The Harford County Board of Education voted 5-4 to include in its agenda for Monday night’s meeting a vote on the removal of board member Melissa Hahn from her position as vice president.

The motion to add the vote was made at the start of the meeting by board member Carol Bruce, who voted in favor of the motion along with board members Wade Sewell, Carol Mueller, Denise Perry and student member Sasha Pazoki. Dissenting votes were Diane Alvarez, Terri Kocher, Lauren Strauss and Board President Aaron Poynton.

Hahn, who called for the system’s superintendent to resign after a fatal shooting last month at Joppatowne High School, was attending the meeting virtually. She told The Baltimore Sun she was not at the board meeting in-person because she was visiting a gravely ill relative in the hospital.

In a statement Monday night to The Sun, Hahn said: “I’m really disappointed and disgusted that in my absence due to a family emergency — some members feel it necessary to make a motion to remove me as vp. This type of manipulative behavior is unacceptable and is exactly the type of issues that myself and several other members of the board have been dealing with since becoming a member of the board.”

Hahn was elected to the board in 2022, becoming a point of contention after receiving an endorsement from the Republican political organization, Moms for Liberty, and after her criticism of the school system over explicit material in school libraries.

A petition for Hahn’s removal was started in March and currently has 582 signatures.

“As concerned members of Harford County, we are deeply disturbed by the actions and words of Melissa Hahn, a current member of our Board of Education,” read the petition, which was created by Tammy Schueler. “Our children’s education is personal to us and it is disheartening to see it being manipulated for political and religious agendas.”

Hahn recently became a point of controversy following the fatal shooting at Joppatowne High School that resulted in the death of 15-year-old Warren Grant when she called for Superintendent, Sean Bulson, to resign.

Her call for Bulson’s resignation stemmed from what Hahn said was negligence. She accused Bulson of knowing about numerous safety issues in the high school prior to the shooting.

“A child has died and this is directly due to the negligence on the part of Dr. Bulson,” Hahn said during the board’s September meeting. “Dr. Bulson failed to enforce discipline policies and procedures while knowing of their existence … and it is for that reason and many other reasons that I request that Dr. Bulson immediately resign as superintendent.”

The board will vote on Hahn’s removal from her position on the board of education during the “new business” portion of the board meeting Monday evening.