How Come BOE Candidate Stephen Austin Won’t Say What His Employment Is??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Austin has my vote. You can’t live on 25,000 salary they pay board members. The others are either Union front or employee of MCPS - more conflict of interest than Austin. The place needs an outsider - and he’s the ultimate one.

Agreed. Austin has my vote. All the shade being thrown on Austin is coming from the union reps that frequent this board. They are rightfully afraid of a candidate like Stephen Austin since he isn't going to be one of their puppets.

This kind of conspiracy-theory thinking is weird. I'm a PP on this thread, and I'm a MCPS parent and a homeowner, just like you. Hi!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

It suggests to me that some homeowners who live in areas where people pay a hefty premium for "good" schools are very worried that the Board of Education will change school boundaries, thereby reducing their property values and forcing their children to attend school with the children of those people.

There is a whole lot of in between this and the previous poster up thread who said W schools should “be ignored”. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

People are starting to wake up to the fact that local elections matter. In the past, most folks only cared about the national elections and, locally, would often just grab the apple ballot and vote the way the teacher's union told them to vote. That's what has given us this incredibly incompetent BOE that the teacher's union has bought and paid for. Can one person fix that? Nope. But this is just a start. We are finally paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

Some people are very unhappy. I doubt most people are. The people who are unhappy, however, are overwhelmingly the kind of entitled, privileged people who expect to get their way no matter what and so they're very vocal. If the BOE election is ugly, it's on Austin and his contingent of bullies and Karens who show up at meetings to scream at schoolchildren. Calling out that behavior isn't "ugly," though.

Oh there has been PLENTY of ugly behavior on the part of OneMontgomery. You just want to justify it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

People are starting to wake up to the fact that local elections matter. In the past, most folks only cared about the national elections and, locally, would often just grab the apple ballot and vote the way the teacher's union told them to vote. That's what has given us this incredibly incompetent BOE that the teacher's union has bought and paid for. Can one person fix that? Nope. But this is just a start. We are finally paying attention.

"We," who?

I mean, I'm happy that people pay attention to local elections. But I think it's a mistake to assume that everyone agrees with you except the teachers' union, or that only uninformed people vote for the candidates on the Apple Ballot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

It suggests to me that some homeowners who live in areas where people pay a hefty premium for "good" schools are very worried that the Board of Education will change school boundaries, thereby reducing their property values and forcing their children to attend school with the children of those people.

There is a whole lot of in between this and the previous poster up thread who said W schools should “be ignored”. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.

But MCPS is not ignoring the schools in Bethesda and Potomac, it hasn't done so in the past, and it is highly unlikely to do so in the future.

In that context, what does it matter if some anonymous poster on an Internet message board full of anonymous posters says that the Bethesda and Potomac schools should be ignored?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't that she is a teacher or with the union. It's that she ran what is supposed to be a county-wide advocacy organization, and during her tenure completely ignored up-county and every W school that she loathes.

Many of you claim Stephen Austin only cares about his neighborhood, Lynne Harris has already proven she will do the same.

Had she done a better job listening to all, Austin probably wouldn't have felt the need to enter the race. And no, I am not voting for either of them.

Why should she or anyone else on the Board focus on the W schools? These schools and the students who attend them are doing just fine and will continue to do so.

The county should focus its policy and funding decisions on expressly favoring schools with poorer students. That’s the only way to even begin to tackle the systematic racism that has caused the current segregation of have and have nots.

No one said "focus" on W schools. But they cannot be ignored forever. So much time and money spent on other schools, and no one begrudges one penny of that, but you cannot ignore the challenges at the Ws forever.

If you feel ignored in your W school, feel free to move to a school elsewhere in the county. When those schools perform half as well as W schools, then we can talk about them getting attention from the BOE. Until then, it would be perfectly appropriate for them to be ignored, although I’m not sure that is an accurate description of what is occurring - unfortunately.

Wow. Are you voting for Lynne Harris?

I’m not sure why you say “wow.” Most likely. I certainly like Harris.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

It suggests to me that some homeowners who live in areas where people pay a hefty premium for "good" schools are very worried that the Board of Education will change school boundaries, thereby reducing their property values and forcing their children to attend school with the children of those people.

There is a whole lot of in between this and the previous poster up thread who said W schools should “be ignored”. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.

But MCPS is not ignoring the schools in Bethesda and Potomac, it hasn't done so in the past, and it is highly unlikely to do so in the future.

In that context, what does it matter if some anonymous poster on an Internet message board full of anonymous posters says that the Bethesda and Potomac schools should be ignored?

Someone posted a list of free meal sites for needy kids. Not a single one in Bethesda. MCPS made that decision. How is that not ignoring Bethesda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't that she is a teacher or with the union. It's that she ran what is supposed to be a county-wide advocacy organization, and during her tenure completely ignored up-county and every W school that she loathes.

Many of you claim Stephen Austin only cares about his neighborhood, Lynne Harris has already proven she will do the same.

Had she done a better job listening to all, Austin probably wouldn't have felt the need to enter the race. And no, I am not voting for either of them.

Why should she or anyone else on the Board focus on the W schools? These schools and the students who attend them are doing just fine and will continue to do so.

The county should focus its policy and funding decisions on expressly favoring schools with poorer students. That’s the only way to even begin to tackle the systematic racism that has caused the current segregation of have and have nots.

No one said "focus" on W schools. But they cannot be ignored forever. So much time and money spent on other schools, and no one begrudges one penny of that, but you cannot ignore the challenges at the Ws forever.

If you feel ignored in your W school, feel free to move to a school elsewhere in the county. When those schools perform half as well as W schools, then we can talk about them getting attention from the BOE. Until then, it would be perfectly appropriate for them to be ignored, although I’m not sure that is an accurate description of what is occurring - unfortunately.

Let's see.. the choices are:
1. Move to another part of the county
or

2. Vote for someone who won't forget about the W schools.

I'll go with #2 please.

You are free to vote in your self-interest and your vote is really about protecting your existing privileges. Fortunately, there seem to be enough people in the county who recognize that the Ws don’t need the county’s help and that resources can be better used elsewhere. Hopefully the votes of the masses will be enough to elect people who care about a progressive future for the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

It suggests to me that some homeowners who live in areas where people pay a hefty premium for "good" schools are very worried that the Board of Education will change school boundaries, thereby reducing their property values and forcing their children to attend school with the children of those people.

There is a whole lot of in between this and the previous poster up thread who said W schools should “be ignored”. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.

But MCPS is not ignoring the schools in Bethesda and Potomac, it hasn't done so in the past, and it is highly unlikely to do so in the future.

In that context, what does it matter if some anonymous poster on an Internet message board full of anonymous posters says that the Bethesda and Potomac schools should be ignored?

Someone posted a list of free meal sites for needy kids. Not a single one in Bethesda. MCPS made that decision. How is that not ignoring Bethesda?

The first sites were established near where the greatest number of needy kids could get to them. MCPS has the FARMS data and knows which areas have the most need.

[Anonymous]

Anyone with thoughts about a choice between Dasgupta and Harris?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been such an ugly BOE election? The name calling, the accusations, the twitter wars, it's all disgusting.

Agreed. It's not usually like this. That suggests to me people are not happy about what the BOE is doing. In most years, there's not a peep about the BOE election and you hear much more about the other races.

It suggests to me that some homeowners who live in areas where people pay a hefty premium for "good" schools are very worried that the Board of Education will change school boundaries, thereby reducing their property values and forcing their children to attend school with the children of those people.

There is a whole lot of in between this and the previous poster up thread who said W schools should “be ignored”. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.

But MCPS is not ignoring the schools in Bethesda and Potomac, it hasn't done so in the past, and it is highly unlikely to do so in the future.

In that context, what does it matter if some anonymous poster on an Internet message board full of anonymous posters says that the Bethesda and Potomac schools should be ignored?

They may not be ignoring them, but they are doing nothing to better them or even keep them where they are. I have been so disappointed in our MCPS experience.

[Anonymous]

The least bad of those 2 is Dasgupta. However, there are no good candidates of the top 4 getting any press (Austin, Dasgupta, Guan, Harris). 1 is a disrupter and 3 are the status quo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The least bad of those 2 is Dasgupta. However, there are no good candidates of the top 4 getting any press (Austin, Dasgupta, Guan, Harris). 1 is a disrupter and 3 are the status quo.

Alternatively, 1 wants to maintain the status quo, and 3 want to change it, in different ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why are you against providing food to needy kids in Bethesda? There's plenty. There's whole buildings of low-income housing, like on River Road across from the 7-11, and the Fields apartment complex behind Bethesda Crabhouse.

They have over 40 food distribution sites, and not one in Bethesda? How does that make sense?

...the Kenwood?

I believe PP is confusing "low income housing" with "apartments."

A common mistake among those who have never lived in either.