There are many takeaways from the most recent Anne Arundel County school board meeting that I could address: the four-hour discussion on grading methodology during the pandemic that could have taken 10 minutes that wasted the time of hundreds of citizens watching live, the lack of consideration (by some members) for the public’s perspective, or the unpreparedness of some members who lacked a basic understanding of how GPAs are calculated.
But it was the disrespect and contempt of some of the board members toward schools Superintendent George Arlotto and other Anne Arundel County Schools staff members that were most concerning to me.
Eric Grannon questioned Dr. Arlotto’s intent and accused him of pushing his own agenda, by providing three distinct grading options. He took issue with option 3, stating it “did not support the board’s (prior meeting) vote,” even after hearing that parents, teachers, the NAACP, the AACPS equity office and others overwhelmingly supported option 3.
He should have been grateful that Arlotto found a creative solution that addressed many stakeholders’ concerns.
Additionally, Grannon and board member Dana Schallheim publicly reprimanded the schools Office of Communications, complaining about the timeliness and wording of press releases. Grannon said: “Any press releases coming from the school system that have to do with board action are going to need to be approved by a majority of the board.”
I’m certain Mr. Grannon doesn’t have that authority.
Addressing these concerns in a public forum, in an off-topic manner, simply served their own agenda. They clearly sought to embarrass staff members and sew discord. This isn’t the behavior of an effective board of education. This is the behavior of self-serving bullies.
Clearly, members of our board will occasionally disagree with our superintendent and with staff members. However, our board members should address their concerns professionally and respectfully. The behavior on display May 6 has been a pattern for the past two years. I addressed similar concerns in December 2018 (“There’s nothing nice to say about Anne Arundel School Board Meeting,” The Capital, December 2018).
If our board members don’t find a way to work productively with our superintendent, staff members, and each other, I fear we will lose competent administrators. The board shouldn’t view the superintendent and other AACPS staff as an enemy to be defeated.
They should view them as competent and dedicated individuals with whom they may sometimes disagree, and with whom they can and should work collaboratively and respectfully.
As a member of two county-wide public school committees, I have had the opportunity to regularly interact with Arlotto and numerous AACPS administrators. I’ve found them to be highly capable, caring, dedicated, and open. I’m confident they would gladly meet with concerned Board members and work towards an agreeable solution.
We are lucky that Arlotto leads our school system. He always has our students’ best interest in mind. We must strive to retain dedicated professionals like him and his staff. If we don’t, we’ll never be able to replace them with competent individuals because it will become well known that working with our current board is too difficult.
As our county prepares to elect three new board members, I’m hopeful that voters will challenge all candidates to articulate how they plan to work with our superintendent and his staff. Do they view that relationship as adversarial or collaborative?
I hope that moving forward, our board can be an example of respect, dedication, and collaboration. There will be many challenging decisions facing county schools in the coming months. I hope that our board will trust our highly capable administrators to make the best decisions possible about the day-to-day operations of our schools without getting involved where they don’t belong.
It is up to the citizens of Anne Arundel County to hold our board members accountable through our votes and by communicating with them when we think they can do better. Please join me in doing so.
Crofton resident Kristen Caminiti serves on the superintendent’s Parent Involvement Advisory Council and the Global Community Citizenship Advisory Council. She is the mother of four children, two of whom are students in Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
