Stealth Candidate for Board of Education

One of the defining features of American democracy is the right of every citizen to run for elected office - not just those who you agree with. Our electoral process is founded on a rigorous debate over ideas, with the voters making the ultimate decision.

That is why it is more than a little disturbing when a candidate running for office seeks to hide his/her real views on the issues.

Which brings us to the case of Martha Shaerr. Shaerr is a candidate for the Montgomery County Board of Education, running against incumbent Mike Durso. In a four person race, Shaerr finished second, garnering 28% of the vote to Durso' 47% - thereby grabbing a seat in the November 2nd runoff election. The following letter to the editor was published in the September 29th issue of the Gazette:

Schaerr Profile Lacked Key Information

In The Gazette's Sept. 2 profile of Board of Education candidate Martha Schaerr ["Schaerr calls for schools to engage struggling students"], Schaerr failed to reveal perhaps the most salient feature of her involvement with the Montgomery County Public Schools. Schaerr is a member of the board of directors (and her husband is board chairman) of the Family Leader Network, which brought suit against MCPS in 2007, in an unsuccessful attempt to block implementation of eighth and 10th grade health education revisions titled "Respect for Differences in Human Sexuality."

None of this is mentioned on Schaerr's campaign website. The revisions of the courses (which may only be taken if parents opt into them for their children) were prepared in close consultation with a panel from the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and are based entirely on the teachings of mainstream American medical and mental health professional associations.

These revisions help make our schools safe for all of our children. The State Board of Education, without a single dissenting vote, and then the Montgomery County Circuit Court, rejected Schaerr's Family Leader Network's arguments. This baseless litigation forced MCPS to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in attorney fees.

David S. Fishback, Olney

Fishback knows that of which he speaks. For many years, he served as Chairperson of the MCPS Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Family Life and Human Development. He knows first hand about the battles to establish an appropriate sex education curriculum in MCPS.

Shaerr has every right to her opinions, and we would welcome a full and public debate over whether sex ed should be a part of the curriculum in schools. I'm confident that voters in Montgomery County would be overwhelming supportive. Too bad Ms. Shaerr has chosen to hide from voters the importance she places on taking sex education out of our schools.

Tom Israel, MCEA Executive Director.