Jews United For Justice *Campaign Fund Questionnaire

In the spirit of transparency, here's what I submitted!

RACIAL EQUITY IN MCPS

Question A: What will you change, if elected as a member of the Board of Education, to ensure that Black students are successfully able to meet state academic standards, given that race and ethnicity are consistently the most predictive factors of academic outcomes?

Closing the achievement gap for Black and Hispanic students is the most urgent moral priority I will bring to the Board of Education. I grew up in the Bronx as a Puerto Rican girl uplifted by a gifted and talented program that gave me a shot at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. I became a teacher driven by the principle that every child deserves that same shot — regardless of zip code, background, or income. It is that same conviction that continues to shape my more than twenty-five years in education, and would serve as one of the fundamental components of my mission serving on the Board of Education.

As John Adams wrote to his wife on July 3, 1776: “Through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph.” That is the spirit in which I am running — with courage, conviction, and a clear vision for every child in Montgomery County.

As I documented in Fully Funding MCPS Does Not Lead to Academic Excellence, years of Board of Education blank checks and rubber stamps have not moved the needle on reading and math scores. Only 48.3% of Black students in MCPS are proficient in English Language Arts, and only 22.9% are proficient in math. These numbers have barely moved despite years of rising budgets. Parents and taxpayers know that the veneer of excellence is collapsing, as it should. Now is the time to do the hard work of performing a proper forensic analysis in order to rebuild the foundation of academic excellence within MCPS. Policies that are based on sound evidence-based best practices must be the way forward.

The most significant change I will demand is a shift to knowledge-rich, content-rich curriculum with explicit instruction in reading and math — whole books, textbooks, explicit instruction in reading and math, and a curriculum rich in science, literature, history, and mathematics. These are not luxuries. They are the building blocks of a life well-lived. This is the approach proven by the Mississippi Miracle and the Southern Surge states — documented extensively by education researcher Karen Vaites — to produce dramatic gains for Black and Hispanic students. Dr. Carey Wright, the architect of Mississippi’s transformation, is now Maryland’s State Superintendent. The playbook is here. The leader is here. What has been missing is a Board of Education willing to implement these changes with fidelity.

As I wrote in Asleep at the Wheel: MCPS Is Failing Its Fiduciary Duty to Our Children: when Taylor proposed cutting 118.5 special education resource teachers and 38 social workers before touching a meaningful number of Central Office positions, he made a deliberate choice — and the Board ratified it in a 7-1 vote on June 4, 2026, with Board President Rivera-Oven calling it “excruciating and painful” before voting yes. The Board of Education chose to further destabilize the support systems that serve our most vulnerable students, the very students already being failed by this system, in order to protect an administrative apparatus that has never been held to any performance standard. Taylor’s zero-based budgeting, in practice, includes creating administrative and Central Office positions paying $100,000 or more — after cutting student-facing staff. These are his priorities — ones that do not include the educational needs of the children in MCPS and that expose a governing philosophy directly at odds with the primary mission of any public school system: educating children. Taylor’s decision-making is, at the very least, questionable — at its worst, downright reprehensible. And the Board’s willingness to approve it is worse. With over twenty years of experience teaching children across every level and community, I would serve as a faithful steward of this institution — one whose decisions are grounded in what actually happens in classrooms, not what looks good in a budget presentation.

Question B: What is your analysis of the role that segregation plays in the inequitable outcomes for Black students and, based on that analysis, what is your approach to questions such as drawing school boundaries and the distribution of resources to schools?

The research on school segregation and academic outcomes is contested. What the data shows clearly is that MCPS is one of the most diverse school districts in the country — and the achievement gap persists anyway. That tells me the gap exists not primarily because of who sits next to whom, but because of what is being taught, how it is being taught, and whether the adults in charge are being held accountable for results. Regardless of a school’s demographic makeup, children who receive knowledge-rich, explicit instruction in reading and math perform better. My focus is on ensuring that every school delivers that instruction with fidelity, has the resources to do so, and that no child — Black, brown, or otherwise — is written off because of their zip code or the school they were assigned to.

On boundary changes and resource distribution, as I wrote in Preserving the Integrity of Neighborhood Schools, neighborhood schools are central parts of communities and should not be divided or removed from their long-established roots. Parents deserve a seat at the table when boundary changes that affect their children’s daily lives are being considered. Their voices should not only be heard — they should be heeded. Top-down mandates from an unelected official such as Superintendent Taylor are wholly unacceptable. Plans made by local community leaders with local community input should be secure from unilateral interference from an appointed official working for an entirely separate institution. I will also tie any future boundary or facilities plans to fiscal prudence — ensuring budgets deliver measurable improvements in safety and academics before any major structural change is approved.

On resource distribution, schools serving higher concentrations of economically disadvantaged students must receive targeted, additional resources — not equal resources, but equitable ones. That means more counselors, more tutoring, more targeted academic intervention, and better-maintained facilities. I will attach performance metrics to every dollar of supplemental resource allocation so we know whether the investment is actually reaching students.

CARE AND NOT CRIMINALIZATION

Question A: What is your vision for keeping schools safe and improving student wellbeing?

Safe buildings produce focused students — and crumbling ones produce distracted ones. My vision for school safety is comprehensive. It is not a choice between police presence and student wellbeing. It requires both, and more.

I support restoring School Resource Officers to MCPS, and I want to be direct about why. Since the elimination of the SRO program in 2021, MCPS has experienced the only two in-school shootings in its history. The documented consequences of removing trained, relationship-building officers from our schools without an adequate replacement model are staggering. A student brought a loaded gun to Gaithersburg High School. A Kennedy High School teacher testified before the Board of Education about rampant vaping and drug activity, quoting a police officer who described the school as an “open-air drug market.” And Montgomery County experienced a 120% increase in youth fatal overdoses in the years following the SRO removal.

As I wrote in The True School-to-Prison Pipeline Is Illiteracy, the RAND Corporation, the DOJ COPS Office, and NASRO all document that SROs who are trained to build relationships — not to enforce routine discipline — reduce juvenile delinquency, connect at-risk youth to services before they reach the justice system, and create safer learning environments. The Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals, which represents the principals who know our schools best, has formally called for the return of SROs. So has Lee Holland, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, who wrote in Bethesda Magazine that “if you ask the CEOs, they’ll tell you the current model is flawed and does not improve the relationship between students and the police or provide greater protection.” I support that position entirely.

I want to be clear that I support properly trained, properly governed SROs — the model endorsed by NASRO, the DOJ COPS Office, and MCAAP. Their role is to build relationships, de-escalate, and connect at-risk youth to services — not to handle routine discipline. That is the distinction I will insist on in any SRO program that comes before the Board.

In a year when we saw shootings at both Wootton and Blake High School, and then guns being brought onto our school campuses, MCPS proved our children’s safety is not their concern with the June 4 budget. The Board eliminated the Chief of Security and Compliance position — held by former Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones — and declined to hire 28 new security assistants, all while our schools face rising violent incidents. My vision includes a Teachers’ Bill of Rights — modeled on legislation in Alabama and Louisiana, the only two states to surpass their pre-pandemic academic scores — that restores classroom authority to teachers by setting clear, enforceable discipline standards, protecting teachers from administrative retaliation when they maintain the integrity of their classrooms, and ensuring that teachers have the backing of the Board when they report safety concerns. When teachers feel safe and supported, students feel safe and supported. When teachers thrive, students thrive.

Watch “A Day in the Life of Joe Lowery, School Resource Officer".”

Question B: Will you commit to prioritizing funding for student wellbeing, including restoring social workers and returning to FY24 levels of funding for restorative justice staffing and training?

I believe wraparound social services for students and families should be provided and funded by Montgomery County government, not duplicated within MCPS’s operating budget. MCPS’s mission is academic excellence. It should partner with county social services, direct families to those resources, and ensure those connections are strong — but the $12 million currently allocated to social worker FTEs within MCPS could be better deployed by the county’s existing social services infrastructure. I will advocate for that structural change as a board member.

On restorative justice staffing and training specifically: I support restorative practices at the elementary school level, where relationship-building and early intervention are developmentally appropriate and most effective. At the middle and high school levels, clear, consistent discipline is what students and teachers need most. According to RAND, 52% of teachers cite managing student behavior as their primary stressor — more than low pay. Teachers are losing two or more hours of instructional time every week to behavioral incidents. This is a direct driver of teacher attrition and a direct cause of the academic failure we are seeing in our classrooms. The Teachers’ Bill of Rights I am committed to passing will restore clear discipline standards, protect teachers from administrative pressure to ignore misconduct, and ensure that the Board has their back. When teachers can teach, students can learn.

What the June 4 budget reveals is not a funding problem but a priorities problem. As I documented in Asleep at the Wheel, the Board voted 7-1 to cut 415 positions — 38 social worker FTEs and 118.5 special education resource teachers — while Central Office overhead sits at 45% non-instructional spending compared to 35% in Fairfax County. Taylor proposed these cuts. The Board approved them. Both are failing to meet their fiduciary duty to our children. An MCPS that is truly “Future Ready” would have followed real alternatives:

• Comprehensive contracts and procurement reform targeting low-value and no-bid relationships could save $10-20 million annually

• Phasing out 1:1 Chromebooks at the elementary and middle school level could save $6-13 million while actually improving learning outcomes

• Flattening Central Office administrative layers could save $8-15 million

• An honest zero-based review of programs that cannot demonstrate a clear tie to academic outcomes could save another $3-8 million

• Ending $700,000 in annual promotional swag spending would not close the gap, but it would send an unmistakable signal about priorities

Conservative combined range: $25-50+ million annually — more than enough to close the $36 million gap, restore student-facing positions where necessary, and invest in the extracurricular programs, sports, music, and arts that the evidence shows actually move the needle on student wellbeing.

There is a better investment for student wellbeing than duplicating social services already provided by county government. Research consistently shows that students who participate in extracurricular activities — sports, music, arts, clubs, and community service — experience significantly lower rates of anxiety and depression, stronger peer connections, fewer disciplinary incidents, and higher graduation rates. A peer-reviewed study found that participation in extracurricular activities and sports was associated with reduced anxiety, inattention, hyperactivity, and depressive symptoms in children and youth. These are not soft outcomes — they are documented, evidence-based results. Redirecting dollars from duplicative administrative social service positions within MCPS toward robust after-school programs, sports, music education, and student clubs is not a cuts-driven austerity measure. It is a smarter, more evidence-based investment in student wellbeing — one that builds belonging, develops life skills, and produces measurable mental health benefits without requiring MCPS to operate outside its core academic mission.

Question C: Will you commit to improving the implementation of restorative approaches, including ensuring staff have dedicated implementation time and requiring consistent application across schools?

I support restorative approaches at the elementary school level where the evidence for their effectiveness is strongest and where relationship-building and early intervention are most developmentally appropriate. At the middle and high school levels, I believe clear, consistent, and enforceable discipline standards are what students, teachers, and communities need — and the evidence supports that position.

A recent Education Next investigation documented what teachers across the country have been saying for years: restorative justice at the secondary level has left classrooms harder to manage than ever, with students learning to game the system and teachers losing two or more hours of instructional time each week to behavioral disruptions. Clark County, Nevada, and Gwinnett County, Georgia, both scaled back restorative justice after seeing increases in school violence and teacher burnout. The students who most need structure — those already facing challenges outside of school — are the ones most harmed when that structure is removed.

I am not prepared to commit to expanding restorative justice implementation at the middle and high school levels when the evidence is this mixed and when 52% of teachers cite managing student behavior as their primary stressor. What I will commit to is ensuring that every disciplinary approach — at every level — is applied consistently, transparently, and with full accountability to families and the community.

Question D: What will you do to address the high and disproportionate rates of suspensions and other punitive forms of discipline in MCPS that impact children with special needs and Black and brown children, especially Black boys?

Let me be direct about where I stand. Discipline should be applied consistently and without regard to race. When a student breaks a school rule, the rule applies — full stop. The premise that disparate discipline outcomes are primarily caused by biased enforcement is contested and I do not accept it as the primary frame. Equal standards, consistently enforced, is itself an equity position. Every student — regardless of race or background — deserves a safe, orderly learning environment where they can focus on learning.

As I documented in The True School-to-Prison Pipeline Is Illiteracy, MCPS’s suspension rate is among the lowest in Maryland. In a district of over 160,000 students, 230 students received out-of-school suspensions in the first five weeks of 2024-2025, rising to 296 following the new code of conduct. That is 0.19% of the total student population. Montgomery County is not criminalizing its students at the rates seen in other jurisdictions.

On students with IEPs and 504 plans specifically: the research is clear that students with disabilities — particularly those with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and behavioral disabilities — benefit most from structured, predictable, consistent environments with clear expectations and clear consequences. Removing structure in the name of restorative approaches does not serve these students — it harms them. What students with disabilities need is faithful implementation of their IEPs, teachers trained in evidence-based behavioral supports, and a Board that ensures those plans are followed with fidelity. I will insist that every student’s IEP is treated as the legally binding document it is.

PROTECTING IMMIGRANT CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Question A: What do you believe MCPS’s role is in supporting families who have had someone detained or deported by ICE?

MCPS has a clear and important role in ensuring that every student can learn — including those whose families have been affected by ICE enforcement. When a child’s parent is detained or deported, that child does not stop being a student. The distress they are experiencing does not pause at the school door.

MCPS’s role, however, should be focused on what it does best: educating children. That means ensuring school counselors are available during the school day to support students who are struggling, and that teachers and staff are trained to recognize when a student needs that support. If a child is having difficulty, the school counselor is the right first point of contact — not a duplicative administrative social service apparatus embedded within MCPS.

The broader wraparound services that immigrant families need — legal resources, financial assistance, mental health counseling, and social services — should be provided and funded by Montgomery County government, not MCPS. MCPS’s role is to know those county resources exist, connect families to them through multilingual communication, and ensure the pathway between the school and county services is clear, accessible, and actively maintained. That is responsible partnership — not duplication. Every dollar MCPS spends on services that Montgomery County government should be providing is a dollar not reaching a classroom.

My deepest commitment to immigrant families is this: ensuring that their children receive the highest quality academic experience possible in our schools. A knowledge-rich curriculum, explicit instruction in reading and math, high expectations regardless of background or language, and teachers who are fully supported and empowered to teach — that is what immigrant children deserve and what I will fight for on the Board. The greatest gift MCPS can give any child — including those navigating the hardest circumstances imaginable at home — is a rigorous education that opens every door. That commitment does not waver.

Question B: What new policies would you advocate for to ensure that MCPS schools remain safe and welcoming spaces for immigrant students and families?

I will advocate for clear, publicly communicated policies affirming that MCPS schools are welcoming environments for all students regardless of immigration status. School staff must understand they are not required to inquire about or report immigration status. I will support robust multilingual community engagement — not just translated documents, but genuine, sustained conversation in the languages spoken by our families. I will support community-school liaison positions as bridges that connect immigrant families to county resources — not as social service providers, but as navigators who ensure families know what help is available and how to access it. And I will advocate for trauma-informed training for all school staff addressing the unique stressors facing immigrant students. Every child in Montgomery County deserves a rigorous, high-quality education — regardless of zip code, background, or income. That commitment does not waver based on immigration status.

PROTECTING LGBTQ+ STUDENTS

Question A: What is your record of supporting LGBTQ+ students and how will you bring that experience to the Board of Education?

In over twenty-five years of teaching — including at a progressive private school in Washington, D.C. — I have taught students who were questioning, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary. Every one of them deserved a classroom where they felt safe, seen, and valued. That has always been my standard as a teacher, and it will be my standard as a board member.

I want to be honest about a contested issue. I supported the Mahmoud families’ right to receive advance notice when LGBTQ+ inclusive books are used in the curriculum. The Supreme Court affirmed that right in June 2025. That ruling was not about removing LGBTQ+ inclusive books from schools — those books remain in use. It was about parental notification and opt-out rights, which I believe are consistent with the parental involvement principles at the core of my platform. I want to be equally clear that I do not support policies that marginalize LGBTQ+ students, limit their participation in school life, or make them feel unwelcome. Every MCPS student deserves access to supportive staff, anti-bullying enforcement, and a school environment of dignity and respect.

Question B: What concrete policies would you implement to make MCPS a safer and more inclusive environment for transgender students?

The commencement dead-naming incident was a serious failure of basic dignity and respect. Using a student’s dead name at graduation — without their consent, in a public setting — is not an administrative oversight. It is a harm. I will push for a clear, district-wide policy requiring that students’ chosen names and pronouns be used in all official MCPS communications and events, including graduation programs, without exception. I will advocate for a simple, accessible process by which students can formally register their chosen name and pronouns so that information is consistently reflected across all systems. And I will push for training for all staff on protocols for transgender students to ensure incidents like this one do not recur. Transgender students deserve a school system that affirms their identity, not one that outs them at commencement. That is a matter of basic human dignity.

WORKING IN CHALLENGING BUDGET ENVIRONMENTS

Question A: When the budget is tight, how will you go about making budget decisions?

Merriam Webster defines stewardship as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. It involves overseeing, protecting, and preserving valuable assets, resources, or communities, often with the goal of passing them on in better condition for future generations.” Every contract signed, every dollar allocated, every position cut or protected should be measured against one standard: does this serve our children’s education responsibly and transparently?

My framework is straightforward: protect what reaches students, cut what does not. I will always protect teachers first — they are the single most important factor in a child’s academic success. I will always protect special education resource teachers, whose elimination directly harms our most vulnerable students. I will always protect school counselors, who are the appropriate first point of contact when students are struggling during the school day. I will always protect building maintenance, because crumbling schools produce distracted students. And I will always protect programming that has demonstrated measurable ties to academic outcomes. What I will cut aggressively is Central Office administrative overhead, duplicative positions that belong in county government rather than MCPS, technology spending where evidence of academic benefit is weak, and programs that cannot demonstrate results for students.

Critically, I will not make budget decisions behind closed doors. As I argued in my Clean Slate MoCo article on performance-based budgeting, tying future funding to measurable academic metrics is the only proven way to strengthen any connection between investment and results. I will work with parents, community watchdog organizations, and taxpayers to ensure that every budget prioritizes academic excellence — not Central Office overhead, not no-bid contracts, not political priorities. Before any budget increase above maintenance of effort is approved, MCPS must demonstrate measurable academic progress in reading, math, and outcomes for our most vulnerable students. That is what I testified before the County Council in May 2026, and it is what I will demand from the Board.

Question B: Will you commit to publicly opposing Question A, the proposed county charter amendment?

I do not oppose Question A. The concern that MCPS and Montgomery County government must live within sustainable fiscal limits is one I share. As I have documented throughout this campaign, the problem is not that MCPS lacks money — it received a record $143 million increase in FY2027. The problem is how that money is being spent. A spending cap that forces MCPS and county government to make hard choices, prioritize academic outcomes, and eliminate waste before asking taxpayers for more is consistent with the performance-based budgeting framework I have championed in my Clean Slate MoCo article and in my testimony before the County Council. Accountability and fiscal discipline are not obstacles to serving students — they are prerequisites.

ROLE OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Question A: How will you ensure that students, families, and impacted communities have a meaningful say in decisions related to MCPS?

As I documented in Asleep at the Wheel, the MCEA Apple Ballot has delivered a school board where every sitting member owes their seat to union endorsement. Montgomery Perspective’s Adam Pagnucco has called it “the WMD of MoCo politics.” In 2024, MCEA knocked out three school board incumbents, outspent all general election school board candidates combined, and its new president walked into the board meeting the day after the election to remind the board who was really in charge. It wasn’t the parents. It wasn’t the community that voted for them. No. It was the union — MCEA — that spent the money and the manpower to put them there. MCEA President David Stein shamelessly proclaimed this paradigm when he announced, “We are the ones closest to the work. We are the ones who see the problems vividly and immediately” — failing to see that it is, in fact, the parents and the children who feel these fiduciary failures the most.

The parents and community organizations demanding accountability are systematically being sidelined. Their testimony is ignored. Their watchdog reports are shelved. Their communities, overruled.

Thankfully, Montgomery County has a robust network of community organizations doing the accountability work the Board of Education, MCPS, MCEA, and the County Council refuse to do. The Parents Coalition of Montgomery County has documented waste and procurement failures for years. The Montgomery County Taxpayers League has consistently raised the alarm about spending without accountability. MCCPTA has pressed for transparency. The Red Flags Coalition sounded early warnings about curriculum and policy changes the board dismissed. The Save Wootton movement mobilized an entire community and filed a formal state appeal backed by sworn affidavits from over 300 households. Moderately MoCo has provided a platform for substantive policy debate the board refuses to engage.

These organizations are not obstacles. They are the eyes and ears of a community that is paying attention despite being ignored. A board that genuinely serves its fiduciary duty does not dismiss them. It listens, includes their insight, and treats their documented concerns as the accountability mechanism they are. Ignoring their critical insight is full-on arrogance on display, characteristic of an MCEA Apple Ballot-controlled board answering to the union instead of the families it serves.

On the Board, I will restore a full schedule of 24 business meetings per year. I will require a minimum 90-day community feedback period for any major proposal with multilingual outreach and genuine engagement — not surveys circulated after decisions have already been made, but input that actually changes proposals. I will require that the Board formally respond in writing to documented concerns raised by community watchdog organizations within 30 days. And I will insist that any major boundary, curriculum, or facilities decision be accompanied by a formal community impact analysis that documents how impacted neighborhoods were engaged and how their feedback was incorporated — or explains in writing why it was not.

I want to be clear about something: my criticism of the MCEA Apple Ballot machine is not a criticism of MCEA members — the teachers and support staff who show up every day for our children. Many of them are losing their jobs in this budget and that is deeply troubling. I will fight to ensure that the positions that belong in MCPS — teachers, special education resource teachers, school counselors — are protected, even when I disagree with the union’s political apparatus. As someone who has spent twenty-five years working in communities that did not always agree with each other — schools where parents, teachers, administrators, and community members had competing visions of what was best for children — I know how to sit at a table with people I disagree with and find the common ground that serves children first. That is what I will bring to this board.

Question B: How will you hold MCPS leadership, including the Superintendent, accountable when community members raise concerns?

Every fiduciary failure in MCPS shares a common root: there is no MCPS-specific independent Inspector General with the authority to review contracts before they are signed, audit spending in real time, and report directly to the board and the public. MCPS receives approximately 47% of Montgomery County’s entire $7.9 billion operating budget — over $3.72 billion in FY2027 alone, plus $357.1 million in capital funding. By some estimates, MCPS consumes more than 51% of county spending when all funding streams are counted. An institution spending this much public money, without an independent Inspector General, is simply indefensible. That ends on my watch. In addition, as the Parents Coalition documented, Taylor promised in writing to fix procurement violations by December 1, 2025 — then he and Board President Rivera-Oven signed an unauthorized contract weeks later in direct defiance of that commitment. Taylor himself promised to stay with the work “until it is done — because it must be done.” He did not. A superintendent who makes promises to the watchdog and breaks them weeks later is not acting in good faith. He is running out the clock.

Establishing an independent MCPS Inspector General — with subpoena authority, whistleblower protections, and direct reporting to the full board and the public — is my first and most urgent governance reform.

MCPS’s pattern of fighting parents in court has cost taxpayers dearly: $1.54 million in legal fees fighting Mahmoud v. Taylor — then a $1.5 million settlement after losing. The Beidelman scandal cost hundreds of thousands more. The Damascus sexual assault settlement cost $9.7 million. Monifa McKnight’s departure cost $1.3 million. Every one of these dollars came out of the same operating budget that just cut 415 student-facing positions. A board that does its job does not generate this volume of litigation. That is a governing failure — and I will work to end it. The best way to reduce lawsuits against MCPS is to stop fighting parents and start working with them. Transparent decisions, genuine engagement, and respect for parental rights are not just good governance — they are the best litigation prevention strategy this district has never tried.

The structural reforms I am committed to — an independent OIG, an end to rubber-stamp consent agendas, and the community engagement commitments I outlined above — are precisely how I will ensure that concerns raised by community members are not just heard but acted upon.

Real stewardship means an independent OIG, an end to the rubber-stamp consent agenda, a superintendent who cuts waste before cutting student-facing staff, and a board that finally treats the insight of parents and community watchdog organizations as the accountability mechanism it is.

Early voting begins Thursday, October 22, 2026 and ends Thursday, October 29, 2026. The General Election is on Tuesday, November 3rd. Visit DiazForBOE.com to learn more about my policy proposals.