Your Chance to Run for MCPS BOE
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Anonymous
Absolutely. We need people invested in the community. |
Anonymous
I want to get to work via instantaneous translocation, so I'm not going to bother with car repairs. |
Anonymous
? |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Judy Docca is still unopposed. MCPS parents are good with her for another 4? |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Maria Blaeuer of Gaithersburg is also running in District 1 -- the seat Judy Docca currently holds. |
Anonymous
| Can someone post the final list of candidates? |
Anonymous
Thank you |
Anonymous
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My money is on Amano against O'Neil.
This is her write-up in Bethesda Beat. Amano , 51, said she’s going up against O’Neill in part because she thinks it’s important for current MCPS parents to be represented on the school board. Amano’s daughter is a freshman at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) She has worked as a parent advocate in a number of capacities over the years, participating in the site selection process for Silver Creek Middle School in Kensington and serving as a delegate to the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA). She was president of the Loiederman PTA and helped advocate for a project to build a performance space at the middle school. Amano said her insight as a parent at high-performing schools and schools with high poverty rates would help her as a school board member. “I have an inside perspective of the challenges faced by both schools. The high achieving schools tend to be where the crowding is,” she said. “Then, with the higher FARMS [free and reduced-price meals system] schools, the achievement gap issues come in.” Amano said if elected, she’d support fostering magnet programs, which can attract resources to struggling schools. She said she also wants to explore extending the school year or even providing year-round instruction at some schools in the county. She’ll face a longtime incumbent in O’Neill, who is pursuing her sixth term on the school board. Amano said she’s not in favor of long-term service on the board. “I would only be interested in serving, at most, two terms because I would assume there would be a parent who would better be able to represent the needs of the school system at that point,” she said. Amano, whose adult son is a graduate of B-CC, said she has spent many years as a stay-at-home mom. She and her husband are currently co-owners of a Frederick-based distillery that makes shochu, a Japanese liquor. |
mariablaeuer
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Hi DCUM!
I have really appreciated seeing the positive comments about my decision to run for MCPS Board of Education that have popped up on this forum. I thought that maybe I should introduce myself and make sure people know how to contact me directly. 1. You can find me at www.MariaForBoard.com or email me at MariaforBoard@gmail.com. 2. I am on twitter at @MariaForBoard (official campaign account - all my appearances and events will be there) or @MariaBlaeuer (personal – less campaign, more chickens, kids, & broader education policy) 3. Yes, I am running for the District 1 seat on the Board of Education – the seat currently held by Judy Docca. 4. No, you don’t have to live in District 1 to vote for me – all the BOE seats are elected countywide. My goal is to NOT clutter up the threads or in-boxes, so I am going to post this introduction on this thread and maybe 1 or 2 others where the election is discussed. If you get it twice I am sorry! As mentioned by another poster on another thread, I am an attorney whose practice focuses on education law, with a particular emphasis on special education, disability and disciplinary matters. Most of my professional life has been about improving the educational outcomes and experiences of students with disabilities, students of color and students who come to school facing significant challenges in their lives before they get to their first class of the day. I have trained parents how to effectively advocate for their children and trained educators from around the country on how to build stronger relationships with families, avoid disputes and improve student outcomes using special education law. I have also participated in the training of court-appointed education attorneys, I served on the board of a small charter school educating young people who are at risk of disengaging with school, was a PTA treasurer and have been a presenter at numerous conferences on special education, mostly recently at the Lehigh’s Special Education Law Symposium and COPAA’s annual conference. Perhaps most importantly, I am also the parent of two current MCPS students and a recent MCPS graduate. I wanted to update something I saw on this forum – a poster assumed that my opponent’s use of a derogatory term for individuals with intellectual disabilities and her subsequent to apology to her colleagues, but not to people with intellectual disabilities and their families would result in her not being endorsed by the teacher’s union. That was not the case, and the Montgomery County Educators’ Association endorsed my opponent (again) and she will appear on the Apple ballot. As you might imagine, while my opponent is not well loved here at DCUM and similar forums, or in the special education community, this will not be an easy race at all for me; she has been in office for 20 years and has institutional support. It will take a lot more then posts for me to win this race, and I appreciate any help people can give. My friend and campaign treasurer, Kim Glassman, is hosting a meet and greet for me this Saturday from 4 to 6 at her home, you can access the RSVP form here, or via the website. If you can make it, it would be great to meet you in person. I don’t have the capacity to monitor replies to this post, but please to reach out via the email or the website. Thanks! Maria ps – just to be on the safe side - Authority of Maria Blaeuer for Board of Education Kimberly Glassman, Treasurer P.O. Box 5193 Laytonsville, MD 20882 301-246-0337 |