Harford County strikes down appointment of school board member

Terri Kocher will not be reappointed to the Harford County Board of Education despite her previous experience after the County Council voted against her appointment at Tuesday night's meeting.

"There are unanswered questions surrounding what has happened with the school system," said council member Jessica Boyle-Tsottles. "Our school system right now cannot afford to go backwards."

Kocher was appointed by County Executive Bob Cassilly, but the board needed to approve the appointment before moving forward.

It will now be up to the county executive to find another candidate, either by opening an application process or by selecting another choice on his own.

Harford County controversy

The vote came nearly two weeks after School Board President Aaron Poynton abruptly resigned from his position, just hours after the board voted to put Superintendent Dr. Sean Bulson on paid administrative leave.

The personnel changes follow the release of a 911 call from a 2024 board trip to New Orleans for a conference, where Dr. Bulson is heard telling the operator that items were stolen an unknown woman he invited to his hotel room.

Multiple investigations reveal that most of the board members knew about the alleged incident but failed to report it.

Kocher was serving on the board at the time.

"So last week I called and spoke to Terri to hear directly from her to answer some concerns," said council member Alison Imhoff. "One, does she live in Harford County? Yes. Two, were you in New Orleans and aware of questionable behaviors before the rest of us? Yes. When you were made aware of these concerns, did you uphold the expectations and behavior by correctly reporting and saying anything? No."

County Executive Cassilly released a statement reading in part, "I am deeply disappointed that she was outrageously maligned by council members who parroted talking points from the teachers' union, which supports Bulson and his out-of-control budgets."

He goes on to say he had an open application process to fill board vacancies six months ago, and received 50 applications which are still open.

If you would like to apply, you can find a link here.

County council seeks transparency

Some council members said it's not fair to hold Kocher to a different standard than the rest of the board who is still currently serving.

"If that's the case, then every one of the board people that was down in New Orleans should all leave, and that's not going to happen," said council member Tony Giangiordano. "So you can't say one person who was there and didn't have anything to do should be held responsible for everybody else who was there."

Other council members say the key to fixing this mess is transparency, and that needs to start now.

"I believe it is essential to initiate a transparent timely application and interview process to fill this vacancy," said council member Nolanda Robert. "Doing so would promote public trust, fairness and accountability in the governance in our school system."