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Elections will add fresh faces to Montgomery School Board
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Montgomery County (Map, News) - This summer’s race for Montgomery County School Board should be a hot one.
At the very least, the election will result in two new faces to the seven-member body, which oversees nearly 140,000 students.
Voters will cast their ballots Sept. 12 for the seats in districts 1, 3 and 5, as well as for the at-large seat being vacated by Board President Charles Haughey.
By this week’s filing deadline, five candidates have thrown their hats into the ring in the most competitive category, at-large. They include Shirley Brandman, Dana Eugene Gassaway, John Horan Latham, Tommy Le and Arquilla Ridgell.
Brandman, a former abuse lawyer who has been endorsed by the Montgomery County Education Association, says on her campaign Web site that she hopes to hire more school counselors and to allow teachers to spend less time either administering tests or “teaching to the test.”
A former educator for 11 years, Gassaway said his goal is for schools to do a better job readying students for the 21st-century work world.
“We need to specifically look at who the employers are and gear our curriculum to those specific jobs,” he said.
Gassaway also advocates requiring all students to take manners courses. One of his opponents, Latham, calls himself the “only one offering something different.”
The martial arts instructor says his biggest concern is the growing gang violence in schools. So far the “neat, catchy zero tolerance programs” are not working, in his opinion, so Latham advocates stricter punishments.
On her campaign Web site, Ridgell pledges to work with unions to create a positive environment for school employees. The site says she is currently working for the federal government as a human resources specialist.
After the at-large race, the next most crowded race will be in District 5, with incumbent Nancy Navarro challenged by Susie Werner Scofield and Philip Kauffman. Neither answered phone calls Thursday from The Examiner.
Navarro was appointed to the District 5 slot in 2004 and says she is running to keep that seat because two years is simply not enough time to make a real difference.
Her areas of focus are reforming middle schools, increasing parental involvement and addressing students’ emotional and social needs in addition to their academic ones.
Incumbent Patricia O’Neill has no competitors for her District 3 position. In District 1, Judy Docca will take on Michael Ibanez. Neither could be reached Thursday.
Who’s Staying
» Board members not up for election in Montgomery County:
District 2 – Stephen Abrams
District 4 – Valerie Ervin
At-large seat – Sharon Cox
Student member – Sarah Horvitz
dlevitz@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
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Examiner Reader said:
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree
John Q Public said:
Meir Duke IS a former felon, reformed or not. His prison record supports that. He has different businesses and properties in Maryland and other states. He is an arrogant and condescending person, typical of a wealthy but bitter ex-con. Do a litle research on the internet and you will find that he tried to have his prison sentence shortened by falsifying letters sent on his behalf by another prisoner representing Habitat for Humanity (not). Clever but also not very legal. Speaks volumes of his character. The hold ups in College Park were unfortunate but he provides no additional protection for his staff, to help with their fears. He has recently booted out the police substation in one of his shopping centers here in Baltimore. He refuses to give them the space needed to assist the community in lowering the crime in their area. His response is that "the police belong in cars, not in buildings" If he is ever held up in his store there, he will be the first to scream no protection
7 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
With the passage of Proposition A to increase property tax, who can I contact to determine if there will be a tax rebate program for relief for seniors?
8 agree | 8 disagree
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Sam Kwong said:
Why is there no annual cap to the parcel tax? The District got $198 for each parcel of land, including one for each condominium. This tax will be applied to the thousands of new properties that will be built during the next 20 years. This appears to be an open checkbook for the School District to keep increasing the salary of the teachers without limit since the tax will be in place for 20 years. When the fact is that the School District is not expanding and the enrollment has been declining for the past 5 years why is a cap is not put in place because the salary budget should be relatively stable? In fact if enrollment continues to decline shouldn’t the tax be scaled back too? There should be an annual cap. When more new housing are built, the burden for the tax for each property owner should be reduced proportionally.
14 agree | 12 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Great on prop A...so now teachers get a 5K salary increase, but the SFUSD lottery school placement system stays the same, the union still keeps their reward for seniority rather than merit, the curriculum will remain the same, and the children are in the same bad school system! I wish I could give my $198 tax increase to the private school I will need to pay for now. Thanks voters!
14 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Gina Pappan seems very wooden and creepy. Big deal she's in the tank with Planned Parenthood, racists and socialists run the organization.
13 agree | 12 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Jackie Speier has officially endorsed Jerry Hill for State Assembly.
10 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Jackie must still be upset at Gina's late father. Sad.
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Albert Franklin said:
I did not note a word said that evens hint Papan ever thought it! One would think had those who brought this issue to the public's knowlege done anything spieresque, even they should be allowed to say what Papan is told not to draw conclusions to. Papan should be allowed to give voters an opportunity to make up their own minds about what they want, and that is what she did! How can opposition, void of doing anything politally creative, set back and accuse Papan of trying to invent her way into Sacramento when all she did is declare her intent if elected? To even suggest what Papan meant is beyond the pale of reason, and nullifies fair political elections by throwing out every issue Papan raises, as bad ideas! If it was such a poor act on her part, then maybe the opposition should show her in the press what in their estimation id exceptef for her to either do or say.
13 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This is an important election for me because I care what happens to downtown Havre de Grace. Does anyone know of candidates to vote for that would keep to the planning and zoning's mission statement, that is 'To perserve, protect and enhance the physical and built environment for its' historic heritage and for the properity of present and future generations ...'. Fred Cullum, Barry Anderson and others have recently publicly announced their support of the construction of a 4 story modern style 54 unit housing building. This building will share the same block with 8 existing residental homes. In addition only 27 parking spaces are being proposed in an area that is already challenging to park. Does anyone know which candidate would better support smart growth in Havre de Grace?
14 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
For the record, Matt Gonzalez only narrowly lost to Gavin Newsom by 53-47 percent--not 43 percent, as your article states. And this was after being in the race for only 5 months. Democrat millionaire Newsom, meanwhile, had been campaigning for over a year (arguably two) and spent a whopping $6 million to the Green populist Gonzalez's impressive, but far more modest, $900,000.
23 agree | 22 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I still think Bill should be able to run again for president. He has been put of the white house for 8 years...We need him to lead again and bring us back to a balanced budget and take care of americans not Iraq's.
25 agree | 23 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Right, Examiner Reader. Matt initially ran as a democrat, then quit in mid-election when he thought it would help him more in the Haight. After he lost for mayor, he quit even though he was the second most powerful political figure in SF, leaving no one except Chris Daly to call out Newsom on his many screw ups. Daly's lack of anger management made Newsom look better than he would have if Gonzalez had Cajones (spelling?)to stick around. I suspect Matt whored himself as a lawyer to build a political war chest on the backs of the SF taxpayers. Matt refused to run against Newsom in 2007 because he couldn't win(and he can win THIS?). No, Matt is running to elevate his political image. He is using Ralph, much like he has used the democrats and SF progressives in the past. If Nader truly wanted to elevate the debate, he could have supported Dennis Kuchinich, a more viable candidate who could have stayed in the race longer with more support.
79 agree | 59 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Whatever... Matt Gonzalez is a big baby quitter. He lived across the street from me and I actually voted for him for major, my 1st and probably last green vote. When he didn't win he just quit. Now whenever I see him I try to scream 'QUITTER' as loud as I can. He was head of the Board of Supes and actually could have made a difference and a name for greens. But no, he just quit. Now he gets to ruin the election so McCain is our president. He'd probably quit if he and Nader got elected too. Quitter. Quitter Quitter!!!
84 agree | 77 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Examinator, you are wrong. Matt Gonzalez, unlike Ralph Nader, has NO principals. He is only about himself. Matt ran for supervisor as a democrat, then jumped ship when he saw the democratic party affiliation wouldn't help further his political ambitions. He has been whoring himself as a lawyer to build a political war chest for a future run at Mayor. He was too much of a coward to run against Gavin (How I wish someone would have), and now he will use Ralph Nader as a springboard to become mayor of SF in a run against Aaron Peskin in 2012. The Irrelevant Party can make noise in SF which is fine. They will have no impact on the election. Most of their better ideas are stolen from the Democrats, and the rest are either communist, or are intended to fill their own pockets with cash from "publicly financed elections". The greens are different from the other parties, their just on the outside looking in.
76 agree | 60 disagree
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EXAMINATOR said:
Does any one even remember the name of Nader's previous running mate(s)? The Democrats are already blaming Nader and Gonzalez for losing an election that's eight months away. By then plenty of people outside San Francisco will know who Matt Gonzalez is and that he, like Nader, is a man of principle. The Examiner story quotes from local Democratic party hacks but doesn't even go to the trouble of finding any Gonzalez supporters of which there are plenty in San Francisco. Watching Democrats squirm at the mention of Nader and Gonzales brings a lot of people including myself glee but reading the veiled threats against Gonzalez political future demonstrates exactly why plenty of people will vote for him and Nader because they're NOT Democrats.
96 agree | 73 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Of course Matt Gonzalez is running for mayor! Peskin vs Gonzalez. This is merely a way to keep his name in print for the next couple of years. At least he isn't filing lawsuits against the city to fill his political coffers anymore.
69 agree | 84 disagree
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SF NATIVE said:
The problem with this is that my Green Party friends try to tell me there is no difference between the democrats and republicans. I beg to differ. Too bad they couldn't perceive the difference between Gore and Bush. Now, can't they tell the difference between Obama, Clinton and McCain? Is Obama "more of the same". I for one don't think so. While I agree on many of their positions, The Greens, and particularly Nader, are becoming political gadflies, the Wendell Wilkie adn Bull Moose party of our generation.
88 agree | 93 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Bill Clinton is an idiot who benefited from his doing absolutely almost nothing during a fundamentally quiet time nationally and internationally speaking. He did manage to drop 4 perfectly laser guided bombs on a Chinese Embassy, destroy our borders and economy with NAFTA and in the view of those of you who continually reality check themselves, would make a great Senator. We already have several hundred Demo Senators who have their heads up their A---s and neither do we need either or both Clintons in politics at the same time nor any longer. Popularity and hucksterism do not politician make -- That depends upon what "IS IS" Cut me a break, the Clintons need to be led out to pasture -- unless you want to start to scrutinize Hillarys malfeasance as BOTH a first lady, the worst our nation ever had; and as a Senator beginning with her lies regarding her campaign funds. Care to join my Netroots group? We are out to get the Clintons for their criminality!! Wake up okay?
151 agree | 116 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
To the reporter who wrote this -- why did you describe Romney's campaign as "lackluster?" One year ago, no one knew who Romney was ... yet last Tuesday, he either beat McCain or came in just a few percentage points behind him in numerous states. Huckabee, meanwhile, won only the states where evangelical Christians are the Repulbican majority (which for him, was the equivalent of rounding up your relatives to vote for you.) Yet you choose to use the word "lackluster" to describe Romney's campaign? I'm a working journalist, so I know what it's like to work under tight deadlines. But deadlines are never an excuse for sloppy, sensational writing.
110 agree | 120 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Can someone tell me why CNN, CBS and ABC projected that Clinton won in California when some polls (four in Northern California and two in Southern California) were still open. With them still open projections should not be put out on the radio and television until all polls in that state are closed.
124 agree | 112 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This is wrong. The article says "Clinton took the two biggest prizes, California and New York." Clinton did not "take" California. California is NOT a winner take all state. Most likely the two will spilt California delegates evenly (Obama may win more in the end).
129 agree | 126 disagree
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Lefteris said:
Cool.
242 agree | 223 disagree
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Jeannette said:
The Eric Bouchat I knew was always a kind and considerate person. To say someone never have trouble in a marriage or in life for that matter would be a falsehood. In this case, Eric's life is out in the open. I did look at the court records and it seems that the wife was a bit on the aggressive side also. It sounded like a bad marriage, so go ahead and cast the first stone. Signed, Jeannette (Pfannenstiel) Gover St Louis, MO
458 agree | 493 disagree
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