Unelected Delegate Proposes Stupid Bill
Reid Novotny's new to Annapolis, but already embracing attention-seeking behavior instead of leading
An unelected member of the Maryland House of Delegates is proposing a pointless bill dealing with local education policy.
Delegate Reid Novotny is proposing that will in his words “eliminate gridlock in the school board”.
What the bill actually does is strip the authority of the student members of a Board of Education to cast a deciding vote on any issue before the Board of Education.
With that said, I am deeply saddened by the gridlock within the Howard County School Board with respect to deciding on virtual, hybrid, or in person school.
To give back the decisional authority vested into the School Board by the voters of this county, I have introduced House Bill 1789 to ensure that a Student Member of the Board may not be the deciding vote on any issue.
This will not remove the Student Member of the board’s ability to vote and will allow the elected school board members to work on behalf of the students in all our great counties in Maryland.
Paradoxically in a 2018 Red Maryland candidate survey, Novotny said “We need to reduce the political involvement within the school system.” Yet here he is, politically involving himself with the school system.
The entire bill is practically pointless, but it gives the middle finger to student leaders not just in Howard County, but in every county that has a student board member. Student board members in many counties across the state are integral parts of their local Boards of Education. They provide a student perspective that older, elected Board Members may not totally grasp. Suggesting that a Student Member cannot be the deciding vote on an issue basically neuters the ability of the Student Member to do anything to influence policy.
Novotny’s bill is actually worse than removing the Student Member; instead of eliminating the member entirely, Novotny is suggesting that the Student Member’s opinion should only count when their opinion doesn’t mean anything. How patronizing.
For reasons that are completely illogical, the Maryland Republican Party is promoting this nonsense on their Facebook Page.
Of course what this is really about is not “Gridlock Reduction” but Novotny kissing-up to certain groups of parents in Howard County who want the student member stripped of their power, some of whom have been bullying the County Board’s student member.
Probably not the best idea for Novotny, the new kid on the block, to be doing the bidding of online bullies but he’s all-in on it anyway.
Novotny was sworn in last week as a replacement for Delegate Warren Miller. Novotny was the hand-picked choice by the liberal Republican Miller to fill the vacancy. He was selected by both the Carroll and Howard County Central Committees to fill the vacancy.
Ironically nobody has elected Reid Novotny to anything, but he wraps himself in the idea that only elected members of the Board of Education should get to decide policy. The Student Board Members more legitimacy to make decisions than Novotny; they at least were selected by an elected member of their peers instead of being gifted the seat by a long-standing politician and rubberstamped by two Central Committees that gave little consideration to any other candidate.
Reid Novotny’s proposed House Bill 1789 is asinine and shows a complete lack of judgment. Instead of focusing on issues that really matter in Annapolis, he inside has decided to focus on a picayune battle to grab himself some more media attention.
Novotny and his bill should be laughed out of the House of Delegates.