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Montgomery County Board of Education Elects Officers, Makes Committee Assignments

Posted On December 07, 2023
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Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education re-elected Karla Silvestre to serve for a second term as president on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Lynne Harris was elected as vice president. Both officers will serve a one-year term. The election of officers occurs each year during the first business meeting of December.

Mrs. Silvestre, a resident of Silver Spring, was first elected to the Board of Education in November 2018 and was elected to her second four-year term on November 8, 2022.  She has served as chairperson of the Board's Strategic Planning Committee and as a member of the Committee on Special Populations and the Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Committee. Ms. Silvestre also serves as the Board of Education’s representative to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education’s Resolutions Committee. Ms. Silvestre currently serves as the Director of Community Engagement at Montgomery College, leading the institution’s efforts to be the community’s college through partnerships, engagement centers, outreach and collaborative problem-solving.

Ms. Silvestre received a degree in biology from Florida State University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Harris, a resident of Silver Spring, was first elected to the Board of Education in November 2020. This will be the first time serving as an officer. Ms. Harris has served as the chairperson of the Board's Fiscal Management Committee and has served as a member of the Board's Strategic Planning Committee. In addition, she also serves as the Board's representative to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education's Budget Committee and the Awards Committee. Ms. Harris taught Medical Science with Clinical Applications at Thomas Edison High School of Technology from August 2016 through November 30, 2020.

Ms. Harris received a degree in Nursing from the University of Tulsa, a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master of Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The Board also appointed members to its committees. Membership of the committees is listed below:

  • Communication and Stakeholder Engagement:  Shebra Evans (chair), Grace Rivera-Oven, Julie Yang, Sami Saeed (student member)
  • Fiscal Management: Lynne Harris (chair), Julie Yang, Rebecca Smondrowski
  • Policy Management: Rebecca Smondrowski (chair), Shebra Evans, Brenda Wolff, Sami Saeed (student member)
  • Special Populations: Julie Yang (chair), Lynne Harris, Grace Rivera-Oven, Rebecca Smondrowski
  • Strategic Planning: Brenda Wolff (chair), Lynne Harris, Shebra Evans

Read a transcript of President Silvestre’s comments before the Board of Education following the election.