The Harford County Board of Education unanimously voted Monday not to renew Superintendent Sean Bulson’s contract and also confirmed it had moved to end his current agreement early.

Board President Lauren Paige said Monday that the group voted 6-3 in a closed session last week to pursue a unilateral termination under Section 10B of Bulson’s contract rather than attempt a dismissal for cause.

Paige said a for-cause termination would have required the board to prove allegations such as immorality, misconduct in office or insubordination and would ultimately be decided by the state superintendent.

“If the state superintendent were to determine that sufficient grounds did not exist, Dr. Bulson would be fully reinstated to his position,” Paige said. “In my view, this approach could have been costly, highly distracting and would have prolonged disruption throughout our school system.”

District D representative Melissa Hahn and newly appointed member Liliana Norkaitis voted against the action. Hahn said she opposed paying the remainder of Bulson’s contract.

“I believe that we should be held accountable for our actions,” Hahn said. “I do not feel that rewarding immoral behavior with a buyout is appropriate.”

Under the unilateral termination terms of Bulson’s contract, he’ll accept “severance of the contractual relationship, the equivalent of salary and benefits remaining to be paid.”

Bulson, whose 30-day administrative leave ended Saturday, is Harford Schools’ top-paid employee, earning an annual salary of $293,219.57. His four-year contract was set to end June 30.

A month of controversy

Bulson’s termination follows a month of controversy stemming from a 911 call Bulson placed to New Orleans Police while he was on a Harford Schools-funded trip in 2024.

In the call’s recording, which surfaced in early January, Bulson told police that a woman he had invited into his hotel room allegedly stole his wallet, personal cellphone, an Apple watch, an iPad, and his school-issued laptop and cellphone after he fell asleep around 2 a.m.

Some state and local officials had called for Bulson to resign or for the school board to not renew his contract. The Harford County Board of Education voted to place Bulson on a paid 30-day administrative leave on Jan. 7, days after the call surfaced. Two separate investigations found that nothing had been stolen from Bulson and that his items were placed in the safe inside his hotel room and returned to him.

During the month Bulson was on leave, board members debated how to handle his employment. He had formally requested in November that the board renew his contract for four more years.

Once Bulson’s contract ends this summer, the district will begin the search for another superintendent through an application process. In 2018, the district released the application in March. Interviews for the position were conducted between April and May. The position then remained open until it was filled with a start date of July 1. f

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