The candidates for Districts 6 and 7 of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education clashed over special education at a Thursday candidate forum.
In District 6, current board member Joanna Tobin faces candidate Edilene Barros, an entrepreneur and homeschooling mom. For District 7, there are three candidates: Jeremy York, a veteran and Anne Arundel County Public Library trustee; Dawn Pulliam, a government worker; and write-in candidate Maisie Howard, a lawyer and AACPL employee.
Several other school board candidates didn’t attend the forum while others were present, but could not participate because their opponents were absent.
The forum’s sponsor, League of Women Voters of Anne Arundel County, has an “empty seat” rule, meaning all candidates for a position must sit for the forum or none are permitted to participate.
The largest point of disagreement came with questions about preventing at-risk and special needs students from falling into the school-to-prison pipeline — the disproportionate tendency of students from disadvantaged backgrounds to end up incarcerated.
“Special education is a 911 [emergency] in our district,” said Tobin. “We need to make sure that we have the staff, we pay the staff, we have the teacher assistants because it takes a lot of work to ensure that special needs students are actually able to be in the inclusive environment that we know is incredibly important.”
Howard agreed that special education students are vulnerable to the school-to-prison pipeline and argued that programs aimed at these kids are effective but need investment.
Pulliam disagreed with Tobin.
“I do not think special ed is a 911 in our county … I don’t believe, personally, that is a priority at all,” said Pulliam. “I do think that there are things we can do, go back to other models that we’ve done before and work hand and hand with the special ed and mental health professionals in our community, a public-private partnership.”
York said recruiting more teachers and mental health professionals was the best way to combat the pipeline.
“I challenge anyone to spend ten minutes in one of our special ed schools or classrooms as a special ed student that doesn’t have the appropriate assistants to help the primary teacher and tell me it’s not a 911,” said York.
Tiquia Tauson, whose three daughters attend Anne Arundel County elementary, middle, and high schools, said she attended the forum to learn about the candidates and represent her community’s interests. She said York was the most compelling because he was well-spoken and solution-oriented.
“Acknowledging you’re not going to be able to change everything 100% right away, but as long as it’s on your radar and you’re working on it, that gives me hope,” said Tauson.
The candidates for District 3, Erica McFarland and Chuck Yocum, were expected to participate. Yocum informed the organizers Wednesday that he would not attend. Last month, he was called out for posts on his Facebook page that disparage women, disabled people, and teachers. This week he faced criticized resurfaced accusations of sexual misconduct, one of which he was found not guilty of in 1994.
McFarland was allowed to attend the forum and introduce herself, but she was not permitted to answer questions because of the empty seat rule.
Robert Silkworth, the current board member and unopposed candidate for District 2, attended the forum, introduced himself and answered questions informally outside the forum. Silkworth was not invited to participate because he did not have an opponent, according to Silkworth. Similarly, Gloria Dent, the current board member and unopposed candidate for District 1, did not attend but sent a representative to answer questions informally.
The candidates for District 4, Sarah McDermott and Stephanie Mutchler, did not attend. Mutchler had a conflict that day, according to McDermott. In District 5, current board member Dana Schallheim is facing Latoya Nkongolo. Schallheim did not participate due to the forum’s proximity to Yom Kippur, which meant Nkongolo could not participate per the “empty seat” rule. Nkongolo criticized Schallheim on Facebook for her choice.
“The truth is, she’s avoiding this debate because it would expose her lack of experience and competence, as previous debates have done,” Nkongolo wrote.
The event was moderated by Tanya Millner, provost and vice president for learning at Anne Arundel Community College. A three-person panel asked the questions, which were written by the LWV with community input: Alfa Stevens, past president of LWV of Anne Arundel County; William Andrione, a Severna Park High School junior; and Megan Sundberg, president of Junior League of Annapolis.
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