October 24th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

The Allegany County Board of Education’s request to have interim superintendent Jeff Blank named permanent superintendent has been rejected by the state. In a letter from Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon to Board President Robert Farrell, she addresses a statutory timeline governing the appointment of a county superintendent. It states: “in the year in which a term begins, the county board shall appoint a county superintendent between February 1^st and June 30^th”. The term of the new superintendent would begin July 1, 2020 which is the date that the interim superintendent’s term ends. Therefore, by statute, the legally designated time period for the appointment of a new superintendent for Allegany County Public Schools is February 1^st through June 30^th 2020.  The attempt to appoint Blank occurred on October 8^th- months before the statutory appointment period- thus Salmon rejected the request.  Farrell addressed the issue during an appearance on WCBC’s “Dave Norman Show”…

 

When the board voted earlier this month to appoint Blank as permanent superintendent- it was done so with the legal opinion of board attorney Mike Llewellyn that the action was permissible- with no mention of any statutory issues.  Despite of that apparent miss- Board Vice-President David Bohn says confidence in the board’s legal counsel has not waned…

 

The denial of Blank’s appointment marked a double hit this week for the majority board- which lost its three 3 member voting block Tuesday with Wayne Foote’s removal from the board.