BOE election candidates 2024

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

Stewart spoke up. You didn’t notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

Stewart spoke up. You didn’t notice.

No one did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

What has Shebra Evans done?

Or do you prefer the candidate who wants to dismantle the public school system altogether?

Shebra Evans does a lot, and she’s the only BOE member who’s ever followed up on a note that I sent. I’m open to someone different but Laura Stewart isn’t different enough to make it worth it to get rid of an experienced member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethany Mandel is running.

Yes. THAT Bethany Mandel. https://www.bethany4boe.com/

For the uninitiated, Bethany is a homeschool mom with no direct experience with MCPS. She speaks at Moms for Liberty events and tries to promote the idea that public school is liberal indoctrination.

She also has two blatant conflicts of interest. She is currently suing MCPS over what she claims is a violation of open meetings rules. Her legal team works for Stephen Miller’s organization. https://montgomeryperspective.com/2023/11/14/national-right-wing-group-sues-mcps/

She is also the editor for a series of children’s books and she has publicly complained that MCPS doesn’t put the books in media centers. https://nypost.com/2022/11/19/maryland-school-district-with-lgbtq-book-list-rejected-books-promoting-american-values/

Wow! Amazing that she's running! Thank you for bringing it to my attention
It's great to have people that want to improve the schools running. The state of schools today is the reason so many people choose to homeschool or send their kids to private schools. It's not hypocrisy but understanding the problems from inside.

<3

Yes it is, but Bethany Mandel is not one of them. It's like saying "It's great to have people that are interested in cooking" in a comment about Jeffrey Dahmer.

Drop the mic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

What has Shebra Evans done?

Or do you prefer the candidate who wants to dismantle the public school system altogether?

Shebra Evans does a lot, and she’s the only BOE member who’s ever followed up on a note that I sent. I’m open to someone different but Laura Stewart isn’t different enough to make it worth it to get rid of an experienced member.

So has Evans done anything to improve the quality of education or has it been just SJ policies? I'm in D4 so would like to better understand the differences here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

What has Shebra Evans done?

Or do you prefer the candidate who wants to dismantle the public school system altogether?

Shebra Evans does a lot, and she’s the only BOE member who’s ever followed up on a note that I sent. I’m open to someone different but Laura Stewart isn’t different enough to make it worth it to get rid of an experienced member.

So has Evans done anything to improve the quality of education or has it been just SJ policies? I'm in D4 so would like to better understand the differences here.

Being in D4 only matters if you had filed to run against her. All of the board races, regardless of district, are voted on by all of those voting in MoCo, and all those elected have all of MoCo as their constituency.

The districts are there, ostensibly, to ensure some representation from each geographic area, but the politcal machine, here, is big enough and one-sided enough to pretty much ensure that a candidate to their liking is there for any of the seats (it's pretty easy to find a single person from such large districts, no matter the political bent). So the districted board members won't necessarily represent the particular interests of that district in the way the majority from that district might want.

It's just a different kind of gerrymandering. Same goes for those at-large seats on the County Council, which went from 2 to 4 last cycle. It basically packs the Council for the majority, even though the districted seats, there, are elected only by those of that district.

Moderates, even if they would represent the interests of the majority, get shut out one way or another, and since those in political power benefit from this system, it isn't going to change. They can rely on simple-minded or inattentive folks, there, with an example being so many buying into the idea that having more at-large candidates would mean more of those elected representing their interests, when it really only meant more of those elected, while representing them, represented the interests of the "majority of the majority" (minority rule, in this case from the left).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

What has Shebra Evans done?

Or do you prefer the candidate who wants to dismantle the public school system altogether?

Shebra Evans does a lot, and she’s the only BOE member who’s ever followed up on a note that I sent. I’m open to someone different but Laura Stewart isn’t different enough to make it worth it to get rid of an experienced member.

That’s where my head is at. Laura Stewart is just another Lynn Harris and Jill Ortman Fouse and on and on goes the MCCPTA pipeline.

[Anonymous]

I’m not voting for an incumbent or anyone on the Apple ballot. It’s going to take research on my/our part but our kids deserve better.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely to immediate PP. No fruit ballot! And no incumbent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stewart has worked tirelessly to secure funding for MCPS schools, particularly for renovations, rebuilds, and new buildings. It is absolute drudgery and “grunt” work. If you think someone who has volunteered for years to learn the ins and outs of school funding, and to lobby for adequate funding, is an “insider” so be it. But as I look at the list of individuals challenging the incumbents I see nobody else who knows the system as well as Stewart. Given the state of affairs, I’d like to have somebody on the board who isn’t a complete novice.

I see someone who knows the system very well, didn’t speak up for any of the victims, and continues to be mild in her criticism of the BOE. Funny how much that sounds like the current members.

What has Shebra Evans done?

Or do you prefer the candidate who wants to dismantle the public school system altogether?

Shebra Evans does a lot, and she’s the only BOE member who’s ever followed up on a note that I sent. I’m open to someone different but Laura Stewart isn’t different enough to make it worth it to get rid of an experienced member.

Like what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's just a different kind of gerrymandering. Same goes for those at-large seats on the County Council, which went from 2 to 4 last cycle. It basically packs the Council for the majority, even though the districted seats, there, are elected only by those of that district.

That is just plain incorrect. There used to be 9 seats on the County Council: 5 district, 4 at large. Now there are 11 seats on the County Council: 7 district, 4 at large. The County used to be divided into 5 Council districts; now it is divided into 7 Council districts.

Where do you live, and/or how much do you pay attention, for you to not know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's just a different kind of gerrymandering. Same goes for those at-large seats on the County Council, which went from 2 to 4 last cycle. It basically packs the Council for the majority, even though the districted seats, there, are elected only by those of that district.

That is just plain incorrect. There used to be 9 seats on the County Council: 5 district, 4 at large. Now there are 11 seats on the County Council: 7 district, 4 at large. The County used to be divided into 5 Council districts; now it is divided into 7 Council districts.

Where do you live, and/or how much do you pay attention, for you to not know that?

You're right. In a way.

The plan was to keep it at 9 and reduce the at-large positions to 2, with 7 district seats. But then they had the fantastic idea to keep the 4 at-larges and add the 2 extra districts, preserving that majority-of-the-majority tendency (that is, entrenching a minority, representing the more extreme plurality of whichever group makes up the majority) from the at-larges with those extra 2 seats. With staff.

I see you didn't address that aspect of the post. Or any of the rest, which you expended effort to exclude from the quote trail. Hmmm...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's just a different kind of gerrymandering. Same goes for those at-large seats on the County Council, which went from 2 to 4 last cycle. It basically packs the Council for the majority, even though the districted seats, there, are elected only by those of that district.

That is just plain incorrect. There used to be 9 seats on the County Council: 5 district, 4 at large. Now there are 11 seats on the County Council: 7 district, 4 at large. The County used to be divided into 5 Council districts; now it is divided into 7 Council districts.

Where do you live, and/or how much do you pay attention, for you to not know that?

You're right. In a way.

The plan was to keep it at 9 and reduce the at-large positions to 2, with 7 district seats. But then they had the fantastic idea to keep the 4 at-larges and add the 2 extra districts, preserving that majority-of-the-majority tendency (that is, entrenching a minority, representing the more extreme plurality of whichever group makes up the majority) from the at-larges with those extra 2 seats. With staff.

I see you didn't address that aspect of the post. Or any of the rest, which you expended effort to exclude from the quote trail. Hmmm...

You: 2 + 2 = 3
Me: 2 + 2 = 4
You: You're right. In a way.

[Anonymous]

Evans can go. I haven’t seen her ask to many worthwhile questions in any BoE or Committee meeting I’ve watched. She occasionally provides an insightful comment of something folks should know about or keep in mind. But not enough that I see what she offers as worthy of another term.