Harford school board approves appointment, promotion of 10 employees from within

The appointments or promotion of 10 Harford County Public Schools staff members have been approved by the board of education.

All of the positions were filled by employees already working for the school system and were promoted, Superintendent Sean Bulson told the school board members, who unanimously approved them Monday.

“As we reach out and involve the tremendous talent in our schools, in this district, we’re going to find solutions,” Bulson said. “They’re here, the talent’s here.”

The school system has the talent to address solutions for the problems it is facing, he said.

“Because of the time I’ve spent here, and I’ve said many times, when we were hiring into these positions, I knew we had the people we need to do that,” Bulson said. “And every one of those positions, to some degree or another, focuses on supporting students and continuing to grow.”

Michael O’Brien was appointed executive director of elementary instruction and performance. Renee Villareal was named executive director of elementary school instruction and performance.

O’Brien’s appointment is effective July 1 to replace Joe Schmitz. Since Angela Morton retired, Villareal has been acting in the position, which became permanent immediately.

In their positions, the executive directors are part of the superintendent’s leadership team and work on operations and reform; annual assessments of each school with the principal; curriculum development and instruction and working with the office of cultural proficiency.

Dyann Mack and Colin Carr were appointed to new positions of director of elementary school instruction and performance and director of secondary school instruction and performance, respectively, effective July 1. They will work with the executive directors to evaluate staff and support principals, Harford Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jean A. Mantegna said.

Chandra Krantz was named to fill the vacant position of supervisor of English language learners and world language programs, effective July 1.

Krantz will work with curriculum, instruction and assessment to provide instructional and administrative leadership for the programs and support to teachers, Mantegna said.

Several positions were combined into one — the others were eliminated — to create a position of supervisor of personalized learning, to which Peter Carpenter was appointed effective July 1, Mantegna said.

Carpenter will coordinate personalized learning programs for accelerated learning, alternative learning, intervention and library media programs and support to certified staff, she said.

Four people were added the principals candidate pool, including Lisa Minutoli, Amanda Rutherford and Health Skopak at the elementary school level and Jason Redman at the middle school level.

Each of the four is eligible to be assigned as principal if a need arises within three years, Mantegna said.

When a principal is needed, the superintendent can look at each candidate and make a recommendation based on the need of the school, she said.