Concerned about BOE Candidate Sunil Dasgupta’s binding boundary review commission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me tell you what happens with a commission: the silver spring crowd stacks it with ‘representatives’ who rubber stamp their views. This is just a way to insulate the BoE from hearing from the public - and having their votes have consequences. Austin is scaring the hell out of them - not for boundaries as much as his call for an MCPS Inspector General.

1000%. You hit the nail on the head.

Agreed. And Austin has my vote.

The BOE is a toxic echo chamber at its worst. And our kids suffer because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me tell you what happens with a commission: the silver spring crowd stacks it with ‘representatives’ who rubber stamp their views. This is just a way to insulate the BoE from hearing from the public - and having their votes have consequences. Austin is scaring the hell out of them - not for boundaries as much as his call for an MCPS Inspector General.

1000%. You hit the nail on the head.

Agreed. And Austin has my vote.

The BOE is a toxic echo chamber at its worst. And our kids suffer because of it.

Mitra Ahadpour lives in Potomac. Sunil Dasgupta lives in Aspen Hill. Paul Geller lives in Olney. Jay Guan lives in Clarksburg. Dalbin Osorio lives in Gaithersburg. Cameron Rhode lives in Gaithersburg. Pavel Sukhobok lives in Rockville. Lumpoange Thomas lives in North Bethesda. There are plenty of candidates you can vote for, who don't live in Takoma Park and Silver Spring, and also know more and have done more about MCPS than Steve Austin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess who Sunil Dasgupta would want on this "commission" - a few recent college graduates who are extreme left-wing activists as well as a few additional hyper-activists from Takoma Park, which is a good description of his most ardent supporters. He'll throw in one parent from Bethesda for optics only, but that person will be aligned with the people from Takoma Park. That's what you can expect.

Wow! Now this site even has mindreaders. A typical Trumpian trick...create a straw man and knock ‘m down.

[Anonymous]

Well I vote based on policy and Austin/Guan seems to have the best chance of getting past the primary and I don't want to split the vote. Would rather have a person I agree with on in terms of policy who isn't the most involved parent in the world than an involved parent who I disagree with in terms of policy. As far as I'm concerned a vote for anyone besides Austin or Guan only makes it harder for there to be a reasonable option vs Lynne Harris and or Dasgupta in the General and I will vote to ensure one of Austin/Guan makes it through. It looks to me like Austin has the best chance so I've told everyone I know to vote for Austin so the vote doesn't get split. Much more concerned about having a moderate in charge of boundary analysis and budget than a socialist who will only appease Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I vote based on policy and Austin/Guan seems to have the best chance of getting past the primary and I don't want to split the vote. Would rather have a person I agree with on in terms of policy who isn't the most involved parent in the world than an involved parent who I disagree with in terms of policy. As far as I'm concerned a vote for anyone besides Austin or Guan only makes it harder for there to be a reasonable option vs Lynne Harris and or Dasgupta in the General and I will vote to ensure one of Austin/Guan makes it through. It looks to me like Austin has the best chance so I've told everyone I know to vote for Austin so the vote doesn't get split. Much more concerned about having a moderate in charge of boundary analysis and budget than a socialist who will only appease Silver Spring.

WHY does it look to you like Austin has the best chance? Really, why? Jay Guan has raised more money, he has more experience (not hard, since Austin has none), and he hasn't antagonized people who might otherwise agree with his positions. So, why?

[Anonymous]

Austin seems to have had for a long time 8000 plus supporters on his FB page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Austin seems to have had for a long time 8000 plus supporters on his FB page.

many are lookey loos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Austin seems to have had for a long time 8000 plus supporters on his FB page.

Facebook "friends" or whatever =/= supporters.

He has a grand total of 186 followers on Twitter, including plenty of accounts that are NOT supporters of his.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me tell you what happens with a commission: the silver spring crowd stacks it with ‘representatives’ who rubber stamp their views. This is just a way to insulate the BoE from hearing from the public - and having their votes have consequences. Austin is scaring the hell out of them - not for boundaries as much as his call for an MCPS Inspector General.

1000%. You hit the nail on the head.

Agreed. And Austin has my vote.

The BOE is a toxic echo chamber at its worst. And our kids suffer because of it.

The same could be said about most democratically elected bodies I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Austin seems to have had for a long time 8000 plus supporters on his FB page.

Didn't he create the FB page to get followers by playing on integration fears before announcing his candidacy?

[Anonymous]

The Board of Education already has a tremendous amount of power with few checks other than elections. It can make it's own policies and falls under the State Board of Education. Not legal advice, but a reflection -- if you look under the Code of Maryland, there are few rules which the State Board has for the local Boards. In that way, the Board of Education has an extreme amount of flexibility already to do what it wants. Adding a binding commission to insulate the members from the political process, seems to give Board members even more power than they already have over a large portion of the County budget.

[Anonymous]

Like many organizations, it would be interesting to see how many teachers are actually active in the unions. Those that are active in the union may not necessarily represent the views of a teacher who does not have time to participate because of a second job, he or she is single, or has childcare responsibilities. Thus, in my opinion, it is important to do research to find out if in fact, the union's candidate is really doing what is the will of the majority of teachers before assuming that it does. It may or may not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Board of Education already has a tremendous amount of power with few checks other than elections. It can make it's own policies and falls under the State Board of Education. Not legal advice, but a reflection -- if you look under the Code of Maryland, there are few rules which the State Board has for the local Boards. In that way, the Board of Education has an extreme amount of flexibility already to do what it wants. Adding a binding commission to insulate the members from the political process, seems to give Board members even more power than they already have over a large portion of the County budget.

According to you, the BoE can already do whatever it wants. So what difference would a commission make?

Not to mention that the commission would not, in fact, insulate the members from the political process. They would still hold elective office, just as they do now. The point is to insulate boundary studies from the political process.

[Anonymous]

Well, they would be insulated as Sunil said from the political process on these studies. I think Sunil also proposed a commission to figure out how it would be when kids go back to school. How much will these Commissions cost? Anything? If not, who would join them. Why not just ask the public for free? I’m gonna go check out Cameron Rhode’s platform some more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, they would be insulated as Sunil said from the political process on these studies. I think Sunil also proposed a commission to figure out how it would be when kids go back to school. How much will these Commissions cost? Anything? If not, who would join them. Why not just ask the public for free? I’m gonna go check out Cameron Rhode’s platform some more.

The point of a boundary review commission is to insulate BoE members from the political process. Just like the point of a legislative redistricting commission isn't to insulate the legislature from the political process. It's to insulate boundary studies/legislative redistricting from the political process.

Now, if you think that school boundary decisions and legislative redistricting decisions should be made by people who hold elective office, then ok - but keep in mind that what this gets you is: gerrymandering.