Two new appointments to the Baltimore County Board of Education are drawing criticism from the county?s chapter of the NAACP.
In a letter released to the media, Patricia Ferguson, president of Baltimore County?s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, says Gov. Martin O?Malley rubber-stamped appointees who were selected personally by County Executive Jim Smith.
“The Baltimore County NAACP is gravely concerned about the tactics that were used by the county executive to have his hand-picked nominees placed on the Board of Education,” Ferguson said.
O?Malley announced the appointments of two new members of the Board of Education on Friday: Donna Flynn, who works as the coordinator of Assessment and Accreditation at Towson University, and Earnest Hines, president and chief executive officer of Diversity Management Group Inc.
Citing the growing minority population in the country, Ferguson said the “interests of the broader minority community” were ignored in the appointment process.
“[Smith chose] to ignore the need for diversity on the board and apparently advise[d] the governor to make appointments that meet [his] personal standards or motives,” she said.
But Smith vehemently defended both of the governor?s appointments, saying, “These people are top-flight people. I think Baltimore County?s Board of Education is blessed to have them.”
He also said critiques of the diversity of the school board are unwarranted.
“One of the appointments is an African-American and the other is a woman. I don?t know how much more diverse you can get,” he said.
Smith said when the community wants input in the school board appointments, they take it up with the governor, not him.
“Since I have been county executive, I have never run [the] process myself. I think every interested group makes their suggestion to the appointment authority,” he said.
Ella White-Campbell, chair of the school board?s Minority Achievement Advisory Group, said the NAACP brought recommended appointees to the board, but declined to elaborate.
School board member appointments have been a subject of debate in the county. Last legislative session, Baltimore County representatives proposed a hybrid appointed and elected board and a nominating committee for board members, but neither was approved.
