How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 3)?

41

Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?

Yes. I am the founder and CEO of Legacy Design, a small business

What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?

Master of Public Health, Mercer University

Why are you running for the school board?

As a Montgomery County Public Schools graduate, a current Montgomery County Public Schools parent, a former long-term substitute teacher and PTA president, it pains me to say the education I received is not the education our children are receiving. Every student must leave Montgomery County Public Schools college and career ready, prepared to thrive as successful, productive citizens. Montgomery County Public Schools is the jewel of Montgomery County, but in recent years, we have lost some of that shine. We are at a turning point. Student achievement is improving, yet only 36.9% of students reached proficiency in math on the most recent state assessments, and gaps between student groups persist. The district absorbed a $36 million budget shortfall this year and carries a $3 billion maintenance backlog.

My platform is grounded in three commitments. Engage means equity is a verb, not a policy position. A child’s ZIP code should not determine the quality of instruction, access to enrichment, or exposure to advanced coursework. Empower means students, families and community members are strategic partners, not spectators. Engagement must be meaningful, and what families share has to be reflected in the decisions we make. Elevate means real oversight and real accountability. Policies and budgets must be paired with clear expectations, performance measures and public reporting so the community can see what is working. None of this is possible alone. Real progress happens only when families, educators, students, Montgomery County Public Schools and the community work together as a collaborative.

What makes you a good candidate for the board?

My time in Montgomery County Public Schools classrooms and in PTA leadership has shown me how our schools work from the inside and how families experience them from the outside. As a substitute teacher, I saw what educators carry every day. As a PTA president, I sat with parents trying to make sense of a system that too often felt closed to them.

I was born in Liberia, and my family’s experience with civil war shaped my commitment to public service. For more than 15 years, through my work with organizations including the U.S. Agency for International Development and UNICEF, I have managed complex programs and public funds, worked across institutions and helped ensure resources were used effectively.

At USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, my work connected humanitarian policy with program decisions and coordination with multilateral partners, including the World Health Organization. This required navigating competing priorities and translating policy commitments into practical action.

That experience taught me to ask: What problem are we solving? Who is being left behind? How will we measure progress? What must change when results fall short? Those questions are equally important in overseeing a school system.

I will bring preparation, independent judgment and a willingness to collaborate. Effective board service requires listening carefully, setting clear expectations and holding leadership accountable while respecting the expertise of educators. I am prepared to do that work.

What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?

Rebuilding trust between Montgomery County Public Schools and the community. This year, Montgomery County Public Schools faces very difficult decisions, including school closures, boundary studies, the regional program model and growing capital improvement needs. In the years ahead, with growing needs and shrinking budgets, our schools will face new challenges. If our district is to weather them and come out strong, we must do so as a community.

Our county’s demographics are changing. If we are serious about meaningful community engagement, it cannot look the same as it always has, and it will not look the same for every family. We must reach communities where they are. That means understanding the gatekeepers, many of whom are already connected to their communities, and ensuring Montgomery County Public Schools communications work across cultural, religious and other affiliations to bridge the gap.

Timely communication and feedback collection matter, but they are only the beginning. Montgomery County Public Schools must show the community how its feedback was used in decision making. Our families, community members and local experts offer excellent resources, and their insight must be taken into account.

This cannot be a top-down approach. The board must hold Montgomery County Public Schools accountable for doing this work. Being a parent should not be a spectator sport. Trust grows when families can participate meaningfully and see whether commitments are being fulfilled.

Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has been my inspiration. She began her ministerial career as Barbados’s Minister of Education. As a female leader in a largely patriarchal society, she has used her brilliance and innovative ideas to bring real change within her country. She has also challenged global structures that tout equity and sign on to U.N. resolutions, yet in actual practice harm smaller nations. She has done so on a global stage, in a way that puts a spotlight on these issues and applies pressure for change. She has also reached mainstream audiences to share her ideas and inspire others. It is one thing to be smart, but it is another to turn that intelligence into wisdom that inspires a younger generation.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased funding to support early childhood education, higher teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Since the Blueprint’s implementation, test scores have increased modestly in many parts of the state, but some school officials complain about the costs and administrative burdens placed on them by the Blueprint. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it is affecting your school district.

I support the Blueprint’s central goals: expanding access to early childhood education, strengthening the educator workforce, preparing students for college and careers and directing additional support to students facing greater barriers. As a parent at a community school, I have seen what community school liaisons mean to the families they serve. For Montgomery County Public Schools, the Blueprint provides a framework for connecting these priorities. Its emphasis on community schools, multilingual learners and students experiencing poverty aligns with my public health perspective: children’s learning is influenced by conditions both inside and outside the classroom.

Montgomery County’s wealth on paper does not reflect the reality in our schools. More than 70,000 Montgomery County Public Schools students qualified for free or reduced-price meals in 2023 to 2024, more than total Washington, D.C. public school enrollment. Yet because the state formula adjusts for local wealth, Montgomery County Public Schools receives one of the smallest shares of state aid in Maryland. This year, the county council moved $36 million from the Capital Improvements Program into the operating budget, and Montgomery County Public Schools still had to eliminate 415 positions. To build on our modest gains, the state must reassess how the Blueprint is funded so good intentions are matched by resources.

I will advocate for sustainable state and local funding, clear explanations of implementation costs and coordination that protects educators’ time. Montgomery County Public Schools should show families how Blueprint investments reach schools and whether they improve readiness, learning and access to opportunity.

I support the Blueprint’s ambitions while expecting disciplined oversight, transparent spending and adjustments grounded in evidence.

Chronic absenteeism has been a problem in many schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. How big of a problem is absenteeism in your school district, and what if anything can the Board of Education do about it?

Chronic absenteeism remains a serious concern. At the end of the 2024-25 school year, nearly 35,000 Montgomery County Public Schools students, about one in five, were chronically absent. We cannot talk about student success when so many students are missing school.

Montgomery County Public Schools has the right structures on paper. Its attendance regulation, updated in August 2026, requires that the most persistent cases be referred to the Student Well Being Team for root cause analysis and intensive collaborative problem solving.

Yet this year’s budget cuts reduced the very people who carry out that work, including social workers and pupil personnel workers. Updating a regulation while cutting the staff who implement it is a disconnect. It compromises the infrastructure designed to solve this problem.

We cannot fix chronic absenteeism if the structures built to address it are weakened. Montgomery County Public Schools must fully resource these teams and protect their positions and their time.

Are you satisfied with your school district’s policy on AI use by students? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to improve the AI policy?

I support Board Policy IGS on educational technology and the classroom rules Montgomery County Public Schools added to its grading regulation. Together, they recognize that AI should support teachers, not replace them, and that students must be transparent about how they use it.

AI policy, however, must be a dynamic process. The technology changes quickly, and our oversight must keep pace. Montgomery County Public Schools should track which AI tools are being used, how they are being used and what effect they are having on learning. We must ensure AI is not compromising children’s education, weakening critical thinking or creating overreliance.

That requires a consistent implementation plan across every school, so students and families know what to expect from one classroom to the next and from one school to the next. It also requires the board to critically assess, through regular public reporting, whether the policy is achieving its intended outcomes and to adjust when it is not.

Youth mental health has been a growing concern for years now. Do you think your school district has the resources and personnel in place to deal with this issue adequately? If not, what would you suggest to improve the situation?

No, and in the current budget climate, that is unlikely to change on its own. Youth mental health is a crisis that must be addressed now. It cannot wait.

The broader question is whether this should rest on the school system alone. I believe it is a shared responsibility that must be worked out with the county’s Department of Health and Human Services and county leadership, so that funding is properly aligned with need.

We already have a model. School nurses in Montgomery County Public Schools are provided through county Health and Human Services, bringing skilled health professionals into our schools without placing the full cost on the school system. We should look at how a similar partnership could bring mental health professionals into schools, where students already are.

Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?

No. We should want our children reading and curious. Books open doors to new ideas, other cultures and experiences beyond their own, and that is how young people learn to think critically.

Montgomery County Public Schools already has a careful process. School library media specialists and professional staff evauate books using professional reviews and established criteria before they reach our shelves. Age-appropriateness matters, and decisions about it belong with trained library professionals and educators, not individual campaigns. When a family has a concern, Montgomery County Public Schools has a formal reconsideration process, and families should use it.

Parents have every right to guide their own children’s reading. No single parent or group should decide what every other family’s child can read.

Brenda M. Diaz (At Large)

How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 3)?

49

Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?

Yes, social studies teacher at Fusion Global Academy.

What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?

Master’s of Education, Social Studies from George Washington University.

Why are you running for the school board?

I ran for this board twice because I genuinely believe our public schools are failing children. Not because of lack of funding. Not because of lack of caring people. But because children are not getting the actual opportunities to learn and grow, to be in environments that care for them. And when I say care for them, I mean providing the actual tools they need through academic excellence. Whole books. Rigorous curriculum. Safe classrooms. Teachers who are supported.

I know what it means to be a child whose future depended on institutions stepping up. A gifted and talented program, Prep for Prep, and parents who cared deeply gave me a path from the Bronx to Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Twenty-five years later, I have taught pre-K through Advanced Placement Government, worked as an English as a second languge educator, a curriculum writer, a softball coach and a building administrator. I am a James Madison fellow. I founded Heart of Joy Learning. I worked with children who cannot read in one of the wealthiest counties in the country, all while watching a board rubber-stamp billion-dollar budgets as the achievement gap widens and buildings crumble.

Only 48.3% of Black students and 34.3% of Hispanic students in Montgomery County Public Schools are proficient in English language arts. Those numbers have barely moved. The achievement gap convicts the governance problem we are facing within Montgomery County Public Schools—and nobody on the board, not even the superintendent, is being held accountable for it.

I cannot watch it happen anymore. I am running to be the independent voice of parents, students and teachers on this board—beholden to no union, no political machine and no county executive. Just the children and their families.

What makes you a good candidate for the board?

I am the only candidate in this race who has actually worked as a teacher in the classroom. I am a veteran educator with more than 20 years in multilingual classrooms—pre-K to high school, English as a second langauge to Advanced Placement. I know what academic excellence requires because I have had to produce it with real children, not from a boardroom.

I began as a Spanish teacher and curriculum coordinator at a progressive private school in Washington, D.C., designing grades three through six curriculum and presenting it at regional conferences. I taught U.S. History, Government and World History at Gaithersburg High School, coached JV softball there and at Wootton High School and served as an Montgomery County Education Association building representative.

That last fact matters. I sat on the union side of the table. I know how collective bargaining shapes policy, how the Apple Ballot works, and how a board that owes its seats to that endorsement stops hearing parents. Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service trained me in history and government. I am a James Madison fellow, a two-time National Endowment of the Humanities Landmark participant and a Harvard Business School Case Method graduate. These have shaped my understanding of how government must respond to the people it serves. I later founded Heart of Joy Learning and now teach social studies at Fusion Global Academy. After 2024 I built the Success Toolkit on DiazForBOE.com so families and teachers share the same evidence.

For more than twenty years, Montgomery County Education Association-endorsed majorities have rubber-stamped budgets, boundaries and closures while testimony, PTAs and local elected officials were ignored. I am not that candidate. I carry no Apple Ballot debt. I answer to parents, students and taxpayers—not to the machine that has held this board. I am arriving to this job with a keen insight into what is required, and to do it working with you.

What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?

The most important issues facing Montgomery County families are a leadership and fiduciary failure. Montgomery County Public Schools spends $3.78 billion a year. Yet only 22% of students pass Algebra I. Only 54.9% of third graders read at grade level. Black students are 48.3% proficient in ELA and 22.9% in math; Hispanic students are 34.3% and 15.7%. A 2023 systemwide audit did not move those numbers. This is a moral crisis.

The board’s duty is stewardship: every dollar, contract and cut measured against whether it serves children. Yet after the County Council approved a record $143 million increase, Montgomery County Public Schools cut special education resource teachers, social workers and college and career navigators—while Central Office remains far heavier than Fairfax. Capital money meant for roofs, HVAC and mold was raided to fund contracts. Colonel Zadok Magruder High School’s ceiling crumbles. Thomas S. Wootton High School was left to rot, then closed. The board is effectively abandoning the children already being failed.

If elected, I will treat academics and fiduciary duty as one job. Require whole books, textbooks, grade-appropriate assignments, explicit reading and math instruction, less screen time and midterms and finals. Enforce the Student Code of Conduct, restore School Resource Officers and replace restorative justice in the Montgomery County Education Association contract with a Teachers’ Bill of Rights to bring order back to the classroom. Tie every budget dollar to outcomes. Protect classroom and special-education positions before bureaucracy. Create an independent inspector general. Give parents and community watchdog organizations a real seat at the table. Our children were entrusted to this board. I will fulfill that promise.

Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.

James Madison, the father of the Constitution, is the public leader I most admire. He served on both the local and national stage—crafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, co-authoring the Federalist Papers and architecting the Bill of Rights. He earned his convictions through relentless study and preparation.

I am a James Madison fellow because that conviction is central to who I am as an educator. Madison understood that a self-governing republic depends on an educated citizenry—and that power without accountability corrupts. He designed a system of checks precisely because he did not trust any institution to govern itself honestly without one.

That is how I will govern. I will not rubber-stamp what I have not read. I will not approve a contract that has not been scrutinized. I will not silence a parent who has come to testify. Madison wrote that “the people are the only legitimate fountain of power.” On a board that has spent 20 years ignoring that fountain, I intend to restore it.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased funding to support early childhood education, higher teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Since the Blueprint’s implementation, test scores have increased modestly in many parts of the state, but some school officials complain about the costs and administrative burdens placed on them by the Blueprint. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it is affecting your school district.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has worthwhile goals: expanding pre-K access, strengthening professional development for teachers and supporting high-poverty schools. Five years since its passage, enacted over former Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto in 2021, the honest assessment is that it has not delivered on its academic promise, at least not in Montgomery County.

The Montgomery County Taxpayers League’s Gordie Brenne said it clearly: the Blueprint is “an unfunded mandate” and its implementation by Montgomery County Public Schools has been “too top down.” The data supports him. Reading and math proficiency remain essentially flat despite years of Blueprint spending. Resources have concentrated heavily at the elementary level while middle and high school students have been largely left behind.

What concerns me most is how Montgomery County Public Schools has used Blueprint implementation as cover for decisions disconnected from student outcomes. Montgomery County Public Schools is spending $10.9 million in fiscal year 2026 on Blueprint requirements alone—from the same operating budget that just cut 415 student-facing positions. And when Montgomery County Public Schools and the Montgomery County Education Association sought a permanent exemption from Maryland’s 180-day school year requirement, the Montgomery County Council of PTAs education committee chairs rightly called it out as prioritizing administrative convenience over learning time.

The Blueprint’s goals are not the problem. Accountability-free implementation is. As a board member I will require that every Blueprint dollar received by Montgomery County Public Schools be tied to measurable academic outcomes for every student in every school at every grade level.

Chronic absenteeism has been a problem in many schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. How big of a problem is absenteeism in your school district, and what if anything can the Board of Education do about it?

Chronic absenteeism is still one of Montgomery County Public Schools’ quiet academic crises. The rate has eased from 26% after the pandemic to about 22% last year— early 35,000 students missing 18 or more days. The data shows that Hispanic students and English learners miss the most. A child who is not in class cannot catch up in reading or algebra, no matter how large the budget, no matter how dedicated the teacher.

Students stay home when school feels unsafe, exhausting or pointless. The board’s job is to change that. Start secondary schools at 8:30 a.m. or later so teenagers can sleep and arrive ready. Take Chromebooks out of the classroom so that distractions are not competing with the teacher and children are challenged to rise through whole books, explicit instruction and knowledge-rich curriculum. Restore School Resource Officers and enforce the Code of Conduct so families trust the building. Expand and protect the programs children love—recess, intramural and varsity sports, music, dance, clubs and community service—so the school day is something they anticipate rather than endure. Then make the work itself worth showing up for: grade-level assignments, teachers with authority, classrooms that are orderly and intellectually serious. Attendance follows culture. If school is safe, structured and demanding, more children will come.

Are you satisfied with your school district’s policy on AI use by students? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to improve the AI policy?

No. I am not satisfied.

Montgomery County Public Schools elementary students still have ready access to unvetted generative AI on school Chromebooks. Brookings’ 2026 study concluded that, at this point, the risks of generative AI in children’s education overshadow its benefits. Cognitive offloading—students outsourcing thinking instead of developing it—is already happening.

My position is clear. No generative AI for student work, elementary through high school. Teachers may not use AI to grade. Lesson planning is where professional judgment and knowledge of individual students meet; that relationship cannot be outsourced.

I will move to replace education technology policy IGS with a clear, enforceable standard and require Montgomery County Public Schools to report publicly on compliance each semester. The policy should be simple: students do the thinking. AI does not.

Youth mental health has been a growing concern for years now. Do you think your school district has the resources and personnel in place to deal with this issue adequately? If not, what would you suggest to improve the situation?

No. The fiscal year 2027 budget made it worse. The board voted 7-1 to eliminate about 43 social workers and cancel 118 planned special education resource-teacher positions. Those staff identify struggling students and keep children regulated. Cutting them in a mental health crisis is a misaligned priority.

Youth mental health is inseparable from the school day. For many children, school is the place they can shine when home is hard. We have to build that on purpose: grade-appropriate work, restored gifted and talented programs, sports, music, clubs, tutoring, real discipline and daily outdoor play. Recess and time off screens reduce anxiety more cheaply than another layer of central staffing.

Safety, structure, enrichment and academic confidence are the mental health infrastructure that matters most. Protect student-facing support. Expand recess. Get kids off Chromebooks and into activities where they belong.

Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?

I oppose pulling library books because a political group objects to their perspective. That is censorship. The only legitimate grounds are age-inappropriate sexual content no reasonable person would consider suitable for that developmental level, or material that is factually false and presented as fact. Those decisions belong to trained school librarians working with their communities through the process Montgomery County Public Schools already has—not pressure campaigns from any direction.

The actual book ban in Montgomery County was removing whole books and physical textbooks from classrooms. They replaced the greats with Chromebook passages—excerpts, handouts, disorganized folders—leaving children fumbling through fragments of literature their families cannot even follow along with at home. That is the real assault on reading. I will reverse it. Every child should read whole books that build knowledge and curiosity.

Omar Lazo (At Large)

How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 3)?

49

Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?

Los Chorros Restaurant, Inc., chief operating officer

What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?

University of Maryland, College Park Bachelor of Science General Business, R.H. Smith School of Business

Why are you running for the school board?

I am running for the Montgomery County Board of Education because, as a parent of three Montgomery County Public Schools students, I want every family to have confidence that their children are receiving a high-quality education and that their voices are heard.

My commitment to education comes from my own family’s story. My parents immigrated from El Salvador with very limited formal education, yet they worked hard to create opportunities for their children. I became the first in my family to graduate from college, and that experience shaped my belief that education can change the trajectory of a family for generations.

For more than 20 years, I have served Montgomery County through community organizations, workforce development, small-business advocacy and public service. As a trustee at Montgomery College and chair of the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, I have seen how decisions made in our schools affect students long after graduation.

I am running to bring a parent’s perspective and my experience in governance, budgeting, workforce development and community engagement to the board. I want stronger academic outcomes, greater transparency and accountability, meaningful support for educators, better communication with families and equitable access to opportunities for every student.

Above all, I want Montgomery County Public Schools to be a school system where every child—regardless of background, language, neighborhood or family income—has the opportunity to succeed.

What makes you a good candidate for the board?

I bring a combination of experience that directly relates to the responsibilities of the Board of Education: I am a parent of three Montgomery County Public Schools students, a public education trustee, a workforce development leader, a small-business owner and a longtime community advocate. As a trustee at Montgomery College, I have experience governing a major public educational institution, overseeing budgets, evaluating leadership, setting policy and focusing on student success. Through my work as chair of the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, I have worked closely with education, government, labor and employers to strengthen career pathways and prepare students for the opportunities available after graduation. Running a family business has also taught me fiscal responsibility, personnel management, problem solving and the importance of being accountable for results. Just as importantly, I have spent more than two decades working directly with Montgomery County’s diverse communities. I understand that families experience our school system differently depending on language, income, disability and access to information. I would bring to the board experience asking difficult questions, managing public resources, building partnerships and listening to communities. My goal is to keep the focus on what matters most: improving student outcomes and ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed.

What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?

The most important issue facing the Board of Education is ensuring that every student is receiving the high-quality education Montgomery County families expect, while rebuilding confidence that our school system is accountable for results. Montgomery County Public Schools faces many challenges, including academic achievement gaps, chronic absenteeism, student mental health needs, staffing pressures, aging facilities and significant budget constraints. These issues are interconnected, and the board must be willing to ask whether the resources we are investing are producing measurable improvements for students. If elected, I would focus on setting clear expectations for student achievement, requiring transparent data on what is and is not working and directing resources toward programs with demonstrated results. I would also prioritize supporting and retaining strong educators, expanding career and college pathways, strengthening mental health services and improving communication with families. My experience governing Montgomery College and leading the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board has taught me that good governance requires both accountability and collaboration. The board should work closely with the superintendent, educators, families, students and the County Council while still being willing to ask difficult questions. Our goal should be straightforward: every student should leave Montgomery County Public Schools prepared for college, a career and the opportunities that follow.

Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.

A public leader I deeply admire is Joseline Peña-Melnyk. She has been an example to me of what true public service should look like. Despite reaching one of the highest leadership positions in Maryland, she has never lost sight of why she serves: to help people. What I admire most is that she has never allowed political ambition to overshadow her mission. I have seen in her leadership a commitment to acting ethically, treating people with care and empathy and remaining grounded and accessible. Peña-Melnyk, along with other public servants I have been fortunate to know, has reinforced my belief that there are many people in public office for the right reasons. Her example reminds me that it is possible to lead, achieve and make difficult decisions while maintaining humility and never forgetting the communities you were elected to serve.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased funding to support early childhood education, higher teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Since the Blueprint’s implementation, test scores have increased modestly in many parts of the state, but some school officials complain about the costs and administrative burdens placed on them by the Blueprint. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it is affecting your school district.

I support the mission of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future because it recognizes that investing in education means investing in Maryland’s long-term economic future. Its focus on educators, early childhood education, equity, and college and career readiness is especially important for Montgomery County. Through my work as chair of the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, I have been involved in efforts to train and strengthen career advising for high school students. We are already seeing greater emphasis within Montgomery County Public Schools on career pathways, apprenticeships, dual enrollment and helping students understand that success after high school can take many forms. Implementation will not be easy. The Blueprint brings significant costs, administrative responsibilities and difficult decisions at a time when Montgomery County is facing serious fiscal pressures, including the impact of changes in federal employment and spending. We must continually evaluate implementation to ensure resources are reaching classrooms and producing measurable results. But this is also precisely why the Blueprint’s mission is so important. Following major federal workforce disruptions, our region must diversify its economy and remain competitive for the high-paying jobs of the future. To attract and retain employers, we must produce an educated, skilled workforce. That starts by investing in our students today and ensuring every graduate is prepared for college, a career or another pathway to success.

Chronic absenteeism has been a problem in many schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. How big of a problem is absenteeism in your school district, and what if anything can the Board of Education do about it?

Chronic absenteeism remains a serious challenge in MCPS, although we are beginning to see improvement. One issue I hear from families is that parents are sometimes unaware their children are missing school. They may drop them off in the morning and assume they are in class all day. The board should examine whether our current communication systems are actually reaching families. Tools such as ParentVUE can create technological barriers, particularly for families who must create an email account, obtain a PIN, download an app and remember another password. We should explore simpler communication methods, including text messaging and WhatsApp, which is widely used in many immigrant communities and requires only a phone number. Improving attendance requires more than enforcement. We need stronger family engagement, earlier intervention and communication systems that meet parents where they are so they can become active partners in keeping students in school.

Are you satisfied with your school district’s policy on AI use by students? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to improve the AI policy?

I believe Montgomery County Public Schools is moving in the right direction on AI, but we need to accelerate our efforts. Guardrails around academic integrity, privacy and responsible use are important, but our policy cannot focus only on what students should not do with AI. AI is rapidly changing the workplace, and our students must graduate knowing how to use these tools responsibly, ethically and effectively. Montgomery County Public Schools should expand AI literacy throughout the curriculum, provide teachers with the training needed to integrate AI appropriately and develop programs that expose students to practical AI applications connected to future careers. We should be at the forefront of preparing students for this transformation, not reacting to it after the workforce has already changed. Our responsibility is to protect students from the risks of AI while also ensuring they are prepared to compete and succeed in an increasingly AI-driven economy.

Youth mental health has been a growing concern for years now. Do you think your school district has the resources and personnel in place to deal with this issue adequately? If not, what would you suggest to improve the situation?

I do not believe Montgomery County Public Schools currently has enough mental health personnel to meet the growing needs of our students, and this should be a greater priority in future budgets. Students are dealing with challenges that extend far beyond academics, including lingering post-COVID trauma, bullying, family instability and anxiety. In some immigrant communities, recent immigration enforcement activity has also created fear and stress for students and families. Montgomery County Public Schools has issued guidance to schools responding to immigration enforcement activity near schools, underscoring how directly these concerns can affect students. We should increase the number of counselors, psychologists, social workers and other mental health professionals available to students, while expanding partnerships with community-based providers. We also need culturally and linguistically responsive services so students can get help before a challenge becomes a crisis. Mental health must be treated as essential to student success.

Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?

I believe there are limited circumstances when a book should be removed or its availability reconsidered, such as when professional review determines that material is inaccurate, outdated, educationally unsuitable or inappropriate for the age group it serves. However, books should not be removed simply because their ideas, characters or viewpoints make some people uncomfortable. Parents should always have the ability to raise concerns, but those concerns should go through a consistent, transparent review process. Decisions should be made by trained educators, librarians and other professionals using established educational criteria—not based on political or ideological pressure. Montgomery County Public Schools already has a reconsideration process that includes professional review and opportunities for appeal. I believe the board’s responsibility is to ensure that process remains fair, transparent, legally compliant and focused on students’ educational needs.

Did not answer survey: Grace Rivera-Oven (District 1)