Incumbent Ashley “Ash” Esposito took an early lead in the Baltimore City school board race Tuesday night, with challenger Domonique A. Flowers holding a narrow lead over fellow commissioner Kwame’ Jamal Kenyatta-Bey.
Early voting, mail-in ballots and several dozen precincts reporting put challenger Kevin W. Parson in position to take the fourth spot on November’s ballot.
Three other candidates are also vying for two spots on the 12-member Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners.
Esposito is endorsed by the teacher’s union and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. Esposito, who spent time in foster care, said on her campaign website that her primary focus is on kids with high dropout rates or low graduation rates. She is openly neurodivergent and has a child in Baltimore City Public Schools.
Kenyatta-Bey is a graduate of city schools and Morgan State University. He has over three decades of experience as an educator in the school system. He’s also a cellist and theater director who is passionate about the arts.
Flowers is an attorney and adjunct professor who spent over a decade working with Baltimore students as a substitute teacher and in after-school programs. A former Maryland PTA board member, Flowers is a father of two with a 5-year-old son at Thomas Johnson Elementary/Middle School. He has also represented students in IEP and 504 meetings as a special education attorney.
Parson is a former English teacher and principal who helped open a charter school. He spent 12 years in Democratic politics. He works as the director of student support at a media focused charter school in Washington, D.C.
The primary election narrows the field in this nonpartisan race from seven to four candidates, who will face off for the two at-large seats in November. Commissioners serve four-year terms.
The other nine commissioners are appointed by the mayor, and a student member is elected annually by fellow high schoolers.
School board commissioners set districtwide education policy, hire the CEO and approve the school system’s budget. Newcomers will work alongside incoming CEO Jermaine Dawson, who will lead a large school system for the first time starting July 1. He’s laser-focused on improving student test scores, which have been rising in Baltimore for years but still lag behind the rest of the state.
In the coming months, commissioners will face controversial budget decisions, requiring them to balance increased costs, a new spending formula for charter schools and enrollment declines.
They’ll also likely need to close schools, an emotional issue that arose frequently at a candidate town hall and one that inspired candidate Jamar Day to run for a spot on the board. Both he and Esposito have called for a moratorium on school closures.
Also competing for the two elected seats are:
- Day is a “former teacher, dean and lifelong community organizer,” according to his campaign website, and he currently works in the Maryland Department of General Services. He ran partly because the school board voted to shutter the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys. He supports public performance evaluations of the district’s new CEO and teachers’ right to strike.
- Glenn J. Schatz said kids like his own, who attend Baltimore public schools, “deserve basics that work: a safe ride to school, a building that isn’t making them sick, and something to do after the bell rings.” He’s a former Navy officer who leads a team conducting community health screenings in medically underserved communities. He supports a yellow bus pilot program to help get kids to school on time.
- Brian Michael Robertson is the lone school board candidate who identifies as a Republican. He’s a former Baltimore City Public Schools student and teacher who works as an electrical engineer, a professional saxophonist and an elder at his church. He has committed to replying to any concern sent his way within 72 hours and publicly posting “plain-language” summaries of every school board meeting.
This story will be updated.
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