Reply to When a Leader Loses the Faith of the People They Lead

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[quote=Anonymous]In addition to BOE positions needing to be paid in line with our expectations for a full-time commitment from a person with professional-level skills in order to attract candidates who might have a chance of performing the necessary oversight, we need the current staggered elections to be dropped -- it's near impossible to get responsiveness to the electorate otherwise, and it is far too easy for entrenched interests to throw their weight behind just a few candidates each election cycle.  We also need to get rid of the hybrud district/at-large designations.  Either hold district-based elections only with voters from that district and no at-large positions or make all seats at-large, with only one vote per voter and the highest vote totals filling the board seats (currently all county voters vote for any seat, district or at-large).  The current system eliminates minority representation (political minority, not demographic minority) and results in group-think/one party domination, with all the ills of such.

Oh, and the superintendent position (and MCPS as a whole) is far too unaccountable/has far too few checks.  The BOE needs a real, robust staff to enable its oversight mission, and either they or the County Council need to have some ability to initiate changes (vs. waiting for the superintendent/MCPS to suggest something for their approval).  As it stands, no, it appears that the only two real items in the electorate's arsenal are the nuclear option of firing the superintendent (if there is a BOE that is responsive to thr electorate in the first place) and denying the requested budget level (though they don't get the equivalent of a line-item veto -- the superintendent/MCPS pretty much decides what is left off the table).  The former is a sledgehammer where a scalpel is required and the latter is the opposite of what is needed -- better funding, not less.[/quote]

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