Charles County Board of Education seeks applicant to fill District 4 vacancy

Yanelle Morley, Esquire, chairperson of the Board of Education of Charles County and the District 4 representative, said in a recorded message that the board is seeking to appoint a representative to fill a recently opened District 4 seat.

Morley described the board’s role and time commitment and urged interested residents to review application materials online and attend public meetings. "The purpose of this video is for me to share some information about what it is like to serve as a member of the Board of Education of Charles County," she said.

The board, Morley said, governs Charles County Public Schools and sets educational and fiscal policy while the superintendent runs day-to-day operations. She reported the system includes 46 schools and centers, serves more than 28,000 students and employs about 4,000 staff members. Morley said the board approves the annual budget, which she stated is $529,000,000 for fiscal 2026.

Morley outlined the board’s composition and election calendar. She said there is a 10‑member elected board plus one student member known as the Student Member of the Board (SMOB). She also described district elections as "two board members elected from each of the four Charles County commissioner districts" plus one at-large member; the transcript presents both descriptions, which are arithmetically inconsistent and were not reconciled in the message. The student member, she said, may vote on most matters but not on appeals, personnel matters, superintendent appointment/salary/evaluation, collective bargaining, capital and operating budgets, or on school closings, openings and boundaries.

Morley said members elected by district will next face the ballot in November 2026 and the at-large member’s seat is up in November 2028. She said state law enacted in February 2022 limits elected members to two terms.

She described board responsibilities and member commitments: monthly public board meetings (typically the second Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. at the Starkey Administration Building in La Plata), monthly work sessions (typically the fourth Monday at 4:30 p.m.), subcommittee work and attendance at school and community events. The board recently established four subcommittees: fiscal management, policy management, strategic planning and community engagement, she said. Morley also encouraged prospective applicants to consult the board’s website and BoardDocs for meeting dates, policies and superintendent rules and to view recordings on the district’s YouTube channel.

The message included references to local and national board organizations and to Morley’s roles with those groups; one acronym in the transcript appears inconsistent and was not clarified in the message.

Morley closed by inviting interested residents to contact her by email for more information and to consider public meetings and posted materials when deciding whether to apply.