Gov. Wes Moore picked a familiar face to fill the last vacant seat on the Baltimore County school board. The school system announced Friday afternoon that Felicia Stolusky, a former educator and school board member, will be the 12th member of the board.
The county had to redo its nomination process for one of its four governor-appointed board seats after Moore’s administration chose only three of the eight names submitted instead of filling all four seats in April. Moore’s office has not said why. It left vacant one spot on the board during Baltimore County’s search for a new superintendent.
Stolusky was selected from two nominees during the second round of submissions. She was sworn in Friday for a term ending in December 2028.
Stolusky last served on the board for six months in 2022, filling in after Cheryl Pasteur resigned to run for state delegate. She was a Baltimore County middle school teacher who started her teaching career in 1997 and retired in 2016, according to the school system. After that, she was a substitute teacher for another four years.
Superintendent Myriam Yarbrough and board chair Jane Lichter said in a statement Stolusky’s experience is an advantage.
“Her vast knowledge of the school system will enrich our work as the school system’s governing body as we work to advance academic achievement and well-being for all students,” Lichter said in a news release.
But Eugene Clark, a member of the county commission responsible for nominating board members, told The Banner he is unhappy with the governor’s selection.
“I would not have selected Ms. Stolusky,” Clark said Friday.
He’d previously voiced his grievances with the nomination process in a June news conference. Although the commission interviewed all candidates, over 20 people, before the first time it sent names to the governor, only three people from the candidate pool were selected to be interviewed to fill the last board seat. The commission had a shorter timeline the second time around.
Clark said in June that five people of color, four Black and one Latina, weren’t interviewed despite their qualifications. One of them was Marisol Johnson, a former board member.
Cindy Sexton, head of the commission and the county’s teachers union, said at the time she did not know there were disagreements until the news conference and the commission’s policy was being followed.
Sexton said Friday that all candidates were interviewed for the position, and that all commissioners are bound to a confidentiality agreement. A few members broke the agreement and are being investigated by the commission, she added.
Sexton supports the selection because she said Stolusky worked hard to learn the business when on the board in the past and she knows what it means to work in a school building.
Clark said the two options Moore’s office had were white women: Stolusky and Diane Young, a former educator and school board candidate last fall.
Half of the board members are Black after Moore’s April appointments of Tiffany LaShawn Frempong, Emory Young and Tiara Booker-Dwyer. They replaced Moalie Jose, John Offerman, Russell Kuehn and Erin Hager, who were appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan.
