School board - who to vote for

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Dawn is the lady who would show up at BOE meetings and scream while wearing a mesh mask, right? Once I saw she had bragged about wearing a mesh mask that looked opaque, I knew she cared more about herself than the community.

She was!!! She also was covered by The Daily Show for bashing teachers! STAY FAR AWAY FROM HER PLEASE!!!!

I hope she runs for BOE position. It will help bring diversity of thoughts and ideas to the table compared to what we have today. Some may not like it. Just a thought

You hope she runs???? You won’t be voting for her or anyone else. You flunk civics.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I have always use the Apple ballot as a voting guide. I always thought they had the best in mind for our kids. These last couple of years have made me wonder what their priorities are. This year I will also use the Apple voting ballot as a guide of who not to vote for.

However it leaves me in a lurch because I don’t know who to vote for. I checked out the moderately Montgomery guide and although I like a lot of his recommendations I am not comfortable with his recommendations for Board of Education namely Dawn IH. I suppose it will be a process of elimination by using the Apple and moderately guide as to who not to vote for which leaves me with hopefully good candidates. This year is tough for me.

I would look a bit deeper than just going off the endorsements. Bethesda magazine has some Q&As, start there. FWIW, I know a few people who know Valerie Coll personally and have great things to say about her. I also like that she’s a recently retired ES teacher, I think that type of perspective is currently missing from the BOE.

I think her wealth of knowledge at the elementary level will be great for parents with students in that age group. She seems like a great candidate.

Is she the restorative justice advocate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always use the Apple ballot as a voting guide. I always thought they had the best in mind for our kids. These last couple of years have made me wonder what their priorities are. This year I will also use the Apple voting ballot as a guide of who not to vote for.

However it leaves me in a lurch because I don’t know who to vote for. I checked out the moderately Montgomery guide and although I like a lot of his recommendations I am not comfortable with his recommendations for Board of Education namely Dawn IH. I suppose it will be a process of elimination by using the Apple and moderately guide as to who not to vote for which leaves me with hopefully good candidates. This year is tough for me.

I would look a bit deeper than just going off the endorsements. Bethesda magazine has some Q&As, start there. FWIW, I know a few people who know Valerie Coll personally and have great things to say about her. I also like that she’s a recently retired ES teacher, I think that type of perspective is currently missing from the BOE.

I think her wealth of knowledge at the elementary level will be great for parents with students in that age group. She seems like a great candidate.

Is she the restorative justice advocate?

She seems very active on her FB page? That would be a great question to ask her if that is a concern. But the league of women voters is where I get my summaries...I didn't see anything mentioned..but I appreciate her talking points.

https://assets.nationbuilder.com/lwvmc/pages/659/attachments/original/1655250608/VG_Primary22_hyperlinks_web_3.pdf?1655250608

[Anonymous]

I'm voting straight Apple Ballot +Fryar. Fryar did make a mistake on his in-school position, but I think he's getting educated that covid is still a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm voting straight Apple Ballot +Fryar. Fryar did make a mistake on his in-school position, but I think he's getting educated that covid is still a thing.

Apple Ballot + Giandomenico would be a more sensible combination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm voting straight Apple Ballot +Fryar. Fryar did make a mistake on his in-school position, but I think he's getting educated that covid is still a thing.

Fryer is part of the Dawn and Esther slate - all right wing crazies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm voting straight Apple Ballot +Fryar. Fryar did make a mistake on his in-school position, but I think he's getting educated that covid is still a thing.

Apple Ballot + Giandomenico would be a more sensible combination.

That's my preference also.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don't currently have kids in public school, so I feel a little out of the loop here - who does DCUM recommend for school board? I have at large, district 1, district 3, and district 5 on my ballot.

Apple Ballot is always the way to vote!

Ha, ha, ha.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is the first year I may consider supporting the Apple Ballot. The Apple Ballot is a list of who the teacher union supports and this time they are not endorsing any incumbents.

The BOE did a horrible job keeping schools closed for 18 months for most students, there’s been a lack of resources at the school level to address the pandemic learning loss, there’s been no plan to address the shortages for in school and substitute positions, and the BOE gave a contract to a Superintendent that had two votes of no confidence by the union members underneath her.

One quick note, while we're discussing incumbents and pandemic - Scott Joftus was appointed to the BoE in December, to fill the seat vacated by Patricia O'Neill's passing. So while he is technically an incumbent he does not bear any responsibility for the Board's handling of the first 18 months of pandemic. I'd urge people to keep this in mind before chucking him out with the rest of the incumbents.

For those who aren't aware of Joftus's background, he has a very different profile / background than the average BoE member and is in my view much more qualified:
https://joftus4boe.com/about/

+1. He's been very impressive at the board meetings.

Way too much conflict of interest there.

Exactly. I was surprised they appointed him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the first year I may consider supporting the Apple Ballot. The Apple Ballot is a list of who the teacher union supports and this time they are not endorsing any incumbents.

The BOE did a horrible job keeping schools closed for 18 months for most students, there’s been a lack of resources at the school level to address the pandemic learning loss, there’s been no plan to address the shortages for in school and substitute positions, and the BOE gave a contract to a Superintendent that had two votes of no confidence by the union members underneath her.

My kid missed 3 months in 2019-20 and 7 months in 2020-21 before going biweekly hybrid for a couple more. How does that add up to 18 months?

It doesn't and the rogues running love to claim it's been two full years. Anyone that can do math, see people need basic human rights (fryar is against this but he sure does love guns), and know Dawn lies to get whatever she needs to will not vote for them.

Based on your accounting of time, I’ll go with “the rogues.” I just looked up Dawn’s BoE testimony in February 22, where she recounted all of the violence, death, and suicides at each HS and asked the Board where the promised mental health supports were, 20 months after they were first promised. She is to be commended for pressing the BoE and for running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the first year I may consider supporting the Apple Ballot. The Apple Ballot is a list of who the teacher union supports and this time they are not endorsing any incumbents.

The BOE did a horrible job keeping schools closed for 18 months for most students, there’s been a lack of resources at the school level to address the pandemic learning loss, there’s been no plan to address the shortages for in school and substitute positions, and the BOE gave a contract to a Superintendent that had two votes of no confidence by the union members underneath her.

My kid missed 3 months in 2019-20 and 7 months in 2020-21 before going biweekly hybrid for a couple more. How does that add up to 18 months?

NP here. I'm not saying it adds up to 18 months, but I will say this.... the 2020-2021 school year was less than 20 days on in-person learning for my DC.

The hybrid schedule was horrendous for my DC. I'm glad your kids had it better. I actually entered the dates in my Google calendar because it was so confusing on when DC would be in the building vs. not. Here goes:

One week, every other week, starting the last week of April (based on DC's grade in their HS); DC had 4 weeks in-person learning, which was maxed out at 4 days a week. Even though DC was in school, one teacher was at home, so that class was still 100% distance learning. One of the weeks was only 3 days due to graduation, so the kids had Wednesday off and the graduation day was another "asynchronous learning" day. This schedule totals 19 days in the building.

So as a parent...you had to input a calendar due to a global pandemic...I can't imagine your hardship.

Fan of Sayles, were you? C’mon, we did a grave disservice to our kids. No where were schools closed longer. The privates navigated the crisis very well. We should have done much, much better.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Moderately MoCo put together a great ballot which makes recommendations for a bunch of races including BOE, vetting candidates who are not incumbents and not Apple ballot. Incumbents and Apple Ballot got us where we are. Time for a change.

Yeah, no. “Moderately MoCo” and “Clean Slate MoCo” are clearly pals with Dawn, Fryar, and Wells. There are more qualified candidates out there that are neither incumbents, nor Apple ballot endorsed, but they’re oddly silent about them

I am not a fan of these anonymous accounts. They could be Dawn, Fryar, and/or Wells themselves— it’s impossible to know. So shady.

So basically these organizations front GOP candidates posing as DEMS?

Not Dems per se, because the BOE election is nonpartisan.

Uh, the race may be nonpartisan, but Fryar, Wells, and Fahmy are all registered Republicans: https://twitter.com/gunsensemelissa/status/1545129870220484608?s=21&t=wyPQgB9JDmWdcOIDrNT1wg

Shocking! Wells registered Republican back in 2008 - before the party went completely off the rails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the first year I may consider supporting the Apple Ballot. The Apple Ballot is a list of who the teacher union supports and this time they are not endorsing any incumbents.

The BOE did a horrible job keeping schools closed for 18 months for most students, there’s been a lack of resources at the school level to address the pandemic learning loss, there’s been no plan to address the shortages for in school and substitute positions, and the BOE gave a contract to a Superintendent that had two votes of no confidence by the union members underneath her.

My kid missed 3 months in 2019-20 and 7 months in 2020-21 before going biweekly hybrid for a couple more. How does that add up to 18 months?

It doesn't and the rogues running love to claim it's been two full years. Anyone that can do math, see people need basic human rights (fryar is against this but he sure does love guns), and know Dawn lies to get whatever she needs to will not vote for them.

Based on your accounting of time, I’ll go with “the rogues.” I just looked up Dawn’s BoE testimony in February 22, where she recounted all of the violence, death, and suicides at each HS and asked the Board where the promised mental health supports were, 20 months after they were first promised. She is to be commended for pressing the BoE and for running.

Dawn knows nothing about education. And actually, if you read actually studies (not just someone who shouts into the netherworld), suicides are always higher when kids are IN schools.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1542915992849989633.html

Tyler Black is a leader in mental health studies of children. THAT is what I want to see in a candidate. Someone who knows what they are doing, can articulate it well, works with others in a constructive way, is RESPECTFUL of other's viewpoints, AND can help develop or guide policy that works across a huge school district such as MCPS. I don't see her capable of doing that.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What do people think about Grace Rivera-Oven vs. Jay Guan?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/07/06/montgomery-county-school-board-election-candidates/

Based on the Post interview, restorative justice was mentioned 3 times:

Karla Silvestre - At-Large
Brenda Wolff - District 5
Grace Rivera Oven - District 1

Therefore, no Grace Rivera Oven for me

Thank you for pointing this out. No to all of them.
When is the election?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:No f'ing way will I ever vote for the incumbents this year - ESPECIALLY JOFTUS after that Kid Museum ESSER III covid money grant!!!!!!

Apple Ballot all the way.

Oh that's too bad. We love the kids museum! I voted for him too.

I mean, there's a difference between liking the Kid Museum and approving MCPS using Covid relief funds to gift a large no-bid contract to a board member's family member.

You know that MCPS has been contracting with the Kid Museum since something like 2017, right? Long before Joftus was on the board.

And you know, that they got a ton more money once he was on the board right??

If you were supposedly talking about the ESSER III grant, that was authorized prior to Joftus being appointed to the board.

Yep--see this from Sept re the funding decision:
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/C6GJTZ4E2726/$file/Cont%20Apprv%20Bid%204403.1%20STEM%20Programs.pdf

He was appointed to fill the seat three months later, in December, after previous BoE member Pat O'Neill passed. This line of attack is slander, and stupid slander at that because it's so cleary bogus.

I don't know Joftus personally but he's supported by many people I respect. Here's an endorsement from Jamie Raskin:

"Scott is doing a great job for us on the Board of Education. We are benefiting from his work with school districts across the country and his significant insight as a professor of educational leadership. We're lucky to have him where he is using his expertise on behalf of our students and our schools."

Joftus thinks he has this wrapped up. I hate that type of arrogance. His campaigning is lazy. He can't keep his website up to date. He has almost no social media presence.

How is that arrogant? An example of someone who already thinks they’ve wrapped this up is dawn. Instead of “if I’m elected…” statements she makes, “when I’m on the school board” ones. She contacts people already in office with “I look forward to working with you on the school board soon.” Delusional but that sums up Dawn in a word.

Actually, that is how I was taught to speak when working for a great entrepreneur. He was male so no one criticized, but yes, they thought I was an arrogant young woman.