WINCHESTER – After a two-and-a-half-hour closed session, the Frederick County School Board voted 4-3 Tuesday night to appoint John Lamanna as the school division’s interim superintendent, effective Aug. 8.
Lamanna previously served on the School Board from 2002-2019 and was board president from 2007-10 and 2016-2019. He also ran as an independent for chairman of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors in 2019, but lost to Republican Charles DeHaven Jr.
“‘I am very happy and satisfied to have the confidence of the board,'” Lamanna told The Star in a telephone conversation after the meeting. “And I’m really looking forward to work, and school starts in a few weeks. I just want to put my head down and get to work.”
School board members Michael Lake, Ellen White, Brian Hester and Bradley Comstock voted to appoint Lamanna. Board President Brandon Monk and board members Miles Adkins and Linda Martin voted against it.
Comstock praised Lamanna at the meeting, saying he would be “a friendly face and a familiar face to our town.”
“I would just like to say that we as a school division and as a community have been through a lot this year, the last two years, really and over the last few months,” he said. “And I think right now our people in this community need to know that they are supported and that we support them. We support our division from the students up. And I’ve never seen Dr. Lamanna be another what an advocate for the students and for this community. And I think he’s going to do a great job working with us as a board. And also with downtown and making sure that we continue the progress that we’ve made so far and continue working in this direction”.
Lamanna replaces former interim superintendent J. David Martin, who abruptly resigned as interim superintendent on July 19 for personal reasons after starting in the role on July 1. Martin, who was paid $18,000 a month, was appointed while the board searched for a permanent one. superintendent to succeed David Sovine, who resigned June 30 after 11 years. The school division declined to provide The Star with a copy of Martin’s resignation letter after the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request.
Monk said after the meeting that he voted against Lamanna’s appointment because “I think his past relationships with community members were difficult and I wanted to make sure we move forward.”
Adkins said he believes Lamanna is the “wrong choice” to mend fences with the Frederick County Board of Supervisors, many of whom have issues with the school budget. He noted that Lamanna has previously come to the defense of the school budget and expressed concern that tensions between the two boards could continue with Lamanna as interim superintendent.
Although Monk and Adkins voted against Lamanna’s appointment, they still said they look forward to working with him.
Lamanna will serve as interim superintendent until a permanent replacement is found. He will earn $10,000 a month, according to Monk. Monk said the school division has sent out a request for proposals for a permanent superintendent, but the process of selecting someone for the position could take four to six months.
“I think my job as interim is really to keep things steady, focused, you know, moving in the right direction, really preparing for the new superintendent,” Lamanna said.
Lamanna received her bachelor’s degree in social science and her master’s degree in counseling from the University of St. Bonaventure in Allegany, NY. She earned her doctorate from Virginia Tech in counselor education and personnel services. She worked at Timber Ridge School in Frederick County for 45 years. In 2021, he retired as the school’s executive director after serving in the position since 2007. Timber Ridge serves adolescent boys with emotional and behavioral disorders.
In other business, the board named former assistant superintendent for administration Al Orndorff as interim assistant superintendent for administration, effective Aug. 3. Orndorff had a 42-year career in Frederick County Public Schools. He was assistant superintendent for administration from 2004 until his retirement on July 1, 2021.
Vernon Bock, who succeeded Orndorff, resigned last month. Bock’s last day was July 31.
