BOE opposes EOD

This article discusses the Howard County Board of Education's decision not to support any effort to have its membners elected by district, in an effort to bring racial and/or geographic diversity to the board.

I understand the decision, and I respect the decision; however I disagree with it.

I am not all that sure that election by district is a cureall for racial diversity on the board.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not.  I would much rather see the best people elected to the board regardless of race, rather than have a certain group represented by electing a member of the board who simply is neither prepared nor qualified to serve in that office.

However, the issue of geographic diversity on the board is a very real one.  A quick search of board of education election results over the past twenty years reveals a very clear tendency towards electing candidates who reside in Columbia and Ellicott City.  Western Howard County is kind of represented; the Savage/North Laurel area, and the Hanover/Elkridge area, not really.  Those areas do bring forth candidates, and good ones; however, they simply don't win.  The voter-rich areas of the county-- Columbia for left-leaning voters and Ellicott City for right-leaning voters-- crowd them out.

And so I support board member election by district on these grounds.  I have long said that Howard County has more than enough talent within its borders to fill its elected and appointed positions several times over.  I certainly think the same can be said of members of the school board.

 

Comments

[Leslie from Columbia]

I disagree with your assessment of no representation over the years from Savage/North Laurel. Current member Ellen Giles and former member Virginia Charles are both from the North Laurel area. What annoys me is the suggestion that because there are currently no members from Columbia, things must be changed. Everyone seems to forget that recent board members Larry Cohen and Pat Gordon were both from Columbia. Pat is also an African American and was elected twice...or was it three times, so the need for minorities argument also doesn't work. The real reason that this panel was commissioned was to figure out how to keep the crazies off the board. Alan Dyer is a huge embarassment to such a top rated school system. He can definitely muck up the works when it comes to hiring a new superintendent. Who would want to work for such a litigious, pompous ass?