Four county high school students are running in Monday’s primary election for the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education.
Voting by students in high school and middle school will tighten the field to two candidates, who will then run for election in April, said Mike Durso, president of the school board. The new term begins in July.
The four candidates are Alex Abrosimov, Olivia Gonzalez, Liam Kim and Eric Guerci, the incumbent student member of the board.
The student member of the board typically attends all board meetings, participates in the policy committee and votes on some issues, Durso said.
“They basically are the voice of the students expressing things that may be of concern to middle and high school students,” he said.
Though the student member is only able to vote on a limited number of issues, a bill presented to a committee of the state’s General Assembly could expand the student member’s voting power. Guerci testified on the bill, which is currently in the House Ways and Means committee. If the bill passes committee, it goes to a vote in the House and the Senate. If it is passed by the legislature, it then must be approved by Gov. Larry Hogan.
Guerci, a junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, said students should reelect him because he believes he has been involved in all of the board’s decisions since becoming the student member on July 1.
He counts providing input in discussions about the recent appointment of a new superintendent, helping secure a commitment to smaller class sizes and increasing communication with schools and student newspapers by visiting schools and communicating with student leaders among his achievements in the past seven months.
“We’ve made tremendous progress on all these issues and we just need to continue to move our student body forward,” he said.
With his noted emphasis on “grassroots communication,” Guerci has been visiting high schools and their student government associations to hear the opinions of students.
If he becomes one of the few students to serve a second year as student member of the board, Guerci said he hopes to use his experience and knowledge of the board to help expand technology use and bring more attention to mental health issues.
Abrosimov, however, said student leaders have not been responsive enough to the needs of students. The sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville entered the race because he believes there is a disconnect between students and their representatives.
“I want to build a student movement that has accountability for student leaders,” he said, noting that student leaders should not be interested in “just getting bullet points on their resume.”
Between his time on the swim team and debate team, Abrosimov started his own club, the Student Union Party, which advocates for various issues and now has more than 200 members.
If elected, Abrosimov said he wanted to address such problems as budget cuts and the achievement gap.
Gonzalez, a sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, was similarly inspired to run because of perceived faults in the school system, including the school board’s recent decision regarding final exams.
“When I heard the decision about final exams switching from the end of each semester to the end of each quarter, I wasn’t happy about that and felt like student voices weren’t included,” she said.
Gonzalez said rather than tweeting angrily about the subject, she decided to be proactive by running for the school board seat. Since then, she has visited other schools and prepared a website and campaign video for the election.
Gonzalez, who is also a member of the swim team, is running on a platform of closing the achievement gap, serving healthier lunches and bringing stronger support to mental health programs, including the possible establishment of a “big buddy” program that would pair freshmen with seniors to help them adjust to school.
Kim, a junior at Wheaton High School, where he is student body president, said his campaign focuses on providing “a voice, not just a face” for the student body and promoting student interests to the board.
In an effort to increase transparency and communication, Kim aims to create a website where the student member of the board as well as leaders of other student organizations can share details about their work.
Kim, a member of the debate team and math club, has been working on a word-of-mouth campaign and set up a website to raise awareness of his candidacy. He is also interested in closing the achievement gap.
Kim said many students view school as just another commitment, but showing them how they could pursue their own interests while achieving an education could inspire more people to graduate.
“If we can make everyone want to go to school by changing how people view school, we can make sure everyone works hard and wants to succeed at school,” Kim said.
