Elected School Board in District 6

For the first time, residents of Baltimore County will have the chance to elect members to the Baltimore County Board of Education (BOE). In 2014, the Maryland Legislature passed a law creating a hybrid BOE. Seven members will be elected, one from each County Council District, 4 will be appointed by the Governor from a list submitted by a committee of Baltimore County residents representing numerous educational interests and one student member. Districts with more than two candidates will participate in the Primary with the top two vote getters going onto the general Election.

District 6, which includes Parkville, has two candidates and therefore no names in the primary. One candidate, Ed Kitlowski, is a retired Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) teacher who taught at Sparrows Point Middle School, Loch Raven High School and spent the last years teaching at Kenwood High School. Many of his students were residents of District 6.

Kitlowski has a long and varied teaching career. He was the Special Education Department Chairman at Sparrows Point and transferred to Loch Raven to return to full time teaching in the classroom. He coordinated foreign exchange students coming to the US for summer homestays, taught in Poland and was a member of the faculty of Project Access at Howard Community College. This program prepared students with handicapping conditions to enter two and/or four year colleges.

He has been instrumental in shaping education in BCPS, at the state level and the national level. He was in the forefront in many Special Education practices in BCPS and was part of the last Special Education audit. When the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, he initiated a letter writing campaign to President Bush asking him to include teachers in education reform legislation. His campaign got the attention of the Secretary of Education and even the president who wrote Kitlowski back. He also met with Rep. Gilchrist from the first Congressional District, himself a one time teacher. The Congressman pledged to enlist allies in reforming the law. Kitlowski would also Co-Chair the Maryland State Teachers Committee on the effects the law would have on Maryland schools. Under the law, by 2014, all schools in Maryland would be considered failing schools because of the way the law was written requiring all students to be on grade level in Math and English.

Kitlowski was part of the information gathering to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Act and recently was part of a committee that made recommendations to the National Education Association on legislation around school accountability.

The Teachers Association of Baltimore County (TABCO) sends out requests to all candidates to be part of the endorsement process and interviews those who respond. Their endorsements are not partial to one political party. Candidates for the BOE are nonpartisan and not affiliated with any one party.

Their endorsement of Kitlowski comes from his long service to BCPS and his personal experience teaching in the classroom. He knows the parents and students and the issues the school system faces. He recently had a conversation with a current sitting member of the BOE about a testing issue. "The BOE member had no idea what I was talking about yet it is an expenditure that needs to be examined." Kitlowski believes the best interest of the county residents would be to have a teacher or teachers on the BOE. "There many issues in the school system that only a teacher understands". His main platform is for the system is, "Prepare students for life, not just graduation." He stated, "We need to increase vocational options in the county. These are well paying jobs that won't leave the country. We are behind other systems in Maryland and the US. A graduation rate should not be our end result but simply the beginning."

As all the candidates, Kitlowski is out meeting people and campaigning. One way he gets his name out is by riding his motorcycle with a campaign sign on the back.