Many residents of Timonium and Towson are upset with the County Executive. In early December, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski, Jr. announced that he was supporting a fifteen-year plan to renovate public school buildings that did not include a total replacement for Towson and Dulaney high schools. He did so even though the School Board had voted earlier, by a narrow margin, to support the rebuilding of both schools.
Jennifer Tarr, a founding member of the Friends of Dulaney, advocacy group, wrote a letter to the editors of the Baltimore Sun, in which she blasted the County Executive for changing his position on Dulaney. To many residents it appears that Olszewski lied about supporting replacing Dulaney back when he was candidate Olszewski during the 2018 primary campaign. At that time Olszewski was in a tight, tight race with Jim Brochin to be the Democratic nominee for County Executive. Ultimately Olszewski won that primary by 17 votes, and it is hard to believe that his initial support for rebuilding Dulaney did not greatly aid the victory.
State Senator Chris West was very direct in his criticism of Olszewski’s decision. “Never in my lifetime of closely observing Maryland politics have I witnessed such a shocking breach of promise by a public official,” said the senator. West and other elected officials, including councilmen Wade Kach and David Marks, issued a strong critique of the Multi-Year Improvement Plan for All Schools, a master plan created by Cannon Design, a consulting firm hired by the school system and county government. It was this consultant’s report that Olszewski decided to support rather than his earlier commitment to Towson’s and Dulaney’s parents.
So where do we go from here? Olszewski has said that if the State will allocate more funding for school construction, he could support using the additional funds to rebuild the two high schools. Posts on the Friends of Dulaney Facebook page have bought into this approach, indicating that we should lobby our delegates and senators for more money at the State level. I would advocate for a different approach, however. Why not support a candidate for county executive who will be true to his or her word in supporting new high schools? Mr. Olszewski has been given that chance and he failed. It is time to find a new executive who can be trusted.
Eric Rockel
Vice President, GTCC