School Board Commission Hears Testimony On Election Process

The topic of race was front and center during a public hearing held before the Howard County Board of Education Study Commission, which has the job of deciding the fate of how the county’s Board of Education is elected.

County Executive Ken Ulman formed the special commission in August as a means of addressing concerns from the public regarding perceived racial disparity on the seven-member board.

During the two-hour hearing Monday night, more than 30 Howard County residents testified; those who spoke up voiced an array of opinions that ranged from keeping the election process the way it is to completely transforming the status quo.

“I believe that there ought to be at least one member of color on this board,” said Maryland State House delegate Frank Turner, who argued for creating two appointed board positions. “We need to have a voice from the minority community that can speak up on certain issues… If we do nothing we will find ourselves in four years having the same conversation.”

At the moment, the Howard County Board of Education is comprised of seven members who are elected at-large for four-year terms. In addition, the board includes one student member who is elected by his or her fellow students for a one-year term. The board is responsible for setting local education policy.

Currently, the only African American representative serving on the board is student Tomi Williams.

During the hearing, while many residents spoke from written testimony, many others came forward to speak on the issue extemporaneously; and while some of those who testified endorsed the idea of having appointed board members, others supported turning the process into a district-by-district election.

The current Board of Education’s opinion, as expressed by Chairman Dr. Janet Siddiqui, is to keep the election process the way it is.

According to Siddiqui’s testimony, school board members in Howard County were appointed up until the 1970s, when a grassroots effort brought the interest in an elected school board to a referendum vote. At that time, Howard County voted to change from an appointed board to an elected board. The board’s first election took place in 1974.

But that isn’t to say that the status quo hasn’t been challenged since then. Siddiqui testified that concerns about the lack of diversity on the board and the lack of representation from the eastern part of the county began to surface in the late 1990s. In response to those concerns, the board convened a study group and presented its finding in eight recommendations.

The consensus at that time was that the board should continue to be elected at-large, “because a school board member should represent all children, and because of the concern that members elected by district might pit one school against another for resources and obligations to home districts might interfere in setting countywide education policy,” Siddiqui said. 

Meanwhile, two common trends addressed throughout the hearing included diversity and the county’s perceived achievement gap between white students and minorities.

“I think representation is everything,” said Elkridge parent Myra Gomez, who offered one of the most impassioned testimonies of the night and argued for a mixed-race board. “When a child looks up, he needs to see someone who represents him…Please give us representation.”

Added Howard County NAACP representative David Steele, “I come from the world of corporate America; trust me—color does matter.”

But current Howard County Board of Education member Brian Meshkin, one of the only minority board members, offered a completely different perspective on the topic of color, calling the idea of picking candidates based on his or her race, “misguided at best, and somewhat racist at worst.”

“Race does not color my judgment,” Meshkin added.

Columbia resident Ken Stevens said that changing the election process to an appointed model would do a disservice to the idea of democracy.

 “Rather than a step forward, that would be an anti-democratic step backward,” Stevens said. 

Former board member Diane Mikulis added, “Having board members elected by district would tear this county apart….I’d ask the question, ‘What’s broken here?’...It seems to me things are going pretty well.”

The special commission, which includes Dr. Nancy Grasmick, former state school superintendent, has until the end of the month to make its recommendations to County Executive Ulman. Until then, the commission will be taking written testimony, and interested parties are encouraged to email schoolboardstudy@howardcountymd.gov. 

Perhaps stating the obvious, Sue Buswell wished the board luck on the decision-making process.

“You have a tough road ahead of you—I commend you to it,” Buswell said.