Governor must appoint two people to Blueprint board this month

The field of applicants to serve on the board that oversees the state’s multibillion-dollar education reform plan has been winnowed from 29 to four, and Gov. Wes Moore (D) has until the end of this month to appoint two to the board.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board, or AIB, met virtually in a brief meeting June 29 and voted unanimously to forward the names of Isiah “Ike” Leggett, Robin Werner, Tiara Booker-Dwyer and Todd Logsdon to the governor.

A spokesperson for the governor said in a text message last week that the governor received the names that same day and has about 30 days to name the appointees to fill two vacancies on the board.

Two of the candidates are familiar: Leggett and Werner are seeking reappointment after their terms expired July 1.

Leggett, the first Black county executive in Montgomery County, has served as the Blueprint board’s chair since it first convened in November 2021. Werner, a director of teaching and learning for public schools in Talbot County, was appointed in August to replace Mara Doss, a former associate vice president for teaching, learning and student success at Prince George’s Community College.

According to summaries from the nominating committee, Booker-Dwyer served as a former chair on the Baltimore County Board of Education and worked various supervisory positions for the state departments of education in Maryland and Virginia. She currently works as a senior policy associate at Policy Studies Associates in Washington, D.C.

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Logsdon is not only the mayor of Frostburg, but he is also an Allegany County high school teacher. Logsdon, a Republican, ran unopposed for reelection in last month’s municipal election.

Each of the candidates had at least three of the six areas of expertise required for the appointment: early education through secondary policy; post-secondary education policy; teaching in public schools; strategies used by top-performing state and national education systems in the world; leading and implementing systemic change in complex organizations; and financial auditing and accounting. Logsdon was also listed as have an “other” area of expertise, although it was not specified in AIB records.

Because the Blueprint board is scheduled to meet again until July 30, the two chosen candidates could be in attendance.

The appointees would serve six-year terms through June 30, 2023, but their appointments would still be subject to approval by the Senate in the next regular legislative session. They would serve on in interim basis until then.

Of the 29 applicants, seven came from Montgomery County, six from Prince George’s, five from Baltimore City and two each from Frederick and St. Mary’s counties.

Besides geographic diversity, the nominating committee noted that 15 applicants were women, while 16 were white and 15 were Black.

Shanaysha Sauls, chair of the Blueprint nominating committee, thanked those for applying. Sauls said at last week’s meeting she doesn’t plan to seek reappointment. Her five-year term expired June 30.

“I’ve been really honored and pleased to be able to work alongside all of you,” said Sauls, who was appointed by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). “Most of us did not know one another, maybe perhaps by name … I can say that we were well served by one another, and that the state of Maryland was well served by all of you.”

Committee bylaws call for Ferguson to appoint Sauls’ replacement.

Two other nominating committee members, Rose Maria Li and Edward Root, also announced they will not seek reappointment. Both were appointed by former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) when the committee first convened in 2021.

Moore would need to appoint their replacements on the six-member committee.

“I would expect the new governor would like to appoint his own people, but it has been a real pleasure and an honor to serve … [with] wonderful colleagues,” Li said.