BEL AIR, Md. — The Harford County Council and County Executive Bob Cassilly are once again at odds.
This time over Cassilly's emergency appointment of Terri Kocher, who would fill a School Board seat vacated by the recently departed Aaron Poynton.
Cassilly blasted the County Council for their Wednesday night vote rejecting Kocher's nomination.
“Our beloved public schools have been disgraced by the actions of Superintendent [Sean] Bulson," Cassilly said in a statement. "Amid this chaos, Terri Kocher stepped forward as a steady hand with a wealth of knowledge and a record of fiscal responsibility from her prior service on the school board. 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."
Bulson is currently on administrative leave after he claimed to have been robbed by a woman in his New Orleans hotel room while on a work trip.
"The open seat potentially leaves the school board deadlocked on whether to renew Bulson’s contract, which must be decided by March 1," Cassilly said.
During the vote, Councilmember Alison Imhoff said Kocher knew about the allegations before they were made public. Cassilly, however, denies this.
"This was a legitimate conference hosted by the National School Boards Association and it is ridiculous to assert that Harford County attendees who had no direct knowledge of Bulson’s activities are somehow culpable," Cassilly said in defense of Kocher.
Council members opposed to Kocher called for an open application process to fill Poynton's seat.
Cassilly says he did just that.
"I followed the procedure detailed in state law in making this interim appointment and I had also allowed for an open application process just six months ago," Cassilly said. "In that process we received 50 applications, which remain active."
While the vacant School Board seat remains in flux, Cassily vowed to try and have Bulson removed as superintendent.
"In the absence of leadership on the County Council, I will be contacting the Maryland Superintendent of Schools to request the removal of Superintendent Bulson," Cassilly said. "I will also be working to fill the void created by the council’s inaction."
