What is the County Council going to do to reduce violence in public schools? How can the county help families struggling with the cost of housing? Will books be banned now that Donald Trump has been elected president?
These were just a few of the questions Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students asked the council Wednesday night during its annual Youth Town Hall held at the County Council building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.
Hundreds of students attended the 90-minute event in person and virtually, discussing topics ranging from mental health and restorative justice to funding and building construction. More than a dozen students were able to ask the council questions after raising their hands.
“This is one of our favorite events of the year,” council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) told the crowd. “We love the energy that our students bring … to see the incredible talent and activism and advocacy that our young people [have] really inspire us to be better each and every day.”
Praneel Suvarna, the student member of the Montgomery County school board, began the event by asking councilmembers what steps they were taking to ensure that youth voices are heard and incorporated into decision-making processes.
Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At-large) highlighted her Youth Advisory Council, which brings students together over six to eight weeks, ultimately culminating in students pitching a policy idea that could become proposed legislation to a panel of judges. Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large), chair of the council’s education and culture committee, said the committee brought in students to testify this year about their ideas for the school system, though he didn’t elaborate on what the students discussed in their testimony.
Throughout the event, several students asked questions related to safety, mental health and violence in the county and in schools.
Councilmember Sidney Katz (D-Dist. 3), chair of the council’s public safety committee, said the county has been dealing with a shortage of police officers, but that the county was creating new programs, such as the police department’s Drone as a First Responder program, to address safety issues in the community. Katz also encouraged students to speak up if they noticed something suspicious or potentially dangerous.
Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) highlighted a county interdepartmental youth safety initiative, which “is placing the violence and other safety issues that young people in our community are facing in the framework of a public health issue.” Stewart said the initiative involved the county Health and Human Services Department and the police department, among others. The initiative is expected to soon release a report to the council, Stewart said.
Councilmember Dawn Luedtke [D-Dist. 7) noted that MCPS was looking into implementing safety measures such as metal detectors in schools.
Hope Garten, a sixth grader at William H. Farquhar Middle School in Olney, asked the council how it was helping families who were struggling with the cost of housing in the county. Hope’s mother, Pamela Garten, told MoCo360 the issue was pertinent because some of Hope’s friends had moved away due to rising rents.
Friedson said the council has been working on addressing housing costs, but said “there is so much more left to be done.” He noted the council has implemented a $100 million housing production fund, passed a rent stabilization law and is looking at options for increasing housing, including an attainable housing proposal from the county Planning Board.
Impact of the Nov. 5 presidential election
The Nov. 5 presidential election also came up several times, including when one high schooler asked if the MCPS curriculum would be changed or if books would be banned once the Trump administration takes office in January.
“All of us, from a policy standpoint, would say that we would prefer that books not be banned in our public schools and that education allow for a diversity of viewpoints to be shared and exposure to be had,” Friedson said. “Having said that, under state law, this County Council has no role in the curriculum.”
Jawando said he’s discussed the issue with the school board and MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor, and said the county wasn’t “going to make any changes that are going to downplay, hurt or harm our diverse community here in Montgomery County.”
Several board members, including Friedson, Jawando and councilmember Kristen Mink (D-Dist. 5), noted the council won’t let actions taken by the Trump administration impact the county’s values.
Suvarna, who spent his 18th birthday attending the town hall, said he was glad to see students from all over the county getting involved with local government and making sure their voices were heard.
“That’s something that I always really appreciated within my role as student member of the board and as a student advocate,” Suvarna said. “No matter what was happening at the federal level, I had a local government that was conducive to hearing my thoughts and my [voice] but not just hearing them, acting on them.”
