Dear __________:
For many years, the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG has worked cooperatively with MCPS and the Board of Education to work foster a positive environment for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, and Gender Non-Conforming students.
In order to inform our members and supporters of the viewpoints of the many candidates running to serve on the Board of Education, we respectfully request that you answer two questions (pasted below), one on Curriculum and one on Anti-Discrimination policies. In order to provide a context, we include background materials. As a 501(c)(3) organization, we will not be endorsing candidates for office, but we will pass along your answers, and anything else you would like to let us know, to our members and supporters.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
We would appreciate your response no later than May 1, 2018. Typing in your responses in a Reply email would be appreciated.
Thank you,
David S. Fishback, Maryland Advocacy Chair
Metro DC PFLAG
1. CURRICULUM
Background
On May 13, 2014, the MCPS superintendent recommended changes in the secondary school Family Life and Human Sexuality curriculum. See pp. 5-6 of the Superintendent’s recommendation at https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe
On June 17, 2014, these recommendations were adopted by the Board of Education. See, also, BOE Public Comments testimony from the Metro DC PFLAG Advocacy Chair at https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe
Question
What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
2. ANTI-DISCRIMINATION
Background
MCPS guidelines and regulations make it very clear that the Board of Education “expects all students and staff to conduct themselves in a manner that demonstrates mutual respect without regard to an individual’s actual or perceived personal characteristics, such as . . . gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, [and] family/parental status.”
See, for example, A Student’s Guide to Rights and Responsibilities, 2017-18
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd
and
Employee Code of Conduct, 2017-18
With respect to gender identity and expression, MCPS provides specific Guidelines. See Guidelines Regarding Student Gender Identity Matters
Question
What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
3. IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US, PLEASE DO SO HERE.
Ryan Arbuckle
Question 1: What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
I believe that our education system should adapt to how we educate children about health education. I would say though that the conversation and education about these topics should extend into the home and that perhaps MCPS should work with parents and the students to help ensure that the students' needs are adequately met. MCPS schools should be a place where students feel invigorated to learn and are provided the support they need. Earlier this year students expressed how they felt their mental health was not adequately being provided for and while the topic of health education is slightly different, both areas show that MCPS needs to improve the way we provide support for our students. This is a delicate subject, not because of its political or social stigmas but rather because MCPS should provide support for the students but at the same time needs to do so in such a manner that the student doesn't feel ostracized or singled out. This is why I believe that the support should be a collaboration between the teachers, parents and students so that we are providing the education and support needed. I believe that this could be accomplished by establishing a small "working group" of parents, teachers, the Board of Education and potentially students, to discuss issues and ways we can better provide support.
Question 2: What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
I agree that MCPS schools (and the world should follow suit) should be a place where students don't fear being discriminated against. I believe in a zero tolerance policy that protects the individual being discriminated as well as educates the other party as to how their discrimination is hurtful. Again, I believe that in order for our policies that focus on mutual respect we need to involve the parents and the community. We need to engage the community and provide training about respect and acknowledge that there is beauty in our differences. Discrimination against a student or even the potential for discrimination can affect the educational experience of the student. Students should not have to worry about being discriminated against because of who they are and MCPS needs to ensure that all students have the most productive educational experience possible as well as helps to foster an understanding of differences that will make our students better world citizens.
Question 3: If there is anything else you would like to share with us, please do so here.
I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on your questions and would invite everyone who would like to discuss any other issues pertaining to MCPS to reach out to me. I don't have all the answers but I believe in public service and understand what it means to serve. I am running for the Board of Education because I am passionate about education in this country and believe we have an obligation to provide our students with the best education possible. This not only includes preparing them academically but also developing our students to be better, more informed citizens. Thank you for your time and if there is any other information that I can provide I would be more than happy to. Thank you.
Timur Edib
Thank you for your email. I will consider responding to your questions prior to your deadline, but at this point I am not in a position to give educated responses to policy questions. I am an attorney and policy analyst, and any response would be a truly political answer. I can tell you my daughter attends St. Mary's College of Maryland, and is an active member of the LGBTQ+ community, and is earning her psychology degree to become an advocate. I can also tell you that many years ago I was a student radical (ERA, Anti-Apartheid, Planned Parenthood, LGBT rights), and my advocacy for human rights hasn't changed.
I am running for 2 primary reasons: 20 years since Columbine and we still have an environment of bullying. It must end!!; Every student must be given the resources they need to be their best, whatever or however each student defines that goal. I have spent my life advocating for education, and I can promise you I will be a very vocal advocate for your platform of equality and equity. I am not LGBTQ+, but at my core I will fight for your right to be human, and be treated as a full member of the community.
Thank you for your time and advocacy! Godspeed to you.
best,
Tim
Marwa Ibrahim
No response provided.
Marwa Ibrahim
No response provided.
Julie Reiley
Question 1: What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
They are very important steps, and I support the change in the health education curriculum. When teaching our health education curriculum on sexual orientation and gender identity and related topics, it is very important to be accurate, honest, open, respectful, inclusive, and caring. My only concern, and I say this less as a candidate and more as the mother of an LGBTQ+ teen and MCPS student, is that because there is more discretion in terms of materials used to teach sexual orientation and gender identity, it is important for the LGBTQ+ community and stakeholders, such as Metro-DC PFLAG, to monitor this curriculum as best they can to ensure the materials and lessons used are and remain, across the county, accurate, honest, open, respectful, inclusive, and caring. While I commit to ensuring this if elected, as you know from your experience working on the curriculum changes, board members and superintendents will come and go; thus, it is important for the LGBTQ+ community to remain watchful (which I know you know).
Question 2: What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
I agree 100% with the polices articulated. I have no tolerance for discrimination, bigotry, bullying, harassment, or intimidation of any kind, including on account of sexual orientation or gender identity. If elected, I commit to honoring and enforcing with fidelity all MCPS antidiscrimination polices, including those pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Question 3: If there is anything else you would like to share with us, please do so here.
I would like to thank DC-PFLAG for your advocacy, and to assure the LGBTQ+ community that I am a supporter and an ally, with a history of advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. In the 1990’s I was a legal consultant for the legal department of Whitman Walker Clinic in DC, providing approximately 1,5000 hours of pro bono legal services. I helped clients with AIDS obtain critical disability benefits, co-wrote/edited chapters of the AIDS Advocacy Manual, and successfully testified before the DC Council in support of a bill that would allow DC residents to execute advanced directives designating whomever they chose to arrange for funeral and related services. This was a very important law, because before Marriage Equality, there were many heartbreaking stories of men who cared for their partners of years, who had AIDS, and when their partner passed away, family who had turned their backs on their sons, because they were gay or had AIDs, would swoop back in, take over, and not even let the surviving partner attend the funeral. I was honored to be commended for my work for Whitman-Walker Clinic. Over the course of my legal, teaching, and advocacy work, my work for Whitman-Walker Clinic, along with my special education advocacy over the last several years (my son has Asperger’s), remains personally very meaningful. I am honored to have been endorsed by the LGBTQ Democrats of Montgomery County.
I would like to share a few words about my background and my prioriities.
I am an MCPS parent committed to working with all stakeholders to provide a high quality public school education for all MCPS students. Because All Means All, this includes our students with learning differences or special needs, our highly gifted students, our English language learners, our LGBTQ+ students, our students of color, and our students impacted by poverty, as well as traditional learners and students who do not fall into any of these groups.
My priorities include:
1. Making significant progress in closing the achievement gap, including expanding programs that are working, collaborating with experts and stakeholders to better understand what needs to be done differently, and funding to achieve equity.
2. Working toward public Pre-K for all students, including expanding existing early childhood education programs.
3. Increasing meaningful and effective educational opportunities and access for students with learning differences and/or special needs; this includes increasing access to appropriate settings, supports, accommodations, and differentiated instruction, and utilizing a continuum of delivery models.
4. Working to ensure that “every student will have the academic, creative problem solving, and social emotional skills to be successful” – the MCPS mission.
5. Working with the County Council and our Delegation in Annapolis to provide MCPS the funding it needs to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse enrollment.
6. Increasing career and technical education (CTE) opportunities.
7. Recruiting, training, and retaining highly skilled teachers, and providing them with the supports and environment they need to be successful, including smaller class sizes.
As an MCPS parent, I have been an education advocate in Montgomery County, and Annapolis, for many years, serving as a co-chair on the Montgomery County Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC), a vice-chair and a member of the MCCPTA Special Education Committee, and on the board of the Walter Johnson HS PTSA. I have served on multiple work groups, teams, and panels, as well as on the boards of the Westbrook ES PTA and the Westland MS PTA. I have been awarded the Maryland PTA Lifetime Achievement Award, the MCCPTA Special Education Committee Outstanding Parent Award, and the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
The granddaughter of immigrants, I am a Latina who is proud of my diverse heritage. I am a public school graduate and the first person in my family to graduate from college. A former attorney and Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University Law School, I hold a B.A. in Economics from Pomona College, a J.D. from Yale Law, and an M.A. from The Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University (DC).
Brandon Rippeon
Question 1: What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
I support the 2014 adopted revisions to the Health Education Framework.
Question 2: What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
I support MCPS anti-discrimination policies.
Question 3: If there is anything else you would like to share with us, please do so here.
I am deeply troubled over the numerous suicides of MCPS students. No student should ever feel there is no hope for a better tomorrow or a problem cannot be overcome. Mental health and well-being are critical issues and I believe stronger outreach and counseling programs should be available. I believe students are too dependent on social media and I encourage students to develop real world communication skills and participate in real world activities.
John Robertson
Question 1: What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
I fully support the shift to allow teachers to plan instruction based on the specific needs of
their students. We need to look at health education as being just as important as all other
content areas. The purpose of health education in school is to educate all students on their
health. Educators need the time, resources, and freedom to adapt sample learning tasks in
order to provide the most comprehensive learning opportunities for their students no
matter their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
Question 2: What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
I think that MCPS anti-discrimination policies are necessary. I want all students to feel
welcomed and accepted no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. These
policies help promote a healthy and safe learning environment for students. I decided to
leave education for a year in order to finish my Masters in Social Work, so that I could
better support the needs of my students. I wanted to make sure that I was a resource for
students to ensure that they were mentally and physically safe at school. So many students
feel pressures both at home and at school because of the discrimination that happens to
them, along with several other factors. It is imperative that we make sure we meet
Maslow’s basic needs in order to meet Bloom’s taxonomy. As an educator, I strive on a
daily basis to promote student engagement and active participation in the school
community. Anti-discrimination policies like these allow students to feel open to
participating and sharing their personal opinions and feelings without the fear of
repercussion or judgement.
I am underdog in this election. But, that is OK!! I was born an underdog. I was born to a teenage mother in South Central, Los Angeles. I was not supposed to matriculate or graduate from an Ivy-League school, yet I did. My cousin Jeffrey did not. Unfortunately, the quality of our educations placed us on different paths, and he lost his life during my senior year of college due to gun violence. Therefore, being an educator is an act of social justice. My life was saved because of education. I have economic mobility because of education. It is my my mission to save the futures of our students with a quality education. So, for the last 26 years, I have gone above and beyond for students. When Algebra was not offered at the first school in which I taught, because the department chair felt students could not handle it, I provided the access and opportunity for students to engage in Algebra curriculum after school. I was hired as a math teacher the next year. When I recognized that schools have not figured out how to address the social emotional needs of students, I took a year without a salary to complete a Masters in Social Work degree. I am, now, a Licensed Social Worker. As the next At-Large Member of the Board of Education, I am committed to continuing to go above and beyond for all of the children and families of Montgomery County.
Karla Silvestre
Question 1: What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
I am pleased that the previous Board of Education approved the aforementioned changes so that middle schools student could study sexual orientation at an earlier grade. We can all agree that the middle school years are difficult for all children and in particular students that are exploring their sexual identity. By covering this topic in school at an earlier grade, we hope that it will minimize the bullying that is prevalent in middle schools. for this student population. My younger daughter was fortunate to have classmates who had two dads since Kindergarten, and so this is normal for her in terms of the family structure. This, along with what is taught in the classroom, can help students of different sexual orientation or gender identity feel accepted, respected, and welcomed in our schools.
Question 2: What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
Anti-discrimination policies. I believe the policies as written are solid. As a board member, I would request regular updates to ensure that the policies are being implemented as intended. It is important to have student voices in this process since they have first-hand knowledge of what is really going on in the schools.
Question 3: If there is anything else you would like to share with us, please do so here.
I truly believe that bringing diverse perspectives together is the way to come up with solutions to some of our biggest challenges. I would welcome and encourage on-going dialogue to see how our school system can improve our practices toward LGBTQ+ students and their families. We have come a long way but we still have ways to go.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our students.
Steven Sugg
Question 1: What is your position on these steps regarding the MCPS health education curriculum?
I believe that our education system should adapt to how we educate children about health education. I would say though that the conversation and education about these topics should extend into the home and that perhaps MCPS should work with parents and the students to help ensure that the students' needs are adequately met. MCPS schools should be a place where students feel invigorated to learn and are provided the support they need. Earlier this year students expressed how they felt their mental health was not adequately being provided for and while the topic of health education is slightly different, both areas show that MCPS needs to improve the way we provide support for our students. This is a delicate subject, not because of its political or social stigmas but rather because MCPS should provide support for the students but at the same time needs to do so in such a manner that the student doesn't feel ostracized or singled out. This is why I believe that the support should be a collaboration between the teachers, parents and students so that we are providing the education and support needed. I believe that this could be accomplished by establishing a small "working group" of parents, teachers, the Board of Education and potentially students, to discuss issues and ways we can better provide support.
Question 2: What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies?
I agree that MCPS schools (and the world should follow suit) should be a place where students don't fear being discriminated against. I believe in a zero tolerance policy that protects the individual being discriminated as well as educates the other party as to how their discrimination is hurtful. Again, I believe that in order for our policies that focus on mutual respect we need to involve the parents and the community. We need to engage the community and provide training about respect and acknowledge that there is beauty in our differences. Discrimination against a student or even the potential for discrimination can affect the educational experience of the student. Students should not have to worry about being discriminated against because of who they are and MCPS needs to ensure that all students have the most productive educational experience possible as well as helps to foster an understanding of differences that will make our students better world citizens.
Question 3: If there is anything else you would like to share with us, please do so here.
I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on your questions and would invite everyone who would like to discuss any other issues pertaining to MCPS to reach out to me. I don't have all the answers but I believe in public service and understand what it means to serve. I am running for the Board of Education because I am passionate about education in this country and believe we have an obligation to provide our students with the best education possible. This not only includes preparing them academically but also developing our students to be better, more informed citizens. Thank you for your time and if there is any other information that I can provide I would be more than happy to. Thank you.
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