The Howard County Board of Education held a meeting on December 17th. On the agenda of that meeting was “Ratification of Vote on Redistricting”. At the end of the opening statement on this topic the following was stated:

So this “unintentional” violation is still a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Here is the full statement provided from HoCoBOE Chair Ellis:

Now not everyone agreed with the information provided in that opening statement:

Statements like “I do not believe that all of this is accurate” and “the statement as read misleads the community as to what occurred during the recess ” is very concerning. It is also concerning to hear that the board members were not provided this statement in advance of the meeting last night.

At the end the vote on the Ratification passed 4 – 3 (as expected).

If interested in all of the discussions on this topic…check out the full video from the meeting online here: https://hcpsstv.new.swagit.com/videos/38636

Don’t forget…there is already one lawsuit in Howard County Circuit Court on this issue “Petition filed for immediate Injunction and Other Relief for OMA violation in Howard County Redistricting“.

Time will tell what will happens…but I do not expect this is the last we have heard on this issue.

Scott E