Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 21:06     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
I have seen her post comments on local pages. She believes CRT is being taught in elementary schools, is concerned about kids being taught pronouns, and doesn't want schools to be better funded because she doesn't want to pay higher taxes to give schools proper funding.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 20:43     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Also, I don’t believe in god but now we are discriminating against candidates because they are too religious? Christian isn’t a dirty word. Sheesh progressives are anything but.


I don't know if I would vote for her (I don't know enough), but why would it be a bad thing to have one of the members represent this population--which certainly exists in our school. E pluribus unum and all that.

Or, at least ask if she plans to represent her personal interests only or the needs expressed to her by her constituents...

Lastly, one poster said she/the church thinks LGBTQ individuals are evil. That may be the case, or it may not. Or the church may say that and she doesn't agree with it (even if she is the chair). In my faith community, a lot of more conservative clergy don't perform religious marriages not between a man and woman. However, they have no problem with these unions being unions or marriages under America civil law. Even more won't perform marriages from people of different faiths-- not because they think it is evil or that the people are evil, but because they don't believe it fits within their religious roles.


This church is different. It was founded in the 1970s, and isn’t affiliated with any denomination. They could chose tomorrow to allow gay marriage in their church. They could chose tomorrow to stop telling their members that homosexuality is a sin. But they haven’t, and they won’t. Wells isn’t just some church member that attends services and privately believes something else. She is a LEADER. She shapes that church’s direction as its “ Chairman & President Trustee of the Board”
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 20:06     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:Also, I don’t believe in god but now we are discriminating against candidates because they are too religious? Christian isn’t a dirty word. Sheesh progressives are anything but.


I don't know if I would vote for her (I don't know enough), but why would it be a bad thing to have one of the members represent this population--which certainly exists in our school. E pluribus unum and all that.

Or, at least ask if she plans to represent her personal interests only or the needs expressed to her by her constituents...

Lastly, one poster said she/the church thinks LGBTQ individuals are evil. That may be the case, or it may not. Or the church may say that and she doesn't agree with it (even if she is the chair). In my faith community, a lot of more conservative clergy don't perform religious marriages not between a man and woman. However, they have no problem with these unions being unions or marriages under America civil law. Even more won't perform marriages from people of different faiths-- not because they think it is evil or that the people are evil, but because they don't believe it fits within their religious roles.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:47     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:Also, I don’t believe in god but now we are discriminating against candidates because they are too religious? Christian isn’t a dirty word. Sheesh progressives are anything but.


But she's HIDING it. Why did she hide it in her bio? Because she knew it wouldn't play well with liberal MoCo voters. People need to know who they're voting for.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:43     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:She’s black, which you left out. I believe she’s also a CPA. I love supporting black moms who believe in open schools, holding MCPs accountable to its core mission of educating kids in reading and math, and would 100% choose adding teachers over more central office staff any day. Voting for her. Time for fresh blood.


"Fresh blood" is not a very distinctive claim when there is no incumbent running in District 1. Any of the four candidates would be new to the BOE. I plan to vote for Grace Rivera-Owen, as she has a lengthy record of service to the community.


Apologies for the typo, should be Grace Rivera-Oven
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:34     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:She’s black, which you left out. I believe she’s also a CPA. I love supporting black moms who believe in open schools, holding MCPs accountable to its core mission of educating kids in reading and math, and would 100% choose adding teachers over more central office staff any day. Voting for her. Time for fresh blood.


"Fresh blood" is not a very distinctive claim when there is no incumbent running in District 1. Any of the four candidates would be new to the BOE. I plan to vote for Grace Rivera-Owen, as she has a lengthy record of service to the community.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:27     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:Also, I don’t believe in god but now we are discriminating against candidates because they are too religious? Christian isn’t a dirty word. Sheesh progressives are anything but.


Uhh, if your religion means you believe that homosexuals are evil, and you're running for a public office, then uh, YEAH I'm gonna be bothered by that.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:11     Subject: Re:BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Multi-million dollar nonprofit is a stretch. Annual budget right around $1 million
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:10     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Also, I don’t believe in god but now we are discriminating against candidates because they are too religious? Christian isn’t a dirty word. Sheesh progressives are anything but.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 19:08     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
She’s black, which you left out. I believe she’s also a CPA. I love supporting black moms who believe in open schools, holding MCPs accountable to its core mission of educating kids in reading and math, and would 100% choose adding teachers over more central office staff any day. Voting for her. Time for fresh blood.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 18:57     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Anonymous wrote:She's also on the looney tune slate of Fryar and Dawn. 🛑


Fryar just recently moved here from Connecticut. He ran as a republican for local office there, and lost there, too:

http://www.hartfordinfo.org/issues/documents/education/cityline_102709.asp

Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 18:37     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
She's also on the looney tune slate of Fryar and Dawn. 🛑
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 18:33     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Thank you for this!
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 16:56     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
Also! Esther Wells leads a church who won’t marry gays. Awesome.

On her church’s website:
“Marriage is a biblical institution established by God as clearly described in the scriptures. This Church recognizes that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. Accordingly, this Church, its pastors and staff will not participate in same sex unions or same sex marriages, nor shall its property or resources be used for such purposes. (Gen. 2:21-25; Matt. 19:3-9)”

https://icog.org/values-beliefs
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2022 16:28     Subject: BOE candidate, Esther Wells
So I was checking out her candidate website, https://www.anewdawn4boe.com/about-esther and found it strange that it says “She serves as the Chairman & President Trustee of the Board of a multi-million dollar non-profit in Gaithersburg, MD” but it doesn’t say which non-profit. If you were chairperson of a large nonprofit, wouldn’t you be proud of it enough to mention it by name?

Well, after some googling, I figured out why. She chairs her church: https://icog.org/about

Also interesting- she spoke out against CRT in a recent radio interview on the super conservative Larry O’Connor show on WMAL:
https://omny.fm/shows/oconnor-and-company/04-27-22-interview-a-new-dawn-moco-school-board-ca