Meet the Candidates
Montgomery County
Board of Ed
for
Goals
Zimmerman
Increase Transparency
The Board must increase transparency and trust with the public. By making the budget more transparent and opening up meetings for public participation, the Board will be able to increase goodwill and trust with different stakeholders in the county. The trust deficit in MCPS must be turned into a transparency surplus.
Focus on Data-Driven Practices
The Board needs to increase student outcomes by focusing not on maintaining the status quo, but by dismissing the projects that aren't yielding results, and instead be willing to divert funding to new projects with evidence-based practices. Beyond this, the Board must ensure that MCPS's data reports are accurate and painting a full picture of what is happening day-t0-day in the school system. Public education is one of the greatest investments we can offer to our children, so we must focus on improving student outcomes and increase their readiness for the workforce.
Support Diversity and Inclusivity Across MCPS
All students and staff members of MCPS deserve to feel seen and supported. MCPS must increase their staff trainings as well as their student curriculums to educate all and decrease hate and bias. Beyond this, MCPS must ensure that their curricula are not only rigorous, standards-based, and data-driven, but also celebrate diverse cultures and characters.
Diaz
Rebuild the Foundation of Academic Excellence
We will reinstate access to grade-appropriate assignments, reinforce strong instruction, and encourage deep engagement, with teachers who hold our students to high expectations, every day, in every class—without regard to their race, ethnicity, or any other part of their identity. We will continually investigate the extent to which our students receive this access and ask the Superintendent to regularly report on our progress.
Prioritize Safety
We will bring back our School Resource Officers, supporting administrators across MCPS who unequivocally sought to retain the program in a letter directed to the Board of Education on December 1, 2020. Our School Resource Officers build relationships with students, parents, teachers, and the greater community. We want them to continue the important work of creating a safe environment for our students, teachers, and administrators. We will also revise the Student Code of Conduct to ensure the protection of our students.
Boost Morale among Teachers
The key to teacher retention, teacher recruitment, and solving the teacher shortage crisis is to first take care of our current teachers who are in our classrooms with our children.
We will boost morale among our teachers by providing the tools they need to be successful in the classroom. From functioning copiers, and printers in department offices, and bringing back GoGuardian—our teachers deserve to have fully equipped schools. In addition, we will aim to return highly qualified Central Office staff to the classroom as teachers, subs, or test administrators in schools that report gaps in faculty.
Finally, we will visit classrooms to observe our teachers as they deliver lessons, hold open forums, including candid one-on-one meetings with teachers, to hear directly about their concerns and needs.
Boost Morale among Teachers
The key to teacher retention, teacher recruitment, and solving the teacher shortage crisis is to first take care of our current teachers who are in our classrooms with our children.
We will boost morale among our teachers by providing the tools they need to be successful in the classroom. From functioning copiers, and printers in department offices, and bringing back GoGuardian—our teachers deserve to have fully equipped schools. In addition, we will aim to return highly qualified Central Office staff to the classroom as teachers, subs, or test administrators in schools that report gaps in faculty.
Finally, we will visit classrooms to observe our teachers as they deliver lessons, hold open forums, including candid one-on-one meetings with teachers, to hear directly about their concerns and needs.
Ensure Responsible Resource Allocation through Diligent Oversight
We will collaborate with other members of the Board of Education to create a thriving environment for all of MCPS. This means, for example, eliminating redundancies in MCPS’s budget in order to focus on our mission to deliver a quality education to our students. The Beidelman debacle, of emails and reports ignored and dismissed, will not be repeated under my tenure.
I will also call for the creation of an Office of Inspector General within MCPS. If we want fully-staffed, fully-equipped schools, we must pull out the rot from a top heavy Central Office and transfer our precious resources back to our teachers and students our children.
Respect & Encourage Parental Involvement
Parents are the bedrock of society and the cornerstone of our MCPS community, shaping the future through their dedication to their children’s development. With parental support, we will meet our main goal as a public school system to provide rigorous academic instruction. As such, we will respect the inherent right of parents to guide their children’s moral compass and cultural beliefs.
Revitalize Community Engagement
We will hold Board of Education meetings during hours when parents and students are available to participate. We will also restore speaker time to three minutes. We want to hear and welcome the voices of all of the members of our MCPS community, from developing curriculum to making it easier to join their children on field trips or help out coach with the team as a volunteer.
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