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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
BOE - who are people voting for?
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Anonymous
How about Montoya and Kim? |
Anonymous
| What do people know about Melissa Kim? |
Anonymous
No, you vote for one in each category. Then the top two vote-getters overall from the primary will advance to the general election in November. |
Anonymous
She has a long history with DCPS. https://www.washingtoninformer.com/dcps-deputy-chancellor-melissa-kim-announces-resignation/ |
Anonymous
|
My Vote
Kim Hidayat Zimmerman Stewart |
Anonymous
You can vote for either Kim or Hidayat in the at-large race, not both. |
Anonymous
Then I'll go Hidayat |
Anonymous
I have many friends in common with Hidayat but I don’t know anything about him. He also peaks my curiosity. |
Anonymous
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If folks want to see what candidates are about, you can check out the LWV video that some other PPs have referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTVs3hv_Peo
My take, which you can obviously take or leave: Harris: Delivers central office talking points about "windows and mirrors." Ugh. But is in favor of expanding magnets, which is a winning approach. Hadayat: His answer on the Black and brown students was to attack current BoE folks, who would be his future colleagues. His whole vibe is very "I am a man delivering a statement of Truth, and you should defer to me." Not a fan. Kim: I kind of think a candidate with a laser focus on increasing academic standards would be good. Not for every single position, but one person to keep pressing that button seems like a good idea. Montoya: More focus-grouped education babble in the intro section, but she's fast on her feet in the Q&A section, and respectful to the moderator. Mofor: Clearly looking to use BoE as a springboard. His response on student mental health focused on PE, which was weird. In favor of parents opting kids out of books with LGBTQ characters. Diaz: Does fine in the intro, but her answers to questions reveals her actual agenda. Mui: There just doesn't seem to be a lot of policy substance here. He has talking points and opinions, but I didn't hear ideas. His answer on opt-out was straight-up propaganda, and clearly aimed at fear-mongering. Thioye: I can't tell if her kids are in MCPS. She made a point of saying all of them had been in MCPS "at some point in their lives" but not that any are current students. Her talking points about the opt-out used a lot of dog whistles about "parents rights." Zimmerman: Second grade teacher. Smart answer on mental health, with a focus on concrete policies. Evans: "Equity Accountability Model" but no substance. Very heavy on her professional resume, mentions coming back from a junket to New Orleans. Kind of tone deaf to lean so hard on being a status quo establishment figure when people are so frustrating with the Board. Mandel: Arrives, late, plugs her book and immediately goes on the offensive, then talks over the moderator. Refuses to specifically talk about Black and brown students, pivots to "all lives matter" sort of nonsense. Smondrowski: In general, it feels like more of the same but then she says she's "always been a big proponent of SROs." Did she speak out against them being removed at the time? Very focused on "anti bias training" but not on repercussions for bad behavior. Stewart: Explicitly talks about oversight, which I appreciate. Answer on mental health was specific, but seemed focused on younger kids. Other than that, pretty predictable Nice White Lady content. |
Anonymous
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Thanks, PP, sums it well.
If we vote only for 3 members: -vote out incumbents -don't vote for extremists -realize we choose among these 14 candidates to serve alongside the existing BOE members not up for election this year. Choose wisely. Zimmerman Stewart Kim |
Anonymous
Please don't dismiss that phrase as "central office talking points." It comes from a landmark 1990 article by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, an expert on children's literature. https://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/Dr.%20Bishop%20Selected%20Bibliography.pdf And worth noting that teacher candidate Natalie Zimmerman used the phrase in addition to Harris. |
Anonymous
Do we know why they did this? I have only seen speculation, but if there has not been an announcement discussing why those taxpayer funds were used accordingly, that is just nuts. |
Anonymous
Point taken. I think I was just rolling my eyes at Harris opening with it because the incumbents need to demonstrate that they are about more than rubber stamping Hungerford Drive. |
Anonymous
If only the decision wasn't wrapped up in a confidential legal agreement. The $1.3 million infuriates me. I imagine that some McKnight loyalists wouldn't vote for McKnight to go without an outlandish price tag. I try to keep in mind that it's a cost-benefit equation and the price of keeping McKnight was undoubtedly higher. |
Anonymous
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MoCo 360 just published a piece on the student member of the BOE calling out MCPS for not making much progress on the security side:
https://moco360.media/2024/04/15/student-school-board-member-grills-mcps-on-slow-approach-to-school-safety/ I wish they would've asked MCPS their take on his claims, but it cements to me that I won't be voting for any incumbents. |