Board invites student member into closed session, waives public comment and moves to closed session

During its Jan. 7 special open session, the Harford County Board of Education took several procedural votes: it voted to invite the student member to the closed session, it waived public comment for the meeting, and it approved entering closed session to discuss personnel and to consult legal counsel.

After the student member requested to attend the closed session as an observer, the board initially voted in favor of allowing him to join. Legal counsel and several board members pointed to Maryland Education Code Annotated provisions (cited in discussion as 3-6-A-01) that generally bar student members from participating in matters such as employee discipline unless they have been invited by an affirmative vote. To align with that statutory language, the board restated the motion using the term "invite"; the recast motion passed 6-3, formally inviting the student member to attend the closed session.

Separately, the board voted 7-3 to waive public comment for this special session; the clerk noted the student member’s vote did not count for that procedural question. The chair then identified the legal basis for closing the meeting — personnel matters and consultation with legal counsel under the Open Meetings Act — and the board approved a motion to enter closed session.

The board did not take further public actions after the votes and moved into closed session. Any substantive outcomes from the closed meeting were not disclosed in the public minutes for this session.