Howard County's school board violated Maryland open meeting regulations by closing some of its meetings without first voting in public to do so, according to a finding of the state's Open Meetings Compliance Board.

In a report issued this month, the compliance board said the Howard County Board of Education's practice of announcing closed meetings without first voting to close them is a violation of the state's Open Meetings Act.

“The public is entitled to observe the public body's vote to close a meeting, so the public body must be given notice of the open meeting at which the vote will be held,” wrote members of the compliance board, an independent state board.

The finding is considered advisory, and carries no penalty. Nevertheless, school system attorney Rochelle Eisenberg wrote a response to the report last week, asking the compliance board to reconsider its findings.

The review of county school board practices came at the request of Craig O'Donnell, an online journalist for The Dover (Del.) Post who questioned the school board's handling of Superintendent Renee Foose's contract renewal. O'Donnell said he advocates for open governance, and in reading coverage of Foose's contract negotiations “saw an issue there.”

The board approved a new four-year contract with Foose, 5-2, in February during an open public session. No public comment was allowed during the meeting prior to the vote. According to board member Cindy Vaillancourt, the contract included a salary increase from $250,000 to $273,000.

The board had discussed Foose's contract in previous closed sessions before the decision to approve the new pact. State open meeting guidelines note that public bodies can close meetings for personnel issues. The compliance board determined it was legal for the Howard County school board to discuss Foose's new contract behind closed doors under the provision for personnel matters.

But the compliance board said school officials should have first met in public, voted to enter a closed session, then closed the meetings. The compliance board also stated that before voting to close a meeting, school officials are obliged to prepare a statement telling citizens why they think the meeting should be closed.

“When you're talking about a contract and it's clear that the public is interested and it's a superintendent or some other highly placed figure, you can't do the whole thing in secret,” O'Donnell said.

Board of Education Chairwoman Christine O'Connor declined to comment this past week, saying it would be premature for her to comment on the compliance board's opinion before it responds to the board's request for reconsideration.

Campaign aims to ease end-of-life conversations

The Horizon Foundation is hoping to spark conversations about end-of-life wishes with the launch of its “Speak(easy)” campaign. “It should be easy to talk about the life we want to live until the very end, and to have that conversation before it's too late,” said Nikki Highsmith Vernick, president and CEO of the Horizon Foundation.

The number of adults ages 50 and older living in Howard County is projected to increase by 61 percent by 2035, more than double the growth rate of the overall population. The campaign is in partnership with The Conversation Project, a nonprofit that aims to help people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care.

—?Fatimah Waseem, Baltimore Sun Media Group

Northrop Grumman scholarship awarded

A 2016 graduate of Hammond High School has been named the Howard County winner of the 14th annual Northrop Grumman Engineering Scholars competition.

Nathan Palmer, who will attend the University of Maryland to study computer engineering, received a $10,000 merit-based scholarship in recognition of his academic achievement. He received a perfect 36 on the ACT, maintained a 4.7 weighted grade point average and is an AP Scholar.

Palmer also served as a leader of his school's robotics team and captain of his school's cross country team, and spent the last two summers on mission trips in Colorado and Spain.

Through its 2016 Engineering Scholars competition, Northrop Grumman is providing $240,000 in college scholarships to 24 high school seniors from each Maryland county and Baltimore who are interested in studying engineering, computer science, physics or math.

—?Lisa Philip, Baltimore Sun Media Group