for our schools. To appoint these representatives removes the inside voice of the parents and students in the Arundel school system.<br />
<br />
We have personally been involved in changes that were a result of the CAC at the elementary school level, and have had regular updates from our CAC representative at the High School level. They inform us from a perspective that we can identify with.<br />
<br />
IF changes need to be made to the CAC, the one thing that should NOT be considered is appointing the representatives! As several others have commented, the survey that was just recently given to parents proved we want elected Board members. Why would that be any different when considering the CAC<br />
<br />
Thank you for considering our concerns,<br />
<br />
Beth and Rob Sharo<br />
<br />
<br />
While I'm listening to a ton of testimony...<br />
<br />
I would like to comment about the proposed CAC changes - please don't!<br />
<br />
I just learned about the CAC a few months ago. At Hillsmere, I've got a group of parents that are active in the school, the PTA and want to take on another active role in the our CAC. I'm a fairly new parent, with my oldest just in 1st grade. I am learning all about the different programs, groups and all the rest in the school system. And this "de-tracking" thing they are talking about...who knew? Not me.<br />
<br />
With some work, well a lot of work, the CAC could be not only an outlet to encourage parent involvement but give parents the direction as to how to find what is real and how to effect change without crying wolf with each problem.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Ritchie -you stated this spring that there were only 33 real comments about the budget to the BOE (which I've used as a "contact your representative" banner with my parents thank you)...what if each school CAC could help bring attention to this major event . Or help disseminate more accurate information about issues directly to parents. Such as in the last CAC meeting, Solom Webb & Teresa Tudor were able to point out programs and staff that had information about the topic that came up. Those CAC members can then go and advise local parents that those programs do exist.<br />
<br />
Please hold off on any changes to the structure. Please give Joanna Conti a chance.<br />
<br />
Thank you,<br />
Angelic Carroll<br />
<br />
<br />
I think we must hear from our many local CACs. At the school level only, will the CACs reflect the citizenry. Anne Arundel County is huge and diverse. One standing CAC can’t possibly reflect the specific issues impacting our citizens throughout the county. Let the democratic process work! <br />
<br />
Gretchen Ostrom<br />
School Counselor<br />
Crofton Meadows<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>[Note: The author is the president of the Countywide PTA]</i><br />
<br />
As an Amateur historian of PTA and CAC in this county, my county history today will only go back 10 years, however I am a lifelong resident and product of the South River Feeder system as it was being built. Be clear though, PTA is an organization that draws its roots and advocacy background from 117 years of history, and cut its teeth on things like polio and child labor. In this county where I count my parental involvement in years amounting to longer than a decade, I have seen both entities grow and shrink. I found the CAC model so compelling that I was the CAC chair at 3 schools; Edgewater ES (4 years), Central Middle (2 years)and South River HS (2 years), all the while in PTA leadership positions. With the exception of the last year and a half I have attended most if not all of the CWCAC Meetings since Sam Georgiou’s second term. I was asked to step into the void filled by Tom Frank, and declined due to my current role as PTA president at the County Level. Representing 13,300 members is a time consuming endeavor. I have not had the time in the past year to attend CAC meetings except one or two local South River ones, Central Middle no longer has a CAC. Anne Arundel County currently has 87 PTA Locals and 1 community PTA We hold no animosity toward CAC or PTO’s (as long as they represent themselves as who they are).<br />
<br />
During those 10 years of wearing both hats the bigger CAC meetings that I attended had an issue at the core that stakeholders from many areas of the county could identify with. Middle School structure changes, the MGT Study, even the school start time issue. Most meetings however did not. I would guess, that at most we saw over 10 years, representation of maybe 50-60 schools. Principals that I talked to had a common theme ” It is hard to get folks to step up and come to yet another meeting”, my CAC meetings were typically coupled with PTA or PTO (yes I even went to PTO meetings)meetings to keep more people informed. I personally have been a big supporter of CAC. PTA has a fundamental opposition to CAC because we have the right to advocate already, not granted by the board but by our bylaws and mission, we are all part of a national organization. We have 5 minutes every board meeting because we are respectful, topical, and reporting on the activities of an organization that involves over 13,000 voices that use the school system as a consumer would. We get seats at school system meetings because we can put aside individual school issues and give commentary from an everychild onevoice perspective. PTO’s rarely step outside the local school arena because they are not set up that way; they are single school based and do wonderful work that way. CAC is invited to all the same things PTA is, they don’t always have someone there but the chair is open, when they have attended their voice is one of the strongest in the room. PTA’s do not get any rights from the board period, PTA is a Nationwide Advocacy Organization with its own 501c3, it does its fundraising on its own, and with the permission of the local school principal. Its funds are used for school enrichment, training and advocacy. Our seat on the SBNC is mandated by the State legislature, and if you listened to my questions recently you would have found that I took great pains in not having a PTA only stance in my questions, although I have every right to. I focused on what the candidates thought could enhance parental involvement and what they thought that involvement would entail.<br />
<br />
I have even taken steps to help and provide perspective to both Tom Frank and Joanna Conti; I have met with both as AACCPTA President and have found our conversations to be very productive. I will not however stand by and let someone write untruths and misrepresent the Anne Arundel County Council of PTA’s. We do not have a long standing campaign against CAC. I (current President) certainly have not had a opposed position in the last 10 years, and have questioned the CAC/BOE relationship many times. We do have a good working relationship with the School system and the Board of Education born out of mutual respect.<br />
<br />
Countywide CAC meetings have run the entire range over the years from productive calm meetings to raucous, hurtful, demeaning diatribes on 13thHigh School Issues, and single school or cluster issues that have been beaten to death. People have left meetings in tears, and many have just left never to participate again.<br />
<br />
Clusters: only 2 have been even close to effective over the last 7-10 years, Severna Park and Chesapeake, I’m not so naive to think that others haven’t tried or even succeeded in the past, just never long term. I never went away without something from a CWCAC meeting but rarely without having to ignore comments that were out of line or disrespectful.<br />
<br />
A 26 person board would assure all voices get to the table, where most do not now. I personally want to see a Student and an At Large representation, and as stated before do not believe a PTA seat is necessary but am fine with lending a hand to help things as I always have with CAC.<br />
<br />
Ray Leone<br />
Past CAC Chair Edgewater ES, Central Middle, South River HS<br />
President AACCPTA<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
To Whom it may Concern:<br />
<br />
I would like to express my support for maintaining the CAC as it currently stands as a grassroots organization instead of a School Board appointed organization. I believe it is essential to the quality of our schools to allow schools and clusters to have representatives that are nominated at the school/PTA level and not at the board level. Effective change can happen from the bottom up, and does not always need to be controlled or regulated by a political body or through a top down approach. Please understand that more parent, student and teacher voices can be heard if you maintain the current set up.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Kirsten Chapman<br />
Annapolis, MD<br />
<br />
<br />
To Whom It May Concern,<br />
<br />
Just wanted to say it is about time that the board of education updated the CAC Policy. This group has been dysfunctional for years. I believe your concept of 24 members for the Executive committee guarantees equal representation from around the county and your at large members will complement this group. I do however, believe that there should be some form of student representation to truly make this an equal partnership.<br />
<br />
I would also like to bring to your attention the word you use in the Policy itself under Part C, number 4, I would remove the words "countywide and replace with "executive committee", this keeps the consistency and removes what might be confusing for some.<br />
<br />
Rita Lowman<br />
Treasurer<br />
Monarch Academy Public Charter School<br />
<br />
<br />
My name is Philip Kijak, I have been involved in the CAC at High Point Elementary, George Fox Middle, and Northeast High School. I currently am the Northeast High School representative to the county CAC. I wish to comment on the proposed policy changes and regulations to the CAC. I do want to be clear that I am sending my personal thoughts and views on the policy changes.<br />
<br />
I will be the first to admit that the current CAC system is broken and not functioning effectively. As set up, it is overly bureaucratic, often does not function at the local or school board level as intended, and needs to be updated.<br />
<br />
That said, the proposed policy and regulations for the CAC represent a classic example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.<br />
<br />
I strongly urge that the Board not adopt the proposed policy change and instead take a second attempt at modifying the CAC regulations. I oppose this poorly thought out modification for the following reasons:<br />
<br />
1) While many county schools do not have a functioning CAC, where they are used they can be a very effective tool in addressing local problems that are beyond the scope of PTAs and PTSOs. While I was at High Point Elementary, the CAC was critical in addressing traffic issues on Duvall Highway, sponsored school cleanups, sponsored the science fair, championed the cause of walls for the open space teaching areas, and helped to elevate concerns about lack of security around portable classrooms. CAC representation of the Northeast Cluster played a role in raising the issue of the poor state of Northeast High School following the review of county wide school facilities and through this effort played a role in starting the push for the renovation of this facility which is currently underway. In my view, the problem is that the CAC functions well at the local level when there are legitimate issues to address. However, the proposed policy totally eliminates these organizations instead of providing options for local and cluster CACs when needed.<br />
<br />
2. The policy has only 24 citizens on an advisory board for which they must fill out an application to the Board. This process will self select a limited number of individuals and likely focus on the limited few who are already politically connected in the schools. I for example came to be on the county CAC through getting involved at the local CAC. I did not know, and still do not know, many individuals at the county school headquarters, yet have been able to bring local issues to the attention of the county CAC. I have seen many individuals over the years who have contributed greatly to the CAC who came into the organization via the local school system. The decision on who should serve should rest at the local school level. <br />
<br />
3) Additionally, from a philosophic standpoint, I think the school system is already overly centralized with limited input from the local schools on policies that directly impact the quality of life for not only the students, but parents, residents and local business owners of our communities. The removal of the power to appoint the local CAC removes one more voice that can raise local concerns to the school board. CAC representatives that are appointed by the school board are more likely to reflect the views of the school board, and less likely to be willing to be critical of school board actions. It will increase the probability of "Abilene Paradox" decisions.<br />
<br />
4) The final concern is that the new regulations appear to me to give greater weight to the School Board determining and directing what problems or issues CAC can and cannot study or address. One of the concerns with the current CAC structure which lead to the resignation of the previous County Chair and the studying of the current regulations was the lack of independence of the CAC and inferred control of the CAC by the school board. Yet in my view, the proposed regulations increase rather than decrease the control of the CAC by the board. The CAC needs to be an independent voice to raise concerns to the school board. Many of the issues that the County CAC has addressed over the years did not come from the broad giving direction to the CAC to study an issue. Rather, the issues were brought to the attention of the board by concerns raised by local CAC representatives. Only an independent CAC has the ability to truly raise those issues that are difficult, unpleasant, or politically incorrect that require the School Board to address. By giving greater control of the CAC agenda to the board, the CAC will simply become a mirror, reflecting back to the school board what it wants to see.<br />
<br />
I realize that there is an issue of getting sufficient number of volunteers to work on the county CAC, and there is the concern that meetings are sometimes dominated by a small group from a single school or cluster. However, this argument can be flipped. When there are not hot button issues, it is expected that attendance will drop. When an issue impacts a particular school or cluster, why would you not expect many people from that school or cluster to attend a meeting?<br />
<br />
At the last School Board meeting, I heard a lady from the Meade Feeder system give testimony supporting the proposed policy change. The gist of her argument was we don't have a local CAC, we haven't tried a local CAC, so lets do away with them. I think that is the easy but unproductive way out. Instead, I would suggest to those who have not seen the impact of a CAC on issues locally, jump in the waters fine. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <hr align="center" noshade="" size="1" style="width: 378.75pt;" width="505" /></span></div><br />
<br />
On June 11, 2011, Countywide CAC Chair Joanna Conti wrote a <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/OPN/2011/06/11-05/Guest-Column-Improving-schools-through-citizen-advocacy.html">column</a> in the Capital making the case for an independent and grassroots CAC system. Three current or former Countywide PTA leaders, including one currently serving on the school board, responded with the following comments on the Capital's website:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="comment"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">It seems if you were truly interested in the students of AACPS and all of their needs you would be seeking to redesign the CAC so it better represents the entire county as well as using other avenues which are meant to advocate-such as the PTA..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="color: #23408f;"><a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/community/31360/Djung.html">Dawn Jung - Odenton, Md</a></span></span></em></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><br />
</span></em></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">(Ms. Jung is Countywide PTA Secretary for FY2011 as well as a principal's secretary within AACPS)</span></em></div><div class="signature"></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #23408f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></span> <div class="subject"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">where have you been?</span></strong></div><div class="comment"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">So I have to wonder where have you been Ms Conti for these past few years? why is it that until you were elected you had NEVER attended a county-wide CAC meeting.<br />
Just seems odd that now you want to help us poor parents advocate through the CAC. No thanks I can advocate without you and your agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="color: #23408f;"><a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/community/30859/just-a-thought.html">just a thought - Pasadena, MD</a></span></span></em><o:p></o:p></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><br />
</span></em></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">(The author of "just a thought," Debbie Ritchie, is currently serving on the Board of Education and was formerly Chair of the Countywide PTA)</span></em></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #23408f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span> <div class="subject"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">CAC</span></strong></div><div class="comment"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">What Ms. Conti does not seem to understand is that the CAC is not an organization but an advisory board to the Board of Education. it is not a parent group but can only advise the board on issues. She seems to be using this platform for her own political reasons and not to benefit the school system. According to the policy as it is written now the CAC is an arm of the board of education so they are not independent organization.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="color: #23408f;"><a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/community/25433/aowens.html">Anita Owens - Annapolis, MD</a></span></span></em></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><br />
</span></em></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;">(Anita Owens is a former president of the Countywide PTA as well as the PTA's representative on the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission)</span></em></div><div class="signature"><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt;"><br />
</span></em></div><br />
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<div align="center"><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #7d636b; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;"></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-20652367315884571262011-05-04T13:34:00.003-05:002011-05-30T13:38:56.607-05:00My written comments to the School Board regarding its proposed rewrite of the CAC regulations<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #7d636b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"></b></span><br />
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<div align="left"><b style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana;"><b><span style="color: red;"></span></b></span></span></span></b></b><br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" style="padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 1px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To Whom It May Concern:</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Setting aside the question of what one might think about the substance of the Board’s </span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aacps.org%2Fadmin%2Fanmviewer.asp%3Fa%3D971%26z%3D11&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzcVZL4CMVtPvVKGJ1HUiegIija6ww" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">proposed</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> CAC regulations, they do have the advantage of honesty. Under the previous regulations, the Board and Administration made a pretense, consistent with the formal written rules and nominal procedures, that CAC officers were independently elected, not appointed, and that the CACs could control their own agenda even if it conflicted with that of the Board and Administration. The proposed regulations make very little pretense of continuing that fraud.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For a glimpse of the often hidden relationship between CAC leaders and the Administration/Board, see the two letters from the past and current Board presidents concerning the mandated Countywide CAC agenda for the current, 2010-2011, school year. The </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/a/aacps.us/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6NTlhMDg3NDg5YjRjYjFiOQ" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">first</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> is from the former Board President to then Countywide CAC Chair Tom Frank. The </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/a/aacps.us/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6MjA0MzNlNWFiYjJlNzNmMw" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">second</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> is from the current Board President reaffirming the first letter and clarifying that the Countywide CAC would not be allowed to host any candidate forums, including a forum for the four school board members up for an approval vote on November 2, 2010. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">My commentary on related matters published in the <i>Capital</i>, “Can we strengthen the parents’ voice in education,” is available </span><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/annearundelcountywidecac/meeting-summaries/11-01-04--Capital--CanWeStrengthenTheParentsVoiceInEducation.htm?attredirects=0" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. My extensive comments to Countywide CAC members on rewriting the CAC regulations are available </span><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/annearundelcountywidecac/Welcome-to-the-new-Countywide-CAC-website/correspondence-from-the-chair" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. My survey of Countywide CAC members on related matters is available </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbm5lYXJ1bmRlbGNvdW50eXdpZGVjYWN8Z3g6Mzc4ZmIyMTMyN2QwZTk5OQ" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. (If these links are stripped out by AACPS when it posts this comment, you can find them all at</span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aacps.org%2Fadmin%2Fwww.aacac.info&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzdbz_Wd05j-kWIILxcYjprzaEWRjg" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">www.aacac.info</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.)</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It should be understood by those involved in the revision of the CAC regulations that administrators, school boards, and PTAs have never been, to put it mildly, champions of a strong CAC system. Maryland’s original state mandated CAC system in 1970 was set up uniquely for Anne Arundel County, and there is no record that it was supported by either the School Board or countywide PTA. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Unfortunately, the original strong CAC system in Anne Arundel County was viewed as too successful as a means of giving parent stakeholders a voice in the school system. Worcester County, also with an appointed school board at that time, copied Anne Arundel County in 1973. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Then there was a push to create a statewide CAC system. This was a big mistake, as it mobilized the Maryland School Boards Association and the PTAs against the proposed legislation. In 1976, the General Assembly created a statewide CAC system but at the price of significantly watering down the original rules specifically written for Anne Arundel County. For example, the original rules mandated a system of local CACs with a countywide CAC for Anne Arundel County. The revised rules, which applied to all Maryland counties, cut out the vision of a multi-level CAC system. Nevertheless, Anne Arundel’s CAC regulations, which were orginally written before the statewide revision, maintained the multi-level CAC system, which the Administration and Board now wants to gut.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Governor Marvin Mandel, the big champion of creating a strong CAC system in Maryland, wanted to call CACs “Parent Advisory Councils.” He was defeated, however, as a result of the strong lobbying push on the legislature by the local school boards and PTAs. One of the best strategies for killing the CACs with poison pills (sold as “friendly amendments”) has always been to give the CACs an ill-defined role overlapping with other stakeholder groups. I am in favor of having current and former AACPS parents serve on CACs. I see no advantage in having other stakeholder groups represented, each of which already has its own group to represent their interests.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The current public face of the attack on the CACs has come from current and former Countywide PTA leaders (most notably one who currently serves on the School Board). Going back to the creation of the CAC system in the early 1970s, PTAs have argued that CACs are unnecessary.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The School Board currently grants PTAs the right both to lobby and raise funds. It has withheld those rights from the CACs because it views the CACs as designed by the legislature as a checks & balances institution and therefore as a threat to its perogatives. The PTA would retain this monopoly under the proposed CAC rules. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;">As an aside, I would also like to note that PTAs do not represent <i>all</i> the students in Anne Arundel County. Over the years, this is an assertion that I have heard by the PTA representative to the School Board Nominating Commission, as well as by legislators who created the School Board Nominating Commission. It is also consistent with the School Board’s practice of letting the Countywide PTA president speak at every school board meeting but the Countywide CAC chair only every second meeting. PTA members are also appointed to serve on key countywide committees as the parents’ representative (e.g., see Superintendent Maxwell’s column in the Capital this week). But this claim, whether made implicitly or explicitly, is misleading. In the Severna Park feeder system, for example,</span><span lang="EN">fewer<span style="color: black;"> than 50% of the students attend public schools with a PTA. Both the high school and middle school, and at least one elementary school, have PTOs. Given all the talk by the current and former countywide PTA leaders about how unrepresentative the CACs are and how representative the PTAs are, I call on the Countywide PTA leadership to publicly provide the detailed membership information that the Countywide CAC has been asked to provide. There also needs to be an acknowledgement that Maryland’s Governor and Anne Arundel County’s delegation to the General Assembly originally created the CAC system based on their observations that PTAs, while serving a very valuable role within the public school system, were not well suited to represent parents as a stakeholder group.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;">AACPS administrators have reported to school board members that they have done a thorough investigation of CAC practices throughout the state. This study should be publicly released. Moreover, the study should clearly distinguish between school systems with appointed and genuinely elected school boards. It seems to me that any data collected for appointed boards should be dismissed as irrelevant and that the focus of any data gathering effort should not be on doing the minimal amount required by Maryland statute but on explaining why the original vision of the CAC system is no longer appropriate for Anne Arundel County. There also should be an acknowledgement and explanation of the revisions to the original CAC regulations over the last few decades that have gradually weakened the CACs. With the decline of the School Board Nominating Convention and the rise of the School Board Nominating Commissio</span><span lang="EN">n (see<a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myaacps.net%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzfsiRGH8riOhOuiH-TDTdyia8ZXbA" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;">www.myaacps.net</a> for details)<span style="color: black;">, the need for a strong CAC system may be greater than ever in Anne Arundel County. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Sincerely,</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">--Jim Snider, Former Vice-Chair and Chair of the Countywide CAC, as well as amateur Countywide CAC historian (see CAC laws/regulations at</span><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aacac.info%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFrqEzdVjHnHjZ07i7ALmNo1C_DlLBKnDg" style="color: #4163a3; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">www.aacac.info</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> and Chair’s “Weekly” Letter to Members, dated January 4, 2011, for additional information)</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-82423140723621703052011-02-18T23:15:00.000-05:002011-05-30T13:22:55.062-05:00In a unanimous vote, the County Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly reduces the terms of newly elected school board members<div style="line-height: 16px;"><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 50%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><u><br />
</u></span></h2></div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">On February 17, 2011, the Anne Arundel Delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates unanimously approved HB220 (the same bill as SB78), which mandates that incumbent school board members to win an additional term must go through the SBNC nominating process as well as win a retention vote. This would overturn the Maryland Attorney General’s opinion last spring that incumbents did not have to either get renominated by the SBNC or be reappointed by Maryland’s governor, only win a retention vote to seek re-election. Given the partisan nature of most Delegation debates on the SBNC as well as that a large majority of the school board members individually opposed passage of the bill (although collectively the school board took no position), the unanimous vote in favor of HB220 is remarkable. More votes on SBNC bills will be coming up over the coming weeks. My testimony in favor of HB220/SB78 can be found <a href="http://aacasb.blogspot.com/2011/02/testimony-on-sbnc-before-anne-arundel.html" style="text-decoration: underline;">here</a> and is posted below.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-23313744130605045782011-03-05T13:08:00.002-05:002011-05-30T13:14:22.213-05:00County delegation to Maryland General Assembly passes SBNC reform billThe Capital <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/nbh/2011/03/05-23/Arundel-Digest.html">reports</a> that the Anne Arundel County delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates has approved a bill to add electoral features to the School Board selection process:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The county's House delegation has approved a bill requiring appointed members of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education be subject to contested elections.<br />
<br />
The 8-7 party-line vote was held during a meeting Friday. Del. Tony McConkey, R-Severna Park, the bill's sponsor, said it would allow more representation from different parties on the board but opponents saw it as a way to further politicize what is supposed to be a non-partisan appointment.<br />
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The legislation will now head to the county's five-member Senate delegation for consideration.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-75945377042889612492011-03-19T13:30:00.002-05:002011-05-30T13:07:26.440-05:00SBNC reform bill dies in the Maryland General AssemblyThe Capital <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/sch/2011/03/19-41/School-board-changes-all-but-dead-this-session.html">reports</a> that the Maryland legislature has rejected a bill to codify the laws regarding the SBNC and to add some electoral features to the school board selection process:<br />
<blockquote>The chances of changing Anne Arundel County's school board process are likely dead this year and through the next election in 2014, but the local House delegation still wants to study options for changing it.<br />
<br />
Despite staunch opposition in the Senate, the county House delegation decided yesterday to study the school board set-up in the interim between this General Assembly session and next year's.<br />
<br />
"There is a lot of will in this delegation to make some changes," said Del. Bob Costa, R-Deale, the chairman of the body. "We need to sit down with everyone involved. … We can do this over the interim and come back with a real bill."</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-47076671850676878372011-02-24T01:57:00.000-05:002011-02-27T01:58:07.481-05:00Four County Council Members Endorse Elected School Board<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Capital <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/gov/2011/02/24-50/Political-Notes-Councilmen-endorse-elected-school-board.html">reports</a> that the County Council endorsed an elected school board:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"Four Anne Arundel County Councilmen have introduced a resolution endorsing an elected Board of Education. The resolution supports a state Senate bill designed to put the county's education leaders on the ballot. School board members currently are appointed to their jobs, although they do stand for approval from county voters. Republican Councilmen John Grasso, Dick Ladd, Derek Fink and Jerry Walker introduced the legislation at Tuesday night's council meeting. They are expected to vote for the measure at the council's March 7 meeting."</span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-91916124321058994902011-02-18T10:00:00.005-05:002011-02-20T18:42:00.114-05:00My testimony on SBNC before the Anne Arundel County Delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">My name is</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;"> Jim Snider, and I’m here to talk about the historic number of bills introduced into the General Assembly regarding the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission. I’ve been closely following the School Board Nominating Commission since it was created in 2007. I think it’s fair to say that I’ve attended more meetings of the SBNC than anyone other than a handful of commissioners themselves. I’ve also attended about twice as many SBNC meetings as any member of the press. In terms of coverage, I’ve probably written twenty to forty times as much about the SBNC on my blog, MyAACPS.net and the Countywide CAC’s discussion forum, as any local newspaper. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I also am the chair of the Countywide CAC, which represents the local Countywide CAC reps from the approximately 120 public schools in Anne Arundel County. Although I have written extensively about the SBNC to Countywide CAC members, I’d like to be clear that I’m speaking personally here today and not on behalf of the Countywide CAC.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Lastly, I’m a political scientist by training who has worked in the academic and Washington, DC think tank communities on issues of democratic reform.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I’m generally in support of five of the SBNC bills, including HB 220, HB 399, HB 991, SB 78, and SB 114. Although these bills conflict with each other in parts and although I would add or change many provisions to improve them, I generally believe they are an improvement over the status quo.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">As you review these bills, I hope you will keep the following facts and democratic values in mind:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black;">First, the citizens in a democracy have a right to be able to understand, without unreasonable effort, the laws under which they are governed.</span></b><span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I believe that this is not currently possible with the laws regulating the SBNC. The SBNC embodies a novel method of electing school board members. Of the more than 14,000 school boards in the U.S., I don’t believe that in 2007 there was one with an electoral process that even remotely resembled the SBNC. Perhaps it should be no surpise, then, that many key issues in electoral design were not clearly specified or in some cases not included at all in the statute creating the SBNC. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The result has been that the SBNC and other government agencies responsible for enforcing the statute have had to make it up as they went along over the last four years. The key SBNC laws are now scattered across SBNC minutes, SBNC bylaws, Maryland Board of Elections rulings, and, arguably most important, a long series of opinions issued by Maryland’s Attorney General. To understand the laws, one must also now consult a broad array of other statutes and regulations that are education or election related but not obviously related to the SBNC, except for the fact that the SBNC statute didn’t clarify certain questions so that other laws had to be consulted to fill in the gaps. There is thus a crying need to codify the key provisions of these laws into a single statute so that a reasonably diligent citizen could get an overall sense of how the SBNC operates from reading the statute. Currently, many prospective candidates for the SBNC and even incumbent school board members call me asking me what the rules of the SBNC actually are. They shouldn’t have to do this. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The problem has been compounded by the SBNC’s generally awful record keeping. Not only does the SBNC have no physical and public location where it stores its records, but it often only posts publicly online the public records for the current year, with the balance needlessly placed behind a firewall granting access only to insiders. I am pleased to report that the SBNC is now selectively posting on its website its meeting minutes from prior years, but many other critical public documents specifying the rules under which the SBNC operates are not similarly available.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I hope the entire delegation will agree that democracy requires not only the rule of law but also laws that a reasonably diligent citizen can locate and understand. I believe that a number of the SBNC related bills that have been introduced mark a significant improvement in the codification of SBNC law.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black;">Now to the second point: the SBNC that we have now is not the SBNC that the public was promised in 2007. </span></b><span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When the public eventually finds out what has happened, I think we could have an ugly situation. For example, last spring the Maryland Attorney General ruled in an opinion that incumbent school board members elected under the new system would not have to seek re-election either by going through the School Board Nominating Commission or seeking reappointment by the Governor. All they would have to do to serve another term in office is survive an uncontested retention vote. This is a remarkable reinterpretation of the law, which was most certainly not stated in any public announcement by the SBNC’s advocates or reported in the newspapers in 2007. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">How remarkable is this reinterpretation? I’m not aware of any local school board or town council in the United States—and there are approximately 40,000 scattered across the U.S.—where incumbents can go for more than twelve years (two full five year terms plus a partial term) without facing a competitive re-election process. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">What do you think the public will think when they find out about this? Perhaps you should imagine how they’d react if you proposed making your own seats similarly uncontestable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Last spring you had a reprieve. The Capital education reporter was leaving the Capital and didn’t attend most of the SBNC meetings, let alone do due diligence other than calling the chair of the SBNC for official summaries of the meetings. Even now, I understand that some of the delegates here don’t believe that the Maryland Attorney General has interpreted the law as I have described. But at some point word will get out, and even the local newspapers will have to report on what’s happened. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">What I’d suggest to you is that you fix the problem before word gets out and it becomes a political embarrassment. Indeed, there are many other embarrassments in the law that have cropped up and that I believe you should also fix, but I don’t have enough time here to go into them, and, in any case, I doubt they’re as politically dangerous as the problem I’ve just described.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black;">Lastly, as my third point, I’d like to reiterate a point that I’ve made to most of you before: the current SBNC statute violates the essential democratic principle of political equality, as embodied in the widely understood phrase of one-person, one-vote.</span></b><span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In America, we’ve had a 200+ year struggle to expand suffrage to poor whites, blacks, women, and other disenfranchised groups. Even today, Maryland has a strong civil rights community dedicated to preventing vote dilution, so that all citizens are treated equally. But by giving private groups a disproportionate share of the vote on a general purpose public body, the SBNC violates this sacred democratic principle. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Advocates of this violation of one-person, one-vote have countered that the SBNC models judicial nominating commissions, water district commissions, and other special purpose districts. But there is a qualitative difference, as the courts have recognized, between those types of public bodies and a general purpose public body such as the SBNC. Whether the SBNC not only violates one-person, one-vote but is unconstitutional is admittedly a much more difficult matter to assess. Based on a series of U.S. and state Supreme Court cases regarding the application of one-person, one-vote to school boards, I believe there is a high likelihood that a high court would indeed rule that the SBNC statute violates the political equality principle embedded in the U.S. Constitution. But I cannot imagine who would bring such a case, and I’d agree that the circumstances of the SBNC are unique and unprecedented, thus making prediction very difficult. But regardless of the legality of the SBNC’s violation of one-person, one-vote, it indisputably conflicts with core democratic principles. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This observation by no means implies that there is any inherent problem with an appointed nominating body such as the SBNC; only that there is a distinction between nominating bodies that conform to democratic principles and others, such as the SBNC in its current form, that do not. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In conclusion, the bills I’ve endorsed above improve on the status quo school board electoral process in a least one of the following three ways: by codifying the law, by fixing the politically embarrassing reinterpretations and evolution of the law since 2007, or by mitigating the effects of the law’s violation of one-person, one-vote through the addition of auxiliary mechanisms to enhance political competition and popular sovereignty. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Even if you’re an advocate of the current SBNC process, I hope you will agree that the law should be written in such a way that it is reasonably accessible to the public. The current laws regarding the SBNC, scattered as they are in so many inaccessible places, clearly do not meet that test. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-44734055218034313252010-05-09T12:26:00.002-05:002010-05-21T23:57:20.617-05:00SBNC Update, Including a Bombshell<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal">Since my last School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) update, there have been three major events: </div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>The candidate application deadline passed (April 30)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>Two field hearings were held (April 12 and April 19)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>The Attorney General issued a legal opinion (April 8)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The bombshell is the Attorney General’s legal opinion, but I’ll start with the candidate applications. Some readers may want to jump to the bombshell, which increases the term of office for a school board member to ten years, assuming the board member wins the initial retention vote after first being appointed by Maryland’s governor. The result is that Anne Arundel County not only has a unique school board electoral process, but likely the longest school board member term in the U.S. and possibly the world. With more than 14,000 school boards in the U.S., that’s quite a distinction.<o:p></o:p></div><h2>Candidate Applications<o:p></o:p></h2><div class="MsoNormal">As the Capital has already <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/05/07-42/7-apply-for-2-school-board-seats.html"> reported</a>, seven candidates applied to the SBNC, including four for the District 30 seat and three for the District 31 seat. The seven candidates for the school board all have excellent credentials and offer diverse demographic options for the SBNC. Collectively, the candidates have a wealth of knowledge of Anne Arundel County schools as parents, in-school volunteers, PTA leaders, CAC leaders, and spouses of school employees. Compared to past applicants, there appears to be a growing understanding of what is involved in writing a winning application. This may because the current round of applicants had the benefit of learning from what succeeded and failed in the three earlier rounds of applications.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, one shouldn’t confuse the number of SBNC applicants with the number of eligible nominees for the School Board. That’s because incumbent school board members serving a first term before June 30, 2008 are automatically nominated regardless of whether they submit applications to the SBNC. Since school board members Enrique Melendez and Ned Carey will automatically be nominated regardless of whether they have any intent to actually serve a second term, the total number of people eligible to be nominated is actally nine, rather than seven, as the Capital article implied. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I was unhappy that it took six days from the date candidate applications were due (from Friday, April 30 at the “close of business” to the evening of Thursday, May 6) to publicly announce the names of the candidates and post their applications on the SBNC’s website. As of Saturday evening, May 8, one of the candidate applications, for C. Richard D'Amato, had still not been posted. After candidate applications were due, I repeatedly emailed the SBNC Chair for an explanation of the delay. He explained that the delay was caused by technical difficulties, including coordinating with the AACPS public information officer who maintains the SBNC’s website.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The SBNC will interview the candidates on Monday, May 10, and Tuesday, May 11, at 7 pm. The SBNC has moved the venue for the interviews from the Anne Arundel Community College to the Board of Education room at Riva Road. This will be the first set of candidate hearings broadcast on the School Board’s new half million dollar TV facilities.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">One item in the Capital’s news coverage may be incorrect. The SBNC has regularly reported during the spring that incumbent School Board member Ned Carey had not yet decided whether he would run for a second term on the School Board or run for the state senate seat currently held by Bryan Simonaire. The Capital also <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/04/23-20/County-school-board-members-aim-higher.html"> reported</a> this. Thus, I was very surprised to see that the Capital seemed to report that Carey had publicly announced he was not running for a second term on the school board. I don’t always read the Capital, and it’s possible that I missed this public announcement in its pages. But it’s also possible that the Capital made the seemingly logical inference that because 1) three candidates have submitted applications to run for Carey’s seat in District 31, and 2) Carey isn’t one of those three, that 3) Carey must have decided not to seek a second term on the School Board. But if you read the attorney general’s letter, discussed below, you’ll see that this is a faulty set of inferences. Carey is automatically nominated regardless of whether he goes through the SBNC process.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Why would Carey take so long to announce his intentions? Here’s a plausible explanation based on my observations of many other candidates in similar situations. Senator Simonaire is a popular incumbent who has announced that he hasn’t decided whether to run for another term. Carey may simply be waiting to find out if Simonaire is running before deciding whether to run himself. Since it is usually much harder to beat an incumbent than win an open seat, this would be a rational course of action. Again, this is little more than speculation. The important point is that unless the Capital has information that I somehow missed, its information about the status of the District 31 open seat may be incorrect.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, one should also not assume that if Carey runs for Simonaire’s seat he will necessarily choose to leave the school board ahead of time. For example, school board member Vic Bernson has announced he’s running for the House of Delegates but no one expects him to resign from the school board unless he actually wins the House of Delegates seat. As far as I can tell, the same political logic applies to Carey, except that Bernson sent out a press release clearly announcing his intensions, whereas I’ve seen no such statement from Carey.<o:p></o:p></div><h2>District 31 Field Hearing, April 12, 2010<o:p></o:p></h2><div class="MsoNormal">The District 31 field hearing was held at Glen Burnie High School on April 12, 2010. Ten of eleven SBNC commissioners showed up, as well as the SBNC’s evepresent staff attorney provided free of charge by Maryland’s Department of Legislative Services. The audience consisted of three individuals: two residents of District 31 and myself. No reporter was present.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The SBNC chair discussed routine business, including the dates of the candidate hearings, a correction in the minutes involving a previous attorney general opinion letter, and notice of a new attorney general opinion letter dated April 8, 2010.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The discussion of the SBNC’s publicity/outreach plan was unintelligible to me because it was whispered between Commissioner Anderson and Commissioner Greene, who were sitting next to each other. There were no mics, so it was easy to discuss this part of the public meeting in private.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chairman Greene stated that the goal of the field hearings was to foster interaction with the community. He then opened the meeting to audience questions. Each audience member would ask a question.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The first resident was highly critical of the SBNC’s election process. My summary of his comments follows:</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">General Assembly representatives to District 31 are Republicans, the County Executive is Republican, and a majority of county councilors are Republicans, yet the school board has ‘dangerously tilted to one side.’ District 31 doesn’t have a voice on the School Board. I don’t have a voice electing the Governor. Folks in Prince George’s County and Baltimore choose the Governor. Our County was formed by people who believed that one shouldn’t be taxed without representation. We deserve to have a voice on the School Board. Without that, people will tune out.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chairman Greene replied that “we have a statutory requirement to nominate at least 2 candidates to the Governor. We try not to do that on the basis of politics.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">As an aside, Chairman Greene’s notion of nominating two candidates may be a bit confusing because it suggests that the SBNC has discretion in the selection of the two candidates. According to the Attorney General’s legal opinion, the SBNC has no discretion in nominating a first-term incumbent member of the school board such as the current school board member from District 31.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The second resident wanted to know 1) if “politics or a commitment to children is more important in a candidate, and 2) “Why this process?”</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Starting with the second question, Chairman Greene replied that compared to the old process, the new process gives the public a greater voice. The new process finally gives the public a vote on who serves in office. He also noted that the new process was created in statute. In answer to the first question, he observed that “we evaluate each candidate on their merits.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I asked Chairman Greene if the SBNC had held an executive session, as announced at the previous SBNC meeting, to discuss an opinion from the Attorney General. He replied “yes.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The SBNC did not hand out the Attorney General’s legal opinion dated April 8, 2010 (and as of May 9 it was still not posted on the SBNC’s website), but I was able to get the SBNC’s staff attorney to give me a copy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">As an aside, last year I also attended the SBNC’s first field hearing, which had a slightly larger audience. When I raised my hand to ask a question, I was told that field hearings were only for members of the legislative district in which they were held but that I would nevertheless be allowed to speak. I then asked for clarification whether school board members represent all the citizens of Anne Arundel County or just the members of the legislative district in which they live. This year the residency test for asking questions was dropped. <o:p></o:p></div><h2>District 30 Field Hearing, April 19, 2010<o:p></o:p></h2><div class="MsoNormal">The District 30 field hearing was held at Annoplis High School on April 12, 2010. All SBNC commissioners attended, as well as the SBNC’s staff attorney. Ten members of the public attended, including myself. Three members of the audience appeared to be children--or friends of the children--of one of the parents. As at the previous field hearing, no reporter was present.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The comments/questions were too numerous for me to report here. The most popular comment was that members of the School Board should make caring about children their first priority. For example, one audience member said that “what is important in a school board member is caring about the child, showing not just in word but in deed a dedication to children.” Another said: “the priority should be children.” Other comments included a complaint about the increasing use of quantitative data to evaluate teachers, a complaint about the need to get School Board approval for a school-specific issue, and praise for the SBNC’s work.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Commissioner Wayson read a letter from a resident of District 30 who couldn’t be present but wanted her comments heard. He asked for the letter to be placed in the SBNC’s record and Chairman Greene moved to place the letter in the record, without objection.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I thought this was curious because it seemed to raise a double standard. There was no recording or meaningful record of public comments made in person, but here was a comment being preserved in full fidelity and, as far as I could tell, for eternity. I wondered: Where would this letter be held? Would it be published on the SBNC’s websitge? What did it mean to have a letter placed in the record?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Later, I asked a question concerning the SBNC’s archival policy. I observed that almost all the information posted to the SBNC’s website prior to 2010, including candidate applications, press releases, and attorney general legal opinions, had been removed from the SBNC’s website. I thus wanted to know the SBNC’s archival policy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chairman Greene said he didn’t know that such information had been removed from the SBNC’s website, that the SBNC did not control its website, that the SBNC didn’t have an archival policy, and that he would get back to me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">As readers of my previous SBNC updates know, I consider easily accessible public records of public bodies to be very important. I recalled that years ago I had sought clarification that SBNC candidate applications would remain on the SBNC website and had gotten an answer such as “we don’t plan to take them down” that suggested a yes. I don’t have an objection to taking down the applications of losing candidates, but I believe it is essential to democratic accountability to keep up the applications of winning candidates. I also believe, as I’ve previously argued numerous times, that the videos of the candidate hearings should be publicly archived and posted online.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Perhaps most important, I believe the public has a right to know the laws under which it is governed. As it has evolved, the series of legal opinions the Attorney General has written interpreting the statute creating the SBNC are arguably far more important to understanding how the SBNC actually works than the statutes that created it or the bylaws the SBNC adopted. But of the many opinions the Attorney General has issued since early 2008, only one remains on the SBNC’s website.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I am surely being a bit unfair to the SBNC in the sense that its archives are not in its control. Maryland’s General Assembly didn’t want to give the SBNC an operating budget, including money for a website. So the SBNC is dependent on the goodwill of others to maintain its public records. The School Board has the resources and expertise to maintain the SBNC’s website, but it also has a blatant conflict of interest in doing so. Any public official wants maximum control over public records, especially those with political salience. So removing potentially controversial information from easy public access is an obvious and perfectly predictable move.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Assuming that the SBNC is actually an independent body from AACPS and would want its nominees to be democratically accountable, the solution is to give the SBNC a budget so it can maintain its own website. A webhosting account costing less than $4/month (or $60/year, including a web domain) should be ample to cover more than 10,000 years of SBNC records (based on their present rate of creation) as well as thousands of times as much usage (my impression is that the SBNC website would never have very high traffic). This assumes that at least one member of the SBNC, or the SBNC’s staff attorney, would have the technical skill and time to post SBNC records to a website. From my perspective, this is no harder than hitting the “save” button on a word processing document. But I recognize that some people would disagree with this assessment.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">What is galling to me is that Maryland taxpayers have paid tens of thousands of dollars for extensive legal advice and administrative support to the SBNC, but the SBNC claims it has no money to pay for a webhosting service. Similarly, AACPS has contributed significant resources to the SBNC. My estimate is that the AACPS public information officer earns approximately $125 hour. Even if he only spent a half hour per year managing the SBNC’s website, the cost would be greater than hiring an independent web hosting service. The televised evening meetings on January 10, January 11, and January 17, which will require use of AACPS professional staff, will probably also cost the school district thousands of dollars in labor time, if labor costs were charged by the hour rather than treated as a fixed cost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">From the SBNC’s perspective, pleading poverty about a $60 cost is actually reasonable. The legislature’s accounting and bill scoring rules allow it to provide its staff services to the SBNC without having to include the cost as a budget line item. Similarly, AACPS can provide resources to the SBNC without having to bill the SBNC. In contrast, even a negligible budget for webhosting would mandate a budget outlay, which would violate the legislature’s promise that the SBNC would cost the taxpayers nothing. <o:p></o:p></div><h2>Legal Opinion of Sandra Brantley, Maryland’s Assistant Attorney General, April 8, 2010<o:p></o:p></h2><div class="MsoNormal">This legal opinion, written in the form of a letter, contains the completely unexpected bombshell. Despite the fact that the Attorney General sent the letter to the SBNC more than a month ago, it still has not been posted on the SBNC’s website. Here are the key points from this single-spaced, four page letter:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">1) The statute creating the SBNC requires two completely different electoral processes for school board incumbents, one for those initially appointed before June 30, 2008 (the first class of SBNC nominated candidates took office July 1, 2008) and one for those initially appointed after that date.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">2) For incumbents appointed before June 30, 2008, their names will automatically be nominated regardless of whether they go through the SBNC nominating process. Thus, for example, Ned Carey is automatically nominated for a second term regardless of whether he goes through the SBNC nominating process. In contrast, both Tricia Johnson and Mike Leahy, former school board members who sought a second term, thought that they had to go through the SBNC to be eligible for gubernatorial appointment. Traditionally, incumbent school board candidates seeking a second term went through the school board nominating convention process. It was assumed by everyone that the same process would apply with the new SBNC. That has turned out to be a faulty assumption.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">3) The SBNC only has to nominate 1 individual in years when an incumbent elected before June 30, 2009 seeks a second term.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">4) Now for the bombshell: Anyone appointed after June 30, 2008 is subject to a retention vote but does not have to either go through the SBNC nominating process or seek gubernatorial reappointment. So, for example, if the school board members appointed this year win the November 2, 2010 retention vote, they are in for ten years if they want to be. This suggests that a school board member filling a vacant seat and thus eligible for two more terms could serve, say, 14 years after initial appointment. This may help explain why the SBNC wanted to hold an executive session to discuss School Board Memberer Andrew Pruski’s electoral status. Pruski was appointed last year to replace Tricia Johnson, who left the School Board to join the County Council.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Why is this a bombshell? No one, absolutely no one, publicly stated that the legislation creating the SBNC would allow school board members to have ten year terms if they passed the initial retention vote after being appointed by the Governor. Look through the legislative record; look through the minutes of the SBNC; look at the articles about the SBNC in the Capital and other newspapers: no where is this supposed feature of the school board electoral system mentioned.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Perhaps even more shocking to me was that the Attorney General cited me as an authority for this interpretation of the legislature’s intent in creating a ten year term for school board members apponted after June 30, 2008. When I read this, I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Back in 2007 I submitted written testimony at a House of Delegates hearing just prior to passage of the bill creating the SBNC. I had tried to testify in person but was told that I would not be allowed to: no member of the public would be allowed to testify at this hearing (or, for that matter, at any meeting about the proposed SBNC legislation). Thus, I submitted comments merely on the record, which anyone can do. As far as I could tell, those comments were not read by any legislators and had absolutely no impact on the passage of the bill. I certainly got no feedback from a legislator saying my comments were read, let alone taken seriously. But my written comments for the record included this text: “In reality, then, almost anyone who wanted to stay on the board for 10 years will almost certainly be able to do so.” The Attorney General used this quote to suggest the legislature’s intent in creating a ten year term for incumbent school board members. But what I primarily meant by this statement is that judicial incumbents who avoid doing anything controversial rarely, if ever, lose a retention vote. We should thus expect the same for school board members, who would only face one retention vote on a November ballot in their school board careers no matter how long they served. In addition, an incumbent initially appointed by the SBNC and who avoids controversy during his or her term would most likely be reappointed by the SBNC for a second term. The Attorney General’s use of me as an authority, therefore, seems absurd to me. What it does suggest, once again, is the sloppy and rushed legislative drafting that went into creating the statute creating the SBNC.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">An additional irony is that the Attorney General previously ridiculed my analysis that the statute creating the SBNC may violate the constitutionally protected principle of one-person, one-vote, thus violating the U.S. Constitution. From my perspective, the cases the Attorney General cited to make her case were irrelevant to the argument I was making (and, by the way, the Attorney General’s office in Maryland has a long history of ignoring the one-person, one-vote law of democracy, which was why the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1964 that Maryland had to reapportion legislative districts as a result of decades of willfully ignoring this law). So here I am, cited on behalf of the Attorney General as an authority, despite the fact that in both cases my arguments were used out-of-context.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Lastly, the Attorney General’s bombshell has made me rethink a prediction I made on an earlier SBNC update. There I predicted that if the Republicans won the governor’s office this November the politics of the SBNC would flip: Democrats would turn into its opponents and Republicans into its champions. That is because the governor gets to appoint five of the SBNC’s eleven members as well as its chairman. A Republican governor, combined with a Republican county executive (who gets to appoint one of the SBNC’s commissioners) would thus be in a position to take control of the SBNC. But with this new interpretation of the law creating the SBNC, the next governor, regardless of his party affiliation, might have minimal control over the composition of the School Board if its incumbents, who are overwhelmingly first termers, decide to serve a second term. However, if it were perceived that many first term school board members would not run for a second term (most school board members in recent years have left the school board to run for higher office before completing or winning a second term) or a Republican won a second term to the governor’s office (a political scenario that seems most implausible for Maryland), my initial political analysis would still hold.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<o:p></o:p></div><i><a href="http://aacasb.blogspot.com/"></a><o:p></o:p></i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-58795255687497607732010-03-07T19:35:00.001-05:002010-05-21T23:42:58.754-05:00Favorite Capital quote of the yearThe Capital's front page, lead story on March 3, 2010, <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/03/03-41/Cuts-planned-for-Annapolis-High-School.html?ne=1"><b>Cuts planned for Annapolis High School</b></a>," included my favorite Capital quote of the year. The article began as follows:<br />
<blockquote>County school officials say they feel good about the progress made at Annapolis High.<br />
<br />
So good, in fact, that they're going to pull funding from some of the changes that helped revive the troubled school, like paying teachers extra to work year-round.<br />
<br />
"I think this is more fine-tuning," said George Arlotto, an assistant superintendent. "If we didn't really feel the school was making progress, we would most likely remain where we were or move in a different direction."</blockquote>Note the quote: "If we didn't really feel the school was making progress, we would most likely remain where we were or move in a different direction." I had to read it over several times before I believed what I was reading. Since it's not possible for a thing to simultaneously be both one thing and its opposite, the sentence is logically meaningless as a statement of fact.<br />
<br />
Why would the Capital print such meaningless political mumbo jumbo as an explanation for a public policy? <br />
<br />
Despite the logical inconsistency, the quote does contain useful information. What it conveys is that the school representative wanted to say nothing controversial, thus hiding the true reason. The technique used was to make a statement and negate it in the same sentence. Politicians making such self-serving inconsistent statements to create political cover is hardly unusual. But it's unusual to have the inconsistency both violate the rules of logic and be expressed in the same sentence. It also raises eyebrows to have a newspaper that purports to be more than a PR outlet report such a statement as though it contained useful information to explain a public policy. The problem could have been mitigated if the article contained at least one other source with a coherent explanation of the school system's decision. But none was provided. <br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial,verdana;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-58788164020284901562010-03-04T19:24:00.000-05:002010-04-03T19:25:25.432-05:00SBNC Update<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) met to discuss administrative matters on Monday, March 1 at the Anne Arundel Community College.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Attendance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Ten of the eleven commissioners were present. Commissioner Wayson has so far missed the two SBNC meetings for this election cycle and continues his three year record of having the worst attendance record of the eleven commissioners. No reason for his absence was provided.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Representing the school administrators, Commissioner Kovelant resigned and was replaced by Christopher Mirenzi. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Commissioner Owens, who represents the PTA, announced she will be resigning after this election cycle. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The audience included five people: two school board members, an expected candidate, the Capital reporter, and me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Proceedings<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The SBNC Chair announced that the SBNC will hold an executive (i.e., secret) session to deal with an opinion of Maryland’s Attorney General concerning school board member Pruski. No date or reason for the executive session was provided.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Candidate applications will be due by April 30, and a modified candidate application will shortly be posted on the SBNC’s website.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The SBNC must submit names to the governor for two school board seats: districts 30 and 31. However, most of the discussion focused on what to do about the district 31 seat currently held by School Board Member Carey. Carey is eligible to be appointed for a second term and doesn’t need to go through the SBNC nominating process to have his name passed on to the governor. But unlike School Board Member Melendez, who has informed the SBNC he will not seek another term, Carey has not announced his intentions. Apparently, a number of candidates have been recruited to run for district 30, but potential district 31 candidates are waiting to find out what Carey plans to do before committing. My perception is that the SBNC is happy with Carey and won’t recruit actively in district 31 unless Carey decides not to run. However, if Carey decides to run or doesn’t announce his plans, there is some question about whether the SBNC will nevertheless have to submit the names of two nominees to the governor. I got the sense that this requirement to find candidates to potentially compete against Carey was unwelcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The SBNC Chair announced that Commissioner Wayson informed him that he is looking at either Annapolis High School or Southern High School as the location for the district 30 field hearing. There was no mention of the location for the district 31 field hearing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the only formal motion for this meeting of the SBNC, the SBNC unanimously passed a motion, without discussion, to move its operations to the Board of Education at 2624 Riva Road. Riva Road will henceforth be the location of its mail box (its permanent physical location) and place for its hearings, except for field hearings. One reason for preferring Riva Road over the Community College was access to Riva Road’s TV coverage. The Board of Education has apparently decided to make not only its facilities available to the SBNC but also its personnel and equipment for televising meetings. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">From my perspective, this is a curious choice. Boards of election, which only have the job of supervising elections, nevertheless often try to create a firewall between themselves and those they are expected to hold accountable. In Anne Arundel County, for example, the Board of Elections, listed at 7320 Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, is physically separate from the Arundel Center, and I don’t believe the County Executive would ever be allowed to physically control the election equipment. Such firewalls may be merely symbolic, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist for a reason. Given that the SBNC not only monitors the candidate selection process but also chooses the candidates, I would think it would be especially sensitive to appearances. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One item that especially bothers me is that the school system’s PR office would apparently be given control of recording and making accessible the video records of SBNC hearings. This wouldn’t bother me if the meetings, in addition to being cablecast, were webcast and made permanently available online and anonymously to the public. But the school system has strenuously opposed proposals to do this in the past. In today’s YouTuibe world, there is no reason why the SBNC shouldn’t insist that its meetings be webcast as well as cablecast and made accessible anonymously and permanently on the web. Giving the PR office control over candidate information sets up an intrinsic conflict of interest. [As an aside, it would be nice to have a clear, comprehensive, consistent, and formal written policy from the PR office posted and time stamped on its website regarding its policies for televising and making accessible any candidate debates, such as candidate debates for county executive.]<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On the whole, I think it’s politically smart for the SBNC to begin televising more of its meetings, regardless of location. The SBNC is made up of a lot of likable, smart folks who demographically match the general population. I think they would make a good impression and help counter some of the negative coverage they have started to receive in the <i>Capital</i>. Over the last three years, the difficult and potentially controversial decisions about how to interpret the legislature’s intent in setting up the SBNC have been made, so it should be relatively smooth sailing going forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The SBNC Chair announced he would put together a manual of SBNC procedures that included not only the SBNC’s bylaws but also its practices, many of them based on a series of opinions issued by Maryland’s Attorney General.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">About ten minutes before the end of the meeting I started to raise my hand, and I probably had my hand up for about five minutes, including about 30 seconds at the end where I waived it quite vigorously. The Chair decided to ignore me. Since the meeting announcement stated that the SBNC would accept “no public testimony,” this might seem reasonable. But I raised my hand not to submit testimony but to ask for clarification on several points of order, which under Robert’s Rules is a privileged type of motion. If I had been recognized by the Chair, this is what I would have asked:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The SBNC Secretary said she’d be posting a modified candidate application to the website. But she didn’t describe the nature of the modifications, and I don’t recall the SBNC ever discussing such modifications in public. Shouldn’t the SBNC discuss and vote in public on a modified candidate application? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The SBNC Chair mentioned that the SBNC would be holding an executive session to discuss an Attorney General opinion regarding School Board Member Pruski. What exemption under the Open Meetings Act would be used to hold the executive session?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-85386089843194380012010-01-29T23:26:00.000-05:002010-01-29T23:26:01.963-05:00"Serving on school board panel could cost you money," Capital, January 29, 2010In an editorial, the Capital reiterates some of the observations I made concerning the SBNC's January 25 meeting. The editorial starts:<br />
<blockquote>It's no secret the legislative gurus who crafted the School Board Nominating Commission three years ago left out some details.<br />
<br />
Little things, like how the commission that vets and nominates candidates for the county Board of Education would pay for a Web site and e-mail accounts for members, where it would meet, when it would take applications and how it would make decisions.<br />
<br />
But now this dearth has reached a new low.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-72148499322653754292010-01-27T11:56:00.001-05:002010-01-28T10:32:09.756-05:00SBNC Update: Review of the SBNC's first meeting preparing for the 2010 electoral cycle<div class="Section1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On Monday, January 25 the SBNC met. Eight of the eleven SBNC commissioners showed up as well as six audience members, including myself, the Capital reporter, a school board member, and two potential candidates. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The first order of business was to approve the minutes from the last SBNC meeting on July 29, 2009. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Two board seats are open. One for district 30 and one for district 31.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Both school board incumbents have the ability to run for another term. The SBNC chair was told that Enrique Melendez (district 30)<b> </b>has decided not to run for a second term but Edward (“Ned”) Carey (district 31) has not made clear whether he will run for a third term. As a general rule, school board members can only serve two terms. But Carey was appointed as a result of the death of a school board member, so he is eligible for a third term. Carey is expected to run for a seat in the Maryland legislature this fall.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A third school board member, Victor Bernson (district 33), has also indicated he is considering running for a seat in the Maryland legislature this fall. But there has been no reason to expect that, even if he does, he would resign his school board seat in time for the SBNC to nominate replacements prior to the launch of the next school board on July 1, 2010. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One of the major topics of discussion was the Maryland Attorney General’s January 21, 2010 set of opinions on the laws the SBNC must follow. The law creating the SBNC was very vague, so the Maryland Attorney General (AG) has routinely been called on to provide guidance. Another set of opinions on additional issues may also be issued before this round of nominations is complete.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One opinion concerned whether Andrew Pruski (an at-large school board member) would be subject to a retention vote. He replaced Tricia Johnson, who left in the middle of her term to serve on the Anne Arundel County Council. The AG ruled that Pruski does indeed have to go before the voters for a retention vote in the November elections. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Also clarified was that retention votes will take place every two years, during both federal and state elections. The law creating the SBNC was not clear on this and some thought that the retention votes would only take place during state elections every four years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This suggests that there may be as many as four school board retention votes this November, two for the two school board members selected last year, and two for the two school board members who will be selected this year.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The AG also ruled that Pruski was eligible to serve a third term starting in 2018 because his first term was a partial term. The law creating the SBNC was unclear on this point. It is now clear that if one wants to understand the law creating the SBNC one must consult related laws, such as the laws in Maryland concerning appointed school board members in other counties. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The AG also ruled that incumbent school board members don’t have to go through the SBNC nominating process to have their names forwarded to the governor; all incumbents eligible for an additional term will have their names forwarded to the governor. Until now, this interpretation of the law wasn’t clear, which is why Michael Leahy last year was forced to go through the nominating process. Under this interpretation of the law, one wonders what would have happened if the SBNC had not nominated Leahy. Since it did nominate Leahy, thus giving the governor an opportunity to select him, this is a moot point.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is some awkwardness for the SBNC associated with this ruling. If incumbents don’t subject themselves to the SBNC nominating process, the SBNC does not have a basis to compare the incumbents with other candidates. The power of the SBNC is also undermined.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One of the most substantial discussions was how to do outreach to both recruit potential school board candidates and seek public feedback on the attributes sought in a school board member. The SBNC has no budget and must largely defer to others for outreach. It was suggested that the school board and AACPS communications (“PR”) office be solicited for help. One commissioner expressed concern that approaching school officials would represent a conflict of interest. Another commissioner suggested that Ms. Finney at Riva Road had a great rolodex and that she should be consulted. The same commissioner then added that representatives from the two political parties should also be consulted.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The plan proposed was to hold public field hearings in districts 30 and 31, the two districts that have school board seats open. It was decided that Commissioner Wayson, who was not present, would be consulted for public outreach in District 30, his district, and that Commissioner Davenport, who was present, would be consulted for public outreach in district 31. There was also a question about whether outreach would be necessary in Ned Carey’s district, if he did indeed decide to run for another term.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One of the most interesting questions not discussed was whether school board members and commissioners should represent their own districts or the interests of all students in Anne Arundel County. Traditionally, school board members have said they represent the interests of all the students in Anne Arundel County. But the structure of the SBNC and its actions over the last few years suggest a more conventional political mindset on local representation. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">SBNC Chairman Greene stated that the SBNC had no budget and that this was a problem. He set up a P.O. Box in Annapolis at his own expense for SBNC correspondence and subsequently canceled it, forwarding SBNC mail to his house. Chairman Greene uses gmail, a free email service provided by Google, for SBNC business. This is useful because SBNC email is subject to Maryland’s Public Information Act, so it is desirable to have a clear separation of personal and official email. But the use of such nongovernmental communication services raises tricky questions about record retention and compliance with Maryland’s right-to-know laws. Currently, the school system’s PR office runs the AACPS website as a free service to the SBNC.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There was talk of creating a physical mailbox at AACPS and seeking email accounts for each commissioner through AACPS. But there was also concern that the SBNC should have an arm’s length relationship with AACPS and that other government agencies, notably Maryland’s Department of Education, might be a better source of free help. It was also proposed that SBNC move its meetings from the Community College to the school board meeting room at Riva Road, now that the school board has such state-of-the-art audio visual equipment and sophisticated technical support. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There seems to have been great reluctance to approach the Maryland General Assembly for any funding for SBNC expenses, perhaps because elected officials had promised that the SBNC wouldn’t cost the taxpayers any money. At this point, I think that’s a rather fanciful argument. An attorney from the Maryland Department of Legislative Services provides significant staff support to the SBNC, attending every SBNC meeting and serving as legal counsel and secretary. Many other government offices, including Maryland’s AG, the Community College, and AACPS, also provide some free staff support. My guess is that the series of legal opinions that have come out of the AG’s office cost many thousands of dollars in staff support.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It was decided to hold the next meeting of the SBNC at the Community College on February 23.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I would like to close with a prediction about the evolving politics concerning the SBNC should a Republican win the office of governor this coming November. The governor currently appoints the chair and five of the eleven members of the SBNC. He also gets to choose among the SBNC nominees. This gives him extraordinary power. As long as the Democrats hold both the legislature and the governor’s office, this is not a political problem, especially as the governor consults with local legislators in the selection of SBNC commissioners. However, should a Republican governor be elected, the politics would be completely different. I cannot conceive that a Democratic legislature would allow a Republican governor to have so much power over the selection of school board members. Thus, the Democrats would be forced to introduce legislation to change the current system for appointing SBNC members.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The political problem is that this would violate a basic principle of democratic theory called the “veil of ignorance.” According to this principle, one’s policy positions on democratic procedures should not be influenced by the individuals that hold particular office. This principle was lately given a lot of publicity in Massachusetts and considered a factor in the Republican victory in the recent election to replace the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat. In 2004, when U.S. Senator John Kerry, also from Massachusetts, was running for president and a Republican was governor of Massachusetts, there was a fear that if Kerry was elected president and the governor got to appoint his replacement, that he would appoint a Republican senator. The legislature thus voted to change the laws so a special election would replace Massachusetts senators who left office before their term was up. In 2009, when Senator Kennedy was dying, the politics were quite different. A Democrat was in the governor’s mansion and the Democrats desperately wanted a 60<sup>th</sup> vote to pass health care legislation. Thus, the governor was once again granted the right to appoint an interim senator until a special election could be held. This self-serving inconsistency was widely noted in the press, and in the end appears to have backfired.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So here is my prediction: Should a Republican be perceived to have a good chance of winning the governor’s office in November, the Democrats will start positioning themselves to change the SBNC to weaken the governor’s role in the selection process. They won’t do anything to change the law until the outcome of the election is clear, but they will give themselves some political cover. The same goes for the Republicans. Until now, those who have spoken out publicly about the SBNC have been critical of it. But the current system could be good for Republicans if they hold the governor’s office. Thus, I’d expect a greater effort to say positive things about the SBNC. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">None of this relates to the fact that the legislature rushed through the law creating the SBNC without clearly thinking about all the issues involved in creating a new electoral system. The result has been an extraordinary delegation of power to the SBNC and Maryland’s AG to figure out what the legislature really intended. Some of those interpretations will surely surprise the legislature. At some point, regardless of whether a Democrat retains the office of governor, the legislature is going to feel great pressure to amend and codify the increasingly complex and scattered set of rulings guiding the SBNC.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My own biggest complaint is that the SBNC’s structure, with five of eleven members appointed by private sector entities, violates the core democratic principle of one-person, one-vote—a type of violation that the U.S. Supreme Court and a variety of state supreme courts have previously ruled unconstitutional. To my knowledge, the last time the courts ruled against such an illegal electoral procedure in Maryland was in 1964, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Maryland’s system of apportioning legislative districts violated the one-person, one-vote principle (see my recent <a href="http://www.mdconcon.org/">Baltimore Sun op-ed</a> for more details on this event). This ruling was made at the height of the civil rights era, when discrimination against minorities was considered no longer acceptable. What is noteworthy is that for decades the legislature knew it was violating its own one-person, one-vote legal requirement and chose to ignore the violation because it was politically inconvenient to address it. If the legislature could for decades ignore that type of fundamental violation of the norms and laws of democracy, it certainly has the capacity to ignore the far more trivial and localized violation of democratic norms and laws embodied in the SBNC’s electoral structure.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-45681482224250125892009-09-25T02:35:00.004-05:002010-01-27T03:11:06.003-05:00In front page story, Capital demonstrates how little it knows about the school board<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">How many black school boards members are there on the AACPS board of education? According to a <a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2009/09/24-66/Eric-Hartley-Pierre-has-only-herself-to-blame.html?ne=1">front page Capital story by Eric Hartley</a>, the answer is one. The article seeks to defend the Capital's coverage of the Annapolis mayoral candidate, Zina Pierre, who was forced to withdraw from the election after winning the Democratic primary. Here is the relevant section:<br />
</div><div><blockquote>Tillett said he hopes Pierre’s victory teaches local Democrats they can’t take black voters for granted.<br />
<br />
“It’s lighted a fuse,” said Eugene Peterson, a Pierre supporter and the only black county school board member. “I don’t think Annapolis is ever going to be the same.”<br />
</blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">The correct number is three. Since July 1, 2009, the AACPS Board of Education has had three black members, including the student member of the Board.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">How many eyes reviewed this article before it was published? At least two: Hartley and a senior editor.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">What does this slip up reveal? First, it undercuts a central point in Hartley’s article: that the Zina Pierre coverage is an aberration from the Capital’s pattern of rigorous investigative journalism. One way Hartley goes about this is by rebutting Tillet’s argument that race had something to do with the Zina Pierre coverage. Hartley argues that the Capital routinely does investigative journalism concerning political candidates:<br />
</div><blockquote>Tillett felt compelled to argue that no other Annapolis candidate had faced such scrutiny from the press.<br />
<br />
“Something’s different here. What could it be?” he asked sarcastically. <br />
<br />
I’ve looked through many other candidates’ court histories. It’s part of the job. Just ask Sam Shropshire, who is white and had reporters cover his recent, still-pending criminal charges and even call his wife in Slovakia to ask about allegations of abuse in an old divorce case that Scott Daugherty of The Capital dug up. <br />
<br />
There’s no evidence race had a thing to do with coverage of Pierre. But Tillett said, “You will not be able to convince a large segment of the community anything other than (that).”<br />
</blockquote>The fact that Hartley didn’t know that the School Board has three rather than one black member indicates, at the least, that he and at least one senior editor (nothing gets published on the front page of the Capital without being reviewed by an editor) doesn’t pay much attention to school board candidates and politics. It could be argued that school board politics is not very important. But the facts speak otherwise. AACPS spends more than half the total County budget, and its budget is more than ten times the total budget of the City of Annapolis. Polls also indicate that the public cares hugely about the quality of K12 public education and what is going on in the schools.<br />
<br />
It is also striking that this article, which is largely about local racial politics, would get wrong such an obvious racial fact. If either Hartley or his senior editor had watched a public school board meeting in the last four months or attended a school board candidates event (there have been at least a half dozen since last May, four of them televised), he could not possibly have made this journalistic error because the error would literally be staring him in the face.<br />
<br />
I would suggest that this article is not an aberration but deeply reflective of the Capital’s coverage of the school system. It’s a pity that this revealing slip up had to come from Hartley, who has genuine journalistic instincts.<br />
<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-83286916922442766042010-01-19T10:51:00.000-05:002010-01-21T08:39:53.695-05:00School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) Update<div class="Section1"><div id="ygrp-mlmsg"><div class="MsoNormal">The first meeting of the School Board Nominating Commission of Anne Arundel County (SBNC) for the 2010 election cycle will take place on Monday, January 25, at 7:00 pm at Anne Arundel Community College, West Campus (Arnold) in CADE 219. This year the second term of school board member Ned Carey (district 31) expires. Carey was appointed in 2002, after another school board member died while in office. He was reappointed in 2005. Although school board members are generally only allowed to serve two terms, the special circumstances of his appointment apparently allow him to serve a third term. The first term of school board member Enrique Melendez (district 30) also expires. In addition, school board member Victor Bernson (district 33), whose terms expires next year, has been publicly exploring a candidacy for the Maryland Senate. The SBNC must nominate at least two candidates for each open school board member position, and the Governor must select one of the nominees by July 1, when new school board members take office. The agenda for the January 25 meeting only covers administrative matters and public testimony will not be allowed.<o:p></o:p><br />
</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-77185107286547035692009-07-29T23:17:00.001-05:002009-07-30T10:54:12.341-05:00SBNC Update: Leahy and Pruski Nominated<div class="Section1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">On the evenings of July 28 and July 29, the Anne Arundel School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) met to seek a replacement for the seat vacated by former school board member Tricia Johnson. On July 14, the SBNC announced it would hold hearings to seek a replacement and announced a deadline eight days later, July 22, for candidates to submit their applications. Four candidates submitted applications. Three of them—Michael Leahy, Andrew Pruski, and Paul Rudolph—resubmitted applications they had submitted during the last SBNC application cycle. A fourth candidate—Janet Pogar—was new. On July 29, the SBNC voted to nominate to the Governor Michael Leahy and Andrew Pruski. Both won by a vote of 9-1. Eight votes are necessary to secure nomination. Commissioner Wayson, the eleventh commissioner, could not attend the meeting. Commissioner Kovelant also couldn’t attend but provided the SBNC Chair with his votes in a sealed envelope, which the Chair of the SBNC duly read and recorded at the appropriate time.<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">The format of the meeting on July 28 was that the SBNC discussed its procedures and then the candidates gave opening statements and the commissioners could then ask questions of them. The most important procedural question concerned clarifying the status of incumbent school board members. The question was: under the statute creating the SBNC, did incumbents have to go through the SBNC process to seek re-election? The feeling was that the Maryland Attorney General had already issued an affirmative opinion. But just to be sure that there was no ambiguity, the SBNC asked its counsel to draft a letter to the Maryland Attorney General seeking more explicit confirmation of this reading of the statute. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">The most time consuming procedural issue concerned Commissioner Kovelant’s request to postpone the SBNC’s July 29 vote on candidates for a week so he could go back to his 300 stakeholders, present his impressions of the candidates, and get their feedback (Commissioner Kovelant represents the Anne Arundel County Association of Educational Leaders and said he felt obligated to do this). The SBNC tried hard to accommodate a delay but too many commissioners would be on vacation or otherwise busy, so it was decided to retain the original schedule. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">I was intrigued by Commissioner Kovelant’s sense of obligation because judicial nominating commissions, which the SBNC was supposedly modeled after, generally specify that commissioners are to be independent; for example, lawyers appointed to serve as commissioners by the local bar association are nevertheless expected to act independently once appointed. This is central to the philosophy of “merit selection,” which underlies the use of judicial nominating commissions; the goal is to take politics out of the nominating process. My reading of the statute creating the SBNC actually corresponds to Commissioner Kovelant’s interpretation: that he has a duty to represent those who appointed him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">The candidates’ opening statements were remarkably brief, less than fifteen minutes in total, mostly because three of them had already gone through the process just months before and didn’t think an extended introduction was necessary. The commissioners’ comments were overwhelmingly directed to Janet Pogar, the only new candidate. At the end of the meeting, I raised my hand to ask a point of information and was told by the SBNC Chair that members of the public could not speak.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">Before the July 29 meeting, I asked Elisabeth Hulette (the Capital reporter) and Tom Frank (an activist citizen) if they could recall an SBNC meeting where the public had been invited to comment and ask questions not about candidates or the desired attributes of candidates but about the SBNC process. Elisabeth Hulette has been to most of the meetings since the launch of the SBNC in 2007. Other than myself, Tom Frank has attended more meetings than any other member of the general public. Neither could recall such a meeting. As a result, Tom Frank went up to the Chair of the SBNC and requested open public comments at the end of the meeting. The Chair agreed to allow such comments.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">The format of the meeting on July 29 provided an opportunity for members of the public to speak about the candidates. Five individuals spoke. Four individuals spoke in favor of Andrew Pruski. A fifth represented an organization that would not allow him to explicitly endorse a candidate. But he also seemed to be endorsing Andrew Pruski. None of the other candidates had people speak on their behalf. After this fairly brief testimony, the SBNC conducted a roll call vote on each of the four candidates. If my memory serves me correctly, those voting yeah and nay for Michael Leahy and Andrew Pruski had no change of votes between their last vote in May and this vote in July. I believe that Commissioner Mennuti was unique in voting yeah for all four candidates. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">At the end of the meeting, I was the only member of the public to speak. I mentioned that neither Elisabeth Hulette, Tom Frank, nor myself could recall a meeting where the public had been invited to discuss procedural issues (as opposed to candidate related issues) and asked if the Chair could recall such a meeting. No such meeting was recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">I then recounted Commissioner Kovelant’s statement of the previous evening and asked the Chair whether he viewed the Governor or the citizens of District 33 (which he represents and of which I am one) as his stakeholder(s). He replied the citizens of District 33 and that he did indeed consult some of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">I then asked Commissioner Owens, who represents the Anne Arundel County Association of PTAs, whether she consulted her members. She replied that it was impractical during the summer to do so and reminded me that my kids have attended schools that have PTOs, whose members she does not represent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">Lastly, I asked the Chair of the SBNC whether he retained copies of the legally required email or print notices he sent providing notice of SBNC meetings. By way of explanation, I noted that last year and this year I had filed complaints with Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board concerning the absence of such notice (as well as other violations of Maryland’s right-to-know laws). Concerning the first complaint, the SBNC alleged it had sent legally timely notice to the Capital. However, the Capital was not able to find such notice and the Chair of the SBNC also could not provide it. The Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled that it couldn’t rule on my alleged violation because I did not provide definitive evidence of the lack of such notice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">On May 12, 2009, I filed the second <a href="http://www.isolon.org/MyAACPS/wp-content/uploads/OpenMeetingsActComplaint--12May2009.pdf">complaint</a> with the Compliance Board concerning lack of legally timely notice to another meeting. In a response to the Compliance Board in late June, the SBNC Chair again asserted that such timely notice had been sent. But again, no written proof was provided. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">In response to my question, the SBNC Chair said the SBNC had no records retention policy and was not legally obliged to have one. Commissioner Tedesco observed that the Maryland Open Meetings Act places the burden of proof on citizens to prove a violation rather than on a public body to prove a violation had not occurred. To this I replied that the Open Meetings Act does not specify who shall bear the burden of proof. As a result, the Open Meetings Compliance Board makes such determinations on an informal, ad hoc basis. I also observed that if this interpretation of the law was correct, it indicated an incredible double standard. If a citizen asserted to the government that his tax form had been duly sent to the IRS but could provide no proof of mailing via the United States Postal Service, the government would dismiss this defense out-of-hand. More generally, the government places the burden of proof on citizens to prove that they filed legally required documents in a timely way. Why should a different standard apply to a public body such as the SBNC (which includes professional legal counsel and a distinguished panel of experts and government officials)? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">I didn’t say this at the meeting, but I’ve said it many times elsewhere: I believe the SBNC serves a very important function. The person it nominates has a high probability of serving two terms of office and voting on more than $10 billion of AACPS expenditures during that tenure. If I as a citizen can preserve my own emails more than 30 days old (my gmail service is free and includes all my emails going back about a decade), why cannot the SBNC?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">--Jim Snider<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;">P.S. I filed my Maryland Open Meetings Act <a href="http://www.isolon.org/MyAACPS/wp-content/uploads/OpenMeetingsActComplaint--12May2009.pdf">complaint</a> on May 12, 2009. The SBNC took more than the legally specified 30 days to reply to it and now the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board says it is overwhelmed with work and thus wasn’t able to meet its own legally specified 30 day deadline. Nor, given its claimed crush of work, would it tell me when it would be able to get to it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-33817626631216348922009-07-14T23:34:00.002-05:002009-07-20T19:53:32.497-05:00School Board Nominating Commission Update<div class="Section1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">As you probably know by now, school board member Tricia Johnson has been appointed to the County Council, thus opening up a seat on the school board for a 4 year term. The School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) has announced in a <a href="http://www.aacps.org/admin/articlefiles/90-SBNCPressReleaseJuly142009FINAL.pdf">press release</a> that it will accept applications until July 22 (eight days from its announcement) and hold a single meeting on July 28 to interview candidates. The vote to select the candidates will take place the following day, July 29. No mention is made whether the July 28 meeting will be televised. <?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">This is a tremendously truncated version of the selection process the SBNC used during its first two rounds of operation. The justification for this compression is the immediate need to fill a vacant seat. But why the rush? Even without the replacement for this at-large seat, the school board will have 8 members—the full size of the school board for many decades until its July 1, 2008 enlargement to 9 members. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">My judgment is that selecting a school board member in such a rushed manner sets a bad precedent. Whoever is selected will have control of a $1 billion/year budget for four years—as long a term as a governor, county executive, county councilor, or delegate to the General Assembly. It’s too important a position to needlessly rush. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">On the other hand, vacancies for other important offices have been picked relatively quickly. Consider the recent selections of Maryland senator and county councilor in Anne Arundel County. From Senator Janet Greenip’s retirement announcement to Councilman Ed Reilly’s selection as a replacement took only a few months; and from Councilman Reilly’s resignation to School Board member Tricia Johnson’s selection as a replacement took only a bit less time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">But there are four noteworthy differences. First, those officials represented geographic constituencies who would lose representation and thus valuable resources if they weren’t quickly replaced. In contrast, school board members are expected to represent the interests of all children regardless of geographic location. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">Second, it may be impractical to hold a special election, thus necessitating that an appointment process be used; appointment processes by their nature are almost always faster than special elections. In contrast, no special process is required of the SBNC when a vacancy opens up; indeed, the law mandates that its basic nominating process be the same regardless of whether or not it is filling a vacancy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">Third, the viable candidates for those offices are typically well known by both the public and those who will do the selecting. Thus, there is relatively little information to gather. For example, Ed Reilly was County Council Chair and Tricia Johnson a long time school board member before being selected for their new positions. In contrast, school board candidates are typically less well known, so more public deliberation is necessary, unless the intent is to give insiders an advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">Fourth, those who do the selecting are usually elected officials themselves and thus directly accountable for their actions. In contrast, there is much less public accountability for SBNC officials. One reason for the SBNC to have a more deliberative selection process is so that the public has a chance to observe it and assess the extent to which it is functioning as its representative. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">Nevertheless, my overall sense is that the rush won’t make much difference; the same set of candidates would probably win either way. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">--Jim Snider <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">P.S. Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board has yet to respond to my May 12, 2009 complaint concerning the SBNC’s violations of Maryland’s right-to-know laws. The SBNC responded on Jun 29—ten days later than required by law. Last year the Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled against the SBNC on a related matter.<br /><br /><br />For related articles in <i>the Capital</i>, see:<br /></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal;font-size:12;" ><br /><br /><a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/col/2009/07/16-52/Eric-Hartley-Musical-chairs-leaves-out-voters.html">Eric Hartley: Musical chairs leaves out voters</a>, </span>July 16, 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/sch/2009/07/16-40/Panel-to-decide-how-to-fill-school-board-vacancy.html">Panel to decide how to fill school board vacancy</a>, July 16, 2009.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-2347105468652506162009-05-30T19:00:00.002-05:002009-07-07T14:12:04.469-05:00SBNC Update<div class="Section1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">As many of you undoubtedly know by now, the Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) on May 27 nominated three candidates for the School Board. Ten candidates initially applied for the position, two dropped out, and several others only made a token attempt to compete for the position. Still, it was a large field. The biggest surprise was Kevin Jackson, who also applied last year for the nomination. He apparently learned from that experience and did a significantly better job this year. Still, I don’t believe that it’s going to be Kevin Jackson’s year this year. If he keeps at it and picks the right year, he is practically a shoe-in. Thus, after watching the entire process and weighing the political variables, I retain my initial judgment that the Governor will appoint Andrew Pruski. Incumbent Michael Leahy was the third nominee.<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">Note that political scientists often believe they can predict with a high degree of accuracy who the public will vote for even before the public has been exposed to the candidates for a position (e.g., if a political scientist knows the party makeup of a district, the incumbent’s party affiliation, and the condition of the relevant economy, he can predict with a high degree of accuracy who will win months before an election). Of course, we are often wrong. It is in that spirit that I have made this prediction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">Last year I filed a complaint with Maryland’s Open Meetings Compliance Board concerning Open Meetings Act violations by the SBNC. The Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled that the SBNC had in fact violated the Open Meetings Act in holding one meeting in secret and said it needed more information to assess whether adequate notice was given for a second meeting. In the <a href="http://www.isolon.org/MyAACPS/wp-content/uploads/OpenMeetingsActComplaint--12May2009.pdf">attached letter</a>, sent to the Open Meetings Compliance Board on May 12, 2009, I have responded to its request for more information and added numerous additional complaints about the SBNC’s Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act violations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">Note that there is no legal penalty in Maryland for violating the Open Meetings Act; the Open Meeting Compliance Board has no enforcement powers. The only real enforcement is the court of public opinion, which makes the Open Meetings Act a rather strange law. If the public doesn’t care, then for all practical purposes the law doesn’t exist. Note that no politician of sound mind is ever going to admit withholding material information from the public; that would be political suicide. But there is a difference between claiming openness and actually being open about providing controversial information.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">Based on my experience, I wonder if we might be better off just abandoning the Open Meetings Act. Public officials would still need to go out of their way to suggest to the public that they are open, but I think the public might then be a little less gullible. The Public Information Act is a bit different because it does have an enforcement mechanism, albeit one totally impractical for most parents and especially anyone pursuing what political scientists call a “collective good.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">I suggest that the public would do well by trying to get their elected officials to take both the spirit and the letter of Maryland’s public right-to-know laws seriously. But I know from a lot of experience that this is unlikely to happen. The public thinks this issue is irrelevant to their pressing concerns. You can get the public out in force to complain about issues such as redistricting their school, building their school, or protecting their school’s programs. But to take any constructive steps to create meaningful and enforceable right-to-know laws, I’m not sure that it is possible without a major scandal involving secrecy. That is not the case here. We’re just talking about a lot of petty violations due to personal and political convenience.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">I recently wrote a <a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2861-4049">post on a related topic to the Obama administration</a>, which has taken some extraordinary steps to open up the Federal government during its brief time in office. You might be interested in taking a look at this less for its content than for how the Executive Office of the President, working through the National Academy of Public Administration, has gone about soliciting public feedback. The website is completely open and the public can comment and vote posts up or down (but only for a brief comment period). In MyAACPS.net, I tried to create such a website this year. I conclude the school year by saying it was not a success. But this is clearly the future, and I’m confident that in the coming years we’ll be seeing a lot more of this type of information in Anne Arundel County. Eventually, someone will figure out a way to make it work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;">As you know, I’ve been critical of the SBNC for violating the core democratic principle of one-person, one-vote (can you imagine allocating 40% of the seats in Congress to private interest groups?). But perhaps a more serious democratic problem is the decline of the press. The <i>Washington Post</i> has all but abandoned coverage of AACPS. The <i>Baltimore Sun</i> has reduced its news staff to a third of its former size, with a commensurate loss in the quantity and quality of AACPS coverage. The <i>Capital</i> has remained pretty much where it was—a typical small town paper with faux populism and a boosterish agenda. Unfortunately, Anne Arundel County is as big as some U.S. states. Overall, it’s not a pretty picture, and I suspect that the results will tell over the next few years. Paul Starr, in a recent article in <i>The New Republic</i> titled “Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption),” closed with this observation: “Newspapers have helped to control corrupt tendencies in both government and business. If we are to avoid a new era of corruption, we are going to have to summon that power in other ways.” For the sake of us all, I hope his worst fears aren’t realized.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-23198068451190484792009-05-27T13:31:00.006-05:002009-05-27T15:39:48.178-05:00Critique of the guest column published in the Capital expressing adulation for the SBNCConcerning the <a href="http://s213242494.onlinehome.us/MyAACPS/?p=1094#comment-132">May 10 guest column in the <em>Capital</em> </a>expressing adulation for the Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission, I have never been able to figure out the <em>Capital</em>’s conflict of interest disclosure policy. Sometimes it discloses trivial, obvious conflicts. Other times it misses the big conflicts. Perhaps the explanation is that if you’re a big <em>Capital</em> advertiser, you’re exempt from basic conflict of interest disclosure.<br /><br />Wouldn’t it have been relevant to point out that the Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, of which Bob Burdon is President, appoints one of the eleven School Board Nominating Commission (SBNC) members? In other words, Burdon’s organization is a direct beneficiary of the new system.<br /><br />As a bonus, it would also have been relevant to point out that Burdon is a registered lobbyist, and, as such, lives or dies based on the goodwill of the elected leaders who created the SBNC. Lobbyists like Burdon love to have representation on the SBNC because it provides access and goodwill among the movers and shakers that determine their lobbying success.<br /><br />In regard to the content of Burdon’s argument, who can disagree with the attributes he seeks in a school board member? They are motherhood and apple pie. He devotes the bulk of his commentary to describing those traits. But the question he purports to address in his commentary is whether the SBNC is the best way to select for those traits. Yet he provides no argument in his commentary as to why the SBNC is the best means to select candidates with those universally agreed upon attributes. He simply asserts it and says trust me: “as one of the architects of the legislation that created the commission, I had these criteria in mind that I felt the commission process could evaluate better than the former convention process.”<br /><br />But why should we? Burdon should have set his task in this commentary to make his argument directly. Instead, he develops a straw man argument and asks us to trust his good faith and judgment as a representative of a major local institution. Although I have been highly critical of the SBNC, it certainly is not without its merits. Burdon would have made a stronger case by presenting them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-87186306442548109712009-04-07T23:55:00.000-05:002009-04-10T20:39:03.198-05:00SBNC Update<div class="Section1"><p class="MsoNormal">The School Board Nominating Commission’s deadline for candidate applications to serve on the AACPS Board of Education was April 1. As you probably know by now, ten people applied for the position:<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></p><p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in" class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">1.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Shaun M. Brady of Davidsonville<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">2.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Kevin L. Jackson of Edgewater<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">3.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Michael G. Leahy of Severna Park<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">4.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Michel S. Pawlowski of Edgewater<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">5.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Peter A. Pervi of Millersville<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">6.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Andrew C. Pruski of Gambrills<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">7.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Paul Rudolph of Severna Park<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">8.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Rhonda Simon of Annapolis<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">9.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Joseph J. Thomas of Annapolis<o:p></o:p></p><p style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2" class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">10.<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span>Jessica S. Tickle of Churchton<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Michael Leahy is the incumbent holder of the seat. Paul Rudolph is a former two-time school board member. Both Kevin Jackson and Paul Rudolph ran for a board seat last year, the SBNC’s first year of operation. My guess is that at least several of the candidates will drop out once they see the competiton and realize they have no chance of winning.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’ve looked over the applications and observed which candidates show up at the SBNC meetings and how they interact with the SBNC commissioners. Based on that information and my general knowledge of school board politics, I’ve decided that Andrew Pruski is very likely to be not only nominated by the SBNC but also selected by the Governor. As for the mandatory second choice, my guess is it will be the incumbent Michael Leahy. But it could also be others, including Paul Rudolph, Joseph Thomas, Kevin Jackson, or Michel Pawlowski. The SBNC is not limited to nominating only two individuals, but it would undercut its power to nominate more than the minimum required by law. My guess is that it will not do so unless it can be confident which candidate the Governor will ultimately select.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">During the last few months, the SBNC has launched an openness PR campaign. This consists of holding six field hearings throughout the County, four of which have already been held. I attended two of those hearings. At both, four people attended, including myself. At both, only one member of the public, other than myself or a reporter, spoke. The last hearing was over within fifteen minutes. I’ve been looking for the minutes of the hearings but so far none has been posted on the SBNC website. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">How do the SNBC’s field hearings compare to the three hearings held by the old School Board Nominating Convention? Again, I’ve only attended two of the four SBNC field hearings and two are yet to come. But I think it’s fair to say that they are incomparably different. The School Board Nominating Convention hearings would attract more than 100 activist parents. The questions were directed to the candidates, addressed a wide range of issues, and were quite substantive. These field hearings, with the comments/questions addressed to the SBNC’s commissioners, are very different in tone and substance. The idea is that instead of the public asking questions of the candidates directly, they will tell the SBNC members what questions are important. This does not seem to be a format that can generate a comparable amount and quality of public participation. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Last week the Capital ran an editorial complaining that only nine candidates had applied for the open Board of Education position and speculating on the reasons for the low number of candidates. In my opinion, that was an awful editorial. First, nine (now ten) is a huge number of candidates for a position like this. Second, what counts is the quality, not the number, of candidates (the Capital wrote the editorial without knowing who the candidates were). Third, there are very serious issues of democratic accountability concerning the SBNC that the Capital is either oblivious to or has chosen to ignore. I have previously written in depth about those issues<b><i><span style="color:#1f497d;"> </span></i></b>(see the posts below) and will not repeat them here. The question I have is: why would the Capital choose to criticize the SBNC for its strengths while ignoring it weaknesses? </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4096743568280418055.post-22741173460223948712009-02-08T22:20:00.002-05:002009-03-18T22:31:14.412-05:00My OpEd, "Need Teachers? Show Them the Money," published in the Washington PostUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0