The race for the Howard County School Board has two new candidates, and another one has dropped out, bringing the total number of people running to nine.
Roger Lerner, an attorney and business adviser who lives in Ellicott City, and Peter Sola, of Columbia, are the latest candidates.
But Carmen Harman has decided not to run, according to her filing status with the Howard County Board of Elections. Sola and Harman could not be reached for comment.
“In a nutshell, what I think I offer as a School Board member is a lifetime of business and legal expertise dedicated to the interests of children,” said Lerner.
According to what he called his “positions paper,” Lerner is concerned about educational excellence for all students, improving school culture and maintaining sound oversight of school resources.
“We need to implement a supportive culture in which students stand up for each other in defeating bullying and to replace a culture of put-downs with one of support,” said Lerner in the paper.
He also discussed his concerns about textbooks.
“We need to break the stranglehold and price gougingof textbook publishers by developing and publishing some of our own materials, both through direct relationships with outside authors, and by capitalizing on talents of our own personnel,” he said.
Lerner is married to Dr. Diane McDonald, who is chief of emergency pediatrics at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. Their three children graduated from Wilde Lake High School.
His community activities include serving as a member of the School Board?s Operating Budget Review and Citizens Advisory committees and the board?s Anti-Bullying Task Force.
The other School Board candidates are Incumbents Joshua Kaufman and Patricia Gordon; and Frank Aquino, Larry Cohen, Ellen Flynn Giles, Tony Yount and Di Zou.
Candidates have until July 3 to file to run for School Board. Five seats are open in the fall election as the board expands from five to seven members based on a growing student population.
