Delegates representing county high school and middle school students on Monday chose incumbent Eric Guerci and sophomore Alex Abrosimov as candidates for the April election of the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education.
Four county high school students had run in the primary election. Guerci, a Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School junior, and Abrosimov, a Richard Montgomery High School sophomore, were the two candidates who received the most votes. Guerci is in his first term as the student member. The new one-year term begins in July.
The other two candidates were Olivia Gonzalez, a sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School, and Liam Kim, a junior at Wheaton High School.
Guerci received 191 votes; Abrosimov, 51; Kim, 36; and Olivia, 29, during a vote by an assembly of delegates from each middle and high school, according to the Montgomery County Public Schools Leadership Unit.
The student member of the board typically attends all board meetings, participates on the policy committee and votes on some issues, according to school board President Michael Durso.
“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 the 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.
Before the primary, Guerci had said students should reelect him because he believes he has been involved in all of the board’s decisions since becoming the student member July 1.
Among his achievements, he counts providing input during discussions about the appointment of the 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.
“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 visited 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. He entered the race because he believed there was a disconnect between students and their representatives.
“I want to build a student movement that has accountability for student leaders,” he said before the primary, 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 to the board, Abrosimov said he wanted to address such problems as budget cuts and the achievement gap.
Gonzalez had been similarly inspired to run because of perceived faults in the school system.
“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 before the primary.
Gonzalez said rather than tweeting angrily about the subject, she decided to be proactive and run for the school board seat. She visited other schools and prepared a website and campaign video for the election.
Kim, a junior at Wheaton High School, where he is student body president, said his campaign focused on providing “a voice, not just a face” for the student body and promoting student interests to the board.
Kim said many students view school as just another commitment, but showing them how they could pursue their own interests while achieving their 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.
