Maryland State Board of Education

The State Board of Education is the voice of the public in its role as policy maker for Maryland's public schools, public libraries, and vocational rehabilitation services.

It solicits the views of interested groups and the public at large on all important issues. The State Board is a 12-member body appointed by the governor. Members bring to their task a wide range of professional and civic experience. Members serve staggered four-year terms and may serve two full terms. A student member serves a one-year term.

The state superintendent of schools is chosen by the Board for a four-year, renewable term and acts as its secretary-treasurer. She does not have a vote but does have an advisory role and is the administrative head of the State Department of Education.

The Board sets the state's education policies and standards for pre-kindergarten through high school and for Maryland's public libraries, juvenile services education and vocational rehabilitation services. It passes regulations that have the force of law and is empowered to interpret the true meaning and intent of the law. It also reviews and approves three annual budgets (the Department of Education headquarters budget, the state aid to local education budget, and state-aided institutions budget) before they're passed on to the governor's office for approval or revision and then to the General Assembly for final action. The Board is also required to decide all controversies brought before it that arise under the law. Traditionally, however, the Board tempers its considerable legal power with respect for the principle of local control of schools. Each of Maryland's 24 school systems has its own board of education.

Dr. Charlene M. Dukes, (President) is the president of Prince George's Community College and has twenty-seven years of progressive leadership experience and administrative responsibility in higher education. Dr. Dukes has served as State Board vice president for three years and represents the Board on the Governor's P-20 Council. She previously served on the Task Force to Study How to Improve Financial Literacy. From 2002 through 2006, she served on the Prince George's County Board of Education and chaired the Student Support, Student Appeals, and Personnel Committees. In addition she holds membership in a variety of professional organizations, including the National Council on Student Development, an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges; the Association of American Colleges and Universities; the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators; the Council of Law in Higher Education; and the Maryland Network, an affiliate of the Office of Women in Higher Education/American Council on Education.

She has participated in the Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by the League for Innovation, Women in Leadership sponsored by the Office of Women in Higher Education/American Council on Education, and the National Leadership Seminar sponsored the Association of Community College Trustees.

Dr. Dukes has a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education with an English concentration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Master's and Doctorate in Administrative and Policy Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Mary Kay Finan, (Vice President) is a Professor Emeritus of Frostburg State University where she was on the Education faculty from 1991 - 2010.  She was the Coordinator of the Elementary and Early Childhood programs and taught the Elementary Science Curriculum, Methods, and Assessment course and the Leadership Seminar.  Dr. Finan taught elementary school for 13 years in Allegany County before joining the faculty at Frostburg.  She received her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from Loyola College, a master's degree in Reading from Frostburg State University, and earned a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland.  Dr. Finan is a program reviewer and auditor for the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) and a member of the Board of Examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).  She is also a member of the Archdiocese of Baltimore Child Abuse Review Board and the Allegany County League for Crippled Children Board.

James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr., is the former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of WGL Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Washington Gas. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Washington Gas, the natural gas utility serving over 1,000,000 customers in the Washington metropolitan area and surrounding region. During his tenure at WGL Mr. DeGraffenreidt provided leadership for the energy industry as well as important community institutions. In addition to serving on the boards of the Walters Art Museum and the Maryland Science Center, Mr. DeGraffenreidt completed terms as  Chairman of the American Gas Association and Co-Chair of the Alliance to Save Energy during over a decade of service on each of those boards.

Mr. DeGraffenreidt has remained committed to industry leadership as well as community service. He currently serves on the boards of Harbor Bankshares Corporation, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, and Vectren Corporation.

Mr. DeGraffenreidt received the degrees of Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Columbia University in 1978 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College in 1974. He is married with four children and resides in Baltimore City.

Linda Eberhart retired in 2012 following an extensive education career that included 42 years working with students and teachers in Baltimore City Public Schools.  She was an elementary classroom teacher for 37 years and was selected as the 2002 Maryland Teacher of the Year.  Immediately after that experience, Linda continued meeting with teachers in her classroom monthly after school and formed one of the first Professional Learning Communities in the country.  This group of dedicated educators grew and now includes 1500 teachers in 80 content and grade levels that continue to meet each month to discuss ways to improve instruction and support for students. 

Ms. Eberhart and her colleagues presented at national conferences including the ASCD, Education Trust, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Goal Setting Conference on Education Standards, and the National Business Roundtable to share strategies and methods that they used to eliminate the achievement gap at their school.  Her classroom and students were featured on national television news shows and in local and state newspapers.

She has served on numerous boards and work groups including the Maryland Professional Standards and Teachers' Advisory Board, Vice-President of the Baltimore Teacher's Union, and the Governor's STEM Task Force (Investing in STEM to Secure Maryland's Future).  She currently serves on the Johns Hopkins STEM NSF National Advisory Panel and Aspen Institute Mathematics Advisory Board.

Ms. Eberhart received her undergraduate degree from Towson University and her master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.  She is a life-long resident of Baltimore City.

Dr. S. James Gates, Jr. is the John S. Toll Professor of Physics, Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland , College Park . Dr. Gates received two Bachelors of Science degrees, in mathematics and physics, as well as his PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also completed postgraduate studies at both Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (CalTech).

Dr. Gates is the author on over 200 scientific publications, including the book L'arte della Fisica (The Art of Physics) released in 2006. His career also includes numbers of appearances in video science documents, such as Superstring Theory: The DNA of Reality, a popular-level DVD series, also released in 2006. Dr. Gates has delivered many public addresses on topics at the boundary of education, diversity, science, culture, and religion, always in the effort to inform the public about his field of theoretical physics.

Since 1972, Dr. Gates has continuously taught science or mathematics at the university level at CalTech, Howard University, MIT, Gustavus Adolphus College, and the University of Maryland . He has also supervised a number of research internships for high school students. In the spring of 2009, he was appointed to the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) and serves as co-chair of its working group on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) preeminence for the nation. Additionally, Dr. Gates holds fellowship status in the National Society of Black Physicists, the American Physics Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (South Africa). Dr. Gates resides in Prince George's County.

Luisa Montero-Diaz is the Director of the Maryland Division of the Latin American Youth Center, a youth development organization serving minority and immigrant youth by providing comprehensive, culturally sensitive programs in education, employment, and social services. She oversees three sites in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, which assist over 1000 young people annually. Ms. Montero-Diaz is a member of the Governor's Workforce Investment Board and Vice President of the Human Services Coalition of Prince George's County. She has over twenty-five years of experience working on a variety of local, national and international programs, including with the District of Columbia Government's Executive Office of the Mayor, the National Grants Partnership, and USAID where she was Program Director for an international development project providing training to adults in Central America. She began her career as a speech/language therapist for Prince George's County Public Schools serving elementary/middle school students, and worked as a vocational rehabilitation trainer focusing on adults with developmental disabilities. She served as a special educator and trainer in the US Peace Corps. Ms. Montero-Diaz earned a B.S. from Appalachian State University and an M.S. from the University of Maryland. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland Rawlings Fellowship. She has a son in the Montgomery County Public School System and lives in Takoma Park.

Sayed Naved is the President, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Banyan Technology Solutions, an Information Technology consulting company based in Rockville, MD. Prior to starting his own company, Mr. Naved worked in leadership roles for Fortune 500 corporations delivering Information Technology solutions to the US Federal Government.

Mr. Naved is a community activist and is actively involved in programs to enhance the education of disadvantaged children. He is a member of the Steering Committee of a non-profit organization that provides subsistence, scholarship and financial aid to over 450 school age children and college students in India. He serves on the Board of many Maryland based non-profit organizations and he is committed to bringing industry best practices to the non-profit sector.

Mr. Naved obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, India and Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park. He is married with two children and resides in Montgomery County.

Madhu Sidhu is the Executive Director and Program Development Manager for Character Counts! Kent County, a non-profit organization active in character education. For the past 20 years, as a parent, she has devoted her life to education and promoting constructive parent involvement therein. She has been actively involved in the Maryland PTA, both as a board member and as chair of its Curriculum and Instruction committee. She served as the president of the County Council of PTAs, high school PTSA, middle school PTA, and as vice president of the elementary school PTA. She has been awarded life-time membership by Maryland PTA.

Mrs. Sidhu served on School Improvement Teams in schools at all three levels. Currently she is a member of her school district's STEM steering committee and continues to serve on the boards and committees of other local organizations that promote children's issues and programs.

Mrs. Sidhu is married, has two children and resides in Chestertown, Kent County. She was recognized as the 1981 Volunteer of the Year in Centre County, Pennsylvania and recently as the Person of the Year by her county's only radio station.

Mrs. Sidhu graduated from SNDT Women's University in Bombay, India with a degree in Sociology and Psychology and from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with a special major in Information Science and Library Science.

Guffrie M. Smith, Jr. is a retired educator with a diverse career including 33.5 years with Calvert County Public Schools (1964 – 1975 and 1981-2004) and 6.5 years with the Maryland State Department of Education (1975-1981). In Calvert County , he served as a teacher, vice principal, principal, supervisor, coordinator of Healthy Families, director of curriculum/instruction and coordinator of a resource center. With the State, he served as specialist in migrant education, specialist in Title I and Migrant Branch Chief. Throughout his career, Guffrie has served on regional and statewide boards and committees including the State's Professional Standards and Teacher Education Board, social studies curriculum writing and assessment teams and the Multicultural Education Task Force.

Mr. Smith is active in the community with the Calvert Crusade for Children, Calvert Alliance Against Substance Abuse, Christmas in April, Kiwanis Club of Calvert, Calvert County Historical Society and Old Walville School Restoration Committee. In 1988, Guffrie was appointed to a local bank board; in 2003, he was honored as King of Calvert's United Way Mardi Gras; the Maryland State Teachers Association granted him their Martin Luther King Community Award; and in 2009, Guffrie was awarded the Louis L. Goldstein Award by Calvert's Democratic Central Committee.

Mr. Smith is a graduate of St. Mary's County Public Schools and earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees from Bowie State University. He has participated in post graduate studies at the University of Maryland and Nova University. He is married, has two daughters and resides in Calvert County.

Donna Hill Staton's diverse legal career includes nearly a decade of service as Maryland's Deputy Attorney General (1997-2006).  She also served as an Associate Judge on the Circuit Court for Howard County, becoming the County's first African-American trial judge and the second African-American woman to serve on any Maryland circuit court. Before joining the bench, Ms. Staton was a litigation partner with Piper & Marbury, LLP (DLA Piper). She currently consults on various projects with the University of Maryland School of Law, where she is an adjunct professor.

Ms. Staton's long history of involvement with youth development initiatives includes coordinating attorney-mentoring programs with Baltimore City schools, the High School Mock Trial Program and pro bono legal representation of children in need of assistance. In 2000, she was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women by the Daily Record and has been recognized as a Woman of Achievement in Maryland History.

Ms. Staton is a graduate of Howard County public schools and earned degrees from Princeton University (A.B. 1979) and The George Washington University (J.D. 1982).  She resides in Howard County.

Ms. Ebehireme (Ebe) Inegbenebor, Student Member, is currently a senior at New Town High School in Baltimore County. She is the second Student Member on the State Board from Baltimore County since the position was created. Currently, she is president of the National Honor Society and is actively involved in the Maryland Association of Student Councils.

The Maryland State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, color, creed, gender identity and expression, genetic information, marital status, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation in matters affecting employment or in providing access to programs.