School Board Commission Hears Testimony On Election Process

The topic of race was front and center at a public hearing on Monday about how Howard County's school board is selected.

“Representation is everything,” said Elkridge parent Myra Gomez, who offered one of the evening's most impassioned testimonies as she argued for a mixed-race board. “When a child looks up, he needs to see someone who represents him. ... Please give us representation.”

Currently, seven members elected at large make up the Howard County Board of Education and serve four-year terms. In addition, the board includes one student member elected by students for a one-year term. The only African-American representative serving on the board is student Tomi Williams.

County Executive Ken Ulman formed a special Board of Education Study Commission in August regarding perceived racial disparity on the school board.

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

“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.”

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.

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

Concerns about lack of diversity on the board and lack of representation from the eastern part of the county began to surface in the late 1990s, said Siddiqui. In response, 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," said Siddiqui. "... Members elected by district might pit one school against another for resources, and obligations to home districts might interfere in setting countywide education policy."

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.

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 race, 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.

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 the county executive. Until then, interested parties can e-mail schoolboardstudy@howardcountymd.gov with input.