Capital Article

Huang, Cindy, Three students vying for student position on school board, March 30, 2017.

Snider Comment

This Capital article is essentially a reprint of an AACPS press release sent out at 9:23 AM this morning.  What is interesting about it is not what is said but what isn’t said.  How exactly were those three students selected among the seven who applied to be SMOB?  There is no mention of the nominating panel that makes those decisions and gives AACPS staff effective veto power over who can be nominated.  Nor is there any mention of the secret process by which the nominating panel was created and operates.  Hard as it is to believe, CRASC is not subject to Maryland’s Open Meetings Act, let alone any independent ethics oversight.  Imagine if adult elections for school board member or any other office were conducted under similar Tammany Hall style rules.  As the father of a former CRASC president noted in a comment in the Capital, “The AA School Board selection process would make any third world banana republic dictator embarrassed that he didn’t think it up himself.”  For details, see “The SMOB Election and Riva Road’s Culture of Intimidation” at eLighthouse.info.

AACPS Press Release

THREE HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS IN RUNNING FOR STUDENT MEMBER ON THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

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The Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils (CRASC) has announced on its Twitter page (@CRASC_Online) that three 11th-grade students have been named finalists for the 2017-2018 student member on the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County.

The students, selected from a field of seven applicants, are:

  • Lusia Cole, Chesapeake Science Point
  • Audrey Holzrichter, South River High School
  • Cesar Ruiz, Annapolis High School

The Student Member on the Board of Education (SMOB) election is sponsored by CRASC. The student member is appointed by the Governor and serves a one-year term during his or her senior year of high school, and receives a $6,000 college scholarship.  Anne Arundel’s student member is the only one in the nation on a local Board of Education with full voting rights.

The three candidates will participate in a Candidates Night at 6:30 p.m. on April 5, 2017, at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis.

Elections to determine the candidate whose name will be forwarded to the governor for appointment will take place on April 20, 2017, at the CRASC General Assembly meeting.

CRASC’s constitution and bylaws call for high schools and middle schools in the county to be allotted a predetermined number of delegates, based on each school’s enrollment, at the election.  Delegates will represent student government, the arts, athletics, and other extracurricular activities.