BoE--We voted for them

[Anonymous]

There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

Make it full time jobs with oversight and accountability and you'll get real candidates and time devoted to things and research and the work that needs doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make it full time jobs with oversight and accountability and you'll get real candidates and time devoted to things and research and the work that needs doing.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make it full time jobs with oversight and accountability and you'll get real candidates and time devoted to things and research and the work that needs doing.

+1.

+2 By calling a stipend, you make BoE positions accessible only to the rich (who may or may not have the best interests of our students at heart) or those who have other jobs that benefit from MCPS connections. Neither provides a good framework for serious oversight. But maybe Maryland/MCPS wants it that way so the Board can continue to rubber stamp their initiatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone was hopeful when all incumbents (Lynne Harris, Rebecca Smondrowski and Shebra Evans) were pushed out of the BOE.

But Rita Montoya, Laura Stewart and Natalie Zimmerman have all been absolute flops who have failed to deliver on their campaign promises of increased transparency and accountability for MCPS. They almost immediately became part of the MCPS machine and have been chirpily toeing the party line and nauesatingly spending their time in BOE meetings thanking people for showing up to present or testify.

That's why I have to laugh at posters on this board discussing BOE members. It's always "vote out all the encumbents! these new candidates will be the one to make the changes!"

fast forward to the next election and those candidates are now the encumbents. and the posters still say "vote out all the encumbents! these new candidates will be the one to make the changes!"

The cycle continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

Melissa ran a horribly late and lazy campaign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make it full time jobs with oversight and accountability and you'll get real candidates and time devoted to things and research and the work that needs doing.

+1.

+2 By calling a stipend, you make BoE positions accessible only to the rich (who may or may not have the best interests of our students at heart) or those who have other jobs that benefit from MCPS connections. Neither provides a good framework for serious oversight. But maybe Maryland/MCPS wants it that way so the Board can continue to rubber stamp their initiatives.

+3. I think MCPS totally wants it this way for the reason you state. So I don't know what it would take to change it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

Melissa ran a horribly late and lazy campaign.

Well she was a terrific candidate wuth it’s of relevant experience. Running a good campaign and being a good candidate are different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not so easy to entice qualified people to run when they'd only get paid a small stipend and would have to sit through 8-hour meetings, get thousands of angry emails, and have everyone hate them.

To be fair, if they were better at listening to people, fewer people would hate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

Melissa ran a horribly late and lazy campaign.

Well she was a terrific candidate wuth it’s of relevant experience. Running a good campaign and being a good candidate are different things.

If you can’t muster up the energy to run a good campaign, how will you get people to vote for you? Most people have no idea who she is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many people are upset with the state of MCPS. From the boundary study, the new regional programs, the lack of resources, the lack of AP classes in certain schools, the lack of safety, and the list goes on. So why don't people do something about it. In East Ramapo, NY, the Haredi Jews won enough seats to change the way the school board operates. I don't agree with the changes that they made, but they wanted change and the majority came out and voted for those that would make the changes. It also required people to stand up and say -- I will run on our platform.

If we're all so upset with the changes MCPS is making, why does no one stand up and say I want change?

Why not me?---I want to get more involved. But honestly, I don't know how. I can attend a board meeting but with pre-vetted questions, it doesn't seem like much gets actually discussed at these sessions but rather it's more a public airing of what is coming. I don't have an education background and I've never been in a classroom as a teacher or even a sub. My resume for BoE member would be lacking in all areas except desire to fix what is broken.

No idea what you are going on about. These changes are amazing! This is the best board ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

Melissa ran a horribly late and lazy campaign.

Well she was a terrific candidate wuth it’s of relevant experience. Running a good campaign and being a good candidate are different things.

If you can’t muster up the energy to run a good campaign, how will you get people to vote for you? Most people have no idea who she is.

Then people on this board complaining about the BOE members should support people like Melissa who can be successful. Things will not change until we elect competent people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were some good candidates who did not make it through the primary. Melissa Kim comes to mind.

Melissa ran a horribly late and lazy campaign.

Well she was a terrific candidate wuth it’s of relevant experience. Running a good campaign and being a good candidate are different things.

If you can’t muster up the energy to run a good campaign, how will you get people to vote for you? Most people have no idea who she is.

Then people on this board complaining about the BOE members should support people like Melissa who can be successful. Things will not change until we elect competent people.

We should support someone who couldn't muster up the skill and competence to run a successful campaign? How does that make sense? I think you've lost it.

[Anonymous]

There have been good candidates in the past, and they always lose. Two reasons:

1. If you don't get endorsed by the union (MCEA) and end up on the Apple Ballot, you wont' have sufficient support.
2. Most voters do not have kids in MCPS. They don't really care that much about BOE, so they vote whoever has the most advertssing = BOE and Apple Ballot.

Our solution was to move to private.