Candidates for Board of Education -- At-Large

Montgomery County Board of Education – At-Large

The Board of Education consists of six members--one from each of the five educational districts in the state and one at-large member who represents the county as a whole. The current at-large member of the Board of Education is Sharon Cox.

Sharon Cox (Incumbent)

Sharon Cox currently lives in Germantown, Maryland, and has been the at-large member of the Board of Education since 2000. Her main priority continues to be "motivating, engaging and supporting each individual student," while not focusing only on boosting "the average." She is seen as an ardent supporter of Superintendent Jerry Weast, who has attracted a great deal of criticism recently from the Blair community. She also believes that the school board has not yielded too much power to him. Cox is also a major proponent of the new MCPS grading policy, which has also been heavily criticized. Cox currently serves as the president of the Board of Education.

Official Campaign Website

Michael Anthony Enriquez Ibanez

Michael Ibanez currently lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland and teaches math and science at St. Catherine Laboure School. He has focused his campaign on what he calls the "lack of commitment and urgency" that he sees in the current school board. He is a proponent for increased funding for education and wants to press state and county officials to keep their commitment to MCPS. Unlike Cox, Ibanez believes that the school board has yielded too much power to Weast and that they should establish a "common vision" and take a more active role in operations of the school.

Official Campaign Website

Tommy Le

Tommy Le currently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and is a project manager at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During his campaign, Le has emphasized the achievement gap between white students and minority students and believes that MCPS efforts to reach out to parents and communities are inadequate. He has also spoken out against the control that Superintendent Jerry Weast exerts over the school board and the entire system, does not support the new MCPS grading policy and is opposed to the new MSDE requirements for a diploma, believing that if a school is accredited by the state, it should be able to issue diplomas without direct state supervision.

Official Campaign Website

Chips' Best Guess: While it would most likely not be in the best interests of the Blair community, Cox will probably win due to incumbent advantage. Neither Ibanez nor Le are very well-known throughout the county or have been previously elected to any public office.