Allen Dyer will join the Howard County Board of Education Dec. 1 as a member, but his involvement in local school issues -- much of it involving contentious litigation -- goes back a dozen years.

1996

* Dyer helps launch an e-mail register for River Hill parents.

1997

* He creates a countywide public education listserv.

2000

* In his first run for the Board of Education, Dyer makes a campaign promise to step down after four years, saying six-year terms are too long; he loses the election, but catches the attention of county lawmakers, who shorten board terms to four years beginning with the 2002 election.

* He sues the school board in November over alleged violations of the state's open meetings law.

2003

* Dyer represents a group of residents opposed to the construction of Marriotts Ridge High School, arguing the school's septic system would contaminate nearby private wells.

* He represents the school system's former chief business officer, Bruce Venter, who said he was unjustly fired because of then-Superintendent John O'Rourke's concerns over Venter's handling of the planning and construction of Marriotts Ridge High School; the case is awaiting an opinion in the Court of Special Appeals.

* He represents Ellicott City resident Melody Higgins in her lawsuit against the school board over business the suit claims was improperly conducted in a closed session.

2004

* Legal wrangling stemming from Dyer's 2000 lawsuit -- much of it centered on whether he had standing to sue the board -- spurs state Del. Elizabeth Bobo to draft a bill to grant residents broader ability to challenge violations of the state's open meetings law; the bill is signed into law in 2005 after the General Assembly overrides a veto by Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

* Dyer loses in his second run for Board of Education.

* He represents a teenager who publicly appealed his suspension, arguing he was falsely implicated in an incident at Folly Quarter Middle School in which another student drank liquor and became ill.

2005

* He represents foes of a wastewater treatment facility planned at Glenelg High School who believe the facility would foul local wells.

2006

* In his third run for Board of Education, Dyer survives the primary for the first time, but his bid ultimately ends like the first two -- in failure.

* After six years of litigation and appeals, Dyer's lawsuit is thrown out when the state's highest court denied a review of the case, thereby upholding a lower court's decision that Dyer lacked standing.

2008

* In his fourth run for the Board of Education, he places third in a six-person contest, thus winning one of the three seats being contested in the November general election.

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