Board of Education member Karla Silvestre has announced her candidacy for an at-large seat on the County Council. What is her motivation?
I know how to work with others to get things done, build bridges, and at this critical time in our county we need serious leaders who will work everyday to put the needs and interests of our residents front and center.
Julie Yang, another board member, previously announced her candidacy for representing District 1 on the County Council. I previously argued that Ms. Yang’s performance on the Board of Education makes her unqualified for being a member of the County Council. In this post, I make the argument that Ms. Silvestre’s performance on the BoE has been worse than that of Ms. Yang’s.
Ms. Silvestre was elected to the Board of Education in 2018. Since that time—
- MCPS was on remote learning during COVID far longer than almost every other public school district. For example, Frederick County Public Schools resumed hybrid learning during the fall semester of 2020, while MCPS continues to sequester its students until June 2020. Silvestre, as a board member, approved this sequestration.
- The Washington Post broke the Beidleman scandal (2023). Beidleman’s predation was going on for six years before that with numerous complaints submitted to MCPS. Yang can make some claim that she didn’t know about the predation because she was elected in 2022. However, Silvestre has been on the board for four years longer than Yang. If she knew about the predation, why did she not act? If she did not know about the predation, what else is she not aware of?
- Former superintendent Monifa McKnight was paid $1.3 million in severance pay even though there were serious allegations that she covered up the entire Beidleman affair (2024).
- MCPS paid millions in legal fees in a series of court battles over the forced LGBT curriculum, only to lose it all in the US Supreme Court.
- The Office of Inspector General released a report demonstrating that MCPS has not been performing background checks (2025).
Just as with Ms. Yang, given these lapses, can we really believe that Ms. Silvestre will protect county workers from abuse, and that she will not reward cover-ups with severance pay? Most importantly, can we trust her to do the background checks on employees working with children in the county’s pools and sports teams?
