The first non-incumbent has filed their candidacy for a seat on the Montgomery County school board in the 2022 election.
Julie Yang of Potomac is running for the District 3 seat, formerly held by Pat O’Neill. Yang applied to fill the remainder of the term following O’Neill’s death in September, but was not chosen. Scott Joftus, a Bethesda education consultant, was appointed to fill the seat.
In her interview with the school board for the position, Yang said she had worked for MCPS since 2011, most recently as a college and career coordinator.
Yang moved to the United States as an adult, she said, and saw firsthand the linguistic, cultural and socioeconomic challenges many immigrant families face. One of her children is a recent MCPS graduate and another is enrolled in the district.
The website listed for Yang’s campaign did not work as of Monday morning.
But in her application to be appointed to the District 3 seat last year, Yang included a resume that showed she has been the leader of several community groups, including the MCPS Asian Pacific American Student Achievement Action Group, the Chinese American Parents Association of Montgomery County and the Potomac 4H Community Service Club.
She has a bachelor’s degree from the Guangzhou University of Foreign Affairs in China, and a master’s of education from the University of Hawaii.
Yang is the only person outside of two incumbents to formally announce their candidacy for one of the four open seats.
The board’s vice president, Karla Silvestre, has filed for re-election to an at-large seat. President Brenda Wolff told Bethesda Beat in November she plans to run for re-election in District 5, but had not formally filed for the position as of Monday afternoon.
Judy Docca, who represents District 1, said at the time she had not decided whether to run again. She told Bethesda Beat when she was elected in 2018 that it would be her last term on the school board.
The filing deadline for the primary election is Feb. 22.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media