At the October 12 Greenbelt City Council meeting, within its consent agenda, council approved a letter from Mayor Emmett Jordan to County Executive Aisha Braveboy regarding the continued District 2 Board of Education vacancy and related public information concerns.
With an election next week, any appointee now would serve only the remainder of the term, which ends when the new member is seated December 7, and no name has been sent to the Prince George’s County Council, which then has 45 days to veto the appointment.
However, concerns remain about why no appointment was made and an entire district left without a board member for what will amount to over five months by the start of the next board member’s term. In a previous article we reported on one resident who needed representation during the summer, when school continues for students receiving special education services in what’s known as the Extended School Year program (see the October 1 issue). The City of Greenbelt’s letter notes the difficult school opening for this school year, transportation concerns and concerns with the co-location of Dora Kennedy French Immersion and Robert Goddard Montessori schools, all while without a board member. “Neighboring board members may assist, but they cannot replace accountable, district-specific representation,” states the letter from Jordan to Braveboy. The letter calls the lack of response from the county executive’s office to the News Review’s questions “equally concerning.”
A Prolonged Vacancy
In the letter, council expresses “serious concern” over the “prolonged vacancy” that has continued since Jonathan Briggs’ sudden resignation at the end of June. The letter notes Board Chair Branndon Jackson asked the county executive to initiate the appointment process in a June 27 letter. That letter was obtained by the News Review through a public information act request to Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS). A similar public information act request to the county executive’s office for all correspondence about the vacancy with PGCPS and others came back reporting they were unable to retrieve any records related to the subject, returning only the website posting of the vacancy. Greenbelt City Council’s letter notes the county executive’s office opened an application period from June 30 through July 7, prior to PGCPS publicly announcing the resignation on July 20. That was the public announcement that came only after repeated questions about the vacancy from the News Review (see the July 23 issue).
“These circumstances raise substantial questions about whether District 2 residents received meaningful notice and a fair opportunity to seek appointment,” states the letter, noting there were only two applicants. The number of applicants was disclosed by the Office of Law to the News Review (see the October 1 issue).
Intended Procedure
State law says that if a seat held by an elected member of the county board becomes vacant, the county executive appoints a qualified individual to fill the seat for the remainder of the term and sends their name to the clerk of the County Council (MD Code, Education, § 3-1002, g). The county council then has 45 days in which they could disapprove the appointment by a two-thirds vote of all members. If the council doesn’t disapprove within 45 days, “the appointment shall be considered approved.”
Though Maryland Code stipulates the county executive shall make an appointment it does not give a timeline within which they must do so.
Call for Responsiveness
After highlighting the lack of representation and lack of opportunity for appointment, the letter continues: “Equally concerning is the reported lack of response from your office to repeated calls and emails from the Greenbelt News Review, including an MPIA request submitted on July 24. The newspaper’s correspondence raised questions and concerns regarding how the vacancy and application window were publicized, why the application period was so brief, why it closed before the public announcement and why no appointment has yet been made. Timely, substantive communication is essential when a matter directly affects the democratic representation of an entire school district.”
The News Review received a response to its MPIA request, following intervention by the State Ombuds Office on September 24, but the only document returned was the application announcement that appeared on the county executive’s webpage.
In addition to our unanswered questions to the county executive, the News Review also put questions to Board Chair Jackson, who requested the appointment process to begin. On August 27, by email, the News Review asked Jackson whether he had received a response from the county executive’s office, whether he knew of a timeline for an appointment and whether the public would have any opportunity for input. The News Review also asked why the application window for Briggs’ replacement was earlier and shorter than in previous appointments, and why it closed before he announced the vacancy to the board at its July 9 meeting.
On September 23, the News Review emailed him again, asking whether he knew of any change in plans to fill the vacancy or when an appointment might be made, and whether he was concerned that District 2 still had no representative. Jackson did not respond to either request as of press time. In July, PGCPS staff directed the News Review to the county executive’s office, saying it controls the appointment process. In July, the News Review reached out to Tim Adams, Greenbelt’s representative on the county council, about the vacancy and appointment process. Policy and Communications Director Jobina Brown responded that since the “authority to fill a vacancy on the Prince George’s County Board of Education rests with the Office of the County Executive,” she recommended contacting “the appropriate entities directly for questions or a statement regarding the process or any public communications on this matter.” “Council Member Adams is following this matter closely,” wrote Brown.
Greenbelt’s Requests
Jordan’s letter asked the county executive to:
1. provide a public status update and firm timeline for filling the District 2 vacancy;
2. respond fully to the outstanding questions and communications from the Greenbelt News Review and affected residents;
3. describe the steps your administration will take to ensure future appointment opportunities are broadly publicized, reasonably timed and administered transparently.
In closing, Jordan said “District 2 students and families deserve both effective representation and confidence that the appointment process is open, responsive and accountable,” and urging the county executive to provide a prompt written response to the concerns.
The News Review has received no response from the office of the county executive to repeated emails and calls made since July.
City Manager Josué Salmerón told the News Review that the letter was mailed to the county executive on October 13. On Tuesday, October 27, Salmerón said they had not received any response to date.