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Murphy elected as school board president
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The Baltimore County Board of Education elected JoAnn Murphy, a 30-year veteran of the county school system, as board president in a meeting Tuesday evening.
H. Edward Parker, the retired principal of Sollers Point Technical High School, was elected vice president.
Murphy, 62, worked as a teacher and administrator before joining the school board in 2005. She said her roots in the school system will behoove her in her new role.
“I have a long history [with Baltimore County], and I just felt this year it would be helpful to have someone with curriculum background,” she said, referring to a recent audit of the school system that advocates an overhaul of the county’s curriculum.
“We have the potential with this curriculum review to make life easier for teachers,” she said.
Murphy lives in Parkton with her husband, Joseph Murphy, the chief judge of Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals. Their daughter is a graduate of Towson High School.
Parker, a Dundalk native, came to the county schools after an 11-year manufacturing career, according to his biography. During his 30 years with the school system, he worked as the county’s supervisor of vocational-technical education. Parker joined the school board in 2006. He declined to be interviewed by The Examiner, referring questions to the board president.
Other members of the school board said they were pleased with the new leadership.
“She’s the best, he’s the best,” board member Meg O’Hare said of Murphy and Parker.
Tuesday night was the first board meeting for new board appointees Donna Flynn and Earnest Hines and for student member Audrey Dittman. Flynn is coordinator of assessment and accreditation at Towson University, and Hines is president and chief executive of Diversity Management Group Inc. Dittman attends Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson.
mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com
