Community Corner

Three New Appointees Fill Out Prince George's School Board

Dr. Beverly Anderson, Dr. Daniel Kaufman, and Curtis Valentine were sworn in Monday.

By Michael Theis

Prince George's County now has a full school board after County Executive Rushern Baker and County Council Chair Andrea Harrison announced three final appointees to the Prince George's County Board of Education.

The new school board members, Dr. Beverly Anderson, Dr. Daniel Kaufman and Curtis Valentine were sworn in yesterday during a ceremony in Upper Marlboro.

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Anderson, a Fort Washington resident, taught mathematics at the University of the District of Columbia from 1969 to 2009 and served as the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the school from 1997 to 2000

Outside of higher education, Anderson also served as a facilitator for the Association of Community College Trustees and was a senior research fellow at the Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development within the Department of Defense. She also directed the efforts of Making Mathematics Work for Minorities under the National Research Council's Mathematical Sciences Education Board.

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Kaufman, a Bowie resident, has experience working in communications for public and private education organizations. He has worked as a communications director for the Maryland State Education Association, spokesperson for the National Education Association, and currently serves as the executive vice president of Widmeyer Communications' education practice, doing communication work for a variety of education related organizations.

Valentine, along with his wife Daria Valentine, have two children enrolled in the county school system. He also has a wide range of experience in local and international education policy. Valentine has worked as the executive director of Maryland Campaign for Achievement Now, and also worked with World Vision United States on youth isues in developing nations. Valentine recently was awarded an International Affairs Fellowship with the Council of Foreign Relations to study education reform in four developed countries as a way to develop a strategies to reform public education in America.

The three appointed positions were created as part of legislation overhauling the Prince George's County Public Schools administration. The legislation, which went into effect at the beginning of June, gives the county executive and county council more control over the school system. Under the law, the county executive has the power to nominate three appointees to the school board, and the county council has the power to nominate the fourth.

The law also mandated experience and background requirements for the appointees. Of the appointees chosen by the county executive, one must have education experience, one must have either business, finance or higher education experience, and the third must have management experience. The county council's appointee is required to be a parent of a child current enrolled in the county public school system.

Earlier in June, Baker appointed Dr. Segun Eubanks as the chair of the restructured school board.

Interest in the appointed positions was high, with a total of 160 applicants for the open spots. The applications were reviewed by committee. Of these, 90 were forwarded on to the Prince George's County Council to be considered for the parent representative appointment.


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