Harford County school board fires superintendent after hotel incident

The school equipment turned up in a hotel safe. The superintendent’s job was not so safe.

Sean Bulson is out as head of Harford County Public Schools after an eight-year run that ended with questions about a New Orleans hotel room, missing devices, and a 911 call placed in the middle of the night.

Why It Matters: The board terminated Bulson’s contract effective this month but will pay him through June 30 — a payout approved 6-3 in closed session last week. The district now begins an immediate search for new leadership while Deputy Superintendent Dyann Mack runs operations.

The board president, Lauren Paige, announced the decision Monday night. She said the board acted after careful review and remains focused on serving students and staff. Bulson had been on paid leave since January, when officials began calling for his resignation.

What’s Happening: Bulson earns $293,220 a year. He has been superintendent since 2018. The controversy centers on an April 2024 incident during an education conference in Louisiana.

The devices at the center of the story — phones, an iPad, a laptop, an Apple Watch — were eventually located in Bulson’s hotel room safe. But not before he reported them stolen to New Orleans Police.

Between The Lines: Bulson told police a woman had been in his room and left while he slept. When he woke, the items were gone. He searched the room, then went to a deputy superintendent’s room to borrow a school-issued phone. He used it to call his wife, then police.

After making the report, Bulson contacted the district’s IT director to disable access to the school laptop and phone. He gave a scheduled 11 a.m. presentation later that morning.

Only after the presentation did Bulson inform then-board president Aaron Poynton about the missing property. Poynton later told the inspector general’s office that Bulson believed he had been “rolled” overnight — that someone had stolen the items while he slept.