The Harford County Board of Education tabled its vote on the removal of Melissa Hahn as vice president of the board after voting 5-4 to add the termination vote to its agenda during Monday night’s meeting.

The motion to add the vote was made at the start of the meeting by board member Carol Mueller, who voted in favor along with board members Wade Sewell, Carol Bruce and Denise Perry and student member Sasha Pazoki. Dissenting votes came from board members Diane Alvarez, Terri Kocher and Lauren Strauss and board president, Aaron Poynton.

Mueller stated during the meeting that she called for Hahn to be removed from only her leadership position — not from the board entirely — because she felt Hahn’s recent call for Superintendent Sean Bulson’s resignation was inappropriate to make in a public meeting.

“The reason why I am asking for Mrs. Hahn’s removal is because she is supposed to be board leadership and I do not feel like she is leading this board when she goes off on her own two meetings in a row to tell an employee of the board that they have to resign, a personnel matter like that should be private,” Mueller said. “You have to look at how she has been acting as a leader to see why I want to have her removed as vice president.”

Hahn, who called for the superintendent to resign after a fatal shooting last month at Joppatowne High School, attended the meeting virtually. She told The Aegis she was not at the board meeting in person because she was visiting a gravely ill relative in the hospital.

In a statement Monday night to The Aegis, Hahn said: “I’m really disappointed and disgusted that in my absence due to a family emergency — some members feel it necessary to make a motion to remove me as VP. This type of manipulative behavior is unacceptable and is exactly the type of issues that myself and several other members of the board have been dealing with since becoming a member of the board.”

Her call for Bulson’s resignation stemmed from what Hahn said was negligence following the shooting at Joppatowne High that killed 15-year-old Warren Grant last month. She accused Bulson of knowing about safety issues in the high school before the shooting.

“A child has died and this is directly due to the negligence on the part of Dr. Bulson,” Hahn said during the board’s September meeting. “Dr. Bulson failed to enforce discipline policies and procedures while knowing of their existence … and it is for that reason and many other reasons that I request that Dr. Bulson immediately resign as superintendent.”

Bruce shared similar thoughts as Mueller on Hahn’s leadership capabilities by stating that she simply does not see Hahn as her leader.

“I think when you make decisions on your own without the board’s input says to me, ‘I am not a member of the team,’ and that is my reason for voting to remove her from vice president,” Bruce said. “I think she has a right to serve on the board because she was elected, but as far as acting as my leader, no, I just don’t see that.”

Hahn was elected to the board in 2022, becoming a point of contention after receiving an endorsement from the Republican political organization Moms for Liberty and after her criticism of the school system over what was oonsidered explicit material in school libraries.

A petition for Hahn’s removal was started in March and has 582 signatures.

“As concerned members of Harford County, we are deeply disturbed by the actions and words of Melissa Hahn, a current member of our Board of Education,” read the petition, which was created by Tammy Schueler. “Our children’s education is personal to us and it is disheartening to see it being manipulated for political and religious agendas.”

Before the vote, Hahn challenged the board’s legal counsel about whether it can vote her out of her leadership position. She argued that Robert’s Rules of Order — a parliamentary procedure manual used in United States law — stated that she could not be removed because she was not subject to legal or disciplinary proceedings.

However, the board counsel and outside counsel present at the meeting said Hahn’s argument is correct only if the vote were to fully remove Hahn from the board, not just strip her of her leadership position.

The board’s legal counsel also stated that Hahn has a personal interest in the matter, which, per Robert’s Rules of Order, denies her the opportunity to vote on it.

Strauss called the motion for Hahn’s removal a “distraction” and urged Mueller to revoke her motion for the removal.

“We are a divided board. … This is a complete distraction,” Strauss said. “We are going to keep going around and around and keep removing people if this is the way we want to go. I am asking you to withdraw your motion and lets focus on the matter at hand, we have six more months left and you’re weaponizing the student vote.”

Kocher also spoke in defense of Hahn, stating that she felt Hahn is a “good leader.”

“I think Melissa has been a good leader,” Kocher said. “It is the disagreement and the division of the board that is causing this. She shares her opinions and others do, too, and that is what a board needs to do, and I think she has done that and has been a great vice president.”

Due to Hahn’s absence, Poynton made the motion to table the vote on her removal until the next board meeting.

“I do not think it is fair for anyone to be in a position where they are defending themselves and not present and at the bedside of a loved one,” Poynton said.

The motion to table passed with Alvarez, Kocher, Pazoki, Perry, Strauss, Hahn and Poynton voting in the affirmative, Bruce and Sewell opting to abstain, and Mueller being the only member to cast a dissenting vote.

If Hahn is removed from her position as vice president, the board would have 30 days to reappoint a sitting member to the position.

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