The Harford County Council approved the appointment of Liliana Norkaitis to the Harford County Board of Education on Tuesday night, hours after County Executive Bob Cassilly submitted her nomination.

Council members Patrick Vincenti, Noland Robert, Alison Imhoff, Tony Giangiordano, James Reilly and Jessica Boyle-Tsottles voted in favor of Norkaitis’s appointment, and Council member Jacob Bennett abstained because of what he said was a pending ethics complaint regarding his council vote on Board of Education nominations since he works as a teacher with Harford County Public Schools.

Prior to the vote, council members spoke highly of Norkaitis due to her involvement on local boards and committees such as the Harford County Commission for Women, of which she is the vice chair.

Norkaitis is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park and is one of the candidates who filed to run for the District C seat on the school board in the 2026 election. Norkaitis is also a communications and outreach director in the Maryland General Assembly for Republican Del. Kathy Szeliga.

Robert acknowledged concerns residents had with Norkaitis’s age (she turns 22 on Thursday) and said that after talking to Norkaitis, she does not feel Norkaitis’s age is an issue.

“I know everyone is concerned about her age,” Robert said.  “I have met 5-year-olds who sound like they are 45 and I am not concerned about her age. I think she has prepared herself for this … I think we need to give her a chance to grow and continue growing.”

Imhoff said that since Norkaitis filed to run for the District C seat on the board of education in the 2026 elections, Norkaitis had taken time to familiarize herself with how the board functioned.

“I think she will offer a fresh perspective,” Imhoff said.

Boyle-Tsottles praised Norkaitis and said she would be voting yes due to Norkaitis’s “conservative values,” despite the board of education being a nonpartisan entity.

Norkaitis’s appointment follows the abrupt resignation of former Board of Education President, Aaron Poynton, on Jan. 8 — hours after the board voted to place Superintendent Sean Bulson on paid administrative leave due to a 911 call Bulson made in April 2024 from New Orleans, which surfaced in early January.

In the call, Bulson — who was attending a school-funded education conference with other Harford school officials — told police that a woman he had invited into his hotel room allegedly stole his wallet, two phones, an Apple watch, an iPad, and a laptop after he fell asleep around 2 a.m.

Since Poynton was an appointed member of the Board of Education, Cassilly was tasked with submitting a nomination to fill the vacancy to the Harford County Council who has final say in board appointments.

In late January, Cassilly nominated Terri Kocher, who had previously served on the board. But the council rejected Kocher’s nomination due to the lack of an application process for the vacancy.

After the council turned down Kocher’s nomination, Cassilly opened an application process and nominated Norkaitis who was present during the board of education’s brief open session, Wednesday evening.

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