When we say “freedom isn’t free,” that includes those of us who live in communities such as Montgomery County. We are just two generations removed from World War II, where folks including my grandfather—a resident of Chevy Chase—wore our nation’s uniform to make the world safe for democracy.

The security of residents of this county is wholly dependent on men and women who are willing to fight and die for families like mine. One of those men is our governor, Wes Moore.

This week, the New York Times published an article indicating that Moore (D) listed that he’d received the Bronze Star on an internship application almost two decades ago but he had not been awarded the medal. The article makes clear that Moore’s commanding officer had recommended him for the honor, formally signed off on it, and encouraged him to include it in the application.

Make no mistake: Anyone who puts on the uniform of the United States is a patriot deserving of our gratitude. And Moore didn’t just wear the stars and stripes on his chest, he put his own life on the line in an active combat zone, as my colleague Will Smith noted in MoCo 360. When our national anthem speaks of the home of the brave, we are speaking about folks like Moore.

We should be clear-eyed about where Montgomery County fits into this story. Like many urban, affluent jurisdictions, less than 5% of Montgomery County residents have ever served in our armed forces—the lowest percentage in the state. Compare that to rural, less affluent St. Mary’s County, where almost 13% of residents are veterans.

What does that mean? It means that by and large, it’s not Montgomery County’s sons and daughters who are doing the fighting. It’s folks like Moore who, though born in Takoma Park, was raised by a single mother under modest circumstances in the Bronx, New York.

And so when it comes to patriots who are willing to sacrifice themselves to keep my Montgomery County family safe, I’m not focused on medals. I’m focused only on showing my deep-seated appreciation for their courage.

I am thankful for Gov. Wes Moore’s honorable service. Our county should be as well.

State Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Dist. 18) represents Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Wheaton, Kensington, Rockville and Garrett Park.

The post Opinion: Moore defended freedom of Montgomery County residents appeared first on MoCo360.

We represent a group of Jewish residents of Montgomery County who have been working since Oct. 7 to show solidarity with the struggle for justice in Palestine and to address antisemitism in our county through the lens of mutual liberation.

This past week, many of us gathered to celebrate Shabbat together. On Sunday, we attended two events that built support for Palestine, provided us with much-needed spaces to grieve in community, and energized us to work for peaceful solutions: a picnic hosted by the group “MCPS for Palestine” and an interfaith “Solidarity with Gaza” event hosted by the Islamic Community Center of Potomac and Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

The first of these events was smeared as antisemitic in a recent op-ed by Giula Franklin Siegel, representing the Jewish Community Resource Council of Greater Washington (JCRC). Contrary to her suggestion that this event promoted antisemitism, it was a beautiful, diverse gathering that brought together people of all different backgrounds and faiths who share a deep concern for all of our Montgomery County Public Schools students.

We condemn antisemitism in our schools and we condemn the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the forcible displacement and killing of Palestinians in the West Bank. We refute the idea that these two statements are in any way contradictory. We believe it is vital to call out antisemitic words and acts and that it is crucial to allow space for students and staff who wish to voice their outrage about what is taking place.

But we must be accurate and honest when we discuss antisemitism. No one disputes that swastika graffiti is antisemitic. But the statement that “Israel kills” is unequivocally true. We cannot label honest but harsh criticism of Israel as antisemitic; especially when doing so distracts us from white nationalism, the source of most antisemitism in this country.

It is disappointing to continually hear community organizations and leaders such as JCRC claim to speak for all of us. Jews in Montgomery County are tremendously diverse in our religious practice, our politics, and our relationships with Israel. As the school year begins, yes, we are worried about antisemitism. However, we are just as deeply concerned about the ongoing U.S.-funded genocide in Gaza, and we are concerned about hateful bias against and the silencing of Palestinian and Muslim students and staff, which is not conducive to a safe and engaging educational environment.

We believe that leaders and members of our community should be able to speak out for Palestinian lives without facing bad faith accusations of antisemitism. This cause is simply far too important to be silent on. As Jews, we will continue to advocate locally for peaceful solutions that recognize the interconnectedness of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hatred.

Elissa Laitin is a parent of a Montgomery County Public Schools high school student. Kate Sugarman is a Montgomery County resident

The post Opinion: JCRC doesn’t speak for us appeared first on MoCo360.

The start of a new school year is typically marked by hope, optimism and excitement. 

For many Jewish parents, educators and children in Montgomery County, the feelings as school begins Monday are quite different. 

Over the past two weeks, at least six MCPS school buildings—including three elementary schools, one of which hosted a farmers market frequented by children and families—have been vandalized with graphic, antisemitic graffiti, much of it related to the Israel-Gaza war.  

On Sunday, a group called mcps4palestine is holding an event to “get organized to take back our schools” from “Zionists in Montgomery County” who “steer public school policy to the detriment of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and even anti-Zionist Jewish members of the MCPS community.”  Swapping “Zionists” for “Jews” fools no one; accusing Jews of controlling societal institutions is an insidious antisemitic trope and conspiracy theory going back thousands of years.

These attacks are shocking, but sadly not surprising. 

MCPS experienced record numbers of antisemitic incidents in the 2023-24 school year—to the point where the school board president was subpoenaed to testify at a congressional hearing. Maryland now ranks seventh among states in reported antisemitic incidents, which have risen by more than 300% in the United States since Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on Oct. 7.

It is heartening that some local leaders—particularly new MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor—have called out these antisemitic crimes and acted quickly to get the words and images removed. But too many in our area continue to shy away from terming harassment and vandalism referencing Israel as antisemitic, even when these attacks are strategically perpetrated at schools in neighborhoods with significant numbers of Jewish residents—and which have large numbers of Jewish students and educators. Most of these schools are also blocks away from multiple synagogues. These are not coincidences. There is no question about who is being targeted and who is suffering the resulting harm.

These hateful and illegal acts do nothing to help Palestinians or Israelis. They do nothing to bring the hostages home. They do nothing to end the suffering in Gaza or to achieve a lasting peace in the region. They do nothing to improve our schools and neighborhoods at home. 

Instead, they just make children afraid to walk into school. They make parents anxious about their children’s safety. They take time and resources away from teaching and learning. They sow division and discord. And they force Montgomery County’s Jewish residents to live with chronic trepidation about when, and where, the next brazen attack will occur.

This is no way to begin a school year. Yes, we should teach our kids hard subjects, expose them to different viewpoints, and encourage spirited discussion and debate. But it is equally imperative that our schools remain safe harbors, sanctuaries where children and adults from all backgrounds gather each day to learn, share, and build community.

Educators and administrators have an obligation to “do the work” — to understand the nuances of how antisemitism is manifesting at this moment in history; to distinguish between legitimate expressions of political viewpoints and coded messages of hate; and to balance free speech rights in K-12 settings with the obligation to ensure that core learning is not disrupted and all children feel safe.  

Combating antisemitism requires more than denouncing bad behavior and handing out consequences. Educators and policymakers need to sit with and listen to Jewish students and educators; visit targeted synagogues and schools; and recognize and validate Jewish parents’ understandable fears and concerns.

 In their powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg—parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg Polin—described the “surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East.” That is true in Israel and Gaza, and here in our own community. A surplus of empathy is needed from our leaders and educators toward all MCPS families and staff who are carrying the pain of this conflict with them every day. 

We must also recognize that the particular pain being experienced by one marginalized community cannot and does not diminish our ability to support other marginalized communities. It is why Jewish organizations have strongly supported the MCPS anti-racist audit and associated implementation steps, as well as efforts to achieve educational equity for Black and Latino students and to ensure the safety and dignity of LGBTQ+ students. None of us is truly safe unless we are all safe. 

The vast majority of people within MCPS want to do the right thing, but for the upcoming school year to be successful, words and actions must match honorable intentions. For too long, those spreading vitriol have been the loudest voices in the room. For the sake of our kids—Jewish and non-Jewish alike-—it’s time for love to drown out hate. 

Guila Franklin Siegel is chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.

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We are parents of students who attend Montgomery County Public Schools, as well as community organizers and advocates who have educated ourselves and others about the harms of carceral approaches to youth safety.  We therefore read with dismay that the Montgomery County school board appointed former county police Chief Marcus Jones to lead its Department of Security and Compliance.

Putting our former police chief in charge of school safety clearly signals that MCPS views school safety as a matter best handled by policing and punishment rather than through student wellness and support. It ensures that school safety will be addressed through a criminal lens because this is how Marcus Jones has addressed safety in this county for the past 38 years. 

During his tenure as chief, Jones was responsible for a culture that led to police berating and threatening a 5-year-old child who ran away from school. When asked at a Montgomery County Council inquiry into this incident whether, “In your personal opinion is referring to any child, especially a black or brown child, as a beast appropriate?” Jones would not comment.  Jones’s inability to recognize how to appropriately respond to juvenile behavior was also revealed last year when he claimed that a 12-year-old child who made bomb threats at area schools did so because the child knew that recent changes in state law regarding the age of criminal liability would ensure he would not be punished.  

After a concerted push by students, parents, community members and experts to remove police from our schools, Jones has been a staunch advocate of restoring them, despite the well-known disparate impact they have on our most vulnerable students, in particular Black students. In addition to national data showing significant race-based disparities in school-based arrests, a 2020 report by our county’s Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) revealed that while Black students made up less than a quarter of the MCPS population, they comprised almost half of its arrests over the previous four years. A second OLO report, issued in 2023, found that ”Racial disparities in the School to Prison Pipeline [in Montgomery County] persist with Black children being twice as likely to be suspended or referred to juvenile services compared to their share of student enrollment.” In short, MCPS’s choice of Jones to lead on school safety tells us that it is willing to sacrifice Black students in favor of the false promise that schools will be safer with a former police chief at the helm.  

We are at an inflection point in the county–will MCPS embrace a public health approach to student safety or look to the heavy hand of law enforcement? MCPS has started to develop a more robust restorative justice approach to working with students. But this takes time and resources to fully develop. It has proven very successful in other school systems across the country, including in Baltimore City, where schools that adopted restorative practices “have seen dramatic drops in suspensions, improved school climate, and better relationships between students and teachers,” according to Baltimore City Public Schools. Bringing in Jones will lead us away from effective approaches to the failed policies of the past, which relied on high arrest and suspension rates rather than establishing more positive school climates. Certain students, particularly Black boys, will suffer the brunt of these consequences. 

Our schools should be a place where all students can learn without a pervasive threat of punitive measures. We urge the Montgomery County Board of Education to reconsider its appointment of Marcus Jones.

Mara Greengrass is the parent of an MCPS student and a leader with Jews United for Justice. Zakiya Sankara-Jabar is the parent of an MCPS student and the co-founder and co-executive director of Racial Justice NOW!

The post Opinion: Marcus Jones will not keep our students safe appeared first on MoCo360.

The Charter Review Commission’s recent report recommended several changes to controls over how the County Council approves spending and revenues. Among these was a recommendation to reduce the number of councilmember votes required to approve a property rate increase–from unanimous to just eight of the 11 votes. Without a public hearing, the council is expected to vote on this recommendation on July 9 and seem likely to agree with the lower bar of eight votes and place it on the November ballot as a referendum.

Be wary. In 2020, the council placed its own referendum (Question A) on the ballot that was deceptively labeled as “Limit Tax Rate Increases,” while a competing grass-roots citizen petition (Question B) to prevent property tax revenue increases from exceeding the CPI (Consumer Price Index) rate was placed second on the ballot, and pejoratively labeled “Prohibit Override.” Inevitably Question A passed. 

The Montgomery County Taxpayers League is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization comprised of county residents and focused on good government by the county to achieve efficient and effective operations and tax equity. We believe a unanimous vote to increase property taxes is an essential control over county spending. We do not stand alone. County voters have repeatedly voted–in 2008, 2018 and in 2020–to require a unanimous vote to increase property tax rates and they should not be ignored. 

Here are six reasons why you should ask councilmembers to retain the unanimous vote requirement for tax rate increases before the council votes on a proposed referendum:

1. The county has excess reserves: Last year the council approved a 4.7% tax rate increase with just seven votes and that, combined with huge appraisal increases, clobbered homeowners and renters with what amounted to the maximum tax increase permitted under state law of 10%. The tax rate increase was unnecessary because it produced a revenue gusher this year, and next year’s was forecast to yield excess reserves of 15.4%. A unanimous vote would have prevented this.
2. The one-person veto is a myth: The upcounty would be most impacted by weakening the unanimous requirement because the three upcounty council members could get drowned out by a super majority of the eight down-county members. We agree with the minority opinion in the commission’s report (pg. 22) that a unanimous vote makes each council member accountable, increases their impact, and the voice of underrepresented parts of the county. A unanimous vote would give undecided members the opportunity to join that member and be heard, rather than be trampled by the majority.
3. Housing costs are skyrocketing as assessments increase: Property taxes are a significant driver of housing cost increases.  Homeowners’ Credits do not adjust property taxes for inflation to protect low-income residents. Higher housing costs and scarcity underpin racial segregation in schools and make it harder for seniors to retire in place. Assessments are controlled by the state, but a unanimous vote would increase the council control over tax increases.
4. Structural deficit fail-safe: Of the three decision points in the charter that control spending and revenues, tax rate increases are the last control and should have the strongest vote hurdle. As happened last year, less-than-unanimous spending control overrides could result in higher recurring costs and structural deficits in future years without a unanimous vote for tax rate increases. Last year’s tax rate increase was approved with only seven council votes and was supposed to be for an education emergency that justified overriding the charter’s unanimous vote requirement. But most of the spending was for recurring county costs. MCPS got only 37% of the additional money raised — approximately $100 million, according to our analysis. County employees got above-market pay raises (estimated cost: $38 million) advocated by powerful county unions, but not supported by a comparative salary survey last done 13 years ago; and county supplemental appropriations approved during the year ($25 million so far) were not justified in the budget process, for a total of $63 million for the county, not MCPS. 
5. Accountability and transparency: Increased public confidence in county governance is reinforced with a unanimous vote. Confidence stems from a better county and MCPS budget process that justifies spending with numbers, not words, for outcomes. The public should be able to see how spending links to objective returns on investment to conclude its money is being spent wisely. Moody’s bond underwriters just placed a “negative outlook” on the state because of likely structural deficits from growing costs for education reforms under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. This puts increased pressure on local county funding sources. 
6. MCPS spending trade-offs: A unanimous vote for tax increases will assure these tradeoffs are fully and publicly debated, consistent with the “fair and predictable” governance process argued in the commission report. A growing bureaucracy that doesn’t dramatically improve literacy and math proficiency is not sustainable. The state’s Maintenance of Effort law prevents any council debate over what’s in the base of the MCPS budget, where most of the achievement gap strategy money is buried along with overhead costs (we estimate 45% for non-instruction), according to our analysis. Spending that doesn’t improve literacy and math proficiency takes money away from our kids, and squeezes funding for other county programs that could better improve the lives of lower-income residents, such as affordable housing, public health and safety.

Silver Spring resident Gordie Brenne is treasurer of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League.

The post Opinion: Should the County Council make raising property taxes easier? appeared first on MoCo360.

On June 5, Montgomery County faced something unusual but not unprecedented in our county: two confirmed EF-1 tornadoes. On June 6, MoCo 360 quoted a Montgomery County emergency management official as saying, “We had no forewarning whatsoever that the storm was coming.” I’m not sure how much warning this official expected to receive, but the county actually was well warned of the June 5 tornado threat, given the nature of tornadoes.

A tornado isn’t a hurricane or winter storm that normally can be warned of days or even hours in advance. Hurricanes and winter storms are significantly larger and slower-developing than tornadoes, which means warnings about those impending storms have a significantly longer lead time than for a tornado. The National Weather Service (NWS) in 2023 said the average lead time for tornado warnings was nine minutes, with 13 minutes being the goal.

On June 5, the NWS first issued a tornado warning for a part of the county at 6:33 p.m., and a tornado first hit a part of the county at 7:01 p.m. This actually is a very good advance warning for a tornado. At 7:22 p.m., for the first time in the history of the NWS’s Sterling, Virginia, Weather Forecast Office (which is responsible for the entirety of the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metro areas), the NWS added a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” (PDS) tag to a tornado warning. These tags are rare, and for good reason. They are designed to get our attention and distinguish this warning from other tornado warnings. If every tornado warning were treated the same way, members of the public might judge the situation based on the last time they received the warning, and most people who receive such warnings don’t get hit by a tornado.

At the time of the PDS warning, there was a confirmed tornado on the ground near Poolesville and it was moving east at 20 mph. Another related tornado ended up hitting Gaithersburg between 7:40 and 7:45 (on June 13, the NWS recharacterized the Gaithersburg tornado as separate from the Poolesville tornado). You’ll rarely get hours of warning of a tornado, so hopefully we’ll be able to respond to tornado warnings with less notice than for other severe weather events, like we did on June 5.

The NWS determined that both tornadoes were 150 yards wide. Considering how much wider the area warned (“the warning box”) was than the tornadoes, it appears that the right people received warnings. If too many people outside of the warning boxes were to receive a warning without experiencing or being very close to a tornado, they may not take the next tornado warning seriously. We do not want any Takoma Park residents to think that they need to go to their basements because of a tornado warning for Poolesville or vice versa. For two EF-1 tornadoes to move through a highly populated county like Montgomery County, having only five injuries and no deaths was an impressive success and a sign that county residents heeded the warnings that they were given.

Are we at an increased risk of having more tornadoes because of climate change? We really don’t know. Climate is to weather what personality is to mood. While climate change is certainly an issue that causes more extreme weather, more research is needed to prove that climate change has caused an increase in tornadoes.

Advancements in the ability to detect tornadoes, notably the installation of dual polarization radar in the NWS radar network in 2012 (which enables radar alone to confirm the presence of a tornado on the ground in some circumstances), have been crucial in improving tornado forecasting, but also have increased the number of tornadoes detected. It will take more research to determine how much of the increase in the number of detected tornadoes was caused by technological advances and how much was due to climate change.

Rockville resident Andrew Naimon, a Montgomery County native, has a bachelor of science degree in meteorology and atmospheric science from Pennsylvania State University.

The post Opinion: Montgomery County actually well warned about June 5 tornado threat appeared first on MoCo360.

It is a national tragedy that guns are the leading cause of death among young people in the United States. Alone, this tragic statistic should be a rallying point for all Americans as we marked National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday.

As a Bethesda mom, public health expert and volunteer who has recently joined the Maryland chapter of Moms Demand Action, I was honored to participate for the first time in our chapter’s Moms Demand Action’s 2024 Advocacy Day on Jan. 30 in Annapolis. I heard powerful stories from people who have lost loved ones to gun violence, and I listened to students from schools across Maryland speak eloquently about what it’s like to grow up with the threat of school shootings. 

We can do better by our children and our communities. We don’t have to live this way. In fact, the United States is the only nation among our peers with such lax gun laws that we now have a gun-related public health crisis. I have worked in 42 countries around the world, and one of the most common questions I am asked in my travels is why the United States doesn’t do a better job of preventing gun violence. It disheartens me that this is a uniquely American crisis. 

I wish I didn’t have to explain that common sense public health and prevention measures have been dismissed by extremist lawmakers in favor of increasing access to high-capacity weapons and decreasing measures such as background checks. In an average year in Maryland, 799 people die by guns. Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teens in the state. Our state also has the 10th highest rate of gun homicide deaths in the U.S., with the rate increasing 74% from 2013 to 2022. 

In just the past two weeks in Montgomery County, two 20-year-old men were fatally shot May 26 at a neighborhood park in downtown Silver Spring, according to county police. Four days later, an armed man was fatally shot by police in an apartment in the county’s Fairland community.

We have evidence-based public health solutions at our disposal. By building awareness of this national crisis and grassroots coalition building, we can elect lawmakers who put our safety first and enact solutions to protect all Americans. We have seen this model work in the past to prevent tobacco use, improve car safety, and reduce driving under the influence.

In Maryland, Moms Demand Action volunteers like myself are fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. We work to pass stronger gun laws and close the loopholes that jeopardize the safety of families. We also work in our community to encourage a culture of responsible gun ownership. We know that gun violence is a public health crisis, and that Montgomery County is not immune. But we also know that gun violence is preventable, and we’re committed to doing what it takes to keep families safe.

On Saturday, we recognized the 10th annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day in an event at Wheaton Regional Park and Wear Orange Weekend that ran through Sunday. Wear Orange began in 2015 when teenagers in Chicago wanted to honor their friend, Hadiya Pendleton, after she was shot and killed.

We wear Orange, the color traditionally worn by hunters, to demand a future free from gun violence. Orange symbolizes the value of each person’s life, and we wear it to honor those killed, wounded, or impacted by gun violence, and to call for an end to this crisis. 

Gael O’Sullivan lives in Bethesda.

The post Opinion: Demand a future free from gun violence appeared first on MoCo360.

In the final throes of the fiscal year 2025 budget cycle, Montgomery County Public Schools’ leadership and the county Board of Education have publicly stated that they may “reduce additional CollegeTracks counseling services at some high schools.” A cut will mean that hundreds of high school students who desperately need college access services next year will not get them.

CollegeTracks staff and volunteers help MCPS students who face severe disadvantages during the college application process. Most are among the first generation in their families to attend college or come from low-income and/or immigrant households. Though qualified to attend college, they are likely to miss out on the opportunities provided by higher education because they know no adults with the experience and time to help them through the extremely complex admissions and financial aid processes.

Given the economics and operational model of CollegeTracks’ College Access program, which removes barriers to higher education that MCPS cannot otherwise remove, a cut from the current fiscal year 2024 funding level would cause CollegeTracks to shut down its entire operations in one, two or three high schools of the five high schools it currently serves. One or more school communities—students, families, teachers, counselors and principals—would lose the program that helps hundreds of their students access higher education and come closer to attaining the futures they deserve.

CollegeTracks has served more than 10,000 MCPS students over the past 20 years. Ninety-nine percent of our high school graduates have been accepted into a postsecondary institution. CollegeTracks works hard to help our students identify and secure the financial aid they need to attend.

CollegeTracks’ success requires skilled, committed staff members, many trained volunteers and millions of dollars raised from foundation, individual, and corporate funders, as well as from CollegeTracks’ partnerships with MCPS and the county.

As taxpayers, we fund a school system that graduates most of its students but fails to give thousands the support they need to continue their education and be eligible for the vast majority of the county’s well-paying jobs. Instead of talking about equity in the abstract, MCPS needs to support the specific programs that change the trajectories of young people’s lives.

The co-founders of CollegeTracks dreamed that once we proved the program model worked, the county and MCPS would choose to expand it to ensure equitable opportunities for all of the county’s students who need it. Sadly, CollegeTracks is now fighting for resources just to continue serving students in five of the county’s 25 high schools.

A funding cut may help solve a temporary budget problem but it ignores the robust and measurable return on investment that CollegeTracks delivers to the county–thousands of MCPS graduates getting to higher education who otherwise would not be able to obtain jobs that support their families. The county’s employers need an educated workforce. Higher incomes generate more taxes, allow people to buy homes, and reduce the social services burden.

The need for college access services has increased dramatically since CollegeTracks began in 2003. Half of all MCPS students, more than 80,000, qualify now for Free and Reduced Meals or have qualified in the past. Most of those students come from families who lack college-going experience to help them obtain higher education.

Rather than reducing support, now is the time to double down on the investment in CollegeTracks–for the sake of the students, their families and our community.

Bethesda resident Nancy Leopold is the co-founder and former executive director of CollegeTracks.

The post Opinion: Don’t cut funding for CollegeTracks appeared first on MoCo360.

The recent U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee congressional hearing on antisemitism in K-12 marked a critical juncture for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). Being identified as one of the top three districts nationwide for neglecting to address antisemitism is a stark and humbling realization. In this pivotal moment, we, as members of the Jewish community and stakeholders within MCPS, are hopeful that this hearing will ignite the much-needed changes to address antisemitism within our schools.

During the May 8 hearing, school board President Karla Silvestre, alongside New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks and Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel, faced lawmakers to answer questions about antisemitism in their districts. Banks fielded numerous questions about a principal who permitted a riot in his halls that targeted a Jewish teacher. Meanwhile, Morthel was pressed extensively about Liberated Ethnic Studies, a districtwide curriculum that emphasizes topics of decolonization and intersectionality in history classes, and by extension, portrays Israel as an oppressive regime. 

Unfortunately, there was limited scrutiny of the antisemitic issues afflicting MCPS. Key concerns were left unspoken, such as the troubling reinstatement of educators who shared antisemitic content on social media, the prevalence of hate speech during school walkouts, and the systemic negligence in addressing antisemitic behavior and swastika vandalism that has plagued the district for years.

Fortunately, the committee did hear powerful testimony from Brooke Meshel, an MCPS teacher at Paint Branch High School, who recounted her experience overhearing vile antisemitic speech during a school walkout and what she described as the subsequent retaliation by the school system when she reported it. Meshel’s story highlights the painful reality that MCPS has often concealed antisemitism rather than confront it with transparency and preventive measures.

The inquiries that Silvestre did encounter were met with exaggerated responses. One notable exchange focused on the MCPS reporting system for hate/bias incidents. Despite Silvestre’s claims of improvement, the system remains convoluted and deficient in subsequent follow-up and consistent community communication. Furthermore, the emphasis on staff training in hate/bias, presented by Silvestre as evidence of progress during the hearing, merely reflects a recent state mandate (initially opposed by the board) and may not even encompass a dedicated module addressing the unique complexities of recognizing and preventing antisemitic behavior.

With these shortcomings, we urge MCPS to fulfill its promise of addressing antisemitism and implement the following recommendations immediately:

• Improve communication and reporting mechanisms: Implement clearly defined reporting mechanisms for incidents of antisemitism within our schools, ensuring that all incidents are accurately documented and addressed in a timely manner. Each incident must be reported to the Montgomery County police department, as is standard protocol, to ensure the data is publicly accessible. A public dashboard should be maintained to keep the MCPS community informed about incidents and the subsequent actions taken to address the situation.

• Community engagement: MCPS should engage with Jewish parents, students, staff and other MCPS stakeholders in meaningful dialogue to develop effective strategies for addressing antisemitism and promoting inclusivity. This should include collaboration with grassroots organizations such as Maryland Jewish Alliance and Montgomery County Jewish Parents Coalition and must involve the adaptation of concrete strategies to address community concerns and recommendations.

• Accountability measures: Implement accountability measures to hold individuals responsible for perpetuating antisemitic acts within our schools, including appropriate disciplinary action and follow-up support for affected individuals. While MCPS often addresses incidents of hate/bias with restorative justice circles instead of traditional discipline, data indicate that this approach is largely ineffective in curbing misconduct and should be scaled back.

• Educational opportunities: Incorporate Jewish history and contributions into the curriculum within MCPS. Although MCPS is making efforts in this direction, the current update focuses almost excessively on Jewish victimhood by teaching solely about the Holocaust and antisemitism. There is a noticeable absence of lessons highlighting the positive attributes of Jewish culture, their societal contributions, or the historical and contemporary Jewish connection to Israel. MCPS should look towards curriculum sources such as CAMERA Education Institute, which is finalizing a lesson plan entitled “The Story of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel” that traces Jewish history in Israel from antiquity to the modern day and aligns with state world history standards. MCPS should partner with CAMERA to bring this curriculum to all students.

By implementing these recommendations, MCPS can foster a safer and more inclusive environment for all students. We stand ready to support and collaborate with the school administration in these efforts and look forward to engaging with educators, parents and community leaders to ensure meaningful progress.

Montgomery County residents Margery Smelkinson and Deborah Schoenfeld are leaders of the Maryland Jewish Alliance. Smelkinson is the parent of four MCPS students and Schoenfeld is an MCPS alumnus.

The post Opinion: MCPS’s antisemitism wake-up call appeared first on MoCo360.

Amidst a national debate regarding methods of protest and activism, students at B-CC High School in Bethesda have once again shown our community how it’s done.

I recently attended an exhibition by B-CC students hosted by Artomatic, the annual showcase of visual art, music, film, performance and poetry. Organized by B-CC teacher David Lopilato and timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting in Colorado, the student art dealt with the issue of gun violence.

B-CC, of course, has had its own experiences with the threat of gun violence. On May 13, a student was arrested for allegedly bringing a gun to school. On May 16, a reported threat, later declared unfounded, brought a heavy police response.

At Artomatic, the Barons created a deeply moving display.  But it was my discussion with the students that was even more inspiring. What these incredible young people grasp innately is a lesson I wish more lawmakers and advocates understood: that policymaking without activism is empty, and that activism without policymaking is performative.

But when combined, policymaking and activism can create bold change.

I saw this firsthand in Annapolis, where I represent many B-CC families in the Senate. This year, I co-authored legislation to end gun industry immunity in Maryland. From a policymaking perspective, I knew how to draft the bill and present it to my colleagues. But it was the activists—including B-CC students—who did much of the heavy lifting.

From January through April, activists from Moms Demand Action, Giffords, and Brady combined with young voices from the school shooting generation to make their demands heard. There were rallies, press conferences, phone calls, and emails. And in the final hours on the final day, all that grueling work paid off. The bill passed and was recently signed by Gov. Wes Moore.

The legislative session may be done but, fortunately for us, the B-CC students are not. They plan to continue displaying their art, building up to a big exhibit at the 2025 Folklife Festival. The lesson of these amazing students continues, as well: when young activists engage directly with the levers of power, there is nothing they can’t accomplish.

State Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher is a Montgomery County Public Schools graduate. He represents Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Wheaton, Kensington, Rockville and Garrett Park.

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