Harford’s new schools chief has one big job: Bring a divided community together

Dyann Mack took her boss’s usual seat on the dais as a packed crowd prepared to call for his ouster.

The scandal that night in January was the latest in a series of controversies that consumed Harford County Public Schools. Board members and the community had clashed over banning library books and employees with criminal records. Then-Superintendent Sean Bulson was put on administrative leave over speculation about what he did on a 2024 work trip to New Orleans.

As newly appointed acting superintendent, Mack made her first decree — one that she stands behind as she steps into the permanent job this summer.

“We need to make the noise stop,” she told the crowd. “It serves as a distraction to our work.”

Mack, a lifelong Harford resident and 30-year veteran of the school system, is determined to put the focus back on what’s happening in the classroom. To do that, the district’s first Black superintendent must unite a politically divided community, repair relationships with county officials who slashed school funding, and make every student feel valued in a rapidly diversifying school district.

“I think we can find common ground on teaching and learning,” Mack said in an interview. “If it’s not about teaching and learning, then it’s not going to be one of my top priorities.”

Not part of the plan

Leading a school system was not necessarily part of Mack’s plan. The 52-year-old had contemplated joining her husband, a former principal, in retirement — until her phone rang the night of Jan. 7.

The Joppatowne native started her career as a third-grade teacher in 1996 at Prospect Mill Elementary School in Bel Air, inspired by her late mother, a former special education teacher who used to bring Mack with her to work during the summer.

Back then, Mack’s family was one of only two nonwhite households on her street. Few of her classmates looked like her. Black people were only 8% of Harford’s population in 1980, state data shows. That figure has since doubled.

“Harford County wasn’t always a county designed for every single student,” the Joppatowne High School graduate said.

Still, Mack did well in school and made long-lasting friendships, she said. Her leadership potential emerged early on when she became a youth leader for all the African Methodist Episcopal churches in the Baltimore region.

Over 27 years, Mack worked her way up from classroom teacher to overseeing all Harford County elementary schools. Blaine Hawley, a former county principal, witnessed that rise and said Mack grew into a leader who could “build people up.”

Althea Hughes, a professor at Harford Community College, recalled how accommodating Mack was when Hughes showed up to Bel Air Elementary School in 2013 without an appointment to enroll her son, who has a disability.

“She’s humble and I feel like people who know what they have, who know that they’re excellent at their job, don’t have to brag,” Hughes said. “The results do all the talking.”

Mack became deputy superintendent last fall, overseeing student services and curriculum departments. She was only a few months into the job when the school board chair asked her to take Bulson’s place on a temporary basis.

She already had an advanced leadership degree, a necessity for any superintendent, in case an opportunity arose. Still, “I certainly wasn’t thinking that I’d be a superintendent necessarily here,” she said.

By May, she had a permanent job to study for.

‘Rough waters’

Bulson was fired in February, and seven board members favored Mack over Abingdon Elementary School Principal Stacey Gerringer to take his place. In May, three members voted against the decision to hire Mack for the school system’s top job; one of the dissenters accused other board members of being manipulated during the selection process.

But the audience gave Mack a standing ovation.

“When they stood up, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no matter what we do next, I have the support of the community,” said Mack, who is earning a $283,000 salary.

One of her supporters is Chris Cook, principal of Homestead-Wakefield Elementary School, who remembered how Mack would fight for principals when she was the executive director of elementary schools. Her biggest battle now, he said, is the school budget.

“A calm sea never makes a skillful sailor,” he said. “Dyann has proven that she can be the captain of the ship when you’re going through very, very rough waters.”

The budget was a point of contention between Bulson and County Executive Bob Cassilly every year after Cassilly took office in 2022. The two would publicly fight over school spending via press releases.

Cassilly, now running for his second term, is a consistent critic of the public schools. Mack said she meets with him regularly to advocate for school funding.

“Mr. Cassilly’s role is to make sure ...” she said before hesitating. “I’m not going to speak for what Mr. Cassilly’s role is.”

Cassilly told The Banner in an email that he hopes he and Mack can develop a strong working relationship and put money where it belongs: “on students and teachers in the classroom.”

But Mack and Cassilly are already battling over the budget, which came up $15 million short in May. In a June 2 press release, Mack blamed Cassilly for the gap.

The next day, Cassilly released a statement calling on the school board to respond to an accusation that the school district wasted nearly $380,000 on conferences for central office staff. School board President Lauren Paige fired back, calling Cassilly’s message distracting, misleading and politically motivated.

The board approved a balanced budget on June 29, cutting clerical staff, a few teaching positions and middle school sports.

Changing the narrative

Sitting at a cafeteria table inside Harford Technical High School, Mack wiped away tears as she called her promotion history-making. She’s the first Black person and the first lifelong Harford resident to hold the role.

“There are students that can come from any part of our county and do anything they want to do,” she said.

The school district is far more diverse than it was when Mack was growing up. More than half the students at Joppatowne High, her alma mater, are Black.

Mack wants to make every student feel seen, valued and heard.

In her short time in the top job, Mack created the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, giving students more opportunities to share their ideas. Casual conversations with high schoolers revealed their passion about mental health and school safety, Mack said, and she realized that students can help reinforce the messages school leaders share on those topics.

She’s also intent on finding out what’s keeping test scores low for students with disabilities and those living in poverty, and on bringing more advanced classes to high-performing students. For those who want to enlist in the military, Mack, whose husband served in Iraq in 2004, wants to demystify the process of applying to a service academy.

Everyone’s focus should be on students, she said, not on the drama that consumed much of last school year. Mack wants the community to focus on students’ hard work and successes instead of narratives from social media.

“I wanted to be part of making Harford County stronger,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of rewriting the headline for our students and for our community and for our families, because they deserve it.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.