School board hopefuls split over system’s reopen plan
Some cite communication concerns, question metrics
Anne Arundel school board candidates are divided on the school system’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, with half supporting the superintendent’s approach and half pointing out flaws in decision making for the online semester.
Candidates in District 6, which includes the Annapolis area, gave schools Superintendent George Arlotto a five out of 10 rating in its hybrid learning system, while District 3 candidate Corine Frank of Pasadena said the school systemwaswrong to follow guidelines for reopening set by the county health officer.
“This is (Nilesh Kalyanaraman)’s own set of metrics and I don’t believe they are appropriate at this point,” said Frank, who participated in a Sept. 8 protest of the schools decision to hold classes for most students remotely.
Two candidates are running in each of three County Council — 2, 3 and 6. This election will complete the transition from an appointed to an elected Board of Education in this historic election. Absentee ballots are being sent out by the state on request, and voters can mail them in at any time or drop them off at special boxes being set up nextweek.
Their comments came during a wideranging discussion of the school board election with reporters and editors of The Capital.
Overall, candidates agreed the pandemic has placed the school system into a challenging environment.
Both candidates in District 6, Joanna Bache Tobin and India Ochs, were critical of the system’s reopening decisions.
Ochs pointed to the system’s decisions affecting special education students, explaining that the schedule of two-hour instruction a week, for students who attend the three developmental centers is not enough.
“Can someone explain to me howtaking a student to school two hours aweek when many of these kids thrive on routines and consistency will support their education? And if there is such an urgency for them to come into the building, howeffective is the rest of the time online,” Ochs said.
Tobin expressed concerns with the communication between the system officials and educators, citing examples of what happened after Superintendent George Arlotto announced that no special educators agreed to return to the classroom.
Thursday, the county teacher’s union president called on the school board to formally sit downwith educators to discuss safety and online learning, a call of action that was pushed back by Arlotto and the board.
“There’s this very hierarchical rulebound way of doing things, and a moment like this pandemic, in my opinion having chaired a board of a school and so on, is when you get everybody in a room,” Tobin said adding that the system must discuss what is working and what is not to move forward.
Both said that one of the most powerful things about being a board member is oversight of the superintendent.
Tobin, Annapolis professor, parent and consultant in educational governance, said the board has the ultimate power, in an extremecase, to fire the superintendent but must also pose many questions to the his administration.
As soon as she heard that no special educatorswere anticipated to return to the centers, Tobin said she would have asked questions of when the system first received the responses, the types of questions asked to special educators and what has been done since.
Ochs, an elementary school parent, attorney and human rights advocate, said a boardmembermust lookbehind the scenes and ask the superintendent and his staff what is not working and if change has not happened — to call them out in a public way.
Frank, a candidate in District 3, looked to how the county health department measured the pandemic and weighed reopening schools as an issue to the school system’s response so far.
Frank, PTA president for Bodkin Elementary and executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, said the county health department and the health officer had shifted focus from mortality rates to positivity rates earlier this year but said that is not based on federal or state guidelines.
Instead, Frank looked to the CDC and the state, adding that bringing kids back into classrooms is important and some families arewilling to do so.
“There are risks involved but there are parents who would like to have in-person learning for their kids. Some families would be ready, willing and able,” she said.
She is running against Ken Baughman, a special educator who retired after more than 40 years.
He said in-person learning is best but must be done safely. A former vice president of the teachers’ union, he said teachers still have unanswered questions like what will happen if they have to take sick leave or pass on the infection to family, but even so he supported the school system and board.
“I think we can continue to a hybrid model which I think the board is working towards right now,” he said.
Both candidates from District 2, Robert Silkworth and Raleigh Turnage, agreed with the system having an online-only start.
Silkworth, a teacher at North County High and educator of nearly 50 years, said though the stress levels were high for the nontraditional school year — the system and teachers were able to pull through the technological challenges.
“The eLearning that took place is nowhere near the eLearning we are experiencing right now. I will tell you from my standpoint and Dr. Arlotto did an absolute marvelous job of putting together a program so eLearning is as robust as possible,” Silkworth said.
Turnage, a retired teacher and principal in Baltimore schools and former vice president for the Anne Arundel County NAACP chapter, said safety for everyone involved, including teachers and school staff like custodians, must be considered before students re-enter schools.
He cited himself as an example, an older Black man with underlying conditions would be more susceptible to life-threatening conditions if he were to catch the virus.
“There is no reason on earth I’d put a child in a public school setting until it is full proof and all the kids are tested and so on,” he said.