Metro DC PFLAG Montgomery County District 5 BOE Candidate Questionnaire Answers

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.  Below is the Questionnaire that the Metro DC Chapter of  PFLAG sent to all 2022 candidates for the Board of Education.  Scroll down for the answers provided by the District 5 Candidates, in alphabetical order, Valerie Coll, Dawn Iannaco-Hahn, and Brenda Wolff. (Answers from the At-Large, District 1, and District 3 candidates may be found here, here, and here.)  For those seeking more context, I suggest checking out the links provided in the Questionnaire itself.

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.

David S. Fishback, Co-Chair for Maryland Advocacy
Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG

 

Dear XXXXX:

 

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 candidates running to serve on the Board of Education, we respectfully request that you answer the five brief questions pasted below.  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.

 

Thank you,

 

David S. Fishback, Maryland Advocacy Co-Chair

Metro DC PFLAG

 

cc:  Mark Eckstein, Maryland Advocacy Co-Chair, Metro DC PFLAG

  

 

1.  HEALTH EDUCATION CURRICULUM

 

Background

 

The secondary school Family Life and Human Sexuality curriculum provides that with respect to matters of sexual orientation and gender identity, the lessons are not “scripted” (as they were prior to 2014), but rather that “instructional planning resources [are] developed similar to all other content areas, including sample learning tasks, suggested instructional resources, and teacher guidance (e.g., the American Psychological Association’s Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality, available at http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation.pdf.  This shift permits teachers to plan instruction based on the specific needs of their students, as they do in all other content areas.” See  https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/c4cf1644198dfd9986257503000d636f/4e99ac91837305c887257cd1006d30ed/$FILE/6%201%20Sec%20Health%20Ed%20Curr%20Framework.pdf (pp. 5-6), adopted by the Board of Education on June 17, 2014.

 

Question

 

What is your position on the inclusion of information from mainstream American medical and mental health professional associations in 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, 2021-22  and Employee Code of Conduct, 2021-22. 

 

With respect to gender identity and expression, MCPS provides specific Guidelines.  See Guidelines Regarding Student Gender Identity, 2021-22

 

Question

  

What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies with respect to LGBTQ students and employees?

 

 

 3.   SUPPORT FOR LGBTQ STUDENTS

 

Background

 

On February 4, 2020, the Board of Education’s Committee on Special Populations reviewed its Support for LGBTQ Students Update.  This review included discussion of MCPS initiatives for support of LGBTQ Students.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/c4cf1644198dfd9986257503000d636f/2687cea280a07e5985258504005b4a33/$FILE/200204%20LGBTQ%20Students%20Update.pdf

 

Question

 

What is your view of the initiatives announced in February 2020?

 

 4.   SCHOOL NAMING

 

Background

 

In 2018, the Board of Education decided to name the new Richard Montgomery Cluster Elementary School after Bayard Rustin, a gay African American civil rights activist who was instrumental to organizing the 1963 March of Washington, which became the platform for Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/Bayard-Rustin.aspx

 

Question

 

What is your view of the naming of Bayard Rustin Elementary School?

 

 5.   ATTEMPTS TO BAR DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR GENDER EXPRESSION.

 

Background

 

In some parts of the country, efforts are being made to prohibit public schools from discussing or even mentioning sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.  See, for example, https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1079541236/florida-dont-say-gay-bill and https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/02/09/pete-buttigieg-florida-dont-say-gay-bill-lgbtq-youth-impact-nr-vpx.cnn

 

Question

 

What is your view of these efforts?

 

 6.  IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US, PLEASE DO SO.

CANDIDATE RESPONSES:

Valerie M. Coll

1.  What is your position on the inclusion of information from mainstream American medical and mental health professional associations in the MCPS health education curriculum?

I believe that age appropriate information should be shared with students in thoughtfully planned, not scripted, instruction.  Resources that are well-researched and peer reviewed should be made available to educators along with professional development for educators that helps them prepare for the work with students on this topic.

2.  What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies with respect to LGBTQ students and employees?

I support the advocacy and language in current Board policy.  I appreciate the emphasis on ensuring respect for each individual's gender identification, gender expression, sexual orientation and family/parental status.  I would like the board to make sure that there are, within the codes of conduct for students and staff, clear methods for reporting incidents where persons who have been in violation of the policy are held accountable for their words and/or actions. 

3.  What is your view of the initiatives announced in February 2020?

I am in full agreement with the initiatives as outlined.  Because of the pandemic, I would advocate that the Board direct the  district to revisit the document and identify which parts of the initiative have begun, what is still in progress and what needs to still be addressed.  A new timeline for materials and opportunities for training and community discussion should be created to address any parts of the MCPS that remain incomplete.  I also believe that there needs to be on-going opportunities for all staff including educators as well including ES/MS/HS PTSAs  to work with MCPS so that these opportunities are not considered to be a "one and done" checkbox off of the MCPS "to do" list. 

4.  What is your view of the naming of Bayard Rustin Elementary School?

i am in support of the naming procedure for MCPS schools. School naming is the public face of those people we want our students to know about, understand their importance and seek to apply the lessons learned from the experience of those we choose to honor. Representation matters.

5. What is your view of [“Don’t Say Gay”] efforts?

When a district chooses to limit the world we live in, a district chooses to make education less valuable. Our world is rich and diverse. Students see each other and they see the world as it is; choosing to make that view somehow smaller, more narrow, will close off some students to understanding and to others, it will be seen as the door closing on them or people that they know and love.  

 6.  IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US, PLEASE DO SO.

I would very much like the BOE to make sure in more strongly worded language and action that any work done to assist and strengthen our LGBTQ+ students is also explicitly reflected for all MCPS LGBTQ+ staff. 

Dawn Iannaco-Hahn

1.  What is your position on the inclusion of information from mainstream American medical and mental health professional associations in the MCPS health education curriculum?

I think this is fine, as long as the mainstream information that is included is accurate and unbiased, and presents the whole picture.As long as information is evidence based, it shouldn’t matter if it’s “mainstream” or not. The information presented needs to be constantly reviewed and changed as science changes. 

2.  What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies with respect to LGBTQ students and employees?

I believe all people should be and deserve to be respected and accepted.As with any policy in MCPS, the policy is only as good as it is enforced, and procedures followed. MCPS has a history of sweeping things under the rug in order to preserve their perceived reputation, and this goes for how they handle discrimination within our school communities.

 3.  What is your view of the initiatives announced in February 2020?

I think the initiatives announced in Feb 2020 sound great on paper, but I would want to be sure that MCPS actually follows through with everything contained in the initiative. I would assume, being that everything shut down in March 2020 including school buildings being closed for over a year, that much of what was contained in the initiative has not been done. I also think there needs to be a much greater focus on student voices, at all school levels including elementary school. 

 4.  What is your view of the naming of Bayard Rustin Elementary School?

I think it was an excellent choice. It’s a beautiful building and deserved to be named after someone like Mr. Rustin who helped to affect positive change in the United States.

 5.  What is your view of ["Don't Say Gay"] efforts?

I think it is ridiculous, and quite frankly dangerous. There is a higher rate of suicide and depression amongst people who struggle with gender identity issues and sexual orientation. By attempting to prohibit discussion, or even the mention of these things, essentially sends the message that those people don’t matter and are in some way “bad” which is why it shouldn’t be talked about, and that is not only unacceptable, it is dangerous.

6.  IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US, PLEASE DO SO.

As a mental health therapist for over 20 years, I have worked with many students and families in the LGBTQ community.

Brenda Wolff

1.  What is your position on the inclusion of information from mainstream American medical and mental health professional associations in the MCPS health education curriculum?

I am proud to live in a community where the majority value respect and teach respect for differences. This curriculum process included input from all stakeholders.  I support the concept that instruction should not be scripted. The goal of any curriculum is among other things to teach critical thinking. I like that this curriculum is aligned with the strategic planning framework and promotes a focus on instruction that values diversity and differences. I think it is important to note that parents must opt out of sexual orientation instruction if they don’t wish their kids to participate and yet year after year we see and that a high percentage of parents chose to allow participation.  This speaks well for our community although we know that there is still work to be done.  As a member of the board of education, I will continue to monitor implementation and make any necessary adjustments to ensure the best educational outcome for all students.

2.  What is your view of MCPS anti-discrimination policies with respect to LGBTQ students and employees?

The anti-discrimination policies are comprehensive and consistent with MCPS’ core values.The policies are designed to ensure that students and employees are treated consistently and fairly by providing clear standards of conduct that everyone has to follow, as well as procedures for handling complaints and conducting investigations. At a time when many protections against discrimination are being scaled back, I support the efforts of MCPS to make clear what will and will not be tolerated.

3.  What is your view of the initiatives announced in February 2020?

I fully support the initiatives that were discussed in February 2020. We have been intentional in supporting and celebrating our LGBTQ+ students.

We have implemented a LGBTQ+ Studies course in our high schools. We have Gender Identity Guidelines that protect and support our students dealing with issues surrounding gender identity. That includes transitioning students, non-binary students, and it covers everything from being able to use your preferred name and pronouns to use of bathrooms and locker rooms. Our health curriculum explicitly addresses issues relevant to our LGBTQ+ students.

LGBTQ+ issues are included in our equity training. It is important to note that we both support and celebrate our LGBTQ+ students, they are a part of the beautiful diversity that is foundational to our strength

 4.  What is your view of the naming of Bayard Rustin Elementary School?

I attended the Board meeting that voted to approve the name Bayard Rustin for the new elementary school.  As a civil rights attorney and advocate for inclusiveness, I was proud of this decision.  It was an important statement to the LGBTQ community that you matter, that you are seen and that you are welcome in our schools.  Students need to see themselves reflected in their schools and their teachers.

 5.  What is your view of ["Don't Say Gay"] efforts?

I am appalled by the discourse occurring around the county and supported by some people here in Montgomery County.  MCPS went through this years ago.  I am committed to maintaining an inclusive school culture for all students and will strongly object to attempts to do otherwise by a small minority of people in this community.

6.  IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US, PLEASE DO SO.

My entire career has dealt with issues of equal opportunity and access. I started my career with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adjudicating appeals from decisions of federal agencies on allegations of discrimination.

I spent 27 years in the US Department of Education in numerous positions.  I served as the Chief Regional Attorney in the Boston Office for Civil Rights and the Deputy Director and Acting Director in the Philadelphia Office for Civil Rights which has jurisdiction over the state of Maryland. 

I was appointed by the Secretary of Education as the Special Assistant for Gender Equity for the entire agency.  In that capacity I advised the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on issues of gender equity in all of the Department’s programs.  During that time I also took on the role of advancing the President’s One America Initiative on Race.   I facilitated discussions and activities in the Department that allowed staff to feel safe in talking about race relations in their offices and lives. 

I later became the Director of the National Institute of Educational Governance, Finance Policymaking and Management in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the US Department of Education becoming responsible for managing studies on numerous school governance and policy issues concerned with improving the quality of education and ensuring access to equal education opportunities for all. During that time I also served as the Acting Director of the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students.

 I subsequently moved to the National Center for Education Statistics serving as the Program Manager for the National Assessment of Education Progress.  In this position I was responsible for management of a budget in excess 0f $131 million dollars a year, Reporting and Quality Assurance. 

I am sharing this history so that you understand how committed how I am to ensuring that all children are treated with dignity and respect and provided equitable access and opportunity to all programs and activities in MCPS.  This has been the work I have been involved in and continue to do as part of the current Board of Education. 

"John Brown's Body" Reconsidered

 

One of the joys of going to law school in a neighborhood where there were well-stocked used book stores was setting aside a little money each month to buy books which I did not have time to read, but wanted to read someday.

Someday.

Now, about 50 years after I invested 60 cents to get a hard copy 1928 edition of Stephen Vincent Benet’s Pulitzer Prize winning John Brown’s Body, I have finally read it.

 All I knew of the book in the early ‘70s was that it sought to be an epic poem capturing the essence of the American Civil War and its aftermath. (And having been the Devil in a junior high school production of Benet’s The Devil and Daniel Webster, the appeal of reading more of his work was intriguing.)

Not too long after my purchase, I read the last few pages, which sought to summarize what America, dominated by the Industrial Revolution, had become in the six decades after the end of the Civil War. I found the last stanza of the book compelling:

So, when the crowd gives tongue

And prophets, old or young,

Bawl out their strange despair

Or fall in worship there,

Let them applaud the image or condemn

But keep your distance and your soul from them,

And, if the heart within your breast must burst

Like a cracked crucible and pour its steel

White-hot before the white heat of the wheel,

Strive to recast once more

That attar of the ore

In the strong mold of pain

Till it is whole again,

And while the prophets shudder or adore

Before the flame, hoping it will give ear,

If you at last must have a word to say,

Say neither, in their way,

“It is a deadly magic and accursed,”

Nor “It is blest,” but only “It is here.”

Finally, some years into my retirement and two years into The Covid Pandemic Isolation, I opened the beginning with anticipation. A worthwhile read, but still a disappointment, for several reasons. 

First, Benet’s poetic narrative of the War itself pretty much ended with the Battle of Gettysburg. He treated the last 22 months as an inevitable denouement. This may be an unfair quibble, but I did not expect it. The length of the War was an integral part of its horror, as Ken Burns’ narratives demonstrate. 

Second, while Benet did put a focus on Lincoln as a human being, he glaringly (at least to my mind) omitted any discussion of The Gettysburg Address, which was deemed the seminal document of the War not very long after it was delivered  To understand the Civil War, and, indeed the entire American enterprise, one must grapple with Lincoln’s vision that the awful and awesome struggle would determine whether “government of the people, by the people, for the people [would] perish from the earth.”

Third, Benet did not illustrate or seek to capture the American industrialization which followed. He just jumps from April 1865 to the economic/technological transformation in the last few pages.

Finally, Benet did not come close to plumbing the depths of the horrors of American Slavery, and Herculean efforts of the enslaved and their allies to resist, escape, and dismantle the system.  His focus on a few representative non-famous people to illustrate the War’s impact was a useful approach, but the enslaved individuals came across as cardboard cut-outs. These deficiencies were (and are) not limited to Benet, who considered himself a progressive.  They are blind spots (which are related, it seems to me, to Benet’s omission of anything about The Gettysburg Address) that have been endemic to White America. Indeed, these blind spots are illustrated by the conclusion of this 2014 essay from the Library of Congress discussing a post-World War II recording of a stage version of the book:

In the early 1950s Americans wanted an exceptional America, a nation that had suffered in order to redeem itself from the sin of slavery, the nation that Lincoln had called "the last best hope of earth."  John Brown’s Body’ gave them what they wanted. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/John-Browns-Body_Grieve-Carlson.pdf

In more recent decades, and particularly in more recent years, it has become clearer to much of White America — as it has always been clear to Black America — that the country did not fully “redeem itself from the sin of slavery.”  Writing in 1927 — three decades after the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision (which validated and accelerated the Jim Crow laws, which enshrined an American form of Apartheid which persisted until Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965) — Benet approved of the end of legal slavery, but made no mention of the attacks on, and ultimate destruction of, Reconstruction. Nor was there any reference to the failure of federal and state legal systems to protect the rights of African Americans.  Tragically, Benet, like most of his class and generation, fell victim to the cultural amnesia that followed the abandonment of the formerly enslaved following the end of Reconstruction after the 1876 presidential election.

America had not been redeemed by the the Civil War. We have made partial progress since Benet wrote his epic. But now we are backsliding.  Indeed, in many places in America, people seek to cast in stone the woefully inadequate vision which imprisoned Benet’s generation.   

We can, and must, do better 

Martin Luther King Services at Temple Emanuel, 1987-2021

 

Martin Luther King Services at Temple Emanuel, 1987-2021

 

2021  Yolanda Savage-Narva, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Programs for the Union of Reform Judaism (Striving to Create Dr. King's Beloved Community: Reform Judaism's Quest for Racial Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion)  

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2020/12/annual-mlk-shabbat-service-temple.html  and https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2021/01/

 

 2020   Toni Holness, Public Policy Director, Maryland ACLU  (Making the Dream Real:: Disparties in the Criminal Justice System)

 https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2019/12/mlk-shabbat-service-on-jan-17-speaker.html and

 https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/63763/at-temple-emanuel-learning-in-order-to-do/editorial-opinion/?fbclid=IwAR2DfasD9rHQu1x-eh7LzpDMDnrtV3M3RBZNiopl0fa1djRIIE0LHphJkI8 and

http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2020/02/at-temple-emanuel-learning-in-order-to.html

 

2019   Brenda Wolff, Montgomery County Board of Education (Making the Dream Real: Challenges in Public Education in Montgomery County) 

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-temple-emanuel-mlk-service-with.html

 

 2018   Ike Leggett, Montgomery County Executive (Implementing Dr. King's Vision: What Have We Done in Montgomery County, and What We Need To Do in the Future) 

 https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/01/county-executive-ike-leggetts.html

 

2017   Will Saletan, Slate and Temple Member (Facing Implicit Bias)

http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2017/01/martin-luther-king-jr-shabbat-service.html

 

2016   Noah Roos and Micah Guthrie, Operation Understanding

 

2015   Rev. Carl Davis, Ken-Gar Baptist Church

 

2014   David Fishback (King, Gandhi, Mandela: Giants of the 20^th Century, Beacons for the 21st^t) 

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/05/temple-emanuel-jan-17-2014-king-gandhi.html

 

2013   Jonathan Jayes-Green (speaking in the context of the Maryland Dream Act and the Maryland Civil Marriage Equality Act)  

 

2012   David Fishback (What Would Dr. King Occupy?)

http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-would-dr-king-occupy.html 

 

2011   Solange Hansen (African-American recent convert to Judaism)

 

2010   Delegate Al Carr  (Al represents the District 16 (which includes the Temple) in the General Assembly; he is a descendent of the enslaved-line of the Thomas Jefferson family)

 

2009   Bridget Bailey Lipscomb (The Joshua Generation in the Promised Land)

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/01/2009-mlk-service-at-temple-emanuel.html

 

2008   Temple Emanuel Teen Choir

 

2007   Patricia Corbett (then-Deputy Executive Director of Metro DC PFLAG)

 

 2006   Delegate Herman Taylor (then-representative from District 14 (Olney/Sandy Spring/Ashton/Damasus/Burtonsville) in the General Assembly) 

 

2005   David Fishback (Theology, Morality & Faith: A Legacy of Dr. King)

 http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2015/11/theology-morality-and-faith-legacy-of.html

 

2004   Ike Leggett (then a member of the Montgomery County Council, later County Executive)

 

2003   KESTY (Kensington Temple Emanuel Youth Group)

 

2002   Rabbi Stone, Rev. Carl Davis, Iman Faisal Khan (this service was in the

 aftermath of 9/11)

 

2001   LaRae Jackson (Baltimore VISTA Volunteer)

 

2000   Steve Silverman (then-member of the Montgomery County Council)

 

1999   David Fishback (Dr. King and the Second American Revolution)

 http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2017/07/dr-king-and-second-american-revolution.html

 

1998   Fair Haven United Methodist Church Choir and longtime Fair Haven members Pearl Green and Dr. William A. Phillips (1997 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics)  

 

1997   Operation Understanding Executive Director

 

1996   Richard Montgomery High School Gospel Choir

 

1995, 1994, No featured speakers

 

1993   David Fishback (“King: Lessons for the Closing Decade of the Century”)

 

1990   Shirley Small Rougeau, Civil Rights Activist

 

1989   Rev. Alfred Moser

 

1988   Charles Morgan, Civil Rights Attorney

 

1987   Phineas Indritz, Civil Rights Lawyer and Temple Member