Endorsements for Montgomery County School Board, 2016

Every two years, around this time, I get questions about who to vote for for the Montgomery County Board of Education. This is where I am coming from on MCPS issues: I have been involved in MCPS matters since 1984, when I was co-president of the Rosemary Hills Primary School PTA, working for needed resources for this magnet integration school. Later, I was public affairs director for the Gifted and Talented Association of Montgomery County, working to secure appropriate education for students and seeking ways to widen the net with respect to GT identification and opportunities; I subsequently worked to protect needed resources for the Blair, Richard Montgomery, Takoma Park, and Eastern signature secondary schools. Beginning in 2002, after my children graduated from MCPS, I became active in working to secure appropriate health education and other MCPS policies regarding LGBT issues, and continue in this area (in which MCPS has made great progress) to this day.

There are three contests, At-Large, District 2, and District 4. Every voter may vote in all three contests.

At-Large: Jeannette Dixon

Incumbent Phil Kauffman is running for his second reelection to this seat. I do not have significant disagreements with him on substantive matters, but have been disappointed with how he has viewed his role as a Board member. On matters relating to LGBT issues, for example, he has been on our side, but has never pushed to get things done -- an approach (taken by some, but not all BOE members) that, in my view, unnecessarily delayed implementation of effective health education curriculum revisions for seven years. As someone who has been involved in MCPS matters for more than 30 years, I am convinced that BOE members need to be more proactive. When Phil spoke at a candidate forum before the primary, he reiterated his commitment to a relatively hands-off approach, leaving virtually everything to the Superintendent. I disagree. The BOE and the Superintendent need to be in a collaborative relationship. I like Phil personally and on substantive policy, but his approach to the role of the BOE is, in my view, too cramped, and has not served MCPS well. I think we can do better. I should note that the Montgomery County Teachers Association (MCEA) has endorsed Phil. See here for MCEA's endorsement list and a link to its questionnaires to the candidates. I generally agree with the MCEA endorsements, but not in this contest.

Jeannette Dixon, the retired principal of Paint Branch High School, seems to generally align with my substantive views -- particularly on LGBT matters -- and promises to be more proactive. If Ms. Dixon is elected, three of the seven BOE members (excluding the student member) would be former principals, which, all things being equal, seems to me a bit too many. That is one reason I voted for Sebastian Johnson in the primary. But all things are not equal, and I favor Ms. Dixon because I think the Board needs to be more proactive. So I am voting for Jeannette Dixon.

Pasted below is my e-exchange with her on LGBT matters:

My e-mail to Ms. Dixon:

My name is David Fishback; I was Chair of the BOE's Citizens Advisory Committee on Family Life & Human Development from Jan. 2003 through May 2005 and now am Advocacy Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG. I am very interested in knowing your views on LBGT matters at MCPS. See this blog, which summarizes the 2002-14 controversy, which resulted in great progress: http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2015/11/successful-public-school-lgbt.html

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ms. Dixon's response:

David I just finished reading your blog. It seems to me that you deserve the JFK Library Profile in Courage Award. Thank you for sticking with this all of those years and for your group's commitment to the rights of our students. You should know that if I were on the Board during this time I certainly would have had the courage to bring this up and not let politics get in the way of doing what is right for our students and helping to eradicate ignorance. The fact that having information on LBGT included in the Health curriculum took the BOE this long to act is unacceptable. I support LBTG rights 100% and if I am elected you can count on my active support on the Board, including speaking at forums if asked to do so.. When I was principal of Paint Branch we had a Gay/Straight Student Alliance that I was very supportive of and very proud of. We should have one in every high school at a minimum and begin the process of educating students at the elementary and middle school levels as well as a normal part of instruction by also highlighting the contributions that LBGT people have made to America. Something akin to getting the contributions of African-Americans and other groups recognized as a part of our American history story. It seems to me your blog is a great contribution to LBGT literature and you should think about having it published as a pamphlet which the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG could sell to underwrite the cost. You made a difference for generations to come.Thank you for your work on all of this.

Best regards,

Jeanette Dixon

District 2: Rebecca Smondrowski

I do not know first-term incumbent Rebecca Smondrowski. As far as I can determine, she has supported progress regarding LGBT matters Given that her opponent, Brandon Orman Rippeon, has no discernible involvement in MCPS matters and, more to the point, is a conservative who unsuccessfully ran to the right of then-incumbent Congressman Roscoe Bartlett in the 2012 Republican primary (see here), I have no reason at all to think that we would want him on the BOE. Anyone associated with the right-wing of the Republican Party needs, in my view, to overcome a presumption of hostility to LGBT concerns. Mr. Rippeon has done nothing to try to overcome that presumption. (For background, see here for what happened in 2010 when someone active in local Republican Party politics ran (unsuccessfully) for the BOE. ) Ms. Smondrowski has been endorsed by MCEA. This is an easy call. I am voting for Rebecca Smondrowski.

District 4: Shebra Evans

This is a seat in which the incumbent is not running. Beginning in 2014, when she first ran for the BOE, I have had good discussions with Shebra, including one at a PFLAG house party. I had invited several BOE members (and former candidates); Shebra (along with Jill Ortman-Fouse and Mike Durso) came. I am confident that she would be a solid supporter of the positive direction MCPS has been taking on LGBT matters. I also find her experience as an MCPS parent and school activist very useful and laudable, and her views about the limits of high-stakes testing and appropriate education for all students consistent with my own. Shebra has been endorsed by the MCEA and nearly all of the members of the Montgomery County delegation to the General Assembly, including Rich Madaleno, Anne Kaiser, and Bonnie Cullison. See here . I do not know very much about her opponent, but I am very confident that Sheba would make an excellent BOE member. I am voting for Shebra Evans.