Diversity at Howard County Schools: Cause for a Commission

Everywhere he goes, County Executive Ken Ulman said, he’s been hearing the same thing: The Howard County School Board is not representative of the residents it represents.

On Wednesday, Aug. 3, Ulman announced that, former state superintendent of schools, will head a commission to “review the structure of the Howard County Board of Education and develop recommendations for possible improvements.”

The announcement comes one week after a handful of residents at a  decried the lack of cultural, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic diversity on the school board.

“For too long, there’s been little-to-no representation in Columbia, where I live, nor has there been adequate racial or cultural representation,” Jacqueline Scott told Ulman at the forum.

“All [school board] representatives are in areas of the counties where the schools are doing extremely well,” Laurel resident Shannon Taitt testified.

She said that wasn’t the case in all Laurel schools. She wanted Ulman to look at the makeup of the board “from the ‘forgotten aspects,’ not only racial and ethnic, but geographically and socioeconomically.” 

In his statement today, Ulman said that, yes, Howard County has great schools, “but even the top school systems cannot rest on their laurels.”

“I’ve heard the concerns of residents and community groups who feel they don’t have a voice on the school board,” he said in the statement. “I am thrilled that Dr. Grasmick has agreed to look into these critical issues.”

Six community members will serve on the commission:

• Bianca Chang, principal, Chinese Language School of Columbia
• Patricia Dodson, retired teacher, Howard County Public School System
• Kevin Doyle, trustee, Howard Community College
• Debbie Drown, former principal, Gorman Crossing Elementary School
• Lou Hutt, business owner and former trustee, Howard Community College
• Paul Lemle, president, Howard County Education Association

State Sen. James Robey and Delegate Guy Guzzone will serve as ex-officio members of the group.

The group is charged with taking a look at how the board is currently selected and studying other school boards in the state to determine if there are ways to strengthen “geographic, ethnic and other elements of diversity.”

Ulman asked that the group submit any recommendations by Sept. 26.