Come December, three incumbents will end their tenure on the Montgomery County school board while three newcomers will assume seats following an election that amounted to a reckoning for the eight-member board.
Tuesday’s general election highlighted the power and influence of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), the local teachers union that endorsed the winning candidates, with the election results signifying a reckoning after several years of turmoil in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
“Montgomery County voters made their voices clear in several important ways. First, voters emphatically said it is time for a change in MCPS’s elected leadership,” MCEA President David Stein told the school board during its Thursday meeting. “Secondly, Montgomery County voters clearly value and respect the views of educators in a way, quite frankly, that this board and district administration have not always done.”
In addition to the union endorsements, interviews with the candidates show the election may have turned on a lack of voter knowledge about who was running and what one candidate believed was an outsized focus on the district’s handling of a 2023 scandal involving sexual harassment allegations against a former middle school principal.
The winners and losers
Six candidates were running for three open seats on the school board in Tuesday’s election. School board elections are nonpartisan and board members serve four-year terms. In addition to two at-large seats, the school board is divided into five geographic district seats.
Vying for the at-large seat were incumbent Lynne Harris and Rita Montoya, a self-employed lawyer and former PTA president. In District 2, MCPS elementary school teacher Natalie Zimmerman faced off against Brenda Diaz, an online educator and former teacher at Gaithersburg High School. In District 4, incumbent Shebra Evans was up against former countywide PTA leader Laura Stewart. Another incumbent, Rebecca Smondrowski, lost her effort to keep her District 2 seat in the May primary.
With all Montgomery County precincts reporting as of Friday afternoon, Montoya had received about 53.2% of the vote in the at-large race while Harris, who was seeking her second term, won 45.7%.
In the District 2 race, Zimmerman secured 55.3% of votes cast while Diaz received about 44%.
In the District 4 race, Stewart won nearly 57.5% while Evans, who was seeking her third term, received 41.4%.
The results came after backlash to the board’s handling of the scandal involving former principal Joel Beidleman, who has denied the sexual harassment allegations, that culminated in the February resignation of former Superintendent Monifa McKnight. Concerns about discipline and school safety also marked the tenure of the board’s current membership.
MCEA’s impact
Winning the MCEA endorsement and therefore being listed on its iconic apple-shaped ballot has long been considered a plus for candidates – and viewed as a sign of the union’s power. During elections, union volunteers were stationed at the polls and handing out the “apple ballot” to voters.
Two days after the election, the MCEA publicly touted its victory during the school board meeting. The meeting marked the final session for Evans, Harris and Smondrowski; the board’s new members will be sworn in Dec. 2.
Stein said the last several years have been “marred by scandal, misdirected priorities, obfuscation and a lack of communication” and expected the new board to be a “vanguard” in making changes to address those issues.
“On Tuesday, voters listened to us and I hope you’re listening to us now,” he said.
The deciding factors
Stewart credited her inclusion on the apple ballot and the advantage of receiving more than $31,000 in campaign contributions, the most out of all the candidates, for helping her to win the race. Montoya raised more than $27,000, while the other candidates raised less than $19,000. The candidates, including Stewart, spend the majority of their funds on campaign materials such as brochures, stickers, yard signs and mailers.
However, Stewart believes the biggest reason why voters chose her was her advocacy work with the Montgomery County Council of PTAs and other organizations.
Montoya and Zimmerman didn’t respond to requests for comment about the election.
For the candidates who didn’t win, and especially those who won’t be returning to their seats, the outcome was a disappointment.
“I’m sad, because I really can see that some issues I’ve been pushing since I began my service are starting to move in good directions,” Harris told MoCo360 on Thursday through tears. “I really wanted to be part of that work. I’m sad because I know I was so good at this job.”
Harris said she believes she lost because of “certain people driving a narrative” focusing on the Beidleman scandal “without anybody actually attending to the work” the board did to address the issue.
“The board did the work to move the leadership out that we needed to and create the conditions by being calm and not kowtowing to the drama and really focusing the work on what’s happening in the schools, what’s happening in the classrooms,” Harris said.
Diaz didn’t respond to requests for comment but posted a video on social media encouraging voters to stay engaged and hold MCPS, the school board and county leadership accountable.
As for Evans, she said she respected the voters’ decision and that she felt like a winner, even if she didn’t succeed at the ballot box.
“I’m really proud of the work that I’ve done the past eight years, so I have no regrets,” Evans said. “I am very appreciative of the voters that did support me because I believe that they know my capabilities and how my commitment has not wavered, and that I have always thought about the students and staff and wanting to do the best for them.”
The unfortunate piece of the election, Evans said, is that school board races are down ballot selections.
“A lot of people I did encounter, because they did not know who the board members were, they did not feel comfortable voting at all,” Evans said. “So there were about half that were informed, and they already knew what they were going to do. And then there were some where I was able to engage in conversation.”
Evans said her hope was that voters, even those without children, are paying attention to the school system.
“Education should be everybody’s business, because our economy thrives on education,” Shebra said.
Smondrowski didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday but said at the Nov. 7 school board meeting that she knew the district was in good hands. Evans and Harris said they didn’t know what they planned to do after leaving the board, but they were likely to stay involved in local education issues in some way.
“It’s very difficult if this is something that you’re passionate about … for you just to easily walk away,” Evans said.
What will the new members bring to the board?
With the district’s budget season about to be in full swing and a new strategic plan in the works, the three new board members have the potential to make their voices heard on several important issues.
Stewart told MoCo360 on Tuesday night her two first priorities will be working on increasing teacher support and transparency in MCPS.
She has focused on transparency for several years and wants to continue ensuring parents can access the information they need on the website.
“Beyond that, again, I want to look at the classroom and make sure that we are getting support to teachers,” Stewart said. “For teachers to support kids in the classroom, they actually need more help, especially with the higher class sizes.”
In an election forum hosted by the Montgomery County League of Women Voters, Stewart said her biggest budget priorities for the district’s facilities included catching up on deferred maintenance. Stewart also wants focus on ensuring students’ basic needs are met so they can learn better.
Although Montoya and Zimmerman didn’t respond to requests for comment, they both highlighted their priorities in MoCo360’s 2024 Voters Guide.
Zimmerman said the most important issue in the race was focusing on the district’s budget, first by funding the MCPS contract with the MCEA, then using the state’s 2021 landmark education legislation Blueprint for Maryland’s Future as a guiding force on funding.
“The school board must not just fit current practices into the pillars, but instead be willing to abandon projects and initiatives that are not meeting success measures as hoped and choose to fund new opportunities for educators and students,” Zimmerman wrote.
During the Montgomery County League of Women Voters forum, Zimmerman said budget season should include a year-round conversation and the district should make sure that all funds connect back to the classrooms.
Montoya said her priority was to close the achievement gap by addressing issues including educator pay, school safety and the curriculum.
“I plan to advocate for sufficient funding and proven programs/curriculums; providing space for educator voices; and supporting schools, administrators and educators to meet their students where they are academically and behaviorally,” Montoya wrote.
In the forum, Montoya said her biggest budget priority was spending wisely, eliminating waste, and focusing on school issues such as broken air conditioning and heating, fixing broken door locks and providing tutoring.
