Hairston Says Criticism of School System Is 'Personal'

Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston said in a radio interview that he is "somewhat amused" by charges that the school system is not transparent, and that recent criticisms of his administration come from people who have personal issues with him.

Hairston made the comments this afternoon during an interview with Clarence Mitchell IV on the C4 Show on WBAL 1090 AM.

Mitchell asked Hairston about claims that the school system is not being transparent—a reference to how it has handled the release of information related to newly hired Deputy Superintendent Renee Foose.

Patch asked for the system to release Foose's salary on March 11—20 days ago. Phyllis Reese, a spokeswoman for the system, has refused to release the information without a written request even though government officials salaries are public by law and Patch was not requesting a document.

The Baltimore Sun filed a written request. In a report published earlier this month, reporter Liz Bowie said it took the school system nearly a month to provide information regarding Foose's $214,000 salary.

"I'm somewhat amused by the allegations," Hairston said in response to Mitchell's question about a lack of transparency. "People need to pause for a second and do a bit of research."

Hairston then explained that Foose was doing the job of two deputy superintendents.

"We're actually saving money," Hairston said, adding he thought the kerfuffle over how much she was being paid was a tempest in a teapot.

"It certainly generates a lot of interest when you make a lot of noise about it," Hairston said.

He did not address why the school system has been slow to release information on the salary or why it continues to deny Patch access to the salary information.

The issues regarding salaries and the expected elimination of nearly 200 teaching positions drew the ire of legislators in Annapolis.

Sen. Kathy Klausmeier and Del. John Olszewski Jr., chairs of the county's Senate and House delegations respectively, at a time when the system is considering eliminating nearly 200 teaching positions. In that same letter, they called the withholding of salary information "deeply concerning, at best."

Both asked Hairston to appear before county legislators before the session ends on April 11.

Olszewski, chairman of the delegation and a Dundalk Democrat, said today that he has been in conversations with Hairston and expects that a meeting will take place in the next 10 days.

Del. Dan Morhaim, a Democrat, released a letter today signed by himself and 13 other county delegates. The letter asks County Executive Kevin Kamenetz to use any additonal funds in the budget to retain current positions or hire new teachers.

Hairston said several times during his interview with Mitchell that current criticisms by the media, union leaders and the public is more about personally attacking him.

"It's people with a personal agenda," Hairston said. "It's people with animosity against the organization or me personally."

"I believe it's more personal than anything else," he said.