Six candidates were forwarded to the governor Wednesday to fill three openings on the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board, the body that oversees the state’s multibillion-dollar education reform plan.
A Blueprint nominating committee chose David Harper, Joseph Manko, Contina Quick-McQueen, John Seelke, Joanna Tobin and Robin Werner from a field of 36 applicants looking to serve on the seven-member board. Gov. Wes Moore (D) has 30 days to choose the three board members, who will serve six-year terms.
The new board members would still be subject to approval by the Senate in the legislative session that begins in January, but would be able to serve in acting capacity until then. A Moore spokesperson said the names had been received Wednesday “and we’re currently in the process of vetting and selecting.”
The nominees would fill seats left vacant by Manko — who reapplied for his job — and Mara Doss and Laura Stapleton, whose last meeting was June 26. Stapleton, who chairs the Human Development and Quantitative Methodology Department at the University of Maryland, College Park, chose not to reapply after her term ended July 1. Doss, a former associate vice president for teaching, learning and student success at Prince George’s Community College, resigned with a year left on her term.
Besides serving on the board, Manko works as an education program director at the Abell Foundation in Baltimore, according to the nominating letter Wednesday. It identified the other candidates as:
- Harper, of Caroline County, who works as vice president of workforce and academic programs at Chesapeake College. He was previously chosen to serve on an advisory committee focused on the Blueprint’s third “pillar,” or priority, that deals with college and career readiness.
- Quick-McQueen, who works as a supervisor of instruction in college and career readiness for St. Mary’s County Public Schools. She also serves as part of a statewide Expert Review Team visiting schools to assess growth in academics, professional development for staff, among other educational factors.
- Seelke, a Montgomery County resident whoworks as a mathematics teacher in the county’s public schools. He currently serves as chair of the advisory committee’s second pillar focused on high quality and diverse teachers and leaders.
- Tobin, who is a member of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education. She’s also chair of accreditation site team visits for the American Academy for Liberal Education.
- Werner, who works as director of teaching and learning for public schools in Talbot County, where she also resides. She also serves on the pillar three — college and career readiness — advisory committee.
Stacy Goodman, a principal policy analyst with the General Assembly, said that of the 36 applicants to the board, eight were from Prince George’s County, seven were from Montgomery County, five were from Baltimore City and three were from St. Mary’s County. Twenty of the applicants were women, and 15 identified as Black, 14 as white, four as Asian and three as Hispanic.
The six finalists were evenly divided between men and women. Three are white and one each is Black, Asian or Hispanic.
“We want to thank all those applicants for their interest in this very important opportunity,” said Shanaysha Sauls, chair of the Blueprint nominating committee.
The Blueprint board’s next scheduled meeting is July 24.
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