Sebastian Johnson, a Takoma Park resident who served as the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education a decade ago, late Friday filed to run for an at-large seat on the board—setting up a three-way contest for the slot in the April 26 primary election.
Johnson, 27, who had disclosed last month that he was considering a run, will face incumbent Phil Kauffman, 63, of Olney and retired high school principal Jeanette Dixon, 67, of Silver Spring. Both filed last month.
However, a fourth potential contender for the at-large seat, Oscar Alvarenga of Gaithersburg, said Monday that he decided against running, despite being urged to do so for the past several months. Alvarenga, now Gaithersburg cluster coordinator for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, cited the time demands of a board seat—which most current members say involves a full-time commitment despite a salary of just $25,000 annually.
Meanwhile, Kauffman confirmed that he had asked for and received the endorsement of County Executive Ike Leggett late last week.
Three of the seven adult member seats on the board are up for election this year, with a little more than three weeks to go until the Feb. 3 filing deadline. (The student member is elected annually by middle and high school students, and is allowed a vote on some issues that come before the board.). The other two slots that voters will decide this year are in Rockville/Gaithersburg-based District 2 and Silver Spring/Takoma Park-based District 4; eligible contenders must reside in one of those two districts, although, like those seeking the at-large seat, they run countywide.
To date, incumbent Rebecca Smondrowski, 47, first elected in 2012, is the only candidate to file in District 2. In District 4, Shebra Evans, 44, who narrowly lost a bid for an at-large seat on the board in 2014, is the only contender to file so far to succeed incumbent Chris Barclay, who is retiring.
School board elections are conducted on a non-partisan basis, but—if there are more than two candidates for a seat—a first round is held during the party primaries in late April. The top two contenders for each seat then face off in the November general election.
Johnson has suggested that he would bring generational diversity to a board where four of the current adult members are in their 60s and 70s. A graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Johnson taught third grade for two years in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before returning to the Washington area. He is now a policy fellow for the research arm of Citizens for Tax Justice.
“As a former elementary school teacher working in a classroom that was primarily Latino, I would bring that perspective to the board—and could really focus our attention on elementary school literacy,” Johnson said in an interview, pointing out that “for the past four years, elementary literacy scores have been declining.”
Johnson, who was raised in a single parent household, also expressed concern about growing class sizes at the kindergarten and elementary school level. “That is totally counter to all the research that shows that small class sizes and individualized instruction are what moves the needle for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds,” Johnson said, contending that a “major investment” in school-based social workers and psychologists is also necessary.
“I think the way we’re going to be able to close the achievement gap is by connecting kids early to the school, making them feel safe and valued, and having them experience some early successes rather than focusing on the problem when they get to high school,” he added.
The racial diversity of the school board has become an increasing issue in recent years, in light of the changing demographics of the nation’s 17th largest school district. According to the latest figures provided by the school system, nearly 70 percent of the student population of the county is comprised of racial minorities—including the 29 percent of the overall enrollment that is currently Hispanic-American.
However, there has not been a Hispanic-American member on the board in more than six years, prompting what sources said was a push from the county’s Latino community to convince Alvarenga to run.
Alvarenga, also currently president of the PTA at Gaithersburg’s Summit Hall Elementary School, said he had been looking primarily at the at-large seat held by Kauffman—although he said he also considered the District 2 seat occupied by Smondrowski. “I was really considering [running]—I had a lot of great people contact me in the last few weeks,” Alvarenga, 33, said in an interview Monday. “I was flattered and humbled, but, after lots of consideration and praying with my family, we figured at this particular moment it’s not the right time to pursue this.”
Noting that he has three young sons and a wife who stays home to care for them, Alvarenga—currently a private contractor providing hospice care—noted, “The board of education, as much on paper as it might seem like a part-time position, is really a full-time position. I obviously have to ensure that my family is taken care of.”
His comments echoed recent complaints by current and former board members, who have suggested that the current $25,000 annual salary limits the pool of candidates to retirees or those who either are independently wealthy or have a high-earning spouse.
For his part, Kauffman, seeking a third term in a countywide electorate that is now majority-minority, appears to be making a concerted effort to demonstrate minority support. Besides his newly minted endorsement from Leggett, Kauffman is being backed by Craig Rice of Germantown, the only African-American member of the County Council, as well as his school board colleague, Judy Docca of Montgomery Village—currently one of the two African-Americans on that board.
In addition, Del. Al Carr of Kensington, one of just two African-Americans in the Montgomery County state legislative delegation, is listed among Kauffman’s endorsements. In all, half of the 32-member county legislative delegation have lined up behind Kauffman, as have school board member Patricia O’Neill of Bethesda and County Council members Sidney Katz of Gaithersburg and Hans Riemer of Takoma Park.
