The Montgomery County school board has been criticized in recent years by some education advocates for rubber-stamping plans of Superintendent Jerry Weast, but the newest voice at the table seems intent on avoiding that charge.
Laura Berthiaume was elected to the board in November on a platform of a more transparent budget process with more parental input.
Last week, she was the sole member to vote against adoption of the schools’ $2.1 billion budget in part because it didn’t jibe with those ideals.
“If it’s the board’s intent to always support the [superintendent’s] proposed budget in February as is … then perhaps we should just have [him] present the budget to the County Council directly,” Berthiaume said in a statement explaining her opposition.
She apologized to parents of special education students whom she felt she had been given false hope about their children’s programs at community budget testimonies.
“Had I known how misleading my reaction was, I would’ve sat stone-faced,” Berthiaume said.
Her independence brought cheers from a cadre of parents critical of the school board’s reputation for lining up behind what they see as Weast’s dominant personality.
“Ms. Berthiaume is a brave, independent voice on a rubber-stamp, flat-lined Board of Ed,” wrote Paula Bienenfeld to members of the Parents Coalition, an outspoken group of county residents calling for more transparency from the central office.
Kay Romero, president of the county’s PTA, representing nearly 50,000 parents, voiced support for Weast and the school board, but commended Berthiaume for “raising some good issues” and “trying to carve her way.”
“You want more discussion at the board — sometimes more than they like, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Romero said.
But some long-serving Montgomery school officials chaffed at the portrayal of them as merely facilitators of Weast’s agenda.
Pat O’Neill, who has served on the board for more than 10 years, and board member Nancy Navarro both cited examples of opposing Weast on important issues. “It’s definitely not the case that we do everything that Dr. Weast tells us to do,” Navarro said.
Steve Abrams, a 35-year veteran of Montgomery politics and the incumbent upset by Berthiaume in November, said her complaints were those of the political novice.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a lone voice, but there is something wrong with being a lone voice with an unloaded gun,” Abrams said. “My observation is that she’ll be in for a rude awakening at some point, and will lose effectiveness if she doesn’t understand how to start dealing with the system.”
