On January 23, a Harford County board meeting at which time, according  to daggerpress.com, board members discussed input received over the past few weeks from staff, community, parents, guardians and students about several things like the budget, the swim programs, and Harford Glen.

NH Drama teacher Nancy Green attended and spoke at the board meeting. “I spoke for Harford County Public school teachers, I spoke for programs such as swimming, and Harford Glen and drama and the importance and value of protecting those programs, and also finding ways to balance the budget that honors our teacher contracts and protects and preserves programs that are important to our students,” Green explains.

This argument about funding programs like these in Harford County is not a new problem. “This has been going on since June (2016), the drama and the swimming (problem), so it’s been a long preparation and there are lots of art advocates who have been organizing and giving information to us so we can come together collectively so that’s been really helpful,” Green added.

A group called the Harford County Cultural Alliance formed in response to the impact board decisions were having on drama programs county-wide. “We now have a Harford County Cultural Alliance that was founded by Ryan Nicotra, who is an arts advocate and he’s come into the workshops, he does theater workshops all over, and he’s a professor…. This was the group (Harford County Cultural Alliance) that brought all of the drama people around the county together to respond to the pay to play fee,” said Green.

Another problem that was addressed was the Harford Glen field trips. “Harford Glen was also kept open, so at least in this preliminary passing of the budget, so I think what will happen next is it will go to the county and hopefully Mr. Glassman and our county council will fully fund education and all of these things that are clearly important to the people in Harford County and the students, community and families will be maintained,” Green says.

Before the meeting, Green had some help from her students, when it came to trying to persuade the board to change their ways. She and her students performed a thunderclap email, “a thunderclap is a email where everybody emails all at once on one day, and so it’s the collective action of many many voices speaking in unity for whatever issue it might be,” Green explains.

Although the board has made some decisions, there are still many more steps that have to happen before these changes can be enforced. “It’s not completely over yet. We really have to be vigilant. The board did vote to fully fund the teacher salaries and protect and preserve those programs… However, this is just a first step, now the budget goes to the county and we have to make sure that our voices are heard to our county executive, you know he fully funds education and honors the budget that the board has passed. So it’s not even close to being over. It won’t be until June that we know these things for sure,” Green concludes.