Winners emerging in many of Marylands metro school board races

Over two weeks after the election, some Maryland jurisdictions were still counting ballots, leaving some races — including some for school board — undecided.

In the metro area, a tight race on the Montgomery County school board for the District 5 seat, which covers Silver Spring and Olney, had a projected winner as of Friday, after Valerie Coll — a retired teacher — conceded to school board incumbent Brenda Wolff.

Winners had been projected for the four seats up for election on the Prince George’s school board, with concessions in some races. Three of the victors will be new to the 14-member board, with incumbent Pamela Boozer-Strother retaining her seat, according to unofficial election results. Joining her will be Lolita Walker, a certified life, leadership and executive coach and the new board member for the District 9 seat representing the Upper Marlboro area. Incumbent Sonya Williams did not seek reelection in that district.

Jonathan Briggs — a latecomer to the race — will be the new District 2 board member, representing the Greenbelt area. His opponent, Jenni Pompi, conceded last week as votes were counted after Election Day. Branndon D. Jackson — an economist and external affairs manager — was projected to win the District 6 seat, which includes Largo and Capitol Heights. His opponent, Ashley Kearney, conceded the race last week in a social media post.

The new members were elected just before state legislation takes effect that changes how the school board elects its leaders. The legislation will allow board members to pick their own chair and vice chair beginning in December. Under previous state law, the county executive appointed members to those positions. Another piece of the legislation will make the board a fully elected body by 2024, instead of the hybrid elected-and-appointed makeup of the current membership. Education advocates have said the change would help alleviate some of the hostility on the board.

The Prince George’s school board has a history of conflict, with disagreements among members leading to accusations of misconduct and stalling board actions. The board chair is facing possible removal from office, and a recent state inspector general’s report found a number of violations by the board’s own ethics panel.

Boozer-Strother said work was underway to tighten accountability policies on the board — like reviewing board member attendance requirements. “We are strengthening, on our own, accountability to each other and to our constituents in preparation of being a fully elected board,” she said.

Farther north, the Frederick race was decided Nov. 19. The election was especially polarized with candidates from two slates — the Students First slate and Education Not Indoctrination slate — competing for four seats. The top vote-getters have changed multiple times since Election Day.

The Students First slate had three of its candidates — Karen Yoho, Rae Gallagher and Dean Rose — declared as winners. One candidate from the Education Not Indoctrination slate, Nancy Allen, also won a seat, according to results from the Board of Elections.

The Education Not Indoctrination slate, which was backed by the conservative 1776 PAC, ran on a platform shared by conservative school board candidates across the country pushing for more parental oversight in education and for schools to focus on core subjects over things like social and emotional learning. The slate has also opposed a statewide health curriculum, arguing that it was inappropriate for young learners. The framework outlines that students, beginning in kindergarten, should learn “there are different types of families” and the importance of treating people “of all gender identities and expressions with dignity and respect.”

Candidates on the Students First slate ran on platforms promoting competitive pay for teachers and recruiting a diverse, well-trained teaching staff. The group was endorsed by the county teachers union.

In neighboring Montgomery County, roughly 115,000 mail-in votes had been counted, though election officials were still counting approximately 11,500 provisional ballots on Friday. The elections board’s schedule lists them as counting ballots through Nov. 29.

Two incumbents were ahead in the four Montgomery County races.

The politics were less strident in Montgomery with most candidates agreeing on many of the issues facing students and teachers, including increasing efforts to retain teachers, providing mental health support for students and implementing recommendations from an anti-racist audit released last month.

Coll — the candidate in the tight District 5 race — conceded to Wolff this week online. “There are still a few thousand votes to be counted but I believe that, in the end, we will have come close but will not be victorious,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

Wolff was ahead of Coll by six percentage points — or roughly 13,000 votes. Wolff wrote in a text that she would intend to “continue the work of the board ensuring that every student, regardless of background or Zip code, has access to a world class education.”

In District 3, Julie Yang, a former college and career counselor for Montgomery County Public Schools, secured a decisive victory over her opponent, appointed District 3 school board member Scott Joftus, who conceded shortly after Election Day. He wrote online, “while the results were not what I hoped for, I am incredibly optimistic about the future of MCPS.”

Yang said she was excited and humbled to be elected. Her top issues were staff shortages, mental health support, school safety and preparing students for academic and career success, she said.

“I look forward to collaborating with the board to solve these issues and really figuring out how to meet all the students’ needs that we have,” Yang said.

Karla Silvestre, the board’s current vice president and an at-large candidate, was ahead of her opponent by 100,000 votes. Grace Rivera-Oven, a candidate for District 1, had a 40,000-vote lead.

The state’s teachers union has lauded the statewide election results, calling it a win for students, educators and schools. The union said in a news release this week that its endorsed candidates had won 83 percent of races called thus far in the general election and defeated opponents in Charles, Harford and Howard counties. They pointed to the school board election in Frederick County, noting that a majority of their endorsed candidates — the Students First Slate — were the top vote-getters.

“Unfortunately, we saw many candidates run for school board this year who were fixated on divisive and extreme political agendas — but thankfully many of these candidates were defeated on Election Day,” Maryland State Education Association President Cheryl Bost said in statement. “We were proud to support candidates focused on the things our students really need, like expanding career and technical education, making sure our schools are fully staffed, and providing additional support for struggling learners.”

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Winners emerging in many of Marylands metro school board races