What was expected to be a drama-filled moment for the Board of Education Tuesday night, actually proceeded in a thoroughly uneventful fashion. 

With a quiet flurry of politeness, solidarity and jovial admiration, the Board re-elected Roberta S. Wise and Donald M. Wade as the 2008 Vice-Chairman and Chairman, respectively.  The Board elects its leadership from among the current board members at the start of each new calendar year.

Members spent 10 to 15 minutes offering praise for Wise and Wade’s efforts on behalf of Charles County Public Schools.  Following the comments by most of the members, the Board ratified the vote and continued with the rest of the evening’s business. 

Wade is a three-term Board member and was first elected in 1998. He is a lifetime resident of Charles County and has served as Thomas Stone High School SAC president. He also helped bring the JROTC program to Charles County. Col. Wade spent 30 years on active duty and was a professor of aerospace studies at three universities. He was a teacher, a department chairperson and a faculty advisor to 21 JROTC units in Prince George's County before retiring in 2006. He was a member of the Charles County Board of Zoning Appeals, and is a distinguished graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park ROTC program and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.

Wise is a first-term Board member, first elected in November 2006. She is a retired Charles County Public Schools teacher with 34 years of experience. A former Charles County Public Schools Teacher of the Year, she also received the Washington Post Agnes Meyer award for outstanding teachers in 1991. For most of her career, she served as a mathematics teacher at Henry E. Lackey High School. She was a coordinator of the Educational Partnership Team and a math resource teacher before retiring in 1999. Mrs. Wise has been a member of the Charles County Planning Commission for six years and served as the vice chairperson for the last three years.

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