New BOE candidate!!

[Anonymous]

Can anyone explain why the candidates from each voting district for BOE are selected by the voters from all districts instead of their own district? Is it determined by Maryland constitution or county law? How about county council?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why the candidates from each voting district for BOE are selected by the voters from all districts instead of their own district? Is it determined by Maryland constitution or county law? How about county council?

It's up to the General Assembly. David Moon has recently introduced legislation to address this:

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/12/13/proposal-would-change-how-montgomery-county-school-board-members-are-elected/

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Our mail just arrived, including Apple Ballot endorsements.

Julie Yang has their endorsement, rather than Scott Joftus. This is a real surprise to me. I had planned on supporting her, but maybe I should look more at Joftus? Anyone have more knowledge on why she's the Apple choice?

Because she's a former teacher and college/career counselor in MCPS.

What has Joftus done (or not done) as a current BOE member that Apple Ballot is in full support of an opponent? I know he hasn't been on BOE very long, but it sounds like he didn't align with the Union's preference somewhere...

Where have you been? You need to look up the old threads on how covid money was spent and his personal connection (search "Kid Museum").
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/50/1018735.page

I was voting for Fryar, but now that this new guy is in the ring, I'm waiting to see who the Apple Ballot endorses. MCEA is still licking their wounds over two no-confidence votes that got the hand, but I'm hoping they learned their lesson enough to stop supporting nutcases and picked mainstream folks this time around. The reason why I'm voting Apple Ballot to get as many votes as possible to swing the board over. The problem is that Silver Spring controls most of the county voting since Montgomery County residents can vote for any other Districts reps.

The current Apple Ballot is here:
https://www.mceanea.org/political-action-community-engagement-pace/apple-ballot/

Grace Rivera-Oven, District 1
Julie Yang, District 3
Valerie Coll, District 5

Assuming that the Union is picking people mainstream folks is a really big assumption you've made.

I don't follow you comment how Silver Spring controls most of the county. Aren't all Mont County residents able to vote for all seats / districts for BOE?

I didn't follow much about BOE this school year because my youngest DC is a senior and I am SO DONE with the drama known as Montgomery County Public Schools. However, I know the current (and past) BOE members have basically sucked and I'm happy to vote them out.

I had read somewhere that Silver Spring had the greatest number of voter turnout and never understood why until I did a little research.

Voting is on 7/19/2022, but Early Voting starts on the 7th.

The interesting thing is where the 14 early voting centers are:
Silver Spring (3 locations)
Wheaton
-----
Rockville (3 locations, but one is actually N. Potomac and another, the Bauer Drive Community Center, is difficult to access, imho)
Germantown
Gaithersburg
-----
Chevy Chase
Potomac
-----
Burtonsville
Sandy Spring
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Damascus
https://www.elections.maryland.gov/elections/2022/2022_Early%20Voting_Centers.pdf

Montgomery County has about 1M people in it and this is how almost 60% of the population is distributed. I marked the number of voting centers next to the cities with asterisks:
1 Germantown 90K *
2 Silver Spring 78K ***
3 Gaithersburg 66K *
4 Rockville 65K ***
5 Bethesda 62K
6 Aspen Hill 52K
7 N Bethesda 50K
8 Wheaton 50K *
9 Potomac 45K *
10 Olney 35K
https://statisticalatlas.com/county/Maryland/Montgomery-County/Population

Only 10 of the 14 early voting centers are located in populated cities, and of those, 4 of 10 are clustered by Silver Spring / Wheaton and 5 of 10 in Rockville/Gaithersburg/Germantown (with a caveat that 2/3 of the "Rockville" locations aren't really Rockville or in that populated of an area?).

You're correct that all Montgomery County residents are able to vote for all Montgomery County seats / districts for BOE. This also means that it's "mob rule / winner-takes-all". If you campaign heavily in populated areas with available early voting centers (*cough* Silver Spring *cough*), you've got a better chance of winning.

I'm voting pure Apple Ballot to get the incumbents out and just waiting on their at-large pick (but if they don't pick one I'm going with Fryar).

Thanks for your comments.

I live in the City of Rockville and will be voting by Mail and will toss my ballot in a box in Gaithersburg that I used in 2022. DH will either request a Vote by Mail ballot or go to Bohrer Park for Early Voting (still making up his mind)... or he'll just vote on the Primary day. (The Gaithersburg location isn't inconvenient and has better parking.) You're right that Silver Spring has more Early Voting locations. I had thought that was due to County Council (or whoever sets them up) wanting to give the most access to people without access to cars.

I'm still not convinced of the Apple candidates. Docca isn't running in District 1, so there isn't any incumbent for them to endorse.

I think MCEA learned their lesson when their two no-confidence votes went nowhere. Getting burned once is bad enough, but twice? At this point the only way for them to save face with the teachers who are walking is to vote out the current board.

I've never voted Apple Ballot in the past, but I figure it's the best way to pool votes to oust them. Remember that it will still be another two years before the other seats come up for re-election, so it's an uphill battle to get anything changed before then.

I figure if the crackpot incumbents can be flushed this term to stop the bleed, there's hope for the next election bringing in strong moderates who will scrutinize the budget and focus on education and teacher support. No more of this covid spending fiasco, or out of control schools, or Vegas-style educational slots.

[Anonymous]

Reminder that this is just the primary, and the top two vote-getters in each race will advance to the general election in November. I predict these candidates will advance:

At-large (no MCEA endorsement):
Silvestre*
Giandomenico

District 1 (no incumbent):
Rivera Oven#
Guan

District 3:
Joftus*
Yang#

District 5:
Wolff*
Coll#

*incumbents
#MCEA-endorsed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reminder that this is just the primary, and the top two vote-getters in each race will advance to the general election in November. I predict these candidates will advance:

At-large (no MCEA endorsement):
Silvestre*
Giandomenico

District 1 (no incumbent):
Rivera Oven#
Guan

District 3:
Joftus*
Yang#

District 5:
Wolff*
Coll#

*incumbents
#MCEA-endorsed

I'd like to know more about the at large cnaidates. My priorities are reducing the testing burden, eliminating magnet lotteries, updating old boundaries which result in overcrowded and underulitzed schools.

[Anonymous]

Incumbents are Wolff, Silvestre and Joftus, they are inept, I am not voting for them. Apple ballot has Yang, Coll and Rivera-Oven. I don’t trust MCEA so I’m not voting for them. Haven’t figured out what I’ll do for district 3, but for the others I am voting for Wells, Fryar and Iannaco-Hahn. They are prioritizing students and families. They have experience in education, mental health, law and finance and all have kids in MCPS now. Easy decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why the candidates from each voting district for BOE are selected by the voters from all districts instead of their own district? Is it determined by Maryland constitution or county law? How about county council?

The idea it to make sure candidates come from all over the county - not just Takoma Park - yet still represent the entire county. It reduces the likelihood of members getting too provincial, and encourages them to work towards a common good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Incumbents are Wolff, Silvestre and Joftus, they are inept, I am not voting for them. Apple ballot has Yang, Coll and Rivera-Oven. I don’t trust MCEA so I’m not voting for them. Haven’t figured out what I’ll do for district 3, but for the others I am voting for Wells, Fryar and Iannaco-Hahn. They are prioritizing students and families. They have experience in education, mental health, law and finance and all have kids in MCPS now. Easy decision.

+1, with a caveat. I don't necessarily disagree with your thinking. Regardless, I read somewhere that there will be a primary and only the top two candidates will appear on the ballot? If so, without MCEA support Wells and Innaco-Hahn are longshots, so we'll see what happens. I'm voting straight MCEA ballot and Fryar (unless Apple ballot endorses the new guy, then I'll switch), but not voting for any of the incumbents. If MCEA ballot loses the primaries, I'll vote for any non-incumbent at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why the candidates from each voting district for BOE are selected by the voters from all districts instead of their own district? Is it determined by Maryland constitution or county law? How about county council?

The idea it to make sure candidates come from all over the county - not just Takoma Park - yet still represent the entire county. It reduces the likelihood of members getting too provincial, and encourages them to work towards a common good.

Difficult since 3 of the 14 early voting stations are in Silver Spring and with one in Wheaton and one in Burtonsville (honorary SS burb's). Since anyone in the county can vote for anyone else's BOE rep, it won't stop unless Moon's legislation pushes through, and even then you need to wait until the next election before it has any effect. It will take years to undo this damage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why the candidates from each voting district for BOE are selected by the voters from all districts instead of their own district? Is it determined by Maryland constitution or county law? How about county council?

The idea it to make sure candidates come from all over the county - not just Takoma Park - yet still represent the entire county. It reduces the likelihood of members getting too provincial, and encourages them to work towards a common good.

Difficult since 3 of the 14 early voting stations are in Silver Spring and with one in Wheaton and one in Burtonsville (honorary SS burb's). Since anyone in the county can vote for anyone else's BOE rep, it won't stop unless Moon's legislation pushes through, and even then you need to wait until the next election before it has any effect. It will take years to undo this damage.

What's the damage? I haven't noticed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Incumbents are Wolff, Silvestre and Joftus, they are inept, I am not voting for them. Apple ballot has Yang, Coll and Rivera-Oven. I don’t trust MCEA so I’m not voting for them. Haven’t figured out what I’ll do for district 3, but for the others I am voting for Wells, Fryar and Iannaco-Hahn. They are prioritizing students and families. They have experience in education, mental health, law and finance and all have kids in MCPS now. Easy decision.

Fryar has experience doing obnoxious YouTube videos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Incumbents are Wolff, Silvestre and Joftus, they are inept, I am not voting for them. Apple ballot has Yang, Coll and Rivera-Oven. I don’t trust MCEA so I’m not voting for them. Haven’t figured out what I’ll do for district 3, but for the others I am voting for Wells, Fryar and Iannaco-Hahn. They are prioritizing students and families. They have experience in education, mental health, law and finance and all have kids in MCPS now. Easy decision.

Fryar has experience doing obnoxious YouTube videos.

If you're talking about this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDWASNqwNxw

Fryar is an attorney who spent time teaching at MCPS. He's defended IEP's against MCPS, so I'm very sure that the current MCPS administration would not be happy with an attorney on the BOE who knows where the dirty laundry sits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Incumbents are Wolff, Silvestre and Joftus, they are inept, I am not voting for them. Apple ballot has Yang, Coll and Rivera-Oven. I don’t trust MCEA so I’m not voting for them. Haven’t figured out what I’ll do for district 3, but for the others I am voting for Wells, Fryar and Iannaco-Hahn. They are prioritizing students and families. They have experience in education, mental health, law and finance and all have kids in MCPS now. Easy decision.

Fryar has experience doing obnoxious YouTube videos.

If you're talking about this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDWASNqwNxw

Fryar is an attorney who spent time teaching at MCPS. He's defended IEP's against MCPS, so I'm very sure that the current MCPS administration would not be happy with an attorney on the BOE who knows where the dirty laundry sits.

I believe he was a teacher in Connecticut, not with MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Incumbents are Wolff, Silvestre and Joftus, they are inept, I am not voting for them. Apple ballot has Yang, Coll and Rivera-Oven. I don’t trust MCEA so I’m not voting for them. Haven’t figured out what I’ll do for district 3, but for the others I am voting for Wells, Fryar and Iannaco-Hahn. They are prioritizing students and families. They have experience in education, mental health, law and finance and all have kids in MCPS now. Easy decision.

Fryar has experience doing obnoxious YouTube videos.

If you're talking about this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDWASNqwNxw

Fryar is an attorney who spent time teaching at MCPS. He's defended IEP's against MCPS, so I'm very sure that the current MCPS administration would not be happy with an attorney on the BOE who knows where the dirty laundry sits.

I believe he was a teacher in Connecticut, not with MCPS.

Yeah, he didn’t even live here until 2019, I think. And he ran for public office in Connecticut as a Republican.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why the candidates from each voting district for BOE are selected by the voters from all districts instead of their own district? Is it determined by Maryland constitution or county law? How about county council?

The idea it to make sure candidates come from all over the county - not just Takoma Park - yet still represent the entire county. It reduces the likelihood of members getting too provincial, and encourages them to work towards a common good.

...and allows lack of representation for regional viewpoints. Far from a small-d democratic ideal. To function, representative democracy must be representative, not some form of majority-tyrrany group-think.