David Fishback's Blog: Metro DC PFLAG Montgomery County, Maryland, Board of Education Candidate Questionnaires

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Metro DC PFLAG Montgomery County, Maryland, Board of Education Candidate Questionnaires - 2022

In recent years, the Montgomery County Public Schools system (MCPS) has made great progress with respect to LGBTQ+ matters. MCPS policy, of course, is set by the Montgomery County Board of Education.

Four seats on the Board of Education are up for election this year. The Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG sent a Questionnaire to all of the 2022 candidates. The candidates' responses are hyperlinked: At-Large, District 1, District 3, and District 5.

Also, Metro DC PFLAG is a co-sponsor of a League of Women Voters Board of Education candidate forum, which will be held on Zoom on Wednesday evening, May 18, from 7pm to 8:30pm. Registration may be done here: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_QcHP4O5aQ_mJr3xGHOfSHw

NOTE: In the July 19 primary election, the top two vote-getters move on to the general election in November. Voters may vote in all the contests, regardless of where in the County they live.

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David S. Fishback, a retired attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, is Advocacy Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). His involvement in social justice efforts began as a college student in the 1960s, when he ran a tutoring program in Washington, DC. Following a year as a VISTA volunteer at a prison in Memphis, TN, he went to Harvard Law School and worked on Democratic Party reform issues.

After graduation, he joined the Office of General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. In 1983, David went to the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, where he litigated environmental tort matters, most notably the government's successful defense against lawsuits brought by asbestos product and Agent Orange manufacturers, who were seeking to shift their tort liability to the federal taxpayers.

In 1984, David became co-president of the PTA at a magnet integration primary school in Silver Spring, MD, beginning his efforts as an education activist in Montgomery County. He began advocating for LGBTQ youth in 2002 when he was appointed to the County Board of Education's Citizens Advisory Committee on sexuality education issues. During his time as chair of that committee and later through PFLAG, he was integrally involved in the ultimately successful effort to bring intelligent discussion of LGBTQ topics into the secondary school health curriculum and guidance offices.

A past member of the Temple Emanuel of Kensington MD Board of Trustees, David and his wife Bobbi co-founded and co-chaired (from 2002 to 2019) the Temple's Kulanu Committee for LGBTQ outreach. He is also a long-time member of the Temple's Social Action Council. In 2020, David was appointed to the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism.