So who are the reasonable candidates for the BOE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question is what will Sally do with her capability. She got the Apple Ballot nod, so might be beholden to the union leadership, and doesn't seem eager to rock the boat.

Cassi Sung seems to get that we like little-"p" progressivism -- the kind that doesn't play favorites.

The problem with our system isn't that we have board members who genuflect to the teachers' union if they received a previous endorsement. The problem is the boards of education in the State of Maryland have too little power. Other than hire and fire superintendents; vote on overall budgets and contracts over $25,000; and boundary recommendations, all they can do is advise superintendents.

What we need is state reform, not somebody named Cass Sung who, from her website, has the following to recommend herself:

Chamber of Mothers co-facilitator
Election Judge
Local Buy Nothing admin
Co-Lead Allyship Affinity Group at work
Mom of two
Neurodivergent
Multiracial marriage and biracial children
Dog mom
Big sister
Girl’s girl
Amateur Potter

A dog mom, big sister, and a "girl's girl" (is that last one code for something?). Seriously, this is someone that deserves consideration for elected office? I don't think so.

This is not true. The Board of Ed can take a much more robust role in governing MCPS than they do. They can set and revise policies that would dramatically change all sorts of things at MCPS. And if they chose to lean into their power and influence and make it clear that they won't provide the votes for things Central Office wants unless they get their way, they could probably also influence many additional things as well.

But the Board has a culture of going along with whatever Central Office wants, and Board members for some reason seem to be sucked into that once they join the Board regardless of what they said when they were running. (Montoya seems to be a slight exception to that, although even she goes with the flow the majority of the time.)

But it is true. The superintendent ignores those policies at will, and gets away with it. Board committees spend time reviewing and revising policies only to see that their input ignored. Get real. The board has, in effect, little power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went with DiResta and Lazo.

Intrigued by Frykman but his statements to the League of Women Votes screamed AI

Do you know that he's 18 years old?

DP. I think the fact that he's got recent experience in MCPS is a selling point.

Isn't that the point of the SMOB?

I see zero reason why there can only be one young person on the BOE. Literally the entire reason for the existence of MCPS is young people and ya'll are like but we already have the smob? Gmafb

[Anonymous]

I'm voting for Lazo and McCarthy. DiResta was close (I didn't love his answer about the use of AI, so that was the tiebreak). I like all three of their focuses on the finance side of MCPS. Given the drama over the budget and declining enrollment, a firmer oversight of the budget is going to be really important over the near term.

DiResta and McCarthy both advocated for BoE to hire their own staff so they have an independent view of MCPS instead of relying on the Central Office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went with DiResta and Lazo.

Intrigued by Frykman but his statements to the League of Women Votes screamed AI

Do you know that he's 18 years old?

DP. I think the fact that he's got recent experience in MCPS is a selling point.

Isn't that the point of the SMOB?

I see zero reason why there can only be one young person on the BOE. Literally the entire reason for the existence of MCPS is young people and ya'll are like but we already have the smob? Gmafb

It's terrific when young people provide testimony about their current or recent MCPS experiences, but having oversight over a $3 billion budget requires a bit more life experience and maturity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question is what will Sally do with her capability. She got the Apple Ballot nod, so might be beholden to the union leadership, and doesn't seem eager to rock the boat.

Cassi Sung seems to get that we like little-"p" progressivism -- the kind that doesn't play favorites.

The problem with our system isn't that we have board members who genuflect to the teachers' union if they received a previous endorsement. The problem is the boards of education in the State of Maryland have too little power. Other than hire and fire superintendents; vote on overall budgets and contracts over $25,000; and boundary recommendations, all they can do is advise superintendents.

What we need is state reform, not somebody named Cass Sung who, from her website, has the following to recommend herself:

Chamber of Mothers co-facilitator
Election Judge
Local Buy Nothing admin
Co-Lead Allyship Affinity Group at work
Mom of two
Neurodivergent
Multiracial marriage and biracial children
Dog mom
Big sister
Girl’s girl
Amateur Potter

A dog mom, big sister, and a "girl's girl" (is that last one code for something?). Seriously, this is someone that deserves consideration for elected office? I don't think so.

This is not true. The Board of Ed can take a much more robust role in governing MCPS than they do. They can set and revise policies that would dramatically change all sorts of things at MCPS. And if they chose to lean into their power and influence and make it clear that they won't provide the votes for things Central Office wants unless they get their way, they could probably also influence many additional things as well.

But the Board has a culture of going along with whatever Central Office wants, and Board members for some reason seem to be sucked into that once they join the Board regardless of what they said when they were running. (Montoya seems to be a slight exception to that, although even she goes with the flow the majority of the time.)

This is such an interesting and important debate that I've heard and I don't which is quite true.

The first argument aligns with what the first poster said: The BOE already has the oversight and supervisory powers it needs. That it's not doing more is a failure on the part of the BOE members. This talking point is especially prevalent when you talk with those on the County Council, who have limited oversight powers over MCPS compared to the BOE.

The second argument, which aligns with the second poster's POV, is that the BOE is constrained and limited in its ability, since they strongly feel their scope of oversight is limited and can't and should not undermine the superintendent's role and purview. This manifests in the form of a culture and norms that are overly deferential to the superintendent and the system.

So which is true? I can't tell. I have yet to see an example of a more muscular BOE in the state of Maryland, so it's not like MCPS is an outlier in that regard. But that just might more of a cultural implication of how boards have run than any truly structural limitations?

My guess is the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But I'd love a legal analysis on this tension.

[Anonymous]

For at-large, An endorsement for Wylea Chase, that also notes Omar Lazo as a credible candidate, from Washington Jewish Week: “Wylea Chase is widely regarded as an experienced education leader with strong cross-community ties, including work with Jewish organizations on antisemitism. Omar Lazo offers a different perspective and is also viewed as a credible candidate. As between the two, Wylea Chase is the more experienced candidate and has earned our endorsement.”

Omar Lazo has a long list of endorsements on his website.

For District 3, McCarthy is the best candidate with her extensive experience. But did like a lot of things DiResta said in his answers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
For at-large, An endorsement for Wylea Chase, that also notes Omar Lazo as a credible candidate, from Washington Jewish Week: “Wylea Chase is widely regarded as an experienced education leader with strong cross-community ties, including work with Jewish organizations on antisemitism. Omar Lazo offers a different perspective and is also viewed as a credible candidate. As between the two, Wylea Chase is the more experienced candidate and has earned our endorsement.”

Omar Lazo has a long list of endorsements on his website.

For District 3, McCarthy is the best candidate with her extensive experience. But did like a lot of things DiResta said in his answers

I see you felt the need to copy/paste last night's post from the Brenda Diaz topic.