Verletta White To Get Contract For Interim Superintendent

TOWSON, MD — The Baltimore County Board of Education will offer Verletta White the contract for interim superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, effective July 1. During its meeting on Thursday night, the board voted to approve extending the interim contract for White in an 8-4 split.

The board's options were to vote White in for another one-year stint as temporary superintendent or choose another candidate.

Those who voted against offering the interim contract to White were Board of Education members Kathleen Causey, Julie Henn, Roger Hayden and Ann Miller.

During the roll call, Henn said she was opposing the motion “for lack of process."

The position of interim superintendent “has not been posted,” Henn said. “We post every other position within BCPS but not the most important one.”

The board posted the interim superintendent position in 2017, which led to the hiring of White.

However, since that time, White has been investigated for ethics and twice been rejected by the state superintendent of education for the permanent superintendent job.

Miller noted that the interim superintendent contract had not received support from one-third of the board and said: "It is quite controversial and not a given that Mrs. White is the most qualified."

Hayden, a former county executive who owns a consulting business specializing in organizational issues, supported posting the job for interim superintendent to allow qualified candidates to apply.

"It’s very difficult to get people to express interest when there’s somebody at the top job," Hayden said. "That's the way it works in organizations..."

Causey proposed posting the job, and the motion failed, 7-5.

After the 8-4 vote that determined the school system would keep White on as interim superintendent for the next year, Causey put forward an amendment that White must agree to the following stipulations:

• White will have no outside contract work while performing the duties of superintendent.
• All associations will be disclosed to the board in advance.
• Her travel must be approved in writing by the board in advance.

The board approved the amendment, 8-4, by a show of hands. At that point in the 45-minute meeting, Board Chair Edward Gilliss was rushing everyone to finish before the Kenwood High School graduation.

Causey took exception to rushing the meeting and the process, stating this was an "urgent issue" and was the first chance the board had to discuss the fact that the state superintendent had rejected the school board's appeal to appoint White as the permanent superintendent. She reminded the board that she voted against the appointment of the now-incarcerated former superintendent Dallas Dance.

The school board's session took place on Thursday, June 7, at the Greenwood campus, 6901 North Charles Street, Building E, in Towson. It was open to the public and live-streamed on the Baltimore County Public Schools website.

See more:

• State Rejects Verletta White As BCPS Superintendent
• Maryland State Superintendent Declines BCPS Board's Appeal To Appoint Verletta White
• BCPS Offers Superintendent Contract To Verletta White

Image of Verletta White courtesy of BCPS/Flickr. Still image of the board from the live-streamed June 7 meeting. Additional image via Shutterstock.