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School Board Members Have Heated Exchanges During Process To Pick Interim Superintendent

July 9th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

Three hours of interviews followed by three hours of deliberations by the Allegany County Board of Education Tuesday afternoon- but when the marathon session ended- there was no public announcement pertaining to the interim school superintendent appointee.  From an original list of six applicants- only three remained by the time Monday’s interview process began:  Dr Kim Kalbaugh, chief academic officer; Jeff Blank, chief administrative officer and former supervisor of transportation Jay Walbert. While the board has declined to name the candidates- Kalbaugh, Walbert and Blank- in full view of the public- each entered the conference room for separate interviews. It was following the interviews that things became heated.  Although the board met in a conference room in the back of the building behind closed doors- there were numerous exchanges with board members shouting at one another- arguments that were audible to anyone in the hallway or adjacent meeting room. The debate centered on a 3-2 split with board members Robert Farrell, Wayne Foote and David Bohn favoring Blank; while members Tammy Fraley and Deb Frank expressed support for Kalbaugh. After a brief recess- which included a closed door meeting that involved only Farrell and board attorney Mike Llewellyn- the discussion entered its third hour at which time a clearly distraught Deb Frank abruptly stormed out of the closed session. Moments later the other board members emerged along with the board attorney.  At that time neither board president Farrell or Llewellyn offered much in the way of detail- saying only that any vote on an appointee will have to be made in public- and the board has until the end of July to do so…

9 Responses to “School Board Members Have Heated Exchanges During Process To Pick Interim Superintendent”

  1. July 08, 2019 at 9:16 pm, Mk said:

    This is why women shouldn’t be eleected to political office. Very unprofessional from Deb Frank. If you can’t handle the heat, stay in the kitchen Deb.

    Reply

  2. July 09, 2019 at 9:02 am, mac said:

    This is getting so old and so predictable. The 3 male Board members favoring the male candidate with the 2 female Board members favoring the female candidate. Then everyone shouts back and forth. Another impasse. Another typical Board meeting.

    Reply

    • July 09, 2019 at 9:41 pm, Jean Helz said:

      > It is extremely upsetting that decisions about the education of our children and a huge amount of the budget of Allegany county are done with so little involvement of the public. It appears that the board wants to appoint without public input a superintendent who may well make the decisions about budget and educational policies for a considerable amount of time. Hopefully the people will begin to realize how important elections are.

      Reply

  3. July 09, 2019 at 9:35 am, Paolo Primavera said:

    To quote that other King person “Why can’t we all just get along?”

    Reply

  4. July 09, 2019 at 9:53 am, Paolo Primavera said:

    Actually it’s TIME we just need to “CLEAN HOUSE” and get some new blood who are actually interested in doing something for our chill-dren and tax payers.

    Reply

    • July 09, 2019 at 12:31 pm, kevin said:

      > The blood problem is the score settling ‘amigos’ ticket, dumb, dumber, and dumbest. They don’t understand the concept that landing the plane safely is not the same as crashing the plane into a wall.

      Reply

  5. July 09, 2019 at 12:31 pm, Ed Dodrill said:

    Blank is a good man.

    Reply

  6. July 09, 2019 at 9:21 pm, DL said:

    Both candidates are good people. Either candidate would probably do a good job. It should come down to experience, not gender.

    Reply

  7. July 10, 2019 at 1:53 pm, Elizabeth said:

    The system should try to bring Dr. Larry Smith to mend the school system. He is such a fierce advocate for kids, is a proven leader who has served in administrative posts in two MD counties. There are few people who come close to his integrity, ability to bring people together and is not reluctant to take on the tough challenges. He would connect with every student, teacher and administrator in the county and make it a system that is transparent, accountable and works for the kids. These 5 should try to bring in Dr. Smith, at least try to.

    Reply

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