Four Carroll County candidates are competing for two open seats on the school board.

Voters can pick two candidates in this November’s election to replace board members Marsha Herbert and Donna Sivigny on the five-member Board of Education. Early voting starts Thursday, and Election Day is Nov. 5.

Here’s where candidates stand on education issues like cellphones in schools, attracting and keeping teachers, and restrictions on school library books.

Muri Lynn Dueppen

Dueppen, 55, said she’s been a public school education advocate for 10 years. Her 2023 Friend of Education Award from the Carroll County Education Association, the teachers union, is evidence of that, she told The Banner. The corporate relations officer at the National Aquarium ran for school board unsuccessfully in 2018 and said voters should pick candidates who believe in public education, prioritize students when making decisions, admire educators, and can contribute to a climate that makes learning fun.

“I model those traits and will work incredibly hard on behalf of every family,” she said.

The Mt. Airy resident’s budget priorities are classroom staff, curriculum materials, and safe and modern facilities. Her stance on school boundaries are that they should only be changed when there’s no choice. She said the process should be led by an independent party.

Cellphones in class should be minimal with educators having full authority over their use. She thinks elementary students don’t need them. Middle school students could have limited access to them outside of class and high schoolers could access their phones for other responsibilities.

To recruit and retain educators, Dueppen suggests increasing compensation, reducing workload and creating a trusting and appreciative climate for employees. She said she’d push for more meetings to hear their ideas on overcoming barriers and ensure the budget goes toward resources to help them feel less overwhelmed.

Dueppen, whose endorsements include the teachers union and school board member Patricia Dorsey, doesn’t think school library books should be restricted. Parents should have rights over their own children but not other children, she said. She said that “sexually gratuitous” material is harmful and supports the review process the school system has in place. The system has professionals who were trained to pick appropriate material, and overturning their decisions should be rare.

Amanda Jozkowski

Jozkowski, 40, is running for school board for a second time after losing in the 2022 race. As a parent of three and an occupational science professor, she told The Banner she’s invested in public schools and understands the challenges educators face.

Part of her goal is to stop “politically motivated and divisive rhetoric” that she said is harming the school system. Her endorsements include the county’s teachers union and school board member Patricia Dorsey.

The Eldersburg resident said her top budget priorities include items that help students succeed, like career and technical education, mental health services and technology. Offering competitive teacher salaries and creating opportunities for growth that support teachers are also priorities, along with investing in up-to-date facilities.

Jozkowski said elementary students should not have cellphones in school. But phones could be used for educational purposes and emergencies for middle and high schoolers, as long as modernized policies are in place and followed.

Competitive salaries, career advancement opportunities, creating an environment where educators feel valued and reducing teachers’ workloads should be the focus for recruiting and retaining educators, said Jozkowski. Teachers should have ample time for planning, grading and professional development and more staff should be hired to handle administrative tasks and behavior management.

She doesn’t support restricting school library books unless the content is “wildly” outside a suitable age level. The staff who curate age-appropriate materials should be trusted, she said. Parents have the right to guide their kids’ reading choices but blanket restrictions could be harmful, said Jozkowski.

Redrawing school boundary lines, Jozkowski said, should consider student population growth while minimizing disruption to students’ academics and social lives. If the result is busing students far from their homes, she’d want to explore building new schools and funding school expansions.

Her endorsements include the teachers union and current school board member Patricia Dorsey.

Greg Malveaux

Malveaux, 53, has been an educator for over 25 years and currently teaches dual-enrolled high school students at Montgomery College in Rockville. As a parent of a Carroll County Public Schools student who has special needs, he told The Banner he’d pay close attention to that population, ensure schools are kept safe and focus on academic achievement.

“It is vital that our school system has strong leadership in the coming years and I believe I am well prepared by professional experience to be that leader,” he said.

School resource officers should be the top priority for Carroll’s school budget, according to Malveaux. Academics is second. Upgrading and maintaining aging schools is also on the list, as well as programs that benefit students with disabilities. What the budget shouldn’t prioritize, he said, is a “bureaucracy of administrators and assistant administrators.”

The Hampstead resident supports policies that remove classroom distractions like cellphones, and would consider even stricter policies if elected. To recruit and keep educators, he supports rewarding outstanding teachers with more pay, strong student discipline policies and parent involvement that supports teachers’ efforts.

When it comes to redrawing boundary lines, his focus would be on keeping communities intact and listening to the public before making any decisions.

Malveaux’s endorsements include local and state Republicans, school board members Donna Sivigny, Marsha Herbert and Steve Whisler, as well as conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty. He said he’d ensure students will have access to library books and other supplemental materials that will help them in the classroom. However, books explaining or illustrating sexual acts should not be in the school libraries, he said.

Kristen E. Zihmer

Zihmer, 38, said she’s qualified to sit on the school board because of her activeness in the community. The parent of two is president of Cranberry Station Elementary’s PTA, she serves on the school system’s curriculum council and she used to be on Carroll’s Habitat for Humanity’s executive board.

Carroll’s school budget should prioritize academics, resources that keep class sizes manageable, and safety and security, Zihmer told The Banner. Safety specifically is a top priority of hers, she said, and maintaining it is a way to recruit and retain teachers. Zihmer also points to having competitive pay, manageable class sizes and opportunities for pay increases and career advancement as ways to keep and attract teachers.

Zihmer, owner of the senior living consulting company Windchimes LLC, received endorsements from local and state Republican leaders. She was also endorsed by Moms for Liberty, a group that spearheaded a campaign to restrict school library book content, but said she didn’t seek that endorsement. She supports students having access to supplemental materials like library books that represent multiple viewpoints as well as classroom materials that represent various perspectives.

However, parental consent should be given to access controversial materials. She doesn’t condone sexually explicit books, like ones that include graphic depictions of sex, to be in school libraries, but when it comes to the classics and traditional classroom staples, “there are no such works for which I am in favor of exclusion or other restriction.”

She sees cellphones as a huge distraction that frustrates teachers and diminishes student achievement. She advocates for cellphone-free schools and supports an “off and away” policy.

Any process to redraw school boundaries, she said, should be inclusive of all stakeholders, transparent with high levels of communication and data-driven to consider school population trends.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.