PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. – At a March 24 meeting, the Calvert County Board of Education approved Dr. Andrae Townsel as the next superintendent of the county’s school system, taking over on July 1, 2022.
Townsel will serve a four-year term, contingent on the approval of the Maryland State Superintendent of Schools.
The motion to approve Townsel was made by board member Inez Claggett and seconded by Antoine White. The motion was carried by a 4-0 vote, with board member Patrick “Pat” Nutter abstaining from a vote.
Nutter would explain that due to an injury that he recently suffered, he felt he hadn’t had adequate opportunity to meet with and review the candidates in the process.
“The world doesn’t stop because I have an injury,” Nutter said explaining why he abstained. “I’m not opposing anything, but I’m going to abstain from this vote because I’d feel better if I could have met in person with this candidate.” He would go on to say that he expects to also abstain from when the board issues the contract to Townsel.
Ray and Associates led the search efforts earlier this year to find a candidate to replace Dr. Daniel Curry as the school’s current superintendent.
Townsel is coming from Benton Harbor Area Schools in Michigan, where he was the superintendent overseeing approximately 1,600 students from six schools.
The Calvert County NAACP also offered congratulations to Townsel, as he will now become the first African-American to hold the position as superintendent of CCPS.
A biography of Townsel was released earlier this month in a press release from CCPS including the following information on him:
“Dr. Andrae Townsel earned a football scholarship to Howard University in Washington, DC. During his time at Howard, he earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate all from Howard University and began his educational career in the District of Columbia.
He had the privilege to work at every level of the educational system and excelled. He served as a student teacher, teacher, head coach (football and basketball), athletic director, dean of students, central office specialist, assistant principal, high school principal, assistant superintendent, and a current highly effective superintendent.
As the superintendent of Benton Harbor Area Schools, he successfully eliminated the budget deficit after 14 years of being in the red, increased the salary of all teachers after having their salaries frozen for over 10 years, and successfully developed a 5-year district Strategic Plan. The United Way of Southwest Michigan has highlighted him and his district as the Education Innovator of the Year in 2021.
He was nominated as the 2021 Superintendent of the Year in Michigan. He successfully navigated the pandemic, whereas the board of education gave a vote of confidence.
His district was awarded $3 million over the next 5 years to focus on and improve literacy. They were 1 out of 5 districts to receive this award through a competitive grant application process.
As an assistant superintendent in the Wayne-Westland Community School District, Dr. Townsel pioneered the work of climate, culture, and social-emotional learning. In a district of nearly 11,000 students and 20 school buildings, he hired and developed climate and culture coaches for each building and provided yearlong professional development to effectively address the disproportionality in discipline data as well as improve the overall behavior of students district-wide to ensure an increase in academic achievement.
He has a strong knowledge of school finance and showed great fiscal responsibility at all levels. He generated nearly $250k in grant funding to support the work of restorative practices and social-emotional learning (SEL).”
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Congratulations and we look forward to your continued success in Calvert County.
Affirmative action high school graduate, affirmative action scholarship, affirmative action college education, affirmative action hired, affirmative action teacher, and now affirmative action Superintendent. White privilege at it’s finest.
You and CCWAM should have beers together.
You and Biden should share his sippy cup
You do know that affirmative action works best for white women, right? And what were the credentials that qualified you and, somehow, you were overlooked? Please share. Otherwise, keep your ignorance and stupid comments at the bottom of your beer bottle where they belong.
I could not have said it better!
I wonder what their definition of successfull navigation of the pandemic means. Did he shut down schools? Did he force kids to mask? How long did he keep those practices going? They also dont go into what his “successful” 5 year plan was. I like the paying teachers more and getting the budget out of the red but im concerned with the “climate, culture, and social-emotional work.” Seems to me when people start talking like that i know the agenda and i worry about the unnecessary burden of guilt put on our children in schools.
Most building in the district closed for the end of the 2019-2020 school year. The HS was closed March 14, 2020- March 2021. There is still a mask mandate at the HS.
Affirmative action high school graduate, scholarship and college education?
He went to Howard University. I highly doubt affirmative action was in play.
You could also just say you’re a racist. That would take less typing.
Congratulations to Dr. Townsel. His record of accomplishments is really impressive, and he sounds like an excellent candidate. Especially since the plan announced at the BOE meeting last night will require teacher pay increases at a time when the county is having budgetary issues, his experience getting a district out of the red and unfreezing teacher pay will be very useful.
Thank you Kelly I feel the same way. We should give him a chance and see what he can do. Like we’ve given so many before him.
Welcome, Dr. Townsel!
Very excited to welcome him to Calvert County!
WONDERFUL!!!!
It is so exciting to see such an amazingly qualified individual selected to be the Superintendent of Calvert County Public Schools.
Welcome Dr. Andrae Townsel and may the odds ever be in your favor!
As a life long educator teaching philosophies interest me. Dr. Andrae Townsel’s philosophy seems to be one of focus and methodically building success by setting goals, reaching them and then setting bigger ones, reaching them and then going even higher. After a bit of research it seems that Dr. Townsel is a positive force of nature, and we are probably simply lucky to have him as a future leader in our community. Prediction: Dr. Townsel will eventually be on the National Education Stage.
Congratulations to Dr. Towsel. He has an exceptional record in manning our students while working closely with teachers to achieve a better educational environment. What a breath of overdue fresh air.
Working to improve better educational experience for the entire community!
They fail to leave out that they likely got a literacy grant because his district’s high school grad rate is in the toilet as well as student proficiency in reading and math across all grade levels.
https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/michigan/districts/benton-harbor-area-schools-103802
I am looking forward to meeting this accomplished, energetic, and talented man. The BOE did their job well. I hope that all those who profess to “care about the kids” will support this new superintendent and not cause unnecessary distractions that will take energy and time away from doing what’s best for the kids.
You said a lot about all he archived to this point. Yet you failed to mention the the great improvement in the teaching of the students. The improvement of reading, writing, and math abilities. Their increase in the knowledge and ability to do well on their SAT Scores. The old moneyball saying “If he is a good good hitter then why don’t he hit good” . If he is a good superintendent then why don’t the students test well? Is it because he is not and he got the job for the wrong reasons. The race to the bottom trying to put the square peg in the round hole. The students results say this man is not even close to being adequate in peformance. Sure glad I don’t have any children or grandchildren in Calvert County Schools. The county should give back all of the tax money if this is their best they can do.
This guy gonna succeed even if he fails because it’s impossible to criticize him. Just look at what happened when the two finalists were announced here. Any commentators that questioned why both finalists were black (which is a perfectly valid, fair question) were immediately attacked as racist’s! Talk about privilege!
Perhaps he’s applied for and been promoted into other jobs before he’s allowed any real results to permeate to the top. He’s only 37-38 and appears to have spent a lot of his teenage years in school. I’m sorry, but I think he doesn’t have the experience needed to lead the county but it’s too late now. I see a lot this same “career development” taking place in other sectors and more often then than not, we have to spend more time and effort clean up the mess that people like him make. They just lack life experience.
Quote “he’s spent a lot of his teenage years in school.” That is one of the dumbest statements made on this site, and there have been many made. I guess he should have graduated college by 12 to not waste those teenage years in school.
, and
Nice punctuation usage.