Montgomery County SMOB Finalists Announced; Election to Take Place in April

Baba Cisse, a Junior at Albert Einstein High School, and Arvin Kim, a junior at Walt Whitman High School were elected as finalists for Student Member of the Board. The election The general election, which allows for all 80,000 + secondary students in MCPS to vote, will take place on April 20th.

Congratulations to @Baba4Smoba and @arvinforsmob for being elected as the 2 finalists for the @MCPS student member of the @mocoboe. pic.twitter.com/1TzeTVRExT

— MCPS Student Leadership & ECAs (@mcpsslu) February 16, 2022

The Student Member of the Board (SMOB) is a voting member of the Montgomery County Board of Education. The SMOB can vote on matters related to collective bargaining, capital and operating budgets, and school closings, reopenings and boundaries, but not on negative personnel actions. Montgomery County is one of two counties in Maryland to give this position full voting rights. The SMOB is not paid, but receives a $5,000 college scholarship, Student Service Learning hours, and one honors-level social studies credit.

Last year, Hana O’Looney, a senior at Richard Montgomery High School, was elected the Student Member of the Board of Education for the 2021-2022 school year.

All secondary students were eligible to vote virtually in the SMOB election and nearly 33,000 students cast ballots. Ms. O’Looney received 78.3 percent of the vote, while her opponent, Henry Kaye, a junior at Richard Montgomery High School, received 21.3 percent. This SMOB election was held remotely on April 22–23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.