Campaign Phone
240-782-6312
Campaign Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/wyleac4boe/
With well over 25 years as an educational advocate and parent committed to equity and accountability, I also bring lived experience and a data driven mindset. I understand the urgency behind MCPS opportunity gap and the importance of transparent leadership. My advocacy approach centers student outcomes, listening to families and educators across our diverse county, and working collaboratively to ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed and thrive.
Our students must be guided to learning not just how to access information but how to evaluate it. I support strengthening digital literacy and media literacy appropriately across all grade levels. Teaching students to verify sources, recognize bias and think critically is key. Partnering with media specialists/librarians, educators, and technology experts can help to ensure our students are prepared to recognize and navigate mis and dis information responsibility.
Closing opportunity gaps starts with honest data and targeted support alongside measurable accountability metrics. I support early literacy interventions, expanded and high dosage tutoring and enrichment, culturally responsive teaching, and stronger and inclusive family engagement. Parents and caregivers have to be made aware, early and often, if their children aren't reading and math proficient in order to properly engage and support their children.
Students learn best when they feel safe, respected, and valued. I support restorative practices, strong (equitable and culturally competent) behavioral supports, and clear expectations and shared definitions for respect across differences. Our schools should reflect the diversity of Montgomery County while fostering belonging, accountability, and positive relationships among students, educators, and families.
One of the biggest challenges facing MCPS is ensuring strong academic outcomes for all students while addressing the ever widening opportunity gaps for our most marginalized students. We must confront the data with transparency; this should include scaling what we already know works as evidenced by some of our more high performing schools. Let's focus resources where they will make the greatest difference for our students and educators.
Campaign Twitter
x.com/BrendaMDiaz4BOE
Campaign Phone
(202)847-6792
Campaign Instagram
www.instagram.com/diaz.4.boe/
Veteran bilingual educator with 20+ years teaching pre-K through high school— Spanish, ESOL, U.S. History, and Government to AP— across D.C. and Maryland, I bring classroom depth, curriculum expertise, and civic scholarship as a James Madison Fellow, Buchwald Fellow, and two-time NEH Landmark participant. I served as Spanish Curriculum Coordinator, founded Heart of Joy Learning, served as MCEA building representative, and navigated MCPS as a mother of three. I know this system from every angle.
The best defense against misinformation is a knowledge-rich curriculum rooted in primary sources, grammar, logic, and rhetoric from the earliest grades. When students investigate the Founding Documents, weigh competing historical arguments, and practice evidence-based writing, they build the critical thinking that transfers to evaluating any source. I support embedding these skills across social studies, science, and ELA—developing informed citizens, not students dependent on digital checklists.
Every child deserves rigorous, content-rich education regardless of zip code. I support knowledge-rich curriculum, whole books and textbooks in every classroom, grade-appropriate assignments that empower parents to help at home, and explicit math instruction. Teachers must be masters of their content – their knowledge is our students' greatest resource. With only 54.9% of Grade 3 students proficient in reading and 50.4% in math, we cannot wait. Strong teachers and curriculum close gaps.
Safe schools require restored School Resource Officers (SROs) — trusted relationship-builders endorsed by MCPS principals — consistent enforcement of the Student Code of Conduct, a Teachers' Bill of Rights to restore order and discipline, and urgent infrastructure repairs. Safe buildings produce focused students; crumbling ones produce distracted ones. When adults invest in students' physical environment, students invest back. Safety and pride become shared. Excellence in academics follows.
MCPS faces an academic and safety crisis: only 22% pass Algebra I MCAP; Grade 3 reading at 54.9%, math at 50.4%. A student was shot at Wootton; a gun found at Gaithersburg High. The absent Community Engagement Officer proves we need dedicated SROs back in every school. The current BOE rubber-stamps budgets, dismisses parents, defers maintenance, and threatens neighborhood schools. I will change that — demanding transparency, restoring SROs, repairing buildings, and protecting our communities.
Campaign Phone
2406001156
Campaign Instagram
www.instagram.com/omarlazo4boe
My background combines public service, financial oversight, and firsthand experience as a parent of three students in Montgomery County Public Schools. I serve on the Montgomery College Board of Trustees overseeing budgets, planning, and accountability. As a small business owner and chair of the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, I work with educators and employers to connect education with career opportunities and promote fiscal responsibility and transparency.
Students must learn not only how to use technology but how to evaluate information critically. I support expanding media literacy so students can identify credible sources, recognize bias, and avoid misinformation. MCPS should work with librarians and educators to teach these skills early. Teachers also need meaningful training and practical tools so these lessons are taught consistently across all schools.
Closing opportunity gaps requires high expectations and equitable access to resources. I support expanding early learning and strengthening reading and math in the early grades so students get help quickly when needed. We must ensure access to rigorous courses, career and technical programs, and dual-enrollment opportunities with Montgomery College. Equity also means every school has safe facilities, strong leadership, and the resources students need to succeed.
Students learn best when they feel safe, respected, and supported. I support clear behavioral expectations, strong mental health resources, and restorative practices when appropriate. Schools must address bullying and harassment and ensure facilities are safe and well maintained. Safe schools also mean students feel they belong, with clear accountability for racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, discrimination based on sexual orientation, or other forms of hate.
One of MCPS’s biggest challenges is rebuilding trust while managing financial pressures and growing student needs. We must strengthen transparency and accountability in budgeting so resources support student learning. I will work to balance the budget and create a stable, sustainable financial plan that protects school facilities and infrastructure. Every student must have access to a high-quality education, regardless of their zip code.
Campaign Phone
3012767693
Campaign Instagram
@dr.wicksforboe
I am both professional and personally invested in being on the Montgomery County School Board. I have been an educator for 17 years, starting as an elementary teacher, then a school counselor, and now a professor. I also have a Doctorate of Education that was focused on K-12 education. I am also a mother of 3 children in Montgomery County schools. The success of MCPS is also success for my children and my community’s children. I want to help strengthen MCPS’s legacy of greatness.
Digital literacy is important for students in an age where anything can be found on the internet. MCPS has a strong digital literacy program called Your Characters Count, and there is a strategic focus on internet safety and AI. However, there are supplemental curricula that are underutilized. Programs such as Common Sense Media focuses on how to navigate factual information versus misinformation. This is crucial to students’ academic work and development of personal beliefs and values.
The achievement gap is a holistic issue. Support for early intervention is crucial to prevent students from falling behind. One way to address this strategically would be adopting intervention Math curriculum at all levels for However, we also need to assess the basic needs and emotional needs of students. This comes through more provision of food assistance services, increasing clinics at schools at different levels to help families access medical, dental services and mental health services.
Students and staff should be equipped to provide and foster a safe and respectful learning environment. Strategies such as increased professional development on cultural competence and trauma-informed care is paramount for educators. Restorative justice training for staff and administration keeps students accountable and helps increase follow through with discipline. Finally, multidisciplinary threat assessment teams in each school cluster allow for decreased violence and increased safety.
One of the largest issues facing the school system is the lack of budgetary transparency and follow-through with proposed expenses. As a school board member, I want to create measures of accountability and quarterly reporting of how the proposed budget has been used and how community members can raise questions and concerns about how expenses are used. I want to create the ability for the community to know where their tax dollars are going and how students are benefitting from what's spent.
