School board candidates debate priorities, safety at forums
June 23 primary less than 7 weeks away
By
Ashlyn CampbellMay 13, 2026 10:56 a.m.
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With less than seven weeks until the June 23 primary election, Montgomery County school board candidates shared their views on school safety, academic excellence, a balanced budget and other issues significant to Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) at two forums over the past two weeks.
A forum in Poolesville on Monday sponsored by The Fair Access Committee and the Poolesville Area Chamber of Commerce included seven candidates sharing their priorities for the school system.
“I’m going to say our reading and math data absolutely has to improve, and we can do that. So as a board member, I would hold MCPS accountable to going deeper in those relationships with our trusted community stakeholders,” said Wylea Chase, a former director of operations for the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence. Chase was the first candidate to file for the at-large seat.
Omar Lazo, another at-large candidate, and Brett DiResta, a District 3 candidate, highlighted deteriorating school building conditions as one of their largest priorities, noting that issues such as a backlog of HVAC repairs leading to extreme temperatures in buildings negatively impacts student learning.
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Cassandra “Cassi” Sung of Potomac, a District 3 candidate, said class size and decreasing enrollment were the largest issues she was focused on.
“I believe that getting our class sizes back down to appropriate classroom management sizes as well as getting our enrollment back up … they’re all very important,” Sung said. “Some people are like, ‘Well, I want to pull my kids to make sure that the county has all resources.’ That’s the opposite. It does the opposite education as well as to how the county gets its funding.”
Former teacher Brenda Diaz, who is running for the at-large seat, was one of several candidates who participated in the Poolesville forum as well as an April 30 virtual forum organized by Young People for Progress.
Diaz emphasized at both forums that academic excellence is one of her top concerns.
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“To change this in terms of our literacy program, I would make sure that our students are getting great, appropriate assignments, and we started to do that,” Diaz said. “I would have after school twittering programs and math. I would introduce whole books, and I would focus almost all of our efforts tie every single ballot to academic excellence.”
Sharon Creed, who listed a U.S. Postal Service box in Rockville for her District 3 candidate filing, said Monday that she would propose adding one hour before school for tutoring and advocate for more funding for classrooms.
Several candidates also discussed school safety on April 30 and on Monday, covering issues including the student code of conduct and police in schools.
Sally McCarthy, a former committee chair for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs and candidate for District 3, noted during the April 30 forum that the most recent changes to the district’s code of conduct occurred during the summer, making many students and families feel as though the process was not inclusive. The sentiment was echoed by Lazo.
“I think MCPS needs to employ well communicated and intentional outreach during the next revision cycle [for] the Student Code of Conduct,” McCarthy said.
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DiResta said data shows disparities suspension data between schools and demographics, making it “clear that we’re not implementing policy uniformly throughout” the district.
Diaz advocated for more parental involvement, and Chase said the district needed to move from talking points to action while allowing students and families who are most impacted the changes have a seat at the table.
At Monday’s forum, Diaz advocated for more of a police presence in schools.
“If you think about the size of our high schools, they are the size of towns in this country, anywhere between 2,000 to 3,000 students are in those school buildings every single day,” Diaz said.
Other candidates, including Sung, pushed back.
“SROs are not the answer. The data is out there,” Sung said. “That is my number one thing about showing how school resource officers do not help students feel safe, especially students who are not white.”
Eleven candidates have filed to run for four seats on the Montgomery County school board. Those seats include board President Grace Rivera-Oven’s District 1 seat, the District 3 seat held by Julie Yang, Brenda Wolff’s District 5 seat and an at-large seat held by Karla Silvestre.
Rivera-Oven, the only incumbent seeking re-election, is running unopposed, according to the state elections board. Wolff is not running for re-election. Silvestre and Yang are seeking County Council seats instead of running for re-election.
Elma-Lorraine Diggs, a Silver Spring parent of two MCPS students who filed to run Jan. 2, is the only candidate who has filed for Wolff’s District 5 seat, according to the state elections board. Diggs and Rivera-Oven did not participate in any of the forums.
Five candidates have filed to run for the District 3 seat: Creed, DiResta, McCarthy and Sung. Andrew Frykman, who listed a U.S. Postal Service box in Bethesda as his address, is also running. He did not participate in either forum.
Four candidates have filed to run for the at-large seat: Chase, Diaz and Lazo. Tiffany Wicks of Silver Spring filed Feb. 11 to run for an at-large seat, but told Bethesda Today she would not be pursuing the race but would maintain her name on the ballot.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine