Parents, residents ask school board member to resign

Friday, April 27, 2007

Parents, residents ask school board member to resign

by Dennis Carter | Staff Writer

E-mail this article \ Print this article

Some parents and activists asked at-large member Nathaniel B. Thomas to resign, four days after the Prince George’s County school board launched an investigation into allegations that he took a student to an education conference on the West Coast.

Five people spoke on the investigation at Thursday’s public comment session at the regular school board meeting in Upper Marlboro.

Jerry McLaurin, a member of People for Change in Prince George’s County, a citizen action group established last fall, told Thomas he should resign to guard the board against public scrutiny and embarrassment.

‘‘You should step down, Nate, because this county has been through enough pain and heartache in [recent years],” said McLaurin, who supported Thomas’ campaign last year.

Parent and unsuccessful school board candidate Jacques Chevalier, also criticized Thomas.

‘‘This trip raises so many questions that we the people must have answers ...” he said.

Fran Green, Thomas’ teacher at Suitland High School, supported the board member.

‘‘His warmth of personality, his sincerity and his fervor for improving schools and education stimulated others to act [as a student at Suitland] as it does now,” Green said. She added county residents should withhold judgement until the investigation is completed. ‘‘Let’s let [the investigation] run its course before we rush to judgement.”

Schools spokesman John White said the school system found out about the incident when the student’s parents called the school board offices asking where their son was, after the Prince George’s officials left for San Francisco April 12 to attend the annual National School Board Association conference. The student was immediately flown back home, arriving April 13, White said.

Thomas, 26, who acknowledged several speakers with head nods and quick smiles, left immediately after the board meeting adjourned, avoiding media requests for an interview.

Board Chairman Owen Johnson revealed the vote to conduct an independent investigation was not unanimous. At-large member Donna Hathaway Beck voted against the measure and Linda Thomas (Dist. 4) abstained from the vote.

At-large board member Verjeana Jacobs said absorbing the criticism and calls for resignation were just part of the job of a school board member.

‘‘We’re subjected to whatever the public wants to say to us,” she said. ‘‘We’re public officials.”

The investigation, headed by independent counsel Timothy Maloney, will wrap up late next week.