Maryland’s top public education official once again declined to approve the Baltimore County school board’s appointment of Verletta White as permanent superintendent.

State schools Superintendent Karen Salmon, in a letter sent Thursday to school board Chairman Edward J. Gilliss, said she appreciated “the Board’s explanations and advocacy for Ms. White’s appointment.”

“Yet, my reservations remain,” she wrote.

The county school board, in an 8-4 vote in April, offered White a four-year contract that was set to begin July 1. She is currently serving as interim superintendent, with her term ending in a month.

Salmon declined to approve her appointment last month, citing White’s recent ethics violations and the school system’s failure to conduct an audit of the way it awards contracts.

The county school board then decided to ask Salmon to reconsider her decision. And Thursday’s letter came back with the same answer.

“Personally I am disappointed with the state superintendent’s decision. I believe Mrs. White is the right person for the right job at the right time,” Gilliss said in a statement.

Salmon did say she would approve White as an interim superintendent for another year, but she added that she would “strongly urge the board to conduct a full and fair search for a permanent superintendent thereafter.”

A county school board ethics panel found that White had violated two ethics rules when she did part time consulting work for a company that represents education technology companies and failed to report it on her financial disclosure forms.

White has pledged to no longer do any consulting work and has since amended her forms.

Gilliss said he would raise the issue with the board at its June 12 meeting, “and the board will act at that time.”

liz.bowie@baltsun.com

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