School board - who to vote for

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad that most incumbents are not leading. If they come in 2nd, parents need to send them packing in November for the better future of all students.

+1 I hope that since the field has thinned out, the people voting for non-incumbent candidates will vote for new replacements.

The only letdown is if the choice is between Silvestre vs Erickson. I'd be disappointed with either candidate. Silvestre needs to go, but if it's true Erickson is a no-mask in-person-only nut, it would be a tough choice. MCEA should have endorsed someone else. A write in. My cat. Anyone.

Silvestre is very popular in real life, even if not on DCUM.

It's because she delivers for the county over and over despite the cranks who post here.

What did she "deliver"? Be specific.

Everything! Including the high-quality education which is available to all students. Also, saw us through a deadly pandemic with 0 casualties. This is all so major. I can't believe you have to ask.

She did not save any lives. She was one of the first to support the lifting of mask mandates. She refused to stand up for teachers, students, and their families who are immunocompromised. She stood by and let COVID rip through our schools, leaving principals scrambling to cover for all the teacher absences, and leaving students to simply watch movies in auditoriums and cafeterias.

Are you campaigning on her behalf? You make her sound like a really good choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dawn conceded and is already being nasty and defensive. She is showing her true colors, the Dawn we all know from past school board meetings. You weren't elected due to "lies and misinformation" Dawn, you weren't elected because you showed us all your true colors long ago and we believed it then. We aren't stupid. Can you imagine the school board meetings if she was on them? We'd be on the news more than Loudon County is and it'd be embarrassing. She mistakes being "feisty" for not knowing how to act in public. You can go back to bashing teachers now instead of pretending to care.

Dude. She lost. Relax.

This post is more a reflection of your character than hers.

Not the pp, but calling trash what it is isn’t a character reflection. She continues to be the terrible person she is, just showing her true colors that some people were fooled by. Why does this matter? If she runs again. Why does it matter? She’s going to show up at every school board meeting and spew her bs. We haven’t heard the last of this horrible person.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

I would sort of like both of them to be on the board. But I voted for Joftus.

I thought this was a helpful piece about both of them in Bethesda Beat.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2022/10/21/two-former-educators-compete-for-district-3-board-of-education-seat/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

Joftus is a paper pusher. While he uses all the right buzz words, Yang's a teacher, boots on the ground, in the trenches, knows what is needed, what is not, what works and what doesn't. My vote went to Yang

[Anonymous]

Joftus understands that MCPS is a really big enterprise and it's a long game; nothing (good) comes quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

I voted for Yang.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

Joftus is a paper pusher. While he uses all the right buzz words, Yang's a teacher, boots on the ground, in the trenches, knows what is needed, what is not, what works and what doesn't. My vote went to Yang

Joftus is a former teacher and a current college professor and expert on public school boards. Yang is a former MCPS instructional data analyst and college and career coordinator. I don't see a teacher position on her resume:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/C8LLVV57DE67/$file/Yang%2C%20Julie.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad that most incumbents are not leading. If they come in 2nd, parents need to send them packing in November for the better future of all students.

+1 I hope that since the field has thinned out, the people voting for non-incumbent candidates will vote for new replacements.

The only letdown is if the choice is between Silvestre vs Erickson. I'd be disappointed with either candidate. Silvestre needs to go, but if it's true Erickson is a no-mask in-person-only nut, it would be a tough choice. MCEA should have endorsed someone else. A write in. My cat. Anyone.

Silvestre is very popular in real life, even if not on DCUM.

It's because she delivers for the county over and over despite the cranks who post here.

What did she "deliver"? Be specific.

1. She speaks Spanish
2. She’s a woman

I think that’s basically it.

People don’t seem to like men to sit on the school board. Kids are “womens work” and all that BS. Just as much as STEM fields try to recruit women, female-dominated professions need to recruit more men. Sometimes I feel it’s the only way that teachers can command larger salaries.

Patriarchy. Ugh.

If Karla Silvestre loses to Mike Erickson, who did no campaigning, didn't show up to debates and has no platform, then that will be very disappointing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

This is PP back again - I read a lot of stuff about both of them and basically came down that I would be happy with either of them on the Board. I ended up voting for Joftus, thanks to everyone who replied and keep it going in case this helps anyone else!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad that most incumbents are not leading. If they come in 2nd, parents need to send them packing in November for the better future of all students.

+1 I hope that since the field has thinned out, the people voting for non-incumbent candidates will vote for new replacements.

The only letdown is if the choice is between Silvestre vs Erickson. I'd be disappointed with either candidate. Silvestre needs to go, but if it's true Erickson is a no-mask in-person-only nut, it would be a tough choice. MCEA should have endorsed someone else. A write in. My cat. Anyone.

Silvestre is very popular in real life, even if not on DCUM.

It's because she delivers for the county over and over despite the cranks who post here.

What did she "deliver"? Be specific.

Everything! Including the high-quality education which is available to all students. Also, saw us through a deadly pandemic with 0 casualties. This is all so major. I can't believe you have to ask.

She did not save any lives. She was one of the first to support the lifting of mask mandates. She refused to stand up for teachers, students, and their families who are immunocompromised. She stood by and let COVID rip through our schools, leaving principals scrambling to cover for all the teacher absences, and leaving students to simply watch movies in auditoriums and cafeterias.

We need someone who values human life and will bring back the mask mandate in a heart beat if it's needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on Joftus vs. Yang?

I met Yang on election lines and was very put off. She was pushy and disrespectful of my time and other campaigners trying to talk to me. She also made accusations about Joftus that I knew weren't true. When I pushed back a bit (I had read a little on both candidates), she rolled it back and hedged what she had said. I was actually really interested in her until I spoke w/ her. What a turn off.

[Anonymous]

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.

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/

Did he support McKnight? Because she's just awful and I can't see why they spent so much money looking for people for the job and ended up with her. ugh

[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.

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/

Did he support McKnight? Because she's just awful and I can't see why they spent so much money looking for people for the job and ended up with her. ugh

Joftus is perfect for the BOE because he and his wife have readymade lies to spew while they suck money away from MCPS. Classic is claiming that you have been evaluated every year when you've never been evaluated and MCPS only took a head count for two years.

https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2022/11/fact-check-mocoboe-spouse-says-kid.html

[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.

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/

Did he support McKnight? Because she's just awful and I can't see why they spent so much money looking for people for the job and ended up with her. ugh

Joftus is perfect for the BOE because he and his wife have readymade lies to spew while they suck money away from MCPS. Classic is claiming that you have been evaluated every year when you've never been evaluated and MCPS only took a head count for two years.

https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2022/11/fact-check-mocoboe-spouse-says-kid.html

To be honest, with all the drama about Joftus and his family with KID Museum, I personally do not think he would be a good choice for BOE.