State passes over local nominees for school board

Gov. Martin O’Malley chose Alysson Krchnavy, an active PTA member at Hickory Elementary, and Leonard Wheeler, a member of the county’s Democratic Central Committee who sat on the schools’ Ad Hoc Committee on Minority Affairs, to fill two open seats

on the seven-member school board.

But just days earlier, a temporary committee of county and state officials had voted to nominate two different candidates — recently retired Principal Nancy Reynolds of Bel Air and Mohammed Shahab, a former vocational program director in Iran and Washington, D.C.

“I believe this decision validates the concerns of the citizens and elected officials trying to get an elected school board,” said County Councilman Richard Slutzky, chairman of the committee that reviewed and nominated the candidates.

For the past two years, the county’s representatives in Annapolis have unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation that would convert the state-appointed school board to one that is partially or entirely elected.

Older “nominating caucuses” made up of interest groups had fallen apart after their recommendations were also ignored, Slutzky said.

“This is the third governor’s administration that has either ignored or disregarded Harford County’s process,” he said. “We’ve had no effective influence in selecting who represents the people of Harford County.”

The committee was convened to publicly review candidates and pass along the top picks, but the governor’s office also took recommendations from other people who contacted the appointments office directly.

“The governor makes his decision based on a wide cross section of input from parents, education advocates and local officials,” said O’Malley spokesman Shaun Adamec. “If the committee was the final say, the outcome would be a lot different, but they’re just one of the sources.”

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com