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The Bellarion

The Bellarion

The Bellarion

Life on the Board of Education: Change Your Perception With Me

First, some necessary background information.  My name is Ben Barsam; I am a senior at Bel Air High School, and I am the Student Member on the Harford County Board of Education for the 2013-2014 school year.  I identified myself as a student before I identified myself as a board member because I am a student.  I walk the halls of Bel Air High School every day, just like you.  I sit in class, just like you.   I go home and do homework, just like you.  I play sports and participate in clubs, just like you.  I have to pay an activity fee, just like you.  You and I are extremely similar.  The reason I want to establish this fact at the beginning of this piece is because I want you to know that you can trust what I have to say.  I don’t deem you unworthy of information and I have no secret agenda.  I have no reason to withhold anything.  You don’t have to take what I say with a grain of salt because I can be completely honest with you and intend to do so.

As recently as the end of my sophomore year, I was fed up with the Board of Education.  I had just been elected president of the SGA, and as the new president, I felt that it was my duty to voice student concerns at the Board meeting in June of 2012.  The speech I wrote was in response to a teacher salary freeze adopted at the previous meeting, and to be honest, it was downright nasty.  I wish that I still had it, so that I could better illustrate the contrast between my attitude then and my attitude now.  I was very much anti-Board. I didn’t understand why they were going out of their way to harm students.

In December of 2012, I was elected SMOB (Student Member on the Board) for the next school year.  The election was an intensive process, capped by giving a speech and participating in a question and answer session in front of delegations from every student government in the county (the HCRASC… Ask an SGA person what it stands for).  I started shadowing Panashe Mutumbo, a Patterson Mill senior and last year’s SMOB, and meeting the board members.  They were very pleasant people, so immediately, my perception started to shift.  How could such pleasant people be so evil?

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I started talking to the board members after meetings and getting to know them better.  Then I started watching the meetings unfold with fresh eyes.  And when I did that, I came to the undeniable conclusion that these people are not evil.  The people who sit on that dais every second and fourth Monday go above and beyond their call of duty as citizens to try to make Harford County Public Schools a better place to grow for the 38,000 students in the system.  And usually, in the long run, they do a good job.  There are often short term struggles, but we always come out stronger as a school system.  I promise; every decision that has been made at the A.A. Roberty building has been designed to impact students positively, even if at the cost of some hardship.  No decision is made with malice.  I will argue that with anyone.  Those 9 adults that I sit beside at board meetings volunteer their time because they want to make a difference in the lives of students.  They care about the future.  They care about me and about you.  That is a very difficult fact for students (including myself at one point) to come to terms with.  But it’s true.

After shadowing Panashe (a great mentor and a good friend) for 7 months, it was my turn.  I was sworn in on July 29th, 2013.  There were approximately  150 people in the A.A. Roberty building, all upset about one or more of the decisions that were made at the previous meeting.  These were the same people who had been speaking at board meetings for months, telling the board how terrible their lives are as a result of board decisions.  These people were irate, irrational, and senseless.  I had grown less and less tolerant of their ignorance as the months had drawn on.  But these people stood up and clapped for me when I took my seat at the dais.  And after the meeting, many of them came up to congratulate me and tell me some of their story.  And as more and more of them shook my hand and introduced themselves, I started to realize that these people aren’t evil either.  They just want what’s best for their children, or for their siblings and friends.  And I want that too, for my siblings and friends.  I was able to identify with not just the evil Board of Education, but also the irrational members of the public.  The citizens of Harford County are good, too.  That was the second difficult fact to come to terms with.  And it’s true.

I feel that attending County Council meetings is a logical extension of my role as SMOB.  I never speak; I’ve only introduced myself to the Council members once, but I like being there.  Keep in mind, the Board of Education has no funding authority.  All of the money that HCPS receives is requested of the County Government by the Board of Education.  And for that reason, many people blame the County Executive and the County Council for the financial struggles that the Board of Education currently has to deal with.  I am not going to give my opinion on this very sensitive political issue.  But I will say this: Sitting at the council meetings, listening to the discussion, one thing jumps out at me.  The members of the County Council want what’s best for Harford County.  They want to represent and serve their constituent base.  That’s the same thing the Board of Education wants to do. The same thing I want to do.  The same thing SGA president Dan Forrester wants to do.  The same thing BADC president Reed Kafer wants to; the same thing Varsity Club president Caroline Lozzi wants to do.  It’s the same thing that any fall sports team captain, or club officer, or church-goer wants to do.  They all want the best for their people.  None of them are evil.  This third fact is very difficult to grasp, even for many adults.  But yes, it’s true.

I haven’t offered any revolutionary thought in this editorial.  But I was tasked with telling what life on the Board is like, and this is it.  My perception of government has been fundamentally changed.  It has come at the cost of some blunders, some hard feelings, and plenty of confusion, but now I see clearly.  So I invite you to change your perception with me.  The leaders in this county want what is best for you.  If you think about local politics with this premise in mind, you will see them differently, and I think we will make a step in the right direction towards a better Harford County.